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THREE LEVEL GUIDE

Keiju Suominen & Amanda Wilson

Monitoring and Assessment

Four Resources Guideposts

First Steps Reading Developmental Continuum

Classroom Organisation

Engagement: Empowering Teachers with Successful Strategies

The Three Level Guide is a comprehension strategy which supports students to read the text closely by
providing a clear purpose and direction for reading. The three levels of statements, literal, interpretive and
applied, guide the reader to focus on the relevant information and to develop an informed opinion on the
issues explored in the text. The reader is encouraged to draw on their background knowledge of the topic
and to apply the information from the text to real life contexts. Explicit within genuine and engaging
contexts, it provides a flexible framework for gaining access to texts.

Engagement: Engaging Students in Purposeful Social Practices

Strategy Text

Three Level Guide, ‘Bagging a ‘berg may solve water worries:

A. Morris & N. Stewart-Dore (1984) scientist’ by Simon Grose, The Canberra
Times (November 20, 2001)

• takes students beyond the text
to explore real world issues
• encourages students to bring
their background knowledge to
the reading of the text
• engages students in discussion
around the text
• uses peer support to scaffold
student reading of challenging
texts
• scaffolds reading with a variety
of texts in all curriculum areas
• integrates the Four
Roles/Resources of the Reader
• a real world text from a daily
newspaper
• explores a topical environmental
issue
• contains rich language and
complex concepts
• links to work in science and SOSE
• leads to exploration of other
environmental issues including
global warming

Four Roles/Resources of the Reader

Based on the Four Roles/Resources of the Reader developed by Freebody and Luke (1990), the Three Level
Guide involves students in the following repertoire of purposeful social practices:
 Code breaker Text user

Decoding the codes and conventions Understanding the purposes of different

of written, spoken and visual texts, written, spoken and visual texts for different
eg: cultural and social functions, eg:

• focuses on particular words • develops an awareness of how the

in texts
• carefully reads and rereads
the text focusing on specific
wording
cultural and social context shapes the
nature of texts
• develops a critical response based on
own knowledge of how texts are used
to convey meaning

Text participant Text analyst

Comprehending written, spoken and Understanding how texts position readers,

visual texts, eg: viewers and listeners, eg:

• links the text to real life
issues
• focuses on the literal and
inferential meaning of the
language used in the text
• draws on background
knowledge to interpret the
text
• examines the writer’s point of view to
develop own position on the text
• explores how the writer is positioning
the reader
• develops a critical response to the
text

Four Resources Guideposts

Three Level Guide Guideposts provide a useful assessment tool.

Implementing the Strategy

Three Level Guide using Bagging a ‘berg

Choosing a Text

The following pointers provide a guide to text selection. Select a text which:

• deals with issues which challenge students beyond the literal level
• reflects the main ideas and concepts covered in the unit of work
• uses rich language

A Three Level Guide can be used with a variety of text types including multimedia texts such as websites,
video, and audio texts.

Creating a Three Level Guide

In creating a Three Level Guide it is important to first determine your content objectives. This gives the
guide a clear focus and informs the development of your statements. In this way, the statements will lead
the reader to focus on the relevant parts of the text. Your content objectives will determine your applied
level statements.

These third level statements should be written first as they influence the development of the statements at
the other levels. The third level statements encourage the reader to think beyond the text to its wider
implications. These statements reflect the main ideas and concepts you would like the students to explore
through the text.

Once you have written the applied level statements, write your literal statements. These statements guide
the reader to the information in the text related to the issues explored in the applied level statements. The
literal statements support the students by focusing their attention on the relevant information in the text.
This teaches the students to be selective in their reading by encouraging them to disregard irrelevant
information.

Finally, develop your interpretive level statements which guide the reader to draw inferences from the
information in the text. These statements focus on the author’s intent behind the words and information
selected. Interpretive level statements can also encourage the reader to explore what is omitted in the
text.

Three Level Guide

‘Bagging a ‘berg may solve water worries:scientist’

by Simon Grose, The Canberra Times (November 20, 2001)

Read the text and then look at the following statements. Respond to the statements in each section. Tick if
you agree, cross if you disagree. Discuss your responses with others.

Level 1 Literal Statements

Does the text say this? What words support your answer?

1. Icebergs are worth a lot of money.

2. Australia is developing a system for bagging icebergs.
3. This technology is freely available to everyone.
4. Towing icebergs is no longer expensive.
5. Bagged icebergs provide pure fresh water.

Level 2 Interpretive Statements

Does the text give you this idea? What words and phrases support your answer?

6. It is inexpensive to harvest an iceberg.

7. Icebergs will soon be used widely to supply water to dry regions of the
world including Australia.
8. Companies in Germany and America are developing this technology
because their countries are running out of water.
9. Supplying water is a profitable business.
10. Icebergs have already been towed to Africa.

Level 3 Applied Statements

Do you agree with this? Why? Be prepared to share your reasons.

11. We don’t need to conserve resources because technology will

always overcome these concerns.
12. Australia will greatly benefit from this new technology.
13. Big companies are always looking for ways of helping developing countries.
14. Environmental problems can easily be solved by technology.

Click here to download the above worksheet as a Microsoft Word file

(33KB).

Click here to open newspaper image in a new window: Bagging a ‘berg.

Qualities of a Good Three Level Guide

An effective Three Level Guide:

 • promotes discussion with statements that are open to a variety of interpretations and draw out
differing opinions
• leads students to apply their background knowledge to the text and to think through the
implications of the text to real life contexts
• has set content objectives which link to the unit of work and give the Three Level Guide direction
and purpose
• focuses the reader’s attention on the key elements of the text which illuminate the content
objectives

Using a Three Level Guide

Initially students work alone to complete the Three Level Guide. Emphasise the importance of being able to
justify the responses made to the statements.

Once the students have completed their responses, form the students into mixed ability groups of no more
than four students. The students then discuss their responses to the statements. Where possible students
come to an agreement based on references to text; not a compromise but a consensus. At this stage, the
teacher’s role is that of an observer only.

During this discussion, you can circulate around the class and listen to the discussions, noting any
difficulties the students may have experienced with the text. These can then be clarified at the end of the
session when the class comes together for a whole class discussion of the text. Review questions that have
not been agreed upon.

References
Grose, Simon. (November 20, 2001). ‘Bagging a ‘berg may solve water worries: scientist’. The Canberra
Times.

Morris, A. & Stewart-Dore, N. (1990). Learning to Learn from Text. Effective Reading in the Content Areas.
North Ryde, NSW: Addison-Wesley.

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