Context is Key When Studying with a Learning Disability

It\’s all about context when studying with a learning disability.

It seems we are all routinely reminded not to take things out of context.

However, utilizing and fully understanding context gives students with reading disabilities (like dyslexia) the capacity to compensate for their reading difficulties, even at the university or college level.

In 2008, Canadian researchers Julie Corkett and Raun Parrila conducted experiments that demonstrated that the performance of university students with reading disabilities was more sensitive to context than other students. In addition, their experiments illustrated that reading deficits such as phonological processing are compensated for by contextual processing. While, little is known about how this processing occurs it does offer insight for all learners.

So what is context exactly? Context is generally defined as the surrounding information around a word or passage that influences its meaning or effect. Context offers clues that help learners fill in the blanks when processing new information using words never seen or heard before. It illustrates the need for readers to reflect on what they are reading, as a whole, even though they may not understand every part.

French Teacher, Mario Hache encourages his English speaking adult students to focus less on translating every unknown word, but rather construct comprehension from what is understood. It becomes tiring for student and teacher to look up each word in a sentence and focusing on the details usually results in a loss of overall comprehension. The acceptance of context rather than complete micro understanding allows students to read longer passages, increasing their exposure to vocabulary, thereby reinforcing their future comprehension and learning.

One early reading intervention model called Reading Recovery teaches young children to look for context from what has been read, their own knowledge, and any other clues. This increases their reading performance and comprehension. The model is highly successful, but is criticized because it does not replace other strategies, including phonetic ones.

Research tends to evaluate the use of context from within the same extract of information. There is nothing to stop the student from finding context from other sources. Cliff’s and Cole’s Notes can add to contextual information to supplement one’s understanding (as long as they are not the primary source). The internet, social media, Youtube, family, and friends are other resources. They offer students additional information and new ways of explaining the same information that will help integrate new knowledge.

It all comes back to the old adage of not being able to see the forest for the trees. Students should explore how they can learn by understanding the context or forest of what is being taught, not by simply looking at each tree or word.