Listening Comprehension Instruction

North Dakota Kindergarten

Teacher Reading Academy

What is Listening Comprehension?

An understanding of stories and other texts that are read aloud to them

It lays the foundation for children to later be able to “understand what they read, remember what they read, and communicate with others what they read.”

National Institute for Literacy, 2001, p. 48

Listening Comprehension…

…is enhanced as kindergarten children listen to stories that are read aloud, participate in discussions of stories, and engage in other literacy –related activities.

When we read aloud, encourage children to…..

Make predictionsAnswer questions about the book’s

contentRead and talk alongShare their own interests related to the

book’s contentAsk questions of you and their peersReenact or retell the story

How We Learn…

10% of what we READ 20% of what we HEAR 30% of what we SEE 50% of what we SEE and HEAR 70% of what is DISCUSSED with OTHERS 80% of what is EXPERIENCED

PERSONALLY 95% of what we TEACH TO SOMEONE ELSE

William Glasser

Comprehension instruction can include showing children how to…

Monitor their comprehensionSummarizeRecognize story structureUse graphic organizersAnswer and generate questions

We model what good readers do by thinking aloud

Demonstrate:How you picture in your mind what is

happening in a story or bookHow you reread certain partsHow you stop and summarize what has

happenedHow you regularly make predictions

Reading Aloud Different Types of Texts

Narratives Tell a story using a

familiar story structure that includes a beginning, middle, and end

Expository (or informational) text Tells about one or

more topics in different and varied ways

Reading narrative and expository texts aloud to children helps them:

Make connections to real life experiences and build background knowledge

Increase their vocabulary and understand different types of books

Graphic Organizers

Can guide children’s thinking and help them remember important elements and information in both narrative and expository texts

Can be used before, during and after reading

Effective Questioning

Gives children a purpose for listening and reading

Focuses children’s attention on a topic and what is to be learned about the topic

Helps children think about what they hear read aloud

Encourages children to be aware of what they do and do not understand

Helps children to relate the content of what they are learning to what they already know.

Scaffolding: Using Different Types of Questions

Literal Questions Encourage children

to become aware of the information in the text

Open-ended Questions Encourage children

to extend their thinking about the text and to use more elaborated language as they discuss the text

Kindergarten Strategies

Preview and Predict Use illustrations (picture walk)

My Lucky Day Use text features to predict

If You Could Go To Antarctica Visualize and predict

Old MacDonald Had a Woodshop Recognize text structure

Building Beavers

Ten Core Comprehension Skills at Each Grade

Character Setting Sequence Classify and

Categorize Compare and

Contrast

Main Idea Realism and Fantasy Plot Cause and Effect Draw Conclusions

Asking Questions Along the Continuum

Write several questions to ask before reading and several questions to ask after reading

Use handout “Developing Questions to Enhance Listening Comprehension”

At your table, role-play a read aloud session

Use the handout “Asking Effective Questions”