The Literary Skill of Analysis

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, the skill of analysis is a higher-level thinking question. Analysis involves relating content to something else through comparisons and contrasts. Students are required to break analysis questions into several parts and understand the patterns of each part and their relationships to one another. For analysis questions, students are looking at generals and specifics and relating them to one another. Analysis questions often use words such as analyze, differentiate, relate, compare, contrast, and infer. An analysis question may ask a student to make an inference based on an action, describe a relationship between two characters or themes, or provide evidence to prove a theme. With this in mind, an appropriate research question would be: Why are students struggling to answer implicit questions by analyzing the text? 

Drawing conclusions includes pairing what students already know to what the text states. If students are able to look deeper into the text, they should be able to compare and contrast two items from the story. They should be able to look at two characters, themes, descriptions, or events and identify differences and similarities. Students should be able to justify statements, actions, and beliefs from the text based on what they know about the characters or ideas. Many students are able to identify information that comes directly from the text to answer literal questions. Now they just need to take this one step further and connect the information in meaningful ways. 

In order to successfully teach students to analyze the text, students need explicit instruction on answering higher level thinking questions. There are many activities that teachers can implement to teach the skill of analysis. First, teachers need to directly instruction students on this skill. This is definitely a skill that should be revisited and retaught to all students. By following an I do-we do-you do model, teachers can walk students through the higher-level thinking process that is necessary for answering implicit text questions. Teachers should then progress monitor all students for this skill by providing weekly opportunities to conduct analysis. Scores should be recorded and reviewed weekly with students. Students would benefit from charting their scores as a percentage so that they can see their own growth. Progress monitoring probes can come in the form of a short passage and five multiple choice questions, an exit ticket with an analysis question, or completing a graphic organizer based on the text. Additionally, students can learn to monitor their own comprehension levels by asking themselves what they understand as they read. Students can practice writing questions for themselves to answer as they work through the text. Students can also create graphic organizers as they read to organize their thoughts. Using a Venn-diagram would be particularly appropriate for students to analyze two similar or conflicting elements of a text. Teachers should also be continually conducting formative assessments by questioning students and encouraging them to engage in deeper dialogue surrounding the analysis of the text. This can be accomplished by requiring students to summarize what they have read and then make one implicit connection. 

Check out this video which details how a teacher handles literary analysis. 

Ever Educating. (2021). How To Teach Literary Analysis: My Lesson Plan. YouTube. [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC2HHh3jML4