Student's Question of the Week
Q: How can I improve my reading comprehension?
A: Are you visualizing as you read? Try to create film footage in your imagination as you read. Visualizing while reading has been shown to increase reading comprehension scores dramatically, especially for readers who never visualized before while reading.
Visualizing and Verbalizing is a book by Nanci Bell which takes the reader through the paces of connecting "right brained", visuo-spatial experiences with "left brained" language development, beginning with concrete images and ending with critical reading at the college level. You can begin by visualizing concrete images for a section of text. Try to become aware of how you "place" a representation of an idea in your "imagination" or "mental field". This practice improves reading comprehension, but also increases ability to express thoughts through written language. Many students report their auditory memory improves from the practice of verbalizing what they are visualizing and making word summaries. The "right brain" images provide a hooking point for facts and details, thus helping memory.
Another method that uses visual imagery with self-questioning is that devised by Ellis and Lenz (associated with the University of Kansas and the Strategy Intervention Model). Their work resulted in a strategy for visual imagery that integrates self-questioning as you move through paragraphs.
The practice of integrating visualization with questioning often begins with concrete images and moves the reader to a more abstract level. This abstract level involves creative synthesis and abstract conceptualization, the ability to discern common themes and ideas from among many particulars. The ability to conceptualize is crucial to becoming an effective learner, a clear writer and an efficient notetaker, in addition to identifying the main ideas of any passage.
Ask your tutors in the DSPS Strategies Tutorial lab to introduce you to strategies to increase your reading comprehension. The DSPS 77: Writing & Reading Strategies class introduces students to visualization as a method of increasing reading comprehension. More information is in the DSPS 77 packet available from the SBCC Bookstore.