Comprehension Cloze - Greenridge Primary School

PSLE SEMINAR 2010
Greenridge
Primary School
English Department

Comprehension and
Comprehension Cloze
Strategies

PSLE Report
Two main areas of concern are:
(i)
Comprehension Open-end
(ii) Comprehension Cloze
Below National Average

Weightage
Components EL FEL
Comprehension
Comprehension Cloze
17.5% 10%

Tuning‐in Activity

Jibber jabber
Webber woober
Tibber
Shabber
tabber
shibber

Comprehension OE
• Reading a text is one thing…
• …understanding and making sense of the text is
another.
• Understanding what the question exactly wants.
• How to craft the answer to fit the question.
• Tenses, punctuation, sentence structure.

Strategies for handling
Comprehension OE
Step 1 : Read through the questions.
• This is to ensure that there is a
purpose for reading the passage
(setting the direction).

Step 2 :
Step 3 :
Strategies for handling
Comprehension OE
Read the passage.
Look at the question and use CUB
strategies to simplify the question.
• Find answers in the passage and tailor them
to fit the requirements of the question.

Strategies for handling
Comprehension OE
Step 4 : Re-read the section of the passage, if
necessary.
• Read answers to ensure that the sentence
structure is sound, answers are correct and
punctuation is in place.
Step 5 :
If time permits, re-read the passage
and re-check the validity of the
answers.

The types of questions asked:
• Recall / literal
• Inferential
• Application
Questions

Examples
• A recall / literal question:
2. What caused the car to stop in the
desert?
The leaking radiator caused the
car to stop in the desert.

Let’s read the passage…
I had decided to take the route across the dry bush-covered
Kalahari Desert on my way to Windhoek in South-West Africa as
this ill-defined trail would cut my journey by a thousand kilometres.
Having started on this journey, I now found myself really out of
luck. A slow leak had emptied the radiator of my car and I was forty
kilometres from the nearest native village. I could not help wishing
that I had a burst tyre instead – I could have replaced it without any
help.

Examples
• An inferential question:
What sort of a person was the writer?
The writer was a cautious person.

… The Bushman was squatting behind some tall brown grass.
When he realised that I was looking at him, he stood up and walked
slowly towards me. He smiled at me. As he came closer to the car,
he began to talk in his own strange language. His face showed that
he could not understand why I was not more friendly. (I felt a little
ashamed) but I still did not trust him for I had heard many stories
about Bushmen who showed little mercy to travellers.

Examples
• An application question:
8. Explain clearly why the writer was
jealous of the Bushman.
The Bushman had a fire to keep
himself warm, while the writer
remained in the car in the cold night.

… When night came, I found that I was rather grateful that the
Bushman was near. Night was a lonely time in the desert. I was less
afraid while another human being was close by. I envied him as he
made his fire of dry sticks – the night had become suddenly cold.
Every few minutes, the Bushman turned and waved at me. He
seemed to be telling me that he would be my guardian angel
throughout the long night. Gradually, I felt less afraid and finally,
I’ve slept, still in my car.

CUB Strategy

Circle
Examples:
What
When
the question stem
CUB Strategy
caused the car to stop in the desert?
did the writer start to feel frightened?
Explain clearly why the writer did not “get out and
explore” (line 10).

Underline
Examples:
What caused
CUB Strategy
the tense marker
the car to stop in the desert?
The car stopped __________.
When did
the writer start to feel frightened?
He started to feel _________.

Examples (cont’d):
CUB Strategy
Explain clearly why the writer did
explore” (line 10).
not “get out and
The writer did not get out and explore because
__________.

Bracket
Examples:
CUB Strategy
the key phrase
When did the writer (start to feel frightened)?
Explain clearly why the writer (did not “get out and
explore)” (line 10).
Why did the writer (feel “a little ashamed”)?

… The sun flared murderously overhead and made an oven of the
car. There was no breeze and, to add to the discomfort, stinging
sand-flies were beginning to mass on the inside of the windscreen.
All this was bad enough but not until I spotted a Bushman – a
member of the hunting and gathering people of Africa – (did I feel
any sense of real danger).

… The Bushman was squatting behind some tall brown grass.
When he realised that I was looking at him, he stood up and walked
slowly towards me. He smiled at me. As he came closer to the car,
he began to talk in his own strange language. His face showed that
he could not understand why I was not more friendly. (I felt a little
ashamed) but I still did not trust him for I had heard many stories
about Bushmen who showed little mercy to travellers.

Question Stems
What is a question really asking
for?

ALL ANSWERS MUST BE IN COMPLETE SENTENCES
State
2. What
caused
the car to stop in the desert?
The leaking radiator caused the car to stop in
the desert.
Explain
4. After the writer’s car had come to a stop, how did
he try to get help?
He hooted the horn of the car regularly every
ten minutes to attract the attention of anyone
passing by to help him.

6. When
8.
Time
did
Explain clearly why
Bushman.
the writer start to feel frightened?
The writer began to feel frightened when he saw the
Bushman.
Reason
the writer was
jealous of the
The Bushman had a fire to keep himself warm, while the
writer remained in the car in the cold night.
“Where”
indicates a place.
“Who” indicates a person or a group of people.

Comprehension
Cloze

How to go about a
Comprehension Cloze
Step 1 : Activate prior knowledge by reading
through the passage once without filling
in the blanks.
• This helps you to pick out the passage’s
theme and think about words associated
with the theme.

How to go about a
Comprehension Cloze
Step 2 : Use of contextual clues.
Contextual clues are hints purposefully or deliberately put in
the passage to help you find the answer to the
blanks provided.
• Identify the contextual clues
• Fill in the blanks
• Check for context
• Check for grammar markers

How to go about a
Comprehension Cloze
Step 3 : Read through the passage once the
blanks have been filled in to ensure that
it is coherent and grammatically sound.

Hands-on activity:
Comprehension Cloze –
Passage (Part 1)
– Identifying contextual clues

peak
stared
Leo looked towards the summit of the mountain. His eyes remained fixed there as he
climb,
began his ________ ascent to the top. It had taken him an hour to get from his home to the base of
(1)
the mountain. He did not want to waste time standing there _________ any longer.
recalled,
(2)
As he climbed the mountain, he ___________ rememberedthe
intense hours of training he had
boost
(3)
undergone to __________ build up his stamina for that day’s challenge. The desire to conquer
(4)
Mount Trafalgar had been a childhood __________ dream of his. Many of his friends and relatives
(5)
realise
had wanted to view the scenery from the top, but had not pursued their wish to __________
over
their dream. Their interest had simply waned __________ the years.
(7)
(6)

Comprehension Cloze –
Passage (Part 2)
Hands-on activity:

For three months, Leo had _________
put
himself through a daily training schedule
(8)
_________ consisting of long-distance running, sprinting and weight-lifting. He had not trained so hard
(9)
since
_________ his National Service. The thought of reaching the summit spurred him
(10)
_________. on
(11)
racing,
climb,
beating
conquer
With his heart ________ wildly, Leo pressed on in his desire to ________ the
(12)
(13)
mountain. His breathing became more laboured as he neared the top. After what seemed like
finally,
rooted,
an eternity, he was _________ standing at the peak of Mount Trafalgar. He stood ________ glued
to the
(14)
pure (15)
spot and admired the scenery spread before him, It was sheer delight!

Read through the completed passage

Q & A

Thank
you!