What is Reading Comprehension? 

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. It is the ability to understand, interpret, and gain meaning from written text. Without comprehension, reading is merely decoding—word recognition without understanding. Strong comprehension skills allow students to absorb, analyze, and apply information, making reading a tool for lifelong learning. 

Reading comprehension is an active and intentional process in which the reader interacts with the text to extract and construct meaning. According to the Rand Reading Study Group (2002), comprehension is shaped by the interaction of three key elements: 

1. The Reader: A reader’s background knowledge, vocabulary, decoding skills, and motivation all influence comprehension.
2. The Text: The structure, complexity, and clarity of a text impact how easily a reader can understand it.
3. The Activity: The purpose for reading, the questions asked, and the comprehension strategies used affect how deeply a reader engages with the text. 

Each of these elements interacts within a broader socio-cultural context, where factors such as language background, prior experiences, and classroom instruction play a role in comprehension development. 

Why Should We Focus on Reading Comprehension? 

Teachers play a vital role in fostering students’ comprehension skills. Research has shown that effective comprehension instruction enhances students’ ability to understand, retain, and apply what they read. Strong instruction also helps students articulate their thoughts—both verbally and in writing—enabling them to engage in meaningful discussions about texts. 

What does Effective Reading Comprehension Instruction Look like? 

According to the National Reading Panel (2000), the most effective comprehension instruction includes: 

• Explicit Strategy Instruction: Teaching students how to ask questions, summarize, and monitor comprehension.
• Question Answering and Generation: Encouraging students to answer and create different types of questions (literal, inferential, evaluative).
• Graphic Organizers: Using tools like story maps and semantic organizers to help students visualize ideas.
• Comprehension Monitoring: Teaching students to recognize when they don’t understand and apply fix-up strategies.
• Summarization: Helping students identify key points and synthesize information.
• Cooperative Learning: Encouraging peer discussions and collaborative thinking to deepen understanding. 

More recently, the National Center for Educational Evaluation and Regional Assistance (2010) has said that the most effective comprehension instruction: 

• Teaches students how to use research-based reading comprehension strategies individually or in combination using a gradual release of responsibility.
• Teaches students to identify and use a text’s organizational structure to comprehend, learn, and remember content.
• Guides students through focused, high-quality discussion on the meaning of text using questions that prompt them to think deeply about what they are reading.
• Selects texts purposefully to support comprehension development by choosing texts with a depth of ideas and information, at a difficulty level appropriate for students’, and that supports the purpose of instruction.
• Establishes an engaging and motivating context in which to teach comprehension by helping students to discover the purpose and benefits of reading, experience success and choice, and collaborate with peers. 

How Do We Support Reading Comprehension in the Classroom? 

Teachers can enhance comprehension through structured, scaffolded instruction: 

• Before Reading: Set a purpose, activate background knowledge, and preview the text.
• During Reading: Encourage questioning, identify text structures, and make inferences.
• After Reading: Summarize, discuss key ideas, and apply new knowledge. 

Reading comprehension should be taught explicitly and systematically at all grade levels, not just the early grades. In the early years, oral language, listening comprehension, and text structure awareness build a strong foundation. As students develop reading fluency, instruction should emphasize critical thinking, text analysis, and knowledge-building through engagement with a variety of texts. Importantly, the old-fashioned idea of reading to learn transitioning to learning to read has been shown to be false. Younger readers can read to learn new content, just as older readers can learn to read in new ways and for new purposes. By intentionally teaching comprehension strategies and providing rich reading experiences throughout the grades, educators can help students become skilled, thoughtful, and engaged readers.

Research has identified key strategies that proficient readers use to actively engage with text. 

Draw on Prior Knowledge 

Connecting new information to what they already know helps readers make sense of the text. 

Make Inferences 

Going beyond the literal meaning, skilled readers “read between the lines” to understand characters, events, and themes. 

Monitor Understanding 

Good readers recognize when they are confused and use strategies (e.g., rereading, summarizing) to improve comprehension. 

Pay Attention to Text Structure 

Understanding whether a text is narrative or expository helps readers anticipate the organization of key ideas. 

Summarize and Retell 

Identifying main ideas and putting them into their own words deepens comprehension. 

MOCCA is a unique diagnostic assessment of reading comprehension. It identifies students who comprehend text poorly and why. This information can help educators target instruction to best support students in improving their reading comprehension. Learn more about MOCCA.