Reading, Writing and Understanding

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." Anatole France

READING
Students learn and practice beginning reading skills through building their knowledge about language and letter-sound relationships and developing fluency in their reading and must then begin to use these developing reading skills to learn – to make meaning, solve problems, and understanding something new. They need to comprehend what they read through a three-stage meaning-making process.

Stage One: Prereading
It's not uncommon for a struggling secondary reader to declare, "I read last night's homework, but I don't remember anything about it (let alone understand it)!" Therefore, asking such questions as, "What do I already know and what do I need to know before reading?" or "What do I think this passage will be about, given the headings, graphs, or pictures?" helps students anticipate the text, make personal connections with the text, and help to promote engagement and motivation. Brainstorming and graphic organizers also serve to strengthen students' vocabulary knowledge and study skills.

Stage Two: Guided Reading
The ability to monitor one's own reading often distinguishes effective and struggling readers. Thus, guided-reading activities should provide students with the opportunity to reflect on the reading process itself – recording in a log how their background knowledge and experience influenced their understanding of text, identifying where they may have gotten lost during reading and why, and asking any questions they have about the text.

Stage Three: Postreading
During postreading, students test their understanding of the text by comparing it with that of their classmates. In doing so, they help one another revise and strengthen their arguments while reflecting and improving on their own.



WRITING
Writing is often used as a means of evaluating students' understanding of a certain topic, but it is also a powerful tool for engaging students in the act of learning itself. Writing allows students to organize their thoughts and provides a means by which students can form and extend their thinking, thus deepening understanding.

Research suggests that the most effective way to improve students' writing is a process called inquiry. This process allows students to define and test what they would like to write before drafting.

The three stages of writing-based inquiry:
1) stating specific, relevant details from personal experience;
2) proposing observations or interpretations of the text; and
3) testing these assertions by predicting and countering potential opposing arguments.

Through inquiry, students discover and refine something worth writing about.

Writing-to-learn activities can include freewriting (writing, without editing, what comes to mind), narrative writing (drawing on personal experience), response writing (writing thoughts on a specific issue); loop writing (writing on one idea from different perspectives) and dialogue writing (for example, with an author or a character.)

"Not surprisingly, writing-to learn activities are also known as 'writing-to-read' strategies – means by which students can engage with text in order to understand it." Vicki Jacobs


UNDERSTANDING
The relationship among reading, writing, and understanding is clear. Students engaged in reading-to-learn will also be prepared to write well. In turn, students who are engaged in writing-to-learn will become more effective readers. Through both approaches, students will gain a better understanding of material and a greater ability to demonstrate that understanding.


Critical Thinking framework - Using Tamblin and Ward’s (2006) Triple A approach
1. Acquaint yourself with the topic
Do you have enough information to proceed? Reading lists, Your own literature search, Internet, etc. What else might you want to find out?

2. Analyse the information
Logic e.g.:Are all the claims backed up by evidence? Is the theory or information consistent? Are all the claims justified or are assumptions being made? Are the points relevant to the overall argument?

a) Emotion e.g.:Does the author use emotional language? Is the argument overly emotional? Does the author have a vested interest in persuading the reader? Is there bias in the argument?

b) Omission e.g.: Is the information lacking in detail or precision? What is omitted? What is included? What sway? Why?

c) Research e.g.: Why was the research undertaken? What was the aim? Where was the research carried out? When did the research occur? Who took part? Who presented the research?

3. Advance the argument e.g. Why is this an important topic? What are the implications and applications of the arguments presented? What's the bigger picture.
Then use your critical analysis of the sources to create your argument in your assignment.

Useful phrases when writing
In order to show that you have thought about information in a critical way, you will need to demonstrate your critical analysis in your writing. The following phrases (adapted from Gillet 2006) are examples of language that can be used when writing about your own critical analysis.

Presenting your point of view
a) There are many reasons why.....
It is important to point out that....
Presenting another point of view
In a study of X, Y claims that.....
It has been suggested that.....
According to X......

b) Commenting on another point of view - negatively
These views are open to doubt.....
Reservations can be raised against this.....
One objection to this argument is......

c) Commenting on another point of view - positively.
One of the main arguments in favour of X is that....
Another point in favour of X is that..
Indicating a lack of knowledge in a particular area
Little research has been done...
Research has tended to focus on A, rather less attention has been
paid to B...

Drawing conclusions
In short....
On the whole...
Altogether...
It may be concluded that....
Comparing and contrasting
Similarly
Likewise
Correspondingly
Whereas


by HGSE Lecturer Vicki Jacobs, (adapted).

10 Characteristics of Good, Effective Writing

"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them." W. Clement Stone 1902-2002, Author and Businessman