Modeling Strategic Reading Within A Text Structure Framework

Duffy, Roehler, and Herrmann (1988) have described how teachers can model thinking to reveal for poor readers the reasoning process in the activation and use of prior knowledge and in the use of context clues when describing the meaning of unknown vocabulary. Through think-alouds, Gordon (1985) modeled for teachers the reasoning involved when making inferences. In a more recent article (Gordon, 1990), the method of using a think-aloud to explain a strategic reader\u27s use of text structure was elaborated. The aim of this article is to expand on how, once students are adept at using text structure knowledge in think-alouds and in their silent reading, knowledge of text structure can serve as a framework on which not only the content of the selection is bound but within which a number of other reading strategies operate. In other words, the aim is to elucidate how a strategic reader uses text structure knowledge as an overarching strategy, a framework within which to incorporate other strategies (e.g., inferencing, using prior knowledge, making predictions, repairing confusions) to gain ideas from text