93577 - Workshop on Textual Analysis (B)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the lab activities, the student:

• is able to apply the concepts covered in the integrated course within a simulated learning environment;
• is able to critically reflect in a group on the proposed topics.

Course contents

Reading to Understand: From INVALSI Tests to the Teaching of Reading Comprehension

Reading, understood not as the mere decoding of written signs but as the construction of meaning, is a complex activity involving several linguistic and cognitive processes. Starting from texts and questions taken from the INVALSI tests, the workshop will guide students to ask themselves what a pupil really needs to be able to do in order to answer: which information must be retrieved from the text, which clues must be connected, which words or expressions must be understood, which inferences must be made, and which relationships must be recognised.

In the workshop, INVALSI Italian tests for primary school will not be considered as tools for test training, but as materials for analysis and teaching design. They will be used to identify the comprehension processes required of pupils and to design teaching strategies to support their use during the regular teaching activities of the school year.

The work will be organised in two meetings. The first meeting will focus on tests designed for Grade 2 of primary school; the second meeting will focus on tests designed for Grade 5. This structure will make it possible to observe the progression of comprehension demands: from initial tasks involving information retrieval, recognition of lexical links and construction of inferences, to more complex tasks involving orientation within the text, identification of logical relations, and recognition of data, sources, judgements and overall meanings.

Particular attention will be paid to the relationship between text, question, expected answer and error. The guiding questions will be: what is this question really asking? What mental operations does it require? Which clues in the text are needed in order to answer? Why might a pupil make a mistake? What does an incorrect or partial answer reveal?

Starting from this analysis, the tests will be transformed into opportunities for teaching design. The aim of the workshop is not to prepare pupils for the INVALSI tests, but to learn how to use the tests as a lens through which to understand where comprehension difficulties arise and how the teacher can intervene with targeted activities: guided rereading, searching for key words and textual clues, returning to the text, comparing information, reconstructing implicit passages, and discussing inferences and reading strategies.

Readings/Bibliography

The bibliography will be provided during the laboratory activities.

Teaching methods

Participants will work in small groups on the materials provided. The activities will alternate between the analysis of texts and INVALSI questions, discussion of comprehension difficulties, identification of the textual clues needed to answer the questions, the design of teaching activities, and comparison of the proposals developed by the groups.

Assessment methods

The final assessment will take into account:

• participation and cooperation during the sessions;
• the ability to present content clearly and in a well-structured manner;
• the ability to analyse texts and questions from the INVALSI tests in relation to the comprehension processes required;
• the ability to identify possible areas of difficulty for pupils;
• the ability to transform an assessment question into a teaching activity designed to support comprehension.

The final assignment will consist of the design of a short teaching activity based on a text chosen by the student and consistent with the work carried out during the course. The assignment must specify the target class, the comprehension issues identified, the working strategies, the instructions for pupils, the stages of the activity, and the objectives linked to the National Guidelines for the Curriculum.

The final assessment will consist of one of the following four grades:

+1, excellent; 0, good; -1, satisfactory; failed, the workshop must be attended again.

Use of generative artificial intelligence tools

The use of artificial intelligence is not permitted for the final assignment. The assignment must provide evidence of the student’s own work: the ability to analyse a text or a question, identify comprehension issues, design coherent teaching activities, and justify the choices made.

Assignments produced, even only in part, using generative artificial intelligence tools will not be considered valid for assessment purposes.

 

Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations to be projected and provided to students, texts and questions from the INVALSI tests, and printed or digital working materials.

Office hours

See the website of Silvana Loiero