RM Winter 2017 FINAL

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Reading Matters
Teaching Matters
| 50| Reading Matters | Volume 17 • Winter 2017 |
ABSTRACT —Elementary students’ comprehension of persuasive text
is an area of inequity that urgently needs to be addressed in today’s
schools. This article explains why many kindergarteners through fifth
graders experience difficulty comprehending persuasive text and offers
an instructional recommendation for addressing the area of inequity.
Teaching elementary students to focus appropriately on the graphics
in persuasive text may help them to increase their comprehension.
We just read was about water. And polluting is a very big
part of our environment. Well, it ruins a big part of our
environment. And it ruins a big part of us. Because we’re
mainly about water. You make a lot of stuff with water. We
wouldn’t be eating what we have today that we have to
make with water, but if we use some other resources that
we hardly have but we mainly cannot use salt water or else
it will hurt us. It will hurt animals. It’s about helping, well
not helping, what we are doing to the environment by not
recycling and what it’s doing to our environment. Polluted
water is not really good. We need water basically for
everything in our body, like our systems.
Comprehension of Persuasive Text
Comprehension is a transactional meaning-making
process in which readers use reading strategies to build
mental representations of written text (RAND Reading Study
Group, 2002). Persuasive text has the “primary purpose of
convincing a particular audience to change their ideas or
behavior” (Duke, Caughlan, Juzwik, & Martin, 2011, p. 149)
and includes characteristics such as those listed in Figure
1. Historically, persuasive text rarely has been included
in K-5 reading instruction (e.g., Moss, 2008). Because
writers advance a particular position by selectively using
supportive evidence, sophisticated reading skills—such
as identifying writers’main ideas and details, integrating
information, evaluating trustworthiness and adequacy
of evidence, and analyzing the merits of contrasting
positions—are needed. Persuasive text is also particularly
susceptible to variability. Factors such as the topic’s
complexity, audiences’ anticipated skills and needs, and
the availability of supporting evidence influence writers’
decision-making. Simpler persuasive text and complex
texts featuring atypical characteristics, sophisticated
vocabulary and concepts, and complicated graphics may
co-exist in the same classroom. Many students simply
have not had enough experience with persuasive text
and may be underprepared to comprehend the texts.
Two decades ago, Brassart (1996) analyzed 140 fourth
through seventh graders’ oral recalls and found that fifth
through seventh graders recalled significantly more details, and
sixth and seventh graders significantly more big ideas, than
third and fourth graders. He speculated mastery may not occur
“until relatively late, at least not before grade 7 (ages 12-13)”
(p. 170). This, along with more recent research (e.g., McNeill,
2011; Osborne, 2010), suggests elementary students continue
to need help comprehending persuasive text on their own.
Additionally, accumulating evidence that students’
comprehension for different types of text is not the same
suggests that comprehension of persuasive text may need to be
addressed separately (e.g., Duke & Roberts, 2010). K-5 curricula
and learning standards have already responded to the need
by devoting more attention to persuasive text (e.g., National
Governors Association & Council of Chief State School Officers,
2010). Teachers can capitalize on the increased attention by
focusing on comprehending persuasive text during K-5 lessons.
Closing the Comprehension Gap in the
Elementary Grades: Graphics in Persuasive Text
By Nicole M. Martin, Ball State University & Joy Myers, James Madison University
FIGURE 1. A Sampling of Persuasive Text Characteristics.
Characteristic Definition Example
Thesis Writers’statement of
position
“remember—it’s a good thing there are
insects”(Fowler, 1990, p. 29).
Warrant Explanation of the
connection between a
claim and its supporting
evidence
“In general, if something interferes with
your health functioning, we say it’s bad
for you”(Author, 2011, p. 149).
Claim A purportedly true
statement designed to
support the thesis
“Eating vegetables keeps us healthy”
(McCormick, 2005, p.6).
Evidence Examples, information,
reasons, and other
statements or graphical
devices that substantiate
the truth of the claim
“In the wild, a loud noise can mask the
sounds that animals use to hunt for prey,
escape from predators, and communicate
with one another. Short blasts of noise—
from fireworks, for example—can frighten
or panic both wild animals and pets”
(Blackaby, 2005, p. 19).
Counterargument Reference to readers’
potential objections to
or reservations about a
claim or thesis
“Some people might think that water is
everywhere”(Stewart, 2005, p. 13).
Refutation Clarification intended
to disprove or nullify
readers’potential
objections or
reservations
“Certainly, more than 70 percent of the
Earth is covered with water. Yet most of
that water is salty. People and animals
can’t drink salty water because it makes
us sick”(Stewart, 2005, p. 13).
Qualification Acknowledgement of
boundaries, limitations,
or validity of a claim or
thesis
“However, [sound] is certainly not the only
concern”(Blackaby, 2005, p. 19).
Appeal Rhetorical devices that
focus on authority,
logic, or personal desire
in order to influence
readers’thinking
“Doctors say you should eat five servings
a day”(McCormick, 2005, p.6).