Reading comprehension: What works?

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How many times have you been reading along in a novel or informational article and realized that you didn’t have any idea of what the author was trying to say? How many times have you tried to figure out the meaning of a new word in an article and realized that you didn’t know what it meant in a particular situation? At one time or another, all readers have experiences in which they do not understand a text. Effective readers attempt to understand by using a variety of strategies such as rereading, reading on, asking questions, forming images, or seeking help from another source. Reading comprehension involves both the process and product of reading (Fountas and Pinnell, 1996). Comprehension is intense, active work between the reader and the text, and it requires the full concentration of the reader.

An outline of the strategies used by effective readers to comprehend text is provided at the end of this article. In addition, Goals 2 and 3 of the English Language Arts Standard Course of Study for Grades 3–5 reflect the strategies that effective readers use to process and comprehend texts. Teaching these competency goals and objectives across the elementary grades will provide a firm foundation in reading comprehension. Readers learn the strategies that effective, mature readers apply before, during, and after reading. They apply metacognitive strategies to monitor their own thinking, learn strategies, and apply these strategies as they read. They develop a global or initial comprehension of the text, process for deeper interpretation, learn to make connections with the text, and critically analyze the text.

Supporting comprehension in the classroom

From examining the research on what the most effective teachers do in their classroom to enable students to comprehend text, we have learned that there are certain practices that distinguish a classroom that supports comprehension instruction.

Provide authentic, engaging literacy activities for students. Students tackle literacy experiences that interest them and that they view as useful in their work or studies. Making connections to real world issues — inside and outside of the classroom — enables students to experience literacy as an authentic activity. Teachers assist students in this process by making connections clear through interactive read-alouds, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, craft lessons, and content area studies. They tell students exactly when and how the information and strategies that students learn will be useful to them. Teachers ask students to make connections with their own experiences, with other texts, and with the world, and then have students explain their connections. (See Valued Voices and Strategy Lessons for more information.)

Establish classroom management routines that enable students to become independent learners. Establishing predictable procedures and routines encourages and enables students to assume responsibility and independence in their learning. Reading and writing workshops provide a format for establishing clear routines, procedures, responsibilities, and accountability. Within this format, students know exactly what is expected of them at any time and know that they will be held accountable for their own work. The teacher begins the year with explicit minilessons on what is expected and on how to use materials and work areas.

Useful tools that teachers often use include reflection logs, book logs, learning logs, reading/writing folders, and status-of-the-class sheets. Providing baskets of appropriate books for independent reading on the students’ desks is another way that teachers can establish routines and assist students in assuming responsibility for their own literacy learning. (Two good resources are Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6 and Connecting Reading and Writing in the Intermediate Grades. Guiding Readers and Writers lists minilessons and explains in detail what teachers can do within the first twenty days to establish routines and procedures. It serves as a comprehensive guide for all teachers.)

Employ flexible grouping to meet individual student needs. Students participate in whole group, small group, and individual instructional settings throughout the school day. These flexible-grouping alternatives based on identified student needs provide efficient delivery structures for student learning. Whole group instruction is used most efficiently when the entire class can benefit from a minilesson or when everyone needs to hear the same information. Small group work is appropriate for guided reading or direct instruction for particular strategies such as comprehension monitoring or for word work. Invitational groups are appropriate for students who need additional support with a specific strategy or experience with particular text types. Individual conferences occur during the independent reading portion of reading workshop. Groupings are formed based on classroom assessment and also provide the context for appropriate assessments.

Maintain high levels of student engagement. Key variables with engagement are responsibility, choice, and independence. Students respond positively when they are expected to assume responsibility for their own reading assignments within clearly defined limits, are given some independence in meeting the assignments, and are held accountable for those assignments. They also respond well when given choice of texts or topics at least some of the time. Responsibility, choice, and independence assist students in experiencing success and subsequently enable them to remain engaged with their reading for longer periods of time.

Employ coaching as an interaction style. Teachers model and demonstrate the what, why, how, and when of strategy use. They are very explicit in their explanations and demonstrations in the beginning. Teachers use minilessons and think-alouds to make their thinking and instruction explicit for students. Then they provide guided practice and coaching to student as the students use the strategy in a supportive context. Students begin to model and share their thinking with other students as they gain confidence and expertise with the strategy. Gradually, teachers release responsibility for strategy use to students as the students internalize the strategy and learn from others. Independent practice and the use of invitational groups provide additional support as students gain control over the strategy. Through coaching students feel that the strategy and the text are real and useful to them.

Convey high expectations for student learning and behavior. Students are expected to learn, to participate, and to be successful. They are held accountable for their progress and their learning but are supported in their efforts to learn.

Explicitly teach comprehension strategies with opportunities for guided and independent practice. Teachers use think-alouds, explicit explanations, and demonstrations with the gradual release of responsibility to scaffold strategy learning for students. Students experience many opportunities to practice the strategy with teacher support and later on their own.

Aquaint students with the unique features of different types of text. Provide students with opportunities to read fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. The unique features of different types of text may be illustrated in minilessons, read-aloud settings, guided reading, and writers’ workshop. Students read, discuss, and compose a variety of texts as part of a balanced literacy program.

Foster student choice in reading and writing. Students may select from a variety of books and topics in their independent reading or in their guided reading on a regular basis. Topics or texts may be assigned for part of the school day, but students are given the opportunity to make selections from a limited amount of texts or a wider variety within each instructional setting.

Provide opportunities for students to read at both their independent and instructional levels. Students gain in reading competence through the guided reading lessons on their instructional level. They also need time, texts, and opportunities to practice and consolidate their reading strategies and skills with texts on their independent reading levels. These texts may be ones that students have read in shared or guided reading groups, old favorites, or new ones on topics of study or interest. Students gain new vocabulary and boost their background knowledge through independent reading.

Provide time for students to talk about their reading in pairs, small groups, and large groups. Discussing what is read with others enables students to deepen their understanding, clarify misunderstanding, learn to support their thinking, and explain what they understand or what the author meant. Questioning the author, the text, and other readers assists with comprehension and retention of information. Students learn to apply higher-level thinking skills and to ask higher-level questions through discussion with others in the form of literature circles, cooperative groups, projects, and book clubs.

Encourage and provide opportunities for wide reading. Use a variety of different texts, a variety of genres, a variety of topics, and a variety of purposes. Classroom libraries and media centers with a variety of easily accessible texts in a many different formats are crucial.

Emphasize all levels of comprehension. Especially important are higher-order comprehension and writing in response to reading. North Carolina’s End-Of-Grade Reading results for Grades 3-5 indicate that students who score at Level 4 (above grade level) are familiar with a variety of genres and topics and comprehend higher-level questions. Students comprehend successfully when teachers ask higher-level questions as part of their instruction. They comprehend and process texts more deeply when they ask and seek the answers to higher-level questions on their own.

Encourage student-generated questions about texts at all levels. Students who ask questions about the text and author prior to reading, during reading, and after reading remember more about the text. Questioning enables readers to read texts actively and understand more of what the author intended in the selection. Through questioning, students critically analyze information and ideas. Questioning enables students to read selectively and to evaluate the validity and reliability of information and ideas. The English Language Arts Planning Guides for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5 provide a description of thinking skills and generic question stems for each thinking skill level that teachers can use to model questioning and can use for students to formulate their own questions. Interactive read-alouds, shared reading, book clubs/literature circles, and content area studies provide settings for students to generate questions about texts and to read to find the answers. Again in these settings thinking can be made explicit and discussions can help students clarify their thinking. Other effective contexts are Questioning the Author, reciprocal teaching, ReQuest, collaborative groups, projects, and KWL strategies.

Provide large amounts of time for text reading. Students need a minimum of thirty to fifty minutes for reading on their independent reading level both within the literacy block and outside of school. Reading for extended periods of time enables students to develop reading endurance, to increase vocabulary, to develop fluency, to consolidate strategies and skills, and to extend their world knowledge.

Structure opportunities for peer and collaborative learning. Literature circles, Questioning the Author, Book Clubs, projects, and content area studies enable students to extend their learning, develop independence, process text deeply, and develop critical analysis skills.

Effective teachers provide comprehension strategy instruction throughout the entire elementary school years. Readers’ comprehension expertise develops over many years as a result of explicit instruction. In order to be most effective, teachers and schools need a comprehension instruction plan as part of their literacy plan.

What strategies do effective readers demonstrate as they comprehend text?

Research on reading comprehension instruction has focused on the strategies that effective readers use to understand text. They use these strategies before, during, and after reading. These strategies need to be made explicit to students in our elementary schools.

Before reading, effective readers:

• Set clear goals for reading.
• Actively pursue meaning and activate prior knowledge.
• Preview the text.
• Make predictions.
• Generate questions to be answered.

During reading, effective readers:

• Pay close attention to text structure.
• Read texts selectively based on purpose(s) for reading.
• Construct and revise meaning.
• Determine whether the text and information are meeting goals.
• Integrate prior knowledge with information and ideas from text(s).
• Think about and question the text’s and author’s information and ideas.
• Monitor and revise understanding of the text.
• Determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and concepts using a variety of strategies.
• Reconcile inconsistencies or gaps in information and ideas as necessary.

After reading effective readers:

• Evaluate text quality and value.
• Respond to text mainly through questioning, additional reading, or discussion.
• Reflect upon texts during reading, during pauses in reading, and after reading.
• Consider comprehension and learning to be satisfying and productive experiences.

References

Pressley, Michael. (May, 2001). 2001 Reading Research Conference. International Reading Association Conference. New Orleans, La.

Kamil, Michael L, Mosenthal, Peter, Pearson, P. David, and Barr, Rebecca. (2000) Handbook of Reading Research. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association.

Duke, Nell. (May, 2001). 2001 Reading Research Conference International Reading Association Conference. New Orleans, La.

Pearson, David P. (May, 2001). 2001 Reading Research Conference International Reading Association Conference. New Orleans, La.