Improving Reading Comprehension of Disabled Readers through Semantic Mapping

• Published in: The Reading teacher Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 22 - 29
• Main Authors: Sinatra, Richard C., Stahl-Gemake, Josephine, Berg, David N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Reading Association 01-10-1984
• Subjects: Children; Conceptualization; Dyslexia; Learning disabilities; Map skills; Reading comprehension; Reading teachers; Self organizing maps; Silent reading; Teachers
• ISSN: 0034-0561; 1936-2714

Semantic maps were used as a method to improve reading comprehension. A semantic map is a graphic arrangement of major ideas & relationships (N = 27 second to eighth graders in a remedial reading clinic). Over a four-month period, Ss worked with two approaches to develop reading comprehension, one using traditional directed reading approaches in which vocabulary was introduced & silent reading was directed by the teacher. To measure comprehension, Ss completed 10 multiple-choice questions. In the second method, ideas from the stories were organized into semantic webs: an episodic web, a thematic web, & a classification web. Each web paralleled the story development & contained a graphic structure for main ideas & details. After each web Ss answered 10 multiple-choice items to measure comprehension. Results of analysis revealed a significant improvement in comprehension when semantic map techniques were used rather than traditional reading methods. It is suggested that improved comprehension for remedial readers occurred from semantic maps because students saw how ideas were related. The maps helped poor readers organize the reading content in a concrete way. 3 Figures, 22 References. Modified AA