Why reading across multiple text types benefits deeper learning.
As educators, we're always looking for opportunities to differentiate our instruction to best support students' individual learning needs. One such way is by providing regular opportunities to read different text types to help students to build their subjec-tmatter knowledge in a way that best suits the way they learn. With multiple sources of information, they'll deepen their understanding on a topic which in turn boosts their comprehension across texts.
When it comes to teaching subject matter, there are benefits to going deep, rather than wide, here are a few of our favorites:
Develop background knowledge
Building background knowledge is one of the critical pillars of strong comprehension. Students who have in-depth knowledge of a subject are better able to understand the text—whether or not the text is at their reading level. This occurs because they’re able to activate their prior knowledge about the topic to navigate vocabulary, apply reading strategies and use the content to connect to and make meaning of the text type they are reading.
Learn to navigate different text structures
Pairing deep subject matter exploration with varying kinds of texts works in tandem to help students develop background knowledge in subject and structure. Each text type requires a different set of skills that readers need to activate to understand their unique structure and features (e.g., captions, charts, glossary found in informational texts). Understanding these structures leads to better comprehension.
Over time, readers can use their prior subject matter knowledge to navigate complex text types, and with more exposure to a variety of materials, they can use their understanding of structure to make acquiring information on a topic easier.
Understand how to evaluate digital texts
Students are learning in a world where screens are ubiquitous. Between websites, video, ebooks, databases, and other media, they consume a lot of content on a device.
Processing text online is different than print; kids require opportunities to engage with digital texts meaningfully. To prepare students for the increasing way they’ll consume information as they age, educators can intentionally incorporate digital text types into classroom units of study. This practice will facilitate student learning from skimming for information to deciding if the information is accurate to utilizing the device. As a result, students will be well able to extract meaning from the information presented by online text.
The benefits of multiple text types in the classroom are far-reaching. Readers develop a deep foundation of knowledge that helps them make sense of what they’re reading. As with anything, the more opportunities, the better. Look for resources that ensure students have access to a broad variety of texts that go deep on a subject matter.
Pardo, L. (2004). What Every Teacher Needs to Know about Comprehension. Reading Teacher. vol. 58, no. 3, 272-280
Each of the 200 units of study in TrueFlix provides nearly 40 texts of multiple types and media to support deep learning and offer a variety of entry points into a topic.
Each content unit offers multiple text types on a topic, including:
informational texts | biographies | news articles | primary sources | charts and tables | plays | poems | fictional passages