Directed listening and thinking activity

The directed listening and thinking activity (DLTA) is a strategy that was first identified by Stauffer (1980). It is used with early childhood students or students who are not yet successful independent readers. Teachers use this strategy to establish a purpose for reading with their students. With the use of this strategy students can become engaged in a text that they could not otherwise read on their own. Students are prepared to listen to a story that will be read by their teacher by being given specific information that they are to focus on as they listen. The strategy utilizes pre-reading, reading, and post-reading questions and discussions. Teachers use this strategy in an attempt to build on the knowledge that students already know and apply it to new information and situations. Students are provided with a framework to organize and recall information from storybooks. The directed reading and thinking activity is a very similar strategy that can be applied once this strategy is mastered and students become more advanced, independent readers.

Students need to be explicitly taught strategies for the comprehension of a story. The purpose of this strategy is to give the students skills so that they can eventually internalize reading skills such as, setting purposes for reading and what they have read. As a result of continuously using this strategy in the classroom students should develop metacognition of their own reading abilities and as a result a better comprehension, understanding, and connections to texts.

The teacher now begins to read the story. It is important to make sure that students can see all of the illustrations. The teacher should stop one or two times to discuss the story and to ask the students which previous predictions were correct. Students should also continue to make predictions at a few points in the story as well. It is important not to ask too many questions while reading the story. To help students to focus attention on the story, it is better to wait until after reading it through once to ask most of the questions about the students’ reactions, comments, and questions.

This is the final part of the directed listening and thinking activity. At this time there should be a discussion between the students and the teacher that is connected to the objectives and purposes for reading that were originally established. For example, if the skill that was established was sequencing the students will need to recall information about the order of the events in the story. The end is a way to tie together the skills that the students were focusing on and to summarize what they have learned as a result of listening to the story. If the students do not respond to particular questions that are asked about the story it is the teacher’s responsibility to model or scaffold their responses. This can be done by asking a question in a different or simpler way or by giving the student more information. This should also be a time to go back to the predictions that were initially listed and revise and discuss them. After the teacher has discussed the story and the objectives as a group an independent activity can be done to assess what the students have learned.

...
Wikipedia