"Using 'Reverse Underlining' to Improve...
...Students' Reading Skills."
Presented by Bruce Horner
Bruce Horner has been teaching first-year college composition and literature for almost thirty years. In his work with faculty, he often finds that they are frustrated by their students' lack of ability to read assigned texts carefully, which is often a frustration experienced by the students themselves. In this podcast, Horner offers a two-pronged approach to help students with their reading skills.
First, he always asks students two write something on the texts that they are reading, such as notes, summaries, or even underlining. He requires students to submit copies of the writing on the day that the class is to discuss the text. Having students write in relation to their reading assignments has two primary benefits: One, the students actually read the assigned material, and two, the writing gets the students closer to being able to articulate what the text might mean. This activity of writing something related to a reading assignment does not, by itself, teach them to read more carefully. The cause is often the students' reading habits.
To address this problem, Horner and his colleague, Min-Zhan Lu, have learned to ask students to actually look at what they have written in response to a text, especially the underlining, in order to focus on those areas of the text that they have not focused on. This can help the student see a very different interpretation than what he or she saw at first, or it can help a student to further develop an interpretation that is not fully developed. Horner and Lu call this "reverse underlining." When using this technique, students use their first set of underlines or notes to examine their initial points of view. Then, the students examine the parts of the sentences they chose not to underline to see how those parts of the text change the initial point of view (or confirm it) or even places where the text's author disagrees with an earlier point that the students have underlined in their first notes. He finds that most students are quite surprised with the new points of view that the strategy reveals.
Using this technique teaches students three valuable lessons about reading. The first is that it is normal to overlook information on the first reading. This helps explain why they do not "get" what their instructors or even some of their peers see in a text. The second value is learning that it is normal to read a text more than once. Third, students learn that rereading a text in a way that changes their initial focus allows them to better understand what they have read. They learn to take control of their reading habits.
Another use of this technique is having students apply it to reading course texts such as syllabi or guides. Instructors find that students understand the rationale for course work and perform better in the courses after applying this reading technique. Additionally, instructors find that students start asking the critical thinking questions instructors desire after applying the reverse underlining technique. The technique can be used in disciplines beyond composition, and students who apply this skill to other areas frequently experience extended success in their writing beyond the composition course.