Lois Letchford: Comprehension and Anaphoric Resolution

24 Jun 2020 · 3 min

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2:38

In this instructional video, literacy educator Lois Letchford explains why pronouns pose a major comprehension challenge for early readers. She notes that in the 100‑word picture book R Said Stalk by Gerald Rose, more than 25 % of the words are pronouns, meaning that a quarter of the text offers no direct meaning unless the reader can resolve the referent. Letchford argues that decoding and comprehension are interdependent; students cannot decode a text effectively if a large portion of it consists of unresolved pronouns. She outlines her classroom approach: systematically model each pronoun in the book, pause to identify its antecedent, and have students trace back to earlier pages when needed. Using concrete examples from the book (e.g., “He pecked at the egg, but the egg would not break,” and “What wobbled? The egg wobbled”), she demonstrates how learners practice linking pronouns to their referents, thereby strengthening meaning‑making from print. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and share.

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Hello, I'm Lois Letchford, the Literacy Problem Solver and author of the book Reverse to Memoir. And last week I talked about the book R Said Stalk written by Gerald Rose and talked about pronouns and the role of pronouns in texts. Now a pronoun stands in place of a noun, so it's it, them, they, he, she. All of those words are pronouns. They look very simple, This book runs for 100 words. It has over 25% of those words in this text are pronouns. So if you are reading words without meaning and you're reading 25% of those words without meaning, comprehension is impeded. Simple as that. So what do I do as a teacher? I take the pronoun and I show the students How the words work, how the written words work. And I show them that they also have the knowledge up here because children cannot read 25% of words without comprehension. Comprehension and decoding connect. One supports the other. So what do I do? I go through and I start at the beginning. And this one, R said stalk. I will eat this egg. He pecked at it, but it would not break. He pecked at the egg, but the egg would not break. And I do that the whole way through the book. And as you see, as the wording gets more complicated, then look at the pronouns. While they were thinking, who's the they? And you actually have to go back to the last page to see who the they were. While they, all the animals, were thinking, The egg made a croaking sound, and then we're doing the work again of the reader. It wobbled. What wobbled? The egg wobbled and tiny cracks appeared. So that's why pronouns are so important and so challenging, and it's really to do with the way we teach words. If we teach words, you've just got to read it and get it, they won't. If we teach them, this is what happens when we speak, but look at what happens when we write. We have to do the thinking. To get the understanding, to make meaning out of print. Reading is always about making meaning out of print. So thank you very much. This is my week on pronouns and the number of pronouns in a text. Check it out and hit like, hit subscribe to my channel, and share the video. So thank you very much. Thank you.