CHAPTER II REVIEW of LITERATURE
C. Making Connections Strategy
interpretative reading was higher that literal reading, in which readers may make generalization, determine cause and effect, identify motives and may make comparisons. In cause effect was an action reaction combination the cause was that thing which makes something else happens. The effect was what it was that happens as a result of the cause so there was always a relationship between cause and effect.
3. Critical Reading
Critical Reading was the ability to evaluate the credibility of piece of writing. All writers had a purpose when they write, and usually a writer chose or emphasize facts and details which support his or her purpose, ignore facts which do not support his writing. As a good reader, we need to be aware of that. Critical evaluation occurs only after our students had understood the ideas and information that the writer has presented, the students can be tested on the following skills:
a) The ability to differentiate between facts and opinion b) The ability to recognize persuasive statements
c) The ability to judge the accuracy of the information given in the text.
to what they already know. This strategy helped students comprehend text, by activating their prior knowledge and making meaning of what they read.
Suggests questions that students may ask themselves as they read to help them make connections with the text.
According to Coe & Glass (2014) concluded that students comprehend better when they make different kinds of connections:
1. Text-to-self
Text-to-self connections were highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader’s own experiences or life. An example of a text-to-self connection might be, "This story reminds me of a vacation we took to my grandfather’s farm."
Text-to-self:
What does this remind me of in my life?
What was this similar to in my life?
How was this different from my life?
Has something like this ever happened to me?
How does this relate to my life?
What were my feelings when I read this?
2. Text-to-text
Text-to-text cconnections readers gain insight during reading by thinking about how the information they were reading connects to other familiar text. ―This character has the same problem that I read about in a story last year,‖ would be an example of a text-to-text connection.
Text-to-text:
What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read?
How is this text similar to other things I’ve read?
How was this different from other books I’ve read?
Had I read about something like this before?
3. Text-to-world
Text-to-world connections were the larger connections that a reader brings to a reading situation. We all had ideas about how the world works that goes far beyond our own personal experiences. We learn about things through television, movies, magazines, and newspapers. Often it was the text-to-world connections that teachers were trying to enhance when they teach lessons in science, social studies, and literature. An example of a text-to-world connection would be when a reader says, "I saw a program on television that talked about things described in this article."
Text-to-world:
What does this remind me of in the real world?
How was this text similar to things that happen in the real world?
How was this different from things that happen in the real world?
How did that part relate to the world around me?
b. The reasons why connecting to text helped readers:
1. It helped readers understand how characters feel and the motivation behind their actions.
2. It helped readers have a clearer picture in their head as they read thus making the reader more engaged.
3. It kept the reader from becoming bored while reading.
4. It set a purpose for reading and keeps the reader focused.
5. Readers can see how other readers connected to the reading.
6. It forced readers to become actively involved.
7. It helped readers remember what they have read and ask questions about the text.
c. How to Use the Strategy:
To effectively use this strategy, teachers should spend time modeling for students how to make meaningful connections. The easiest connection to teach was text-to-self. Teachers should model text-to-self connections initially with selections that were relatively close to the student's personal experiences. A key phrase that prompts text-to-self connections is, "this reminds me of...." Next, teachers should model how to make text-to-text connections. Sometimes when we read, we were reminded of other texts we had read. Encourage students to consider the variety of texts they had experienced which helped them understand the new selection. Finally, teachers should model how to make text-to-world connections. When teachers suspect that students may lack the ability to make meaningful connections, classroom instruction necessary to bridge the gap between reading experiences and author assumptions. Building the necessary background knowledge was a crucial means for providing text-to-world support and may be used to pre-empt reading failure. Making connections was not
sufficient. Students may make tangential connections that can distract them from the text. Throughout instruction, students need to be challenged to analyze how their connections were contributing to their understanding of the text. Text connections should lead to text comprehension.
d. Procedure of making connections strategy 1. Select a Text
This strategy worked best with a text that raises universal themes that might resonate with students’ own experiences and with material they had studied previously. Teachers often give students their own copy of the text so that they can mark it up, although this was not required.
2. Guide Students through Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World
The accompanying handout to this strategy provided you with sample questions that you can give students to guide them through this activity. The questions in the directions were general, but you can make them specific to the material your class was studying. For example, you might ask students to connect what they read to specific texts or to events you studied earlier in the school year.
3. Debrief
Students gained a deeper understanding of the text, of their classmates, and of the world around them when they the opportunity to discuss their responses with peers. Students can share their responses with a partner (see the Think-Pair-Share teaching strategy), in small groups (see the Assigning Roles
teaching strategy), or as part of a larger discussion (see the Fishbowl teaching strategy).
4. Variations
One Connection: If you had limited time, you can give students the option of writing about one connection they found between the text and another text, their lives, or the larger world.
Mapping connections social maps were a visual way of showing relationships between people, but they can also be used to show relationships between ideas and events. An extension of this activity would be to have students draw the connections they find between a text and other ideas, events, or experiences. Students can work on these maps in groups, noting the relationships among their responses.
Reading Skill
Making Connections strategy
Literal (main idea and
supporting details) Students’
comprehension in narrative text
Students’ Improvement in Reading Comprehension
Text to self Text to text