Reading skills improvement strategies

11 Proven Tips to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills for Students

Cookbooks, social media, instruction manuals — no matter where you look, we live our lives surrounded by words. That’s why reading comprehension is one of the most valuable skills a student can master.

But it’s not automatic. Reading comprehension needs to be taught in the classroom to have a lasting impact, whether you’re teaching kindergarten or high school English.

Many students struggle with reading comprehension and understanding for a variety of reasons:

They prefer a different learning style
They’re not interested in reading or writing
They don’t have the necessary prior knowledge to understand the text
They have trouble focusing on one word at a time and skip important ideas
They’re working with a learning need like dyslexia that makes understanding written materials difficult

Every student deserves the chance to build critical comprehension skills. Keep reading for eleven strategies you can use in your classroom to help students love reading!

What is reading comprehension and why is it important?

Reading comprehension is a reader’s ability to understand the explicit and implicit meaning of a text, or piece of writing.

It moves beyond vocabulary knowledge and word recognition to add meaning. When students use reading comprehension skills, they’re turning words into thoughts and ideas.

Reading is one of the most important ways students and adults learn new information. As one study in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences states: "Reading comprehension is one of the most complex cognitive activities in which humans engage, making it difficult to teach, measure, and research."

Reading comprehension can also help struggling readers build enjoyment of reading and participate more fully in lessons.

And it’s not just for the classroom, either — reading comprehension has real-life applications for readers of all ages. It can:

Equip readers to make good day-to-day decisions with available information
Give readers the ability to think critically about what they read online and in the news
Help readers decipher meaning in recipes, directions or other step-by-step instructions
Help students move past word recognition into understanding and remembering the text

Improving reading comprehension can help your students become successful readers in and out of the classroom for the rest of their lives.

Two core components of comprehension

The two main components of reading comprehension are vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension. Both of these skills combine to help students get the most out of a text.

Vocabulary knowledge

Vocabulary knowledge is where reading comprehension starts. Students with good vocabulary strategies understand what words mean and have the background knowledge to understand a given text.

It also includes strategies for using context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. The reading comprehension process is over before it begins if students don’t have solid vocabulary knowledge or the ability to learn new words.

Text comprehension

Text comprehension is a big-picture look at what, exactly, a text means. It helps students interact with a text to understand what’s being said and what they need to learn from it.

When students have good text comprehension skills, they can answer questions about what the author is saying, summarize the passage and connect information between texts or prior knowledge.

In short, it helps them move beyond literal comprehension and into higher levels of thinking.

11 Ways to improve reading comprehension skills

Whether you’re teaching high school or elementary school, it’s never too late to use reading comprehension strategies to improve understanding, boost retention and make connections. Every student is different, so adjust your teaching methods accordingly!

Some of the most effective reading comprehension strategies include:

1. Build on existing knowledge

One of the biggest barriers to reading comprehension is a lack of background knowledge.

If you’re reading a text about astronomy, for example, ask students to record or explain what they already know about the solar system. For easy insights, have students answer quick questions or fill out a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart and share the results.

Or read non-fiction and fiction books that cover the same or overlapping topic. For example, a non-fiction book about pigs and a picture book that includes pigs as characters. Teachers can reference the facts from the non-fiction book to discuss what is fact versus fiction.

Make sure all students understand key terms and ideas before you read the text, so everyone starts on the same page (literally). This helps students draw inferences and make connections between the text and things they already know, levelling the playing field when it comes to prior knowledge.

2. Identify and summarize key ideas

After students read, summarizing a text can help them pull out main points and absorb more information.

As you introduce summarization, guide students through with leading questions and a specific structure — length, key points, etc. Use the “I do, we do, you do” format to model good summarization techniques.

As you model the practice, teach students how to:

Separate facts from opinions
Find key ideas amid extra information
Identify important words and phrases
Look up vocabulary they don’t understand

Teaching students how to do this consciously helps train their brains to start summarizing automatically, leading to better reading comprehension overall.

3. Use online resources

Thanks to the internet, reading doesn't just happen IRL — it's online, too! There are lots of resources you can use in your classroom to engage kids with different interests as they practice their reading comprehension.

Prodigy English is a brand-new adventure that introduces kids to a world filled with adventures, wishes and more ways to love reading.

Its game-based platform encourages students to answer curriculum-aligned reading and language questions to get more energy. Once players are energized, they can gather resources from an ever-growing world, craft items, earn coins and build their very own village.

As they play, you'll be able to track their progress and achievement. Sign up for a free teacher account today!

Create a free account

4. Use visual aids

To help students build a picture in their minds of what they’re reading, use visual aids and visualization techniques.

Start by reading aloud and asking students to try and picture what’s happening in their heads. After, use writing prompts like:

What colors did you see the most?
What do you think the setting looked like?
How would you describe the main character?
What sounds do you think you would hear in the world of the story?

Have students draw out a scene, character or story for even more understanding. They can make a family tree of the characters or fun notes to help them remember the key points in the story!

Anchor charts, word walls or picture books can also help reinforce key concepts for your students. When they’re able to visualize the story or information they’re reading, they’re more likely to retain key information.

5. Develop vocabulary skills

Vocabulary is an important part of understanding a text and is vital for reading ease and fluency. Vocabulary teaching strategies can help students build the tools to understand new words on their own.

To help students learn and remember new words, try:

Making a word wall in your classroom
Pairing new words with physical actions
Creating graphic organizers that help relate known words to new ones

Read-aloud strategies can also help you model the process of learning new words for students. Show them how to use context clues to find meaning, and have them make a vocabulary list of all the new words they know or want to learn.

6. Implement thinking strategies

To encourage students to engage critically with a text, ask questions about:

Where they can spot bias in the material
Why the author chose a particular genre or style
What they think happened before or after the story
Why characters responded to situations the way they did

These questions get students thinking about the deeper meaning in a text and help them use critical thinking skills as they look for key points. Encourage students to ask clarifying questions when they don’t know what the text is saying, or build mind maps to draw connections between ideas and prior knowledge.

7. Create question and answer scenarios

Questioning students on different aspects of the text helps them examine it with fresh eyes and find new ways of interpreting it.

Use questions that challenge students to find the answers:

In several different parts of the text
On their own, using background knowledge
In their own opinions and responses to the text

Ask students questions to clarify meaning, help them understand characters better, make predictions or help them understand the author’s intent.

Whether you’re answering these questions in a group or individually, they’ll help students make a habit of asking questions and using critical thinking skills. After all, the magic happens when students start thinking beyond the page!

8. Encourage reciprocal teaching

Reciprocal teaching gives students four strategies for reading comprehension and uses specific techniques to get them involved in interrogating a text.

Using the “I do, we do, you do” method, follow the four building blocks of reciprocal teaching:

Predicting — Asking questions about what’s going to happen in the story and after it’s done.
Questioning — Asking questions about the who, what, when, where, how and why of a story.
Clarifying — Helping students recognize their confusion, identify what’s confusing them and taking steps towards understanding.
Summarizing — Condensing a reading to its most important facts and ideas.

Check out four reciprocal teaching strategies to use in your classroom.

9. Use summarizing techniques

Although it might seem tedious for students at first, summarizing techniques help them learn how to find and bring together key ideas. It trains them to automatically synthesize information as they read, and can benefit learners of all levels.

When students first encounter a text, have them write a summary and encourage them to refine it until it only includes the essential information. Ask clarifying questions to guide their writing, including:

What is the main idea of this passage?
What details support the main idea in the story?
What unnecessary information did the author include?

This helps them see how parts of a story are connected and emphasizes the importance of providing textual support to their argument and summaries.

10. Ask students to make predictions

Predictions happen when students use the evidence from the beginning of a text to guess:

What will happen next
What they think the text will be about
What details an author will use to support their argument

At the beginning of a reading, have students record their predictions. Once the reading is over, have a discussion about what they got right and what they got wrong. What made them think of their prediction? Did the author follow their expectations, or subvert them?

Model predictions with a think-aloud or give students blank statements that guide their thinking.

Not only does this build reading comprehension, but it encourages students to engage with the material critically and teaches them how to build solid, text-based arguments.

11. Try making inferences

When students make inferences, they’re using the information they know to make a guess about what they don’t.

Instead of just predicting what’s going to happen next, students make inferences about information outside the story — what happened before the story started, what genre the story is or what happens after the story is over.

Like predicting, you can model inferences with read-alouds or guided questioning. Have students write a prequel to the story, or build a character background based on textual evidence.

Inferences help students draw conclusions between the text and their prior knowledge about how the world works. Plus, it can help boost their creativity!

How parents can encourage reading comprehension at home

Reading doesn’t stop when children leave the classroom. Parents, you have an important opportunity to support reading comprehension at home, too.

1. Read aloud with your children

Reading with your child has lots of benefits — it helps you bond, it builds their imagination and it’s fun!

As you read, discuss topics and ask your child guiding questions about what’s happening. What do they think will happen next? Which character would they most like to be friends with? What would they do if they were the main character?

Not only do these questions make reading fun, it can help strengthen their reading comprehension skills.

2. Buy or borrow books at the right reading level

Whether it’s your local bookstore or library branch, there are always books available at your child’s reading level.

If your child is reading books that are too easy, they’ll get bored. But if books are too hard, they’ll get discouraged. Talk to your child’s teacher about how to find books in their sweet spot.

Host a book swap with neighbors or friends to get access to new titles, or look in the library for books that relate to your child’s unique interests.

3. Discuss what your child is reading

As a parent, you have a wonderful opportunity to hold low-pressure, friendly conversations with your child about what they’re reading — no pop quiz required.

Ask your child what their favorite book is, or what they like reading at home or at school. After they’re done reading, ask them questions about what happened in their book, or what they think will happen next, to build an organic love of reading.

4. Check out online reading programs

Online reading apps can help kids engage with books and reading in new, exciting ways! For a digital literary experience, check out:

Epic — A free online library of digital books you can browse and read with your child.
Headsprout — An adaptive online learning resource for students in kindergarten to fifth grade.
Audible — A library of audiobooks and podcasts for kids who prefer to listen rather than look at words.
Sora — An Overdrive-based app where you can download books and audiobooks from your library for free.
Prodigy English — A whole new way for kids to develop reading and language skills, with free educational content for 1st to 6th grade created by teachers.

5. Try game-based learning

If your child doesn’t want to sit still long enough to read a book, game-based learning can help them master important concepts and get the ants out of their pants.

Charades, telephone, Pictionary and Scattergories are all fun games that connect meaning with words, help boost your child’s background knowledge and make learning words fun.

Try some in your house to see which your child likes best.

And, if they're into educational apps, explore Prodigy English — a digital game-based learning platform! As students play, questions cover important skills like reading, rhyming, phonetics and spelling.

6. Ask their teacher

Your child’s teacher should be your first stop for any questions about your child’s reading comprehension or areas for improvement.

Whether it’s part of a parent-teacher conference or just a quick catch-up after school, they’ll be able to give you valuable advice about how to best help your child love reading. Use their advice to connect the books you read at home and the games you play with what your child is working on in class!

Reinforce with continual learning and encouragement

Reading comprehension doesn’t just happen all at once — it’s a lifelong process that students build on as they grow.

In each grade, encourage students to engage more deeply with what they’re reading and ask critical questions. As students build reading comprehension skills, they’ll have an opportunity to find joy and meaning in their reading.

Want more ways to build reading comprehension? Try Prodigy English!

In this all-new adventure, students can explore and create a world of their very own as they meet new characters, earn coins and build a home. Create a free teacher account today to get started.

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How to Improve Reading Comprehension: 8 Expert Tips

Reading is a skill many people take for granted, but the act of reading and properly comprehending a text is a complex and interactive process. It requires several different brain functions to work together and most often requires one to puzzle through multiple layers of context and meaning.

Because reading comprehension is so complicated, we can often find ourselves understanding the most basic interpretation of a text, but missing the emotional core or the "big picture." Or we might just find our brains spinning with no clue at all as to what a text is attempting to convey.

But luckily for everyone who struggles in English classes, on standardized tests, or in daily life, reading comprehension can be improved upon (and it's never too late to start!). In this guide, I explain step-by-step how to improve reading comprehension over time and offer tips for boosting your understanding as you read.

What Is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the understanding of what a particular text means and the ideas the author is attempting to convey, both textual and subtextual. In order to read any text, your brain must process not only the literal words of the piece, but also their relationship with one another, the context behind the words, how subtle language and vocabulary usage can impact emotion and meaning behind the text, and how the text comes together as a larger, coherent whole.

For instance, let's look at the first line from Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Now, a completely literal interpretation of the text, just based on word-meaning, would have us believe that 'all rich men want wives.' But the context, word choice, and phrasing of the text actually belie that interpretation. By using the phrases "universally acknowledged" and "must be in want of" (emphasis ours), the text is conveying a subtle sarcasm to the words. Instead of it being an actual truth that 'rich men want wives,' this one sentence instantly tells us that we're reading about a society preoccupied with marriage, while also implying that the opening statement is something people in that society may believe, but that isn't necessarily true.

In just a few short words, Austen conveys several ideas to the reader about one of the main themes of the story, the setting, and what the culture and people are like. And she does so all the while seeming to contradict the literal words of the piece.

Without practice in reading comprehension, nuances like these can become lost. And so it can happen that someone may find themselves reading, but not truly comprehending the full meaning of a text.

As you can see, reading comprehension involves many processes happening in your brain at once, and thus it can be easy for some aspects of a text to get lost in the muddle. But the good news for anyone who struggles is that reading comprehension is a skill just like any other. It must be learned through practice, focus, and diligence, but it absolutely CAN be learned.

Why Reading Comprehension Is Important

Proper reading comprehension can be difficult, so why bother? Even though learning how to properly read and comprehend texts is a complicated process, it is a necessary skill to master, both for work and for pleasure.

You will need to know how to read and interpret all kinds of different texts—both on the basic, literal level and on a more in-depth level—throughout your schooling, in college, and in the working world (as well as in your recreation time!). If we think about "reading" just as a literal or surface understanding of a piece and "reading comprehension" as the complete understanding, a person can only get by in the world on pure "reading" for so long.

Reading comprehension is essential for many significant aspects of daily life, such as:

Reading, understanding, and analyzing literature in your English classes

Reading and understanding texts from your other class subjects, such as history, math, or science

Doing well on both the written and math sections of the SAT (or all five sections of the ACT)

Understanding and engaging with current events presented in written form, such as news reports

Properly understanding and responding to any and all other workplace correspondence, such as essays, reports, memos, and analyses

Simply taking pleasure in written work on your own leisure time

Just like with any goal or skill, we can master reading comprehension one step at a time.

How to Improve Reading Comprehension: 3 Steps

Because reading comprehension is a skill that improves like any other, you can improve your understanding with practice and a game plan.

Dedicate yourself to engaging in a combination of both "guided" and "relaxed" reading practice for at least two to three hours a week. Guided practice will involve structure and focused attention, like learning new vocabulary words and testing yourself on them, while relaxed practice will involve merely letting yourself read and enjoy reading without pressure for at least one to two hours a week. (Note: if you already read for pleasure, add at least one more hour of pleasure-reading per week.)

By combining reading-for-studying and reading-for-pleasure, you'll be able to improve your reading skill without relegating reading time to the realm of "work" alone. Reading is a huge part of our daily lives, and improving your comprehension should never come at the cost of depriving yourself of the pleasure of the activity.

So what are some of the first steps for improving your reading comprehension level?

Step 1: Understand and Reevaluate How You're Currently Reading

Before you can improve your reading comprehension, you must first understand how you're currently reading and what your limitations are.

Start by selecting excerpts from different texts with which you are unfamiliar—text books, essays, novels, news reports, or any kind of text you feel you particularly struggle to understand—and read them as you would normally. As you read, see if you can notice when your attention, energy, or comprehension of the material begins to flag.

If your comprehension or concentration tends to lag after a period of time, start to slowly build up your stamina. For instance, if you continually lose focus at the 20 minute mark every time you read, acknowledge this and push yourself to slowly increase that time, rather than trying to sit and concentrate on reading for an hour or two at a stretch. Begin by reading for your maximum amount of focused time (in this case, twenty minutes), then give yourself a break. Next time, try for 22 minutes. Once you've mastered that, try for 25 and see if you can still maintain focus. If you can, then try for thirty.

If you find that your concentration or comprehension starts to lag again, take a step back on your timing before pushing yourself for more. Improvement comes with time, and it'll only cause frustration if you try to rush it all at once.

Alternatively, you may find that your issues with reading comprehension have less to do with the time spent reading than with the source material itself. Perhaps you struggle to comprehend the essential elements of a text, the context of a piece, character arcs or motivation, books or textbooks with densely packed information, or material that is heavily symbolic. If this is the case, then be sure to follow the tips below to improve these areas of reading comprehension weakness.

Improving your reading comprehension level takes time and practice, but understanding where your strengths and weaknesses stand now is the first step towards progress.

Step 2: Improve Your Vocabulary

Reading and comprehension rely on a combination of vocabulary, context, and the interaction of words. So you must be able to understand each moving piece before you can understand the text as a whole.

If you struggle to understand specific vocabulary, it's sometimes possible to pick up meaning through context clues (how the words are used in the sentence or in the passage), but it's always a good idea to look up the definitions of words with which you aren't familiar. As you read, make sure to keep a running list of words you don't readily recognize and make yourself a set of flashcards with the words and their definitions. Dedicate fifteen minutes two or three times a week to and quizzing yourself on your vocab flashcards.

To get started, you'll need some blank index cards and a system to keep them organized. These basic cards are an affordable option that are also available in fun colors. You can keep them organized with plastic baggies or rubber bands, or you can get an organizer.

Alternatively, try these easy-flip flashcards that include binder clips. Though we strongly recommend making your own flashcards, you can also buy pre-made ones —the best option is Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know, a series of exercises to master key words and idioms.

In order to retain your vocabulary knowledge, you must employ a combination of practiced memorization (like studying your flashcards) and make a point of using these new words in your verbal and written communication. Guided vocabulary practice like this will give you access to new words and their meanings as well as allow you to properly retain them.

Step 3: Read for Pleasure

The best way to improve your reading comprehension level is through practice. And the best way to practice is to have fun with it!

Make reading a fun activity, at least on occasion, rather than a constant chore. This will motivate you to engage with the text and embrace the activity as part of your daily life (rather than just your study/work life). As you practice and truly engage with your reading material, improvement will come naturally.

Begin by reading texts that are slightly below your age and grade level (especially if reading is frustrating or difficult for you). This will take pressure off of you and allow you to relax and enjoy the story. Here are some fun, easy reads that we recommend to get you started:

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roksani Chokshi
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K .Rowling

Once you feel more comfortable reading and practicing your comprehension strategies (tips in the next section), go ahead and allow yourself to read at whatever reading or age level you feel like. Even if you feel that you don't understand some of the text right now—or even a large portion of it!—if you enjoy yourself and give it your best shot, you'll find that your reading comprehension levels will improve over time.

Ultimately, reading should be a fun and functional activity. So try to keep your reading exercises balanced between work and pleasure.

5 Reading Comprehension Tips

Improving your vocabulary and increasing the amount of time you spend reading overall will help you to improve your reading comprehension over time, but what do you do to help you to comprehend a particular piece of text?

Here, I'll walk you through the steps to take as you're reading so that you can understand the text and improve how you're reading, when you're reading.

Tip 1: Stop When You Get Confused and Try to Summarize What You Just Read

As you read, let yourself stop whenever you lose focus or feel confused. Just stop. Now, without re-reading, summarize aloud or in your head what you've comprehended so far (before the place where you became confused).

Skim back through the text and compare how you've summarized it with what's written on the page. Do you feel you've captured the salient points? Do you feel a little more focused on what's going on now that you've put the material into your own words?

Keep reading with your summation in mind and let yourself stop and repeat the process whenever the piece becomes confusing to you. The more you're able to re-contextualize the work in your own words, the better you'll be able to understand it and lock the information in your mind as you keep reading.

Tip 2: If You're Struggling, Try Reading Aloud

Sometimes, we can form a sort of "mental block" that can halt our reading progress for whatever reason (maybe the sentence looks complex or awkward, maybe you're tired, maybe you feel intimidated by the word choice, or are simply bored).

Reading these problematic passages aloud can often help circumvent that block and help you to form a visual of what the text is trying to convey.

Tip 3: Re-read (or Skim) Previous Sections of the Text

For the most part, reading is a personal activity that happens entirely in your head. So don't feel you have to read just like anyone else if "typical" methods don't work for you. Sometimes it can make the most sense to read (or re-read) a text out of order.

It is often helpful to glance backwards through a piece of text (or even re-read large sections) to remind yourself of any information you need and have forgotten—what happened previously, what a particular word means, who a person was...the list is endless.

Previous sentences, sections, or even whole chapters can provide helpful context clues. Re-reading these passages will help to refresh your memory so that you can better understand and interpret later sections of the text.

Need more help with this topic? Check out Tutorbase!

Our vetted tutor database includes a range of experienced educators who can help you polish an essay for English or explain how derivatives work for Calculus. You can use dozens of filters and search criteria to find the perfect person for your needs.

Tip 4: Skim or Read Upcoming Sections of the Text

Just like with the previous step, don't feel that the only way to read and understand a text is to work through it completely linearly. Allow yourself the freedom to take apart the text and put it back together again in whichever way makes the most sense to you.

Sometimes a current confusion in a work will be explained later on in the text, and it can help you to know that explanations are upcoming or even just to read them ahead of time.

So skip forward or backwards, re-read or read ahead as you need to, take the piece in whatever order you need to in order to make sense of the text. Not everyone thinks linearly, and not everyone best understands texts linearly either.

Tip 5: Discuss the Text With a Friend (Even an Imaginary Friend)

Sometimes discussing what you know so far about a text can help clear up any confusion. If you have a friend who hasn't read the text in question, then explain it to them in your own words, and discuss where you feel your comprehension is lacking. You'll find that you've probably understood more than you think once you've been forced to explain it to someone who's completely unfamiliar with the piece.

Even if no one else is in the room, trying to teach or discuss what a passage says or means with "someone else" can be extremely beneficial. In fact, software engineers call this technique "rubber duck debugging," wherein they explain a coding problem to a rubber duck. This forces them to work through a problem aloud, which has proven time and time again to help people solve problems. So if a piece of text has your head spinning from trying to work through it by yourself, start chatting with your nearest friend/pet/rubber duck. You'll be surprised with how much easier it is to understand a text once you've talked it through with someone.

Even if that someone is a duck.

Quack.

The Take-Aways

Improving reading comprehension takes time and effort, but it can be done. Be patient with yourself, work through your reading comprehension steps, and try not to get frustrated with yourself if you feel your progress is slow or if you feel you're "falling behind." You will utilize your reading skills throughout your life, so go at a pace that works for you, and take care to maintain that balance between reading for pure pleasure and reading for dedicated improvement.

As you begin to incorporate more and more reading into your daily life, you'll find that comprehension will become easier, and reading will become more fun. In every piece of text, there are worlds of meaning to explore, and learning how to uncover them can be the ultimate rewarding journey.

What's Next?

Can't get enough reading? Whether as part of your reading practice or just for fun, check out our picks for the 31 best books to read in high school.

Problems with procrastination? Whether you're studying for the SAT's or studying your reading comprehension vocabulary check out how to beat procrastination and get your studies back on track.

Want to earn better grades? Our guide will help you get that 4.0 you're striving for.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article!

Courtney Montgomery

About the Author

Courtney scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT in high school and went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is passionate about bringing education and the tools to succeed to students from all backgrounds and walks of life, as she believes open education is one of the great societal equalizers. She has years of tutoring experience and writes creative works in her free time.

Strategies for developing reading skills - NovaInfo 112

Tursunova D.Sh.
Uzbek State University of World Languages

Novainfo 112 , p .41-42 , download PDF
Published January 24, 200017
Section: Pedagogical sciences
Language: Russian
Views per month: 2
CC: 2
CC BY-NC

Abstract

Inevitably, reading skill is an interactive process in which students construct meaningful representations of text using appropriate reading strategies for themselves. This article defines the term "reading and reading comprehension", explains the types of reading, declares models of the process of reading, sets out theories of reading comprehension, discusses effective strategies for reading comprehension, and mentions the results of students' reading strategies and their reading comprehension.

Keywords

STRATEGIES, THEORIES, MODELS, TYPES, READING UNDERSTANDING

Research paper

Reading comprehension requires the successful expansion and organization of a multitude of lower and higher level processes and skills. Accordingly, there are many sources of possible impairment of comprehension, and these sources differ depending on the skill level and age of the readers. There are several types of reading that should be known to improve students' reading comprehension. First there are two different types of reading. They are extensive reading and intensive reading. There are different definitions for extensive reading. Hedge (2003) describes this as skimming and scanning, while Hafiz and Tudor (1989) expressed the view that exposing students to a large amount of meaningful and engaging material would have a significant impact on students' second language proficiency.

Initially used texts tend to be relatively simple so that students can grasp the meaning of unknown words. This is very important because it means that longer texts can be used than would be the case in most classroom environments. Another feature is that the extensive should be an enjoyable experience, as students are free to choose texts on topics they find intriguing. Comprehension checks tend to be kept to a minimum because the process of reading is seen as more important than understanding specific details, and because such checks can cause anxiety and reduce the enjoyment of reading. Extensive reading should be an enjoyable experience, as students are free to choose texts on topics that interest them.

Hedge mentioned enhanced reading as follows: students can master the language, improve their reading skills, become more independent in their learning, learn cultural knowledge, and increase confidence and incentive to continue their learning. (Hedge, 2003). The definition for intensive reading is usually given as the emphasis is on details that support the main points chosen at the skimming level. When the level of comprehension is to be qualitative, reading for memorization or accuracy is done through the structure of the survey and the phrases for reading. This reading includes repeated reading and note-taking, very often followed by a summary. Preparing for the exam requires accurate interpretation of the text, requiring intensive reading skills. Intensive reading includes several types of reading tasks. Comparison - graphs, tables, diagrams with explanations to them. Defining - scientific texts from the genre point of view. Recognition is the relationship between concepts, the relationship between ideas. Since intensive reading is mainly for a scientific text, they are characterized by brevity with concepts related, sometimes dependent on each other. Understanding academic texts is easier if students are familiar with text development techniques, such as cause and effect relationships, examples, definitions, comparisons, and connectors associated with some of them. Science textbooks are heavily illustrated. These visual forms of communication replace verbal communication and must be carefully read and understood.

There are three types of reading comprehension theories. These are mental representations, content literacy and cognitive processes. Mental Representations - Van Oostendorp and Goldman (1998) expressed that when a reader reads a text, they can create a mental representation of the text that explains how the reader understands the text. Many studies have confirmed that many levels of representation are involved in the construction of meaning. When a reader reads a text, three different levels of mental representation are created. This is a surface component, a text base and a situation model. When words and phrases, and not the meaning of the words and phrases, are encoded in the mental representation, this is defined as the surface component of the mental representation. The text base indicates the meaning of the text and consists of those parts and relationships that have arisen from the text itself without increasing anything that is not clearly defined in the text. A text base can be made without remembering the exact words or phrases from the text. In a pure text base, the reader applies previous knowledge to create a more refined and coherent mental representation. A situational model is a structure that combines a text base and related features of the reader's knowledge. To create a text base, some previous knowledge is required, but this knowledge is more general, which is necessary for decoding texts in general, while previous knowledge in the formation of a situation model is more specific regarding the content of the text.

Setting reading targets before starting any unknown text forces students to be punctual while reading. Each student sets their own reading goals. This can help them take action to develop reading skills and students will be more attentive to how they improve. If the text is too complex or long, it is useful to divide them into parts. Long, complex reading can be more easily digestible if broken down into sections. Short segments will help students retain information as the class discusses the materials. It can also help students gain confidence in understanding a complex subject. Each student has their own style of reading, they need to be given the opportunity to lead the reading. Students process reading materials and curriculum in completely different ways. As the teacher completes reading assignments to help your class learn difficult material, you will learn what works best for each individual student. By incorporating more reading activities into curricula, students will find improvements in vocabulary, writing skills, problem solving, concentration, and cognitive development to help build a solid foundation for future learning.

This article emphasizes the idea that many strategies influence processes of understanding. All of these strategies work together to create a meaningful process easily and effectively. Based on the results of this study, it is concluded that reading materials and tasks should be very attractive to students so that they can easily understand the text, and they should be related to the level of students' proficiency. Teachers have a great responsibility to motivate their students to read these materials, they must be very sensitive to their students' understanding difficulties and must help their students change their outlook on reading and have a positive attitude towards their reading activities so they can do better. understand different texts.

References

McNamara, D.S., & Magliano, J. P. (2009). Towards a comprehensive model of understanding. In B. Rose (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (pp.297-384). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Duke, N. (2003). Comprehension instruction for informational text. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Michigan Reading Association, Grand Rapids, MI.
Hedge (2003) Reciprocal Teaching Strategies and Their Impacts on English Reading Comprehension. Theory and Practice in Language Studies
Hafiz and Tudor (1989) Intensive Reading English Teaching Professional, 28. 40-48. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Day and Bamford (2009). Teaching reading comprehension to EFL. The Reading Matrix, 143-154. Retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/alyousef/article.pdf
Carrell (2012) A schema-theoretic view of basic processes in reading. Handbook of reading research (pp. 255–292). New York: Longman.

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Tursunova, D.Sh. Strategies for developing reading skills / D.Sh. Tursunov. - Text: electronic // NovaInfo, 2020. - No. 112. - P. 41-42. — URL: https://novainfo.ru/article/17563 (date of access: 12/06/2022).

Effective strategies for working with text in the classroom at school

The ultimate goal of teaching Russian is practical literacy and language competence. The basis of the content of literature as an academic subject is reading and textual study of works of art.

Work with text as the main didactic unit allows students to combine the activities of developing practical skills of literate writing and speech development.

Every teacher dreams that all students come to the lesson prepared: they have completely read this or that work or paragraph. And not just read, but understood the meaning of the text read. During the final certification, the graduate must also understand the meaning of the read text. Whether it is a task to the text or the text itself.

Teachers working in grades 9 and 11 know that most mistakes are made due to misunderstanding of what is read, as well as when reading the assignment itself.

Teaching a child to read “correctly”, “effectively”, “productively” is an important task for a teacher. That is why the technology of productive reading (PRT), developed by Professor N. Svetlovskaya, acquires a leading role and contributes to the achievement of the results that are mentioned in the new standards.

The technology is universal and can be used in lessons of any cycle.

It is aimed at the formation of all universal learning activities: cognitive, communicative, regulatory, personal.

The technology of productive reading differs sharply from the traditional technology of transferring ready-made knowledge to a student. The teacher organizes the children's research work in such a way that they themselves "think" about solving the key problem of the lesson and can themselves explain how to act in new conditions. The teacher becomes a partner, a mentor, an observer.

The developed technology includes three stages of working with text, a three-stage process.

The goal of is the development of anticipation (the ability to guess, predict the content of the text). Task - to develop motivation for reading the text

1. Strategy "Forecast by headline".

Task: think about what can be discussed in the story of K.G. Paustovsky "Warm bread", in the work of P.P. Bazhov "Mistress of the Copper Mountain", etc.

– Try to predict the content by the first line of the story…Remember the name of the story…. Does the content of the story match the title?

Give examples of such discrepancies.

Associative bush (circle, row). Today we are going to read and discuss the topic… What associations do you have about the stated topic?

2. Strategy "Brainstorm" ("Basket of ideas").

Task: answer the questions before reading the text (fairy tales "Warm bread") - What do you know about K. G. Paustovsky? What do you think the story will be about? Who can be the main character? What event in the story can be described.

3. Strategy "Image of the text".

Task: check your assumptions. Based on the words taken from the text, try to make a short plot story. The title of the story is given.

4. Strategy "Battery of questions".

Task: make up questions to the text according to the title, according to the illustrations.

5. Glossary strategy.

Task: look at the list of words and mark those that can be related to the text. When you have finished reading the text, go back to these words and look at their meaning and the use of words used in the text.

6. "Competing with the writer" strategy.

Task: try to predict the content of the book by looking at the illustrations. One student offers his version, the rest complete it.

7. Strategy "True and False Statements".

8. Strategy I know, I want to know, I have learned.

Stage 2 - stage of text activity.

The purpose of is to understand the text and create its reader's interpretation, summarizing part of the read text, asking questions of a general nature, making assumptions about the further development of the plot and the role of characters in the composition of the text, etc. ).

The main task of is to ensure the full perception of the text. The main strategies at the stage of text activity are dialogue with the author, commented reading.

1. Strategy "Reading in a circle". The text is read in turn (each "circle member" reads a paragraph). After this, a stop follows: everyone asks questions to the read passage. If the question cannot be answered (it does not correspond to the text), then the question is considered incorrect. * All correct questions can be recorded.

2. Silent reading with questions strategy.

3. Strategy “Reading to yourself with notes. (Insert)" . Marginal notes: + - knew; - - new; ? - interesting; V is unclear. Others are possible: B - question; O - answer; Z - I know; N - new; And - interesting; X - I want to know; C - ask; U to clarify.

4. Strategy "Reading with stops". Reading the text with stops, during which tasks are given in the form of questions: some are aimed at checking understanding, others - at predicting the content of the next passage.

5. "Pose a problem - offer a solution" strategy. Remember what problems the heroes of the work face (the problem is formulated and written down in an oval). Next, the children can name several problems, students are divided into groups and offer all kinds of solutions to problems.

6. Strategy "Creating a question plan". The student carries out a semantic grouping of the text, highlights the strong points, divides the text into semantic parts and titles each part with a key question…….

Stage 3 - the stage of post-text (post-text) activity.

The purpose of is to correct the reader's interpretation in accordance with the author's meaning.

The main task of is to provide in-depth perception and understanding of the text, raise a question to the text as a whole, followed by a conversation, the result of which should be an understanding of the author's meaning. Re-addressing the title, illustrations, performing creative tasks.

2. Question tree strategy Krona – what? where? when? Barrel - why? How? Could you? Roots - how to relate the text to life? With current events? What is the author trying to show?

3. Strategy "Bloom's Cube" (Benjamin Bloom is a famous American teacher, author of many pedagogical strategies = technician).

The beginnings of the questions are written on the faces of the cube: “Why?”, “Explain”, “Name”, “Suggest”, “Think up”, “Share”. The teacher or student rolls the die.

It is necessary to formulate a question to the educational material on the side on which the cube fell.

The “Name” question is aimed at the level of reproduction, i.e. at the simple reproduction of knowledge.

Question "Why" - the student in this case must find cause-and-effect relationships, describe the processes occurring with a certain object or phenomenon.