Optimizing Reading Comprehension for MLLS: 6 Strategies
By Judie Haynes
In this article for the International TESOL blog, Judie Haynes summarizes the strategies that she wrote about in detail for previous blogs (linked from each point). She found these to be very effective in helping students with reading comprehension, and they could be used with MLLS of all ages and with any texts.
In order to optimize reading comprehension strategies, have MLLs do the following:
- Visualize What Is Happening in a Story – Students can imagine what is happening and then draw or write about it.
- Make Connections With Text – Learners connect the content of a text to their own experiences, to other information that they have read about, or to similar events in the world, often in their countries.
- Ask Questions When They Read – MLLS learn to not only ask questions about the content, but also about what they do not understand. They also learn to predict what the text is about.
- Decide What Information Is Relevant in a Nonfiction Text – Students need to be taught to look at more than just the text from beginning to end to be able to figure out what is important. Content such as headings, images, and graphs are helpful in this step.
- Highlight Important Information to Summarize a Text – This can be accomplished through questions which will guide students in choosing what information belongs in a summary.
- Learn How to Synthesize Information – Once the previous steps have been completed, MLLS can “learn how to add their own thoughts, experiences, opinions, interpretations, and connections and to go beyond the text.”
About Judie Haynes
Judie Haynes is a past-president of NJTESOL/NJBE. She taught elementary ESL for 28 years and is the author and coauthor of eight books for teachers of ELs. She was a columnist for the TESOL publication “Essential Teacher” and is also co-founder and co-moderator of the Twitter Chat for teachers of English learners #ELLCHAT.
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