Reading Multimodal Texts

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The article Comprehension Strategy Instruction for Multimodal Texts in Science, by Alvermann and Wilson, introduced many valuable concepts about explicitly teaching students the metacognitive skills necessary to utilize multimodal texts. On page 122, Alvermann and Wilson quote Yore and Treagust by stating, “An underlying principle of comprehension strategy instruction, however, is fostering students’ metacognition, or their thinking process as they approach texts.” A good reader draws upon numerous strategies to monitor understanding, while reading.  Students must be taught these skills to apply to both traditional texts and electronic.

In this article, Ms. Thompson, the science teacher, is successful because she utilizes several invaluable principles to help support her students in their comprehension of the texts.  She explicitly taught comprehension strategies for multimodal texts by helping students to: establish relationships across texts, make inferences, determine the purpose for reading, and recognize relevant from unnecessary information.  I would briefly like to discuss the challenges and techniques necessary to support them in learning how to make inferences. 

Making inferences is very challenging for many students, as it is a higher order thinking skill, and must be practiced.  To make an inference, the reader is not simply explaining what the text states, rather the reader must take statements and determine what they actually suggest.  In previous years, I have provided scaffolds such as charts for my students to fill out to help them make accurate inferences. One chart I use is included below.   In a sense, by requiring the students to organize information by filling out a chart, a seemingly intangible concept, like making inferences, becomes comprehensible by using a visually oriented activity.  There are many techniques for teachers to use to support their students in making inferences.  In this article, the teacher encouraged her students to use their background knowledge to make inferences about the questions she posed.  With multimodal texts, teachers must model the appropriate way to consider the visual aids and the other semiotic components which are included to infer meaning along with the written text.  In some ways, it becomes easier to infer meaning when one is not forced to rely on the written words alone.   

In conclusion, it is indispensable for teachers to overtly teach students strategies to actively monitor their comprehension in reading.  On page 120, Alvermann and Wilson site that, “Often the reading process, whether in science or in other content areas, is assumed to consist of ‘an active reader who constructs meaning through the integration of existing and new knowledge and the flexible use of strategies to foster, monitor, regulate, and maintain comprehension’” (Dole, Duffy, Roehler, & Pearson, 1991, p. 242).  When using multimodal texts, the students should be aware of the metacognitive skills necessary to unify the messages of the various components included, such as the pictures, or in electronic texts, the video clips, etc.…The non linguistic components may be the key to enabling struggling students to construct meaning from what has been written.  Conversely, if teachers do not scaffold the proper way to use multimodal texts, students can easily be distracted by the added components and their ability to comprehend the text will be diminished.