UNIT-3

What Is Close Reading?

Close reading means not only reading and understanding the meanings of the individual words, but also
understanding thoroughly how the writer is using the words.
Close reading is an organized way of analyzing a short text to determine how the ideas, concepts, and
information embedded in the text work.
Close reading is thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order
to develop a deep, precise understanding of the text’s form, craft, meanings, etc. It is a key requirement of
the Common Core State Standards and directs the reader’s attention to the text itself.
In other words, close reading means…
 analyzing your reason for reading,
 understanding the author’s purpose in writing,
 identifying the interconnection of ideas in the text, and
 looking for and understanding the meaning of language use.
Close reading includes:
 Using short passages and excerpts
 Diving right into the text with limited pre-reading activities
 Focusing on the text itself
 Rereading deliberately
 Reading with a pencil
 Noticing things that are confusing
 Discussing the text with others
 Think-Pair Share or Turn and Talk frequently
 Small groups and whole class
 Responding to text-dependent questions

Intensive Reading (Close reading)

It is the type of reading. Intensive reading concentrates upon:
i) Assimilation of language which consists of study of words, phrases and sentence structures,
ii) Study of sentence structure including grammar, word order and syntax.
iii) Grasping of the sentence, and
iv)Getting information.

 Aims: Intensive reading has for its objective the full understanding of the text with its arguments,
its symbolic, emotional and social overtones, the attitudes and purposes of the author and the
linguistic and literary means the author employs to achieve his purpose. It aims at the following:
i) To enable students to speak English correctly.
ii) To improve and extend their knowledge and command over English
iii) To enable them to use English language without fear and to develop in them the habit of thinking in
English.
iv) To increase students' active vocabulary.
v) To faster in them a taste for the study of English.
vi) To concentrate upon language.

 Advantages
i) It increases the active vocabulary
ii) it helps in learning grammar.
iii) It explains the meaning.
iv) It improves the power of expression.
  Limitations
i) It has only a limited utility in forming an active vocabulary.
ii) It rarely gives joy and pleasure to students.
iii) Its procedure is long and uninteresting.
iv) It does not teach grammar systematically.
v) It gives too much emphasis on language side.

Difficult intensive reading is quite a diferent matter from easy fast reading. Here the fault tends to be -
a) misunderstanding of word-meaning that strictly follows definitions;
b) incomplete and faulty understanding of concepts.

How to Begin a Close Reading

A close reading should never be your first reading of a text. Before focusing on the details of a text or
passage, it is important to have an understanding of the text as a whole.
 Read the text!
Make sure that you understand its plot, who the characters are, etc. For more difficult texts, it may take more
than one read to do this. That is normal. The better your overall understanding of the text, the easier it will
be to focus on its details and/or the details of your chosen passage.
 When you are ready to begin your close reading, take your time!
Read the text actively. Take notes. You may write on a separate sheet of paper, directly in your book, or you
may even choose to make a photocopy of the text or passage and take notes on that. Choose the method
which works best for you.
 Do not be afraid to pause to think over what you read as you read!
Do not hesitate to read and re-read sentences or sections several times before moving on. Take note not only
of the details in the text, but also of the impressions which those details create in you as a reader. The
purpose of a close reading is to squeeze the details from your chosen text and use those details to formulate
an interpretation of a deeper meaning or impression present in the text.

Useful Protocol
 Use a short passage.
 Read it at least two times.
 Identify the central idea.
 Mark the details you find in the passage with a marker or a pencil.
 Note what is confusing for you to understand.
 Analyze each part of the paragraph to understand it.
 Check patterns used by the writer.
 Identify the intent of the writer.
 Discuss the content of the passage using your own words.

Steps in Close Reading

There is no specific sequence in a close read; these steps are meant to generally guide you in crafting a
lesson that scaffolds students and focuses on increasingly complex text dependent questions. Begin with
questions about the big ideas in the text and gradually ask higher level questions.
1. FIRST READ: KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS
Set the purpose for reading and have students read text as independently as possible. Depending on the text
complexity and the readers, the first read may be done independently, as a read aloud/think aloud, or paired
or shared reading. The first read should be without building background; students should be integrating their
background knowledge with the text as they read. Focus on the key ideas and details in the text, making sure
that readers know the main idea, story elements, or key details that the author includes.

2. SECOND READ: CRAFT AND STRUCTURE

For a second, close read, select a portion or chunk of the text that is “close read worthy.” That is, have
students reread a section that includes complex elements or ideas that they should explore to arrive at a deep
understanding of the text. After rereading, students discuss the text with partners or in small groups,
focusing on the author’s craft and organizational patterns. This may include vocabulary choices, text
structure or text features that they author included.

3. THIRD READ: INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS

The third close reading of a text should go even deeper, requiring students to synthesize and analyze
information from several texts or media. They may record their ideas on sticky notes, graphic organizer, or a
thinking sheet.

Close Reading – Checklist

 Grammar - the relationships of the words in sentences
 Vocabulary - the author’s choice of individual words
 Figures of speech - the rhetorical devices used to give decoration and imaginative expression to literature,
such as simile or metaphor
 Literary devices - the devices commonly used in literature to give added depth to the work, such as
imagery or symbolism
 Tone - the author’s attitude to the subject as revealed in the manner of the writing
 Style - the author’s particular choice and combination of all these features of writing that creates a
recognizable and distinctive manner of writing

What does close reading accomplish?

 Close reading allows students to examine and dissect other features of the text.
 Talking about the text allows students to incorporate the author’s language into their own speech.
 Students are able to interpret what the writer is trying to convey rather than only summarize the ideas.
COMPREHENSION
Comprehension is the ability to understand and get meaning from spoken and written language.
Comprehension is comprised of a complex process involving knowledge, experience, thinking, and teaching
Therefore, effective comprehension instruction is necessary to help students understand, remember, and
communicate with others about what is read to them and what they read.

Comprehension skills are based on rich language and experience with text from early in life.
Advantages of reading comprehension:
1. Learning how to decode;
2. becoming fluent in decoding with an extensive collection of sight words;
3. increasing vocabulary to include words commonly found in texts; and
4. learning how to get meaning from text using comprehension processes
Points to discuss:
 Reading comprehension is the product of decoding skills and language comprehension skills .
 Some children decode words fluently and still have reading comprehension problems that seem to stem
from language comprehension .
 Studies of exemplary primary-grade teachers indicate that a focus on comprehension as well as word
identification and decoding skills is beneficial .
 Students learn to interact with text through read alouds that incorporate explicit instruction, teacher
modeling, and scaffolding that encourage students to be metacognitive while reading .
 Knowledge and understanding of text structure assists in comprehension of the text. When students are
familiar with text structure, they organize the text as they read, which helps them recognize and retain the
important information .

Comprehension Strategies
Research studies on reading and comprehension have shown that highly proficient readers utilize a number
of different strategies to comprehend various types of texts, strategies that can also be used by less proficient
readers in order to improve their comprehension.

1. Making Inferences: In everyday terms we refer to this as “reading between the lines”. It involves
connecting various parts of texts that it isn´t directly linked in order to form a sensible conclusion. A form of
assumption, the reader speculates what connections lie within the texts.
2. Planning and Monitoring: This strategy centers around the reader’s mental awareness and their ability to
control their comprehension by way of awareness. By previewing text (via outlines, table of contents, etc.)
one can establish a goal for reading-“what do I need to get out of this”? Readers use context clues and other
evaluation strategies to clarify texts and ideas, and this monitoring their level of understanding.
3. Asking Questions: To solidify one understands of passages of texts readers inquire and develop their own
opinion of the author’s writing, character motivations, relationships, etc. This strategy involves allowing
oneself to be completely objective in order to find various meanings within the text.
4. Determining Importance: Pinpointing the important ideas and messages within the text. Readers are
taught to identify direct and indirect ideas and to summarize the relevance of each.
5. Visualizing: With this sensory-driven strategy readers form mental and visual images of the contents of
text. Being able to connect visually allows for a better understanding with the text through emotional
responses.
6. Synthesizing: This method involves marrying multiple ideas from various texts in order to draw
conclusions and make comparisons across different texts; with the reader’s goal being to understand how
they all fit together.
7. Making Connections: A cognitive approach also referred to as “reading beyond the lines”, which
involves (A) finding a personal connection to reading, such as personal experience, previously read texts,
etc. to help establish a deeper understanding of the context of the text, or (B) thinking about implications
that have no immediate connection with the theme of the text.
Paraphrasing and summarising
Writing information in your own words is a highly acceptable way to include the ideas of other people in
your writing. There are two ways you can do this: paraphrasing and summarising. It is very important,
however, to paraphrase and summarise correctly because there is a fine balance between acceptable and
unacceptable paraphrasing and summarising (plagiarism). You need to learn the rules so you are able:
1. To paraphrase information
2. To summarise information

1. To paraphrase information
To paraphrase is to rewrite something using different words without changing the original meaning. This is
what is usually meant by the phrase ‘in your own words’. The paraphrase should be clearer and more easily
understood than the original and is often about the same length. Paraphrases are a good alternative to using
direct quotations.
In your writing, you may make a paraphrase of:
● short sections of text (e.g. phrases, sentences)
● longer sections of text (e.g. a paragraph)
● information that explains tables or figures.

STEPS FOR PARAPHRASING

1. Read the text carefully. Underline, or note, any important subject-specific words.
2. Look up any difficult words, and try to find synonyms for them.
3. Try to find different ways of expressing the information in the groups of words (phrases).
4. Rewrite each sentence. Try to simplify the sentence structure and the vocabulary without changing
the meaning.
5. Put your text out of sight and write your paraphrase from memory.
6. Revise what you have written, comparing it to the original. Your paraphrase should clarify the original,
but be written clearly in your own words.
7. Do not forget to use an in-text reference at the start or end of your paraphrase.

EXAMPLE OF CORRECTLY PARAPHRASED INFORMATION

ASSESS YOUR PARAPHRASE

1. The MEANING is the same.
2. Most of the words have been changed.
3. The sentences have been significantly restructured.
4. This is about the same length as the original writing
5. The information is correctly referenced.
2. To summarise information
Many assignments are accompanied by a compulsory and/or suggested reading list. No doubt you have often
wondered how your 2 000 or so word assignment could possibly incorporate all those resources that are
meant to inform your writing. Summaries of material may be used to give an overview of the work of one or
more authors, so they are much shorter than the original text.
Because they are very brief outlines of arguments made, they are very useful when you want to indicate the
support given for and/or against some position you are taking in your argument.
In your writing you may make a summary from:
● one or more paragraphs
● an entire article, chapter or complete work
● a combination of readings with similar ideas.

STEPS FOR SUMMARISING

1. If you are reading longer texts (e.g. a chapter, a journal article), skim read the information. Note
sub-headings, the first and last paragraphs and topic sentences.
2. Read the text carefully using a dictionary.
3. Reread a difficult text several times.
4. Write notes in point form using key words and ideas.
5. Put your text away and write your summary from your notes.
6. Refer back to the original to make sure that your summary truly reflects the writer's ideas and
strength of opinion (degree of certainty on this topic).
7. Do not forget to use an in-text reference at the start or end of your summary.

EXAMPLE OF CORRECTLY SUMMARISED INFORMATION

ASSESS YOUR SUMMARY

1. The MEANING is the same.

2. The summary keeps the degree of certainty of the writer.
3. This is a much shorter version of the original writing.
4. The source/s of information is/are clearly referenced.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUMMARIZING AND PARAPHRASING