Without Chapter 8 there would be no 9; Without Two Words in Dialogue, There Would Be No Rhyme

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In chapter 8 we come to know that larger vocabulary knowledge aids comprehension. In the classroom, children can come across vocabulary in two ways: through definitional knowledge and the ability to relate new words with known words, and contextual and conceptual knowledge through exposure in as many language contexts as possible as well as experiences both direct and vicarious. Moreover, exposure to transliteracy increases vocabulary. There are six principles that guide the instruction of vocabulary: 1. choosing words that students will use and encounter most often and are useful to them, 2: teaching words in relation to other words so students learn shades of meaning, 3: teaching words that relate to their background knowledge as it is an anchor point, 4: teaching words both pre and post reading activities, 5: teaching words systematically and in depth, and lastly helping students play with words to awaken enthusiasm for words.
There are several instructional strategies literacy facilitators can use to increase their students' vocabulary and comprehension. One of the ways are word sorts where words are grouped into either a closed sort or an open sort. A second is a semantic map where words are related to one another based on meaning. A third strategy is analogy where two similar relationships are compared. And a fourth is a concept circle where the conceptual relationship between words is considered. An instructor should use a variety of methods in both whole and small group to facilitate comprehension.
Chapter 9 states that reading is a means to turn new info into knowledge as well as a dialogue between the reader and the author in which a reader can respond, challenge and question the author. One of the ways students approach narrative text is by using prior knowledge to construct meaning and as a result, they increase their comprehension. Teachers can aid comprehension through story maps, flow charts, story frames and circular story maps. Teachers should also model for students the array of reading strategies such as making inferences, making connections, visualizing and synthesizing information gathered from the text.
Teachers should further model how to ask questions while reading because literal questions, inferential questions and evaluative questions are all forms of active comprehension, and they should further emphasize higher level questions such as “why, why not, and how come”. Some questioning strategies are ReQuest, QARs, and QtA. There are several methods that allow students to interact with the text through close reading, annotating the text, think-alouds, discussion webs, and text connections where students relate text to self, text to text, and text to world. Active engagement with narrative text is important because it helps students construct meaning.

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