The Reading Comprehension Blueprint - Book Summary

Written by: Brianna Guild, MHSc SLP

Date: December 5, 2023

This post summarizes what I learned while reading The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text by Nancy Lewis Hennessy.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reasoning: This book is clearly written for classroom teachers, but as a Speech-Language Pathologist who works with literacy clients one-on-one, I still found this book to be very informative and filled with practical routines that I can implement in my literacy instruction. I immediately started putting what I learned from this book into practice, and believe it is improving my literacy instruction. I will continue to use this book as a reference for reading comprehension and supporting other educators.

Reading Comprehension

- “The products of comprehension are indicators of what the reader knows and understands after reading is completed, whereas the processes of comprehension are those cognitive activities by which the reader arrives at those products” (Rapp, van den Broek, McMaster, Kendeou, & Espin, 2010, p. 291).

- “To extract and construct meaning, readers must gain access to multiple processes that are shaped by the interactions of the reader, text, task, and context. Students are able to construct products by using appropriate language and cognitive processes, and these processes also determine the products' quality. Reading comprehension is shaped by what the reader brings to the text, by the demands of the text, and by the purpose for reading” (Hennessy, 2020, p. 35).

- The Blueprint for Reading Comprehension Instruction developed by Nancy Lewis Hennessy is an evidence-based framework for delivering instruction that facilitates the student's ability to extract and construct meaning from text. It is intended to organize and scaffold an educator’s preparation of varied texts for varied purposes.

- Based on the Language Comprehension strands of The Reading Rope (Scarborough, 2001), the instructional components of the blueprint are:

1. Vocabulary

2. Sentence Comprehension

3. Text Structures

4. Background Knowledge

5. Levels of Understanding & Inference

Vocabulary

- Learners need definition and contextual information about target words, opportunities for engagement in deep processing that connects to known information, and multiple exposures to target words receptively and expressively.

- Intentional instruction is the direct, explicit systematic teaching of target words. It involves choosing appropriate target words to teach, and following a routine that allows students to build connections to other words, use words expressively, and represent meaning in multisensory ways.

• Build connections using semantic mapping, concept maps, and semantic feature analysis. Semantic mapping involves connecting words to their relatives, such as synonyms, antonyms, examples, multiple meanings, and related words. Concept mapping (e.g., Frayer or Four Square Model) usually includes a definition, characteristics of words, examples, and nonexamples. Semantic feature analysis explores similarities and differences in related words, including shades of meaning.

• Use the words in writing activities to practice using precise word meanings to communicate a message. Educators should begin with sentence stems and progress to paragraphs related to current learning.

• Create representations to support retention and prompt retrieval. This includes visuals, gestures and hand movements. Word walls can also be used to display new vocabulary. 

- Intentional-on-purpose instruction is the indirect, purposeful teaching of target words. It includes point of contact teaching (e.g., brief explanations of new words in the moment), oral language experiences (e.g., using more advanced vocabulary in oral discussions), and wide reading (e.g., vocabulary discussions during shared and independent reading).

- Intentional word learning strategy instruction is the direct, explicit teaching of strategies for determining word meanings independently. It includes teaching students how to use the dictionary, context clues, and morphology.

Syntax and Sentence Comprehension

- Learners need to understand the contributions that parts of speech, phrases, clauses, and different types of sentences make to the overall meaning of a text.

- Intentional instruction of syntax and sentence comprehension includes:

• Grammar-based deconstruction activities, such as parts of speech, phrases and clauses, and sentences.

• Sentence-based activities, such as writing connections, sentence combining and expansion, sentence anagrams, visual representations, pictures, and diagramming.

• Cohesive device activities involving cohesive ties (words or phrases that take their meaning from another part of the sentence or sentences) and connectives (conjunctions and adverbs).

• Visual representations, such as drawing or diagramming at the sentence comprehension level.

- Intentional-on-purpose instruction of syntax and sentence comprehension includes:

• Discussion of sentences including scoping syntactic units to support understanding of sentence structure and reading fluency during varied reading experiences (e.g., read-alouds, group, and independent reading).

• Oral language experiences that encourage students to elaborate on oral responses, potentially supported by educators providing sentence frames.

• Writing activities that focus on sentence structure, which can informally support sentence comprehension.

Text Structures

- Learners need to understand the purpose and structure of narrative and informational (expository) texts.

- Intentional instruction of narrative text includes:

• Teaching story structure and elements. Students need to be directly taught the purpose of a narrative and the basic elements of story grammar (e.g., character, setting, problem, solution). In older grades, students also need to be directly taught about other literary elements, such as theme, point of view, symbolism, foreshadowing, metaphors, alliteration, hyperbole, and imagery.

• Using visual representations to introduce story grammar and help students practice and process understanding. Explicitly teach how to use story maps, frames, and storyboards (similar to a comic strip).

• Teaching how signal words or phrases provide cues that support understanding of the structure and relationship between the parts of a narrative text.

• Incorporating focused questioning as part of instruction. This includes using questions to guide reading, support retell, and check comprehension. Purposeful questions tap into the reader's understanding of how the story grammar elements contribute to comprehension of the text.

- Intentional instruction of informational text includes:

• Teaching basic paragraph structure (topic, supporting sentences, conclusion), and providing multiple opportunities to identify the main idea and details with text. RAP paraphrasing strategy: Read a paragraph, Ask yourself about the main idea and details, and Put the main idea and details into your own words.

• Teaching common text structures and elements. Teach the purposes of and differences between types of paragraphs (descriptive, sequence, compare & contrast, problem & solution, cause & effect), and provide multiple opportunities to analyze and identify specific text types.

• Teaching how signaling devices, including signal words and text features, are used within text. Signal words (e.g., for example, before, after, similarly, consequently, as a result of) are found within informational paragraphs and cue the reader to the purpose and structure of text. Text features (e.g., title, headings, diagrams) also support understanding of organization and content of the text. Teach students where to find these features, what their purpose is, and what the reader learns from them.

• Teaching comprehension strategies specific to various structures. The “texture structure strategy” is one potential approach for teaching structure. It is based on attention to structure, the use of signal words and cues, and the patterns used to convey the main idea and details. For more information, read: Implementing the Text Structure Strategy in Your Classroom

• Using graphic organizers. Skilled readers use visual representations or diagrams such as graphic organizers to organize, see relationships, and recall important information about texts. Organizers should directly reflect the purpose and structure of the text.

• Incorporating focused questioning as part of instruction. Educator questions should guide and monitor readers' comprehension and be directly related to the purpose and structure of the text.

Background Knowledge

- Learners need to work with the author's exact words and sentences (surface code) and the textbase (implied meanings) while surfacing background knowledge to make meaning.

- Intentional instruction for background knowledge includes:

• Activating and assessing background knowledge using anticipation guides, questions or prompts, charts, webs & maps, and visual images. Activation of knowledge prompts students to think about what they already know and surface information that connects to the content of the text. Activities focused on activation provide educators with a sense of what students know about a topic, help students become more aware of their own need to acquire more information about a topic, and prompt students to make connections with the text.

• Building background knowledge using multiple topical/themed texts, virtual & real-time experiences, authentic artifacts, and vocabulary connections. Educators should focus on key information, fill in with appropriate additional details before, during, and after reading, and use multiple texts for instruction.

• Connecting to background knowledge by reviewing anticipation guides, questions or prompts, charts, webs & maps, and visual images. Educators should support students to become skilled readers who continually connect and integrate their knowledge before, during, and after reading.

Levels of Understanding & Inference

- Learners need to understand the surface code of the text, make meaning from the textbase, and construct a mental model of the text.

- Local coherence inferences require integration of information provided by words and syntax within and between different sentences. Intentional instruction for local coherence inferences includes:

• Teaching cohesive devices. The most common types of cohesive ties are pronoun referents, synonyms, substitutions, repetitions of nouns and phrases, and ellipsis. Model the following steps as a general strategy for teaching cohesive ties: 1. Identify targeted words and phrases in the text (e.g, dog). 2. Frame a question or task (e.g, the dog is an important character, but the word dog is not repeated over and over). 3. Search for clues or connections (e.g., find all the pronouns that are standing in for the target word dog). 4. Make connections visually or verbally (e.g., underline all those pronouns).

• Teaching connectives. Teaching different conjunctions or adverbs that convey varied relationships is essential to establishing coherence at the sentence level. Effective instruction focuses on the function of connectives, and their specific contribution to meaning. Educators could ask questions such as: Can you find a word that is a clue to sequence or time? (e.g., before). Can you find a word that infers condition of or possibility? (e.g., if). Is there a word that convey a contrast in ideas? (e.g., but).

- Global coherence inferences are necessary for deep comprehension and depend on the reader's access to related background knowledge. Intentional instruction for global coherence inferences includes:

• Teaching how to integrate background knowledge. Model the following steps as a general strategy for global inferences: 1. Educator identifies and prepares the text, and student reads the text. 2. Educator frames inferential questions/prompts, and student reads and uses the questions/prompts. 3. Educator models identification of clues in the text and integration of background knowledge, and student finds clues and connects to their background knowledge. 4. Educator models responses to questions/prompts, and student responds to the questions/prompts.

• Using graphic organizers designed to prompt connections between text and knowledge by combining questioning and visual cues. An inference organizer might include the sections "Question", "What does it say?", "What do I know?", "So, I think..." This approach is especially helpful for those who have the necessary knowledge base, but do not surface it independently while reading.

If you want more information on the Blueprint for Reading Comprehension Instruction, and example instructional activities and routines for each component of the blueprint, I highly recommend you check out the full book!

Reference:
Lewis Hennessy, N. (2020). The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text. Brookes Publishing.