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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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Learn more about chunking

Portrait of a reader: Ben
In Ongoing assessment for reading, page 3.2
A fourth-grade teacher uses running records to uncover individual strengths and needs in a new student's reading.
By Jeanne Gunther.
"The Cask of Amontillado"
The short story "The Cask of Amontillado," by Edgar Allan Poe is an effective venue for teaching English I literary terms. The following lesson plan is designed to engage the reader in a deeper than superficial reading of the text. It is also designed to elicit discussion and written critical-thinking responses. This lesson assumes that the literary terms have already been introduced. However, if they have not, the teacher may use this lesson to introduce these terms in the context of the literature.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and English Language Development)
By Guy Hill and Crystal Brown.

A technique used to improve comprehension by grouping words in a sentence into short meaningful phrases.

Additional information

Chunking is a method of breaking up reading material into digestible sections. Chunking helps prevent word-by-word reading, which can negatively affect comprehension since the reader may have forgotten the beginning of the sentence by the time he makes it to the end of the sentence. Studies demonstrate that chunked material, or materials that are separated into meaningful related groups of words, improves the comprehension of some readers, especially poor or low-ability readers.