Comprehension
Concepts and Research
Comprehension is...
- the essence of reading
- active and intentional thinking in which the meaning is constructed through interactions between the test and the reader (Durkin, 1973, see References).
Comprehension: the complex cognitive process involving the intentional interaction between reader and text to extract meaning.
Factors that Impact Reading Comprehension
| Reader Based Factors | Text Based Factors |
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Research on Reading Comprehension tells us that...
- Readers who comprehend well are also good decoders
- Teach decoding and word recognition strategies
- Time spent reading is highly correlated with comprehension
- Provide for lots of in-class reading, outside of class reading, independent reading
- Encourage kids to read more and read widely - develop a passion for reading
National Reading Panel (2000; see References)
Question:
- Does text comprehension instruction improve reading achievement?
Answer:
- Yes, but there have been relatively few studies conducted with children in grades K, 1, and 2.
- The NRP concluded that the instruction of cognitive strategies improves reading comprehension in readers with a range of abilities.
The National Reading Panel recommends:
- Question answering
- Comprehension monitoring
- Cooperative learning
- Graphic/semantic organizers/story maps
- Question generation
- Summarization
Causes of Reading Comprehension Failure
- Inadequate instruction
- Insufficient exposure and practice
- Deficient word recognition skills
- Deficient memory capacity and functioning
- Significant language deficiencies
- Inadequate comprehension monitoring and self-evaluation
- Unfamiliarity with text features and task demands
- Undeveloped attentional strategies
- Inadequate cognitive development and reading experiences
Kame'enui & Simmons, 1990 (See References)
Types of Comprehension Instruction that Have Evidence of Improving Comprehension
- Comprehension monitoring
- Cooperative learning
- Multiple strategies
- Mental imagery / mnemonics
- Graphic organizers
- Summarization
- Semantic organizers including:
- story maps
- question answering
- question generation