Reading comprehension is the ability to process written text, understand its

meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows.[1][2][3][4] Reading
comprehension relies on two abilities that are connected to each other: word
reading and language comprehension.[5] Comprehension specifically is a
"creative, multifaceted process" dependent upon four language skills: phonology,
syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.[6]

Some of the fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are the
ability to:[7][8][9]

 know the meaning of words,

 understand the meaning of a word from a discourse context,
 follow the organization of a passage and to identify antecedents and
references in it,
 draw inferences from a passage about its contents,
 identify the main thought of a passage,
 ask questions about the text,
 answer questions asked in a passage,
 visualize the text,
 recall prior knowledge connected to text,
 recognize confusion or attention problems,
 recognize the literary devices or propositional structures used in a passage
and determine its tone,
 understand the situational mood (agents, objects, temporal and spatial
reference points, casual and intentional inflections, etc.) conveyed for
assertions, questioning, commanding, refraining, etc., and
 determine the writer's purpose, intent, and point of view, and draw
inferences about the writer (discourse-semantics).

Comprehension Skills that can be applied as well as taught to all reading situations
include:[10]

Summarizing

Sequencing

Inferencing

Comparing and contrasting

Drawing conclusions

Self-questioning

Problem-solving

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Relating background knowledge

Distinguishing between fact and opinion

Finding the main idea, important facts, and supporting details

There are many reading strategies to improve reading comprehension and

inferences, including improving one's vocabulary, critical text analysis
(intertextuality, actual events vs. narration of events, etc.), and practicing deep
reading.[11] The ability to comprehend text is influenced by the readers' skills and
their ability to process information. If word recognition is difficult, students use
too much of their processing capacity to read individual words which interferes
with their ability to comprehend what is read.

Overview

Some people learn comprehension skills through education or instruction and

others learn through direct experiences.[12] Proficient reading depends on the
ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly.[13] It is also determined by an
individual's cognitive development, which is "the construction of thought
processes".

There are specific characteristics that determine how successfully an individual

will comprehend text, including prior knowledge about the subject, well-developed
language, and the ability to make inferences from methodical questioning &
monitoring comprehension like: "Why is this important?" and "Do I need to read
the entire text?" are examples of passage questioning.[14]

Instruction for comprehension strategy often involves initially aiding the students
by social and imitation learning, wherein teachers explain genre styles and model
both top-down and bottom-up strategies, and familiarize students with a required
complexity of text comprehension.[15] After the contiguity interface, the second
stage involves the gradual release of responsibility wherein over time teachers give
students individual responsibility for using the learned strategies independently
with remedial instruction as required and this helps in error management. The final
stage involves leading the students to a self-regulated learning state with more and
more practice and assessment, it leads to overlearning and the learned skills will
become reflexive or "second nature".[16] The teacher as reading instructor is a role
model of a reader for students, demonstrating what it means to be an effective
reader and the rewards of being one.[17]

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Reading comprehension levels

Reading comprehension involves two levels of processing, shallow (low-level)

processing and deep (high-level) processing. Deep processing involves semantic
processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to
similar words. Shallow processing involves structural and phonemic recognition,
the processing of sentence and word structure, i.e. first-order logic, and their
associated sounds. This theory was first identified by Fergus I. M. Craik and
Robert S. Lockhart.[18]

Comprehension levels are observed through neuroimaging techniques like

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). fMRI is used to determine the
specific neural pathways of activation across two conditions, narrative-level
comprehension, and sentence-level comprehension. Images showed that there was
less brain region activation during sentence-level comprehension, suggesting a
shared reliance with comprehension pathways. The scans also showed an enhanced
temporal activation during narrative levels tests indicating this approach activates
situation and spatial processing.[19] In general, neuroimaging studies have found
that reading involves three overlapping neural systems: networks active in visual,
orthography-phonology (angular gyrus), and semantic functions (anterior temporal
lobe with Broca's and Wernicke's areas). However, these neural networks are not
discrete, meaning these areas have several other functions as well. The Broca's area
involved in executive functions helps the reader to vary depth of reading
comprehension and textual engagement in accordance with reading goals.[20][21]

The role of vocabulary

Reading comprehension and vocabulary are inextricably linked together. The

ability to decode or identify and pronounce words is self-evidently important, but
knowing what the words mean has a major and direct effect on knowing what any
specific passage means while skimming a reading material. It has been shown that
students with a smaller vocabulary than other students comprehend less of what
they read.[22] It has been suggested that to improve comprehension, improving
word groups, complex vocabularies such as homonyms or words that have multiple
meanings, and those with figurative meanings like idioms, similes, collocations
and metaphors are a good practice.[23]

Andrew Biemiller argues that teachers should give out topic-related words and
phrases before reading a book to students, teaching includes topic-related word
groups, synonyms of words, and their meaning with the context, and he further
says to familiarize students with sentence structures in which these words
commonly occur.[24] Biemiller says this intensive approach gives students
opportunities to explore the topic beyond its discourse – freedom of conceptual
expansion. However, there is no evidence to suggest the primacy of this approach.

3
[25] Incidental morphemic analysis of words – prefixes, suffixes and roots – is also
considered to improve understanding of the vocabulary, though they are proved to
be an unreliable strategy for improving comprehension and is no longer used to
teach students.[26]

Vocabulary is important as it is what connects a reader to the text, while helping

develop background knowledge, their own ideas, communicating, and learning
new concepts. Vocabulary has been described as "the glue that holds stories, ideas,
and content together...making comprehension accessible".[27] This greatly reflects
the important role that vocabulary plays. Especially when studying various pieces
of literature, it is important to have this background vocabulary, otherwise readers
will become lost rather quickly. Because of this, teachers focus a great deal of
attention to vocabulary programs and implementing them into their weekly lesson
plans.[27]

History

Initially most comprehension teaching was based on imparting selected techniques

for each genre that when taken together would allow students to be strategic
readers. However, from the 1930s testing various methods never seemed to win
support in empirical research. One such strategy for improving reading
comprehension is the technique called SQ3R introduced by Francis Pleasant
Robinson in his 1946 book Effective Study.[28]

Between 1969 and 2000, a number of "strategies" were devised for teaching
students to employ self-guided methods for improving reading comprehension. In
1969 Anthony V. Manzo designed and found empirical support for the Re Quest,
or Reciprocal Questioning Procedure, in traditional teacher-centered approach due
to its sharing of "cognitive secrets". It was the first method to convert fundamental
theory such as social learning into teaching methods through the use of cognitive
modeling between teachers and students.[29]

Since the turn of the 20th century, comprehension lessons usually consist of
students answering teacher's questions or writing responses to questions of their
own, or from prompts of the teacher.[30] This detached whole group version only
helped students individually to respond to portions of the text (content area
reading), and improve their writing skills.[citation needed] In the last quarter of the
20th century, evidence accumulated that academic reading test methods were more
successful in assessing rather than imparting comprehension or giving a realistic
insight. Instead of using the prior response registering method, research studies
have concluded that an effective way to teach comprehension is to teach novice

4
readers a bank of "practical reading strategies" or tools to interpret and analyze
various categories and styles of text.[31]

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been implemented in hopes that
students test scores would improve. Some of the goals of CCSS are directly related
to students and their reading comprehension skills, with them being concerned
with students learning and noticing key ideas and details, considering the structure
of the text, looking at how the ideas are integrated, and reading texts with varying
difficulties and complexity.[9]

Reading strategies

There are a variety of strategies used to teach reading. Strategies are key to help
with reading comprehension. They vary according to the challenges like new
concepts, unfamiliar vocabulary, long and complex sentences, etc. Trying to deal
with all of these challenges at the same time may be unrealistic. Then again
strategies should fit to the ability, aptitude and age level of the learner. Some of the
strategies teachers use are: reading aloud, group work, and more reading exercises.
[citation needed]

A U.S. Marine helps a student with reading comprehension as part of a Partnership

in Education program sponsored by Park Street Elementary School and
Navy/Marine Corps Reserve Center Atlanta. The program is a community outreach
program for sailors and Marines to visit the school and help students with class
work.

Reciprocal teaching

In the 1980s, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Ann L. Brown developed a

technique called reciprocal teaching that taught students to predict, summarize,
clarify, and ask questions for sections of a text. The use of strategies like
summarizing after each paragraph has come to be seen as effective for building
students' comprehension. The idea is that students will develop stronger reading
comprehension skills on their own if the teacher gives them explicit mental tools
for unpacking text.[31]

5
Instructional conversations

"Instructional conversations", or comprehension through discussion, create higher-

level thinking opportunities for students by promoting critical and aesthetic
thinking about the text. According to Vivian Thayer, class discussions help
students to generate ideas and new questions. (Goldenberg, p. 317). Dr. Neil
Postman has said, "All our knowledge results from questions, which is another way
of saying that question-asking is our most important intellectual tool"[citation
needed] (Response to Intervention). There are several types of questions that a
teacher should focus on: remembering; testing understanding; application or
solving; invite synthesis or creating; and evaluation and judging. Teachers should
model these types of questions through "think-alouds" before, during, and after
reading a text. When a student can relate a passage to an experience, another book,
or other facts about the world, they are "making a connection". Making
connections help students understand the author's purpose and fiction or non-
fiction story.[32]

Text factors

There are factors that, once discerned, make it easier for the reader to understand
the written text. One is the genre, like folktales, historical fiction, biographies or
poetry. Each genre has its own characteristics for text structure that once
understood help the reader comprehend it. A story is composed of a plot,
characters, setting, point of view, and theme. Informational books provide real-
world knowledge for students and have unique features such as: headings, maps,
vocabulary, and an index. Poems are written in different forms and the most
commonly used are: rhymed verse, haikus, free verse, and narratives. Poetry uses
devices such as: alliteration, repetition, rhyme, metaphors, and similes. "When
children are familiar with genres, organizational patterns, and text features in
books they're reading, they're better able to create those text factors in their own
writing." Another one is arranging the text per perceptual span and a text display
favorable to the age level of the reader.[33]

Non-verbal imagery

Non-verbal imagery refers to media that utilize schemata to make connections

either planned or not, more commonly used within context such as a passage, an
experience, or one's imagination. Some notable examples are emojis, emoticons,
cropped and uncropped images, and recently emojis which are images that are used
to elicit humor and comprehension.[34]

6
Visualization

Visualization is a "mental image" created in a person's mind while reading text,

which "brings words to life" and helps improve reading comprehension. Asking
sensory questions will help students become better visualizers.[32] Students can
practice visualizing by imagining what they "see, hear, smell, taste, or feel" when
they are reading a page of a picture book aloud, but not yet shown the picture.
They can share their visualizations, then check their level of detail against the
illustrations.

Partner reading

Partner reading is a strategy created for pairs. The teacher chooses two appropriate
books for the students to read. First, the pupils and their partners must read their
own book. Once they have completed this, they are given the opportunity to write
down their own comprehension questions for their partner. The students swap
books, read them out loud to one another and ask one another questions about the
book they read. There are different levels of this. There are the lower ones who
need extra help recording the strategies. The next level is the average who will still
need some help. At a good level, the children require no help. Students at a very
good level are a few years ahead of the other students.

This strategy:

Provides a model of fluent reading and helps students learn decoding skills by
offering positive feedback.[35]

Provides direct opportunities for a teacher to circulate in the class, observe

students, and offer individual remediation.[35]

Multiple reading strategies

There are a wide range of reading strategies suggested by reading programs and
educators. Effective reading strategies may differ for second language learners, as
opposed to native speakers.[36][37][38] The National Reading Panel identified
positive effects only for a subset, particularly summarizing, asking questions,
answering questions, comprehension monitoring, graphic organizers, and
cooperative learning. The Panel also emphasized that a combination of strategies,
as used in Reciprocal Teaching, can be effective.[32] The use of effective
comprehension strategies that provide specific instructions for developing and
retaining comprehension skills, with intermittent feedback, has been found to
improve reading comprehension across all ages, specifically those affected by
mental disabilities.[39]

7
Reading different types of texts requires the use of different reading strategies and
approaches. Making reading an active, observable process can be very beneficial to
struggling readers. A good reader interacts with the text in order to develop an
understanding of the information before them. Some good reader strategies are
predicting, connecting, inferring, summarizing, analyzing and critiquing. There are
many resources and activities educators and instructors of reading can use to help
with reading strategies in specific content areas and disciplines. Some examples
are graphic organizers, talking to the text, anticipation guides, double entry
journals, interactive reading and note taking guides, chunking, and summarizing.
[citation needed]

The use of effective comprehension strategies is highly important when learning to

improve reading comprehension. These strategies provide specific instructions for
developing and retaining comprehension skills across all ages.[39] Applying
methods to attain an overt phonemic awareness with intermittent practice has been
found to improve reading in early ages, specifically those affected by mental
disabilities.

The importance of interest

A common statistic that researchers have found is the importance of readers, and
specifically students, to be interested in what they are reading. It has been reported
by students that they are more likely to finish books if they are the ones that choose
them. [40] They are also more likely to remember what they read if they were
interested as it causes them to pay attention to the minute details.

Reading strategies

There are various reading strategies that help readers recognize what they are
learning, which allows them to further understand themselves as readers, but also
to understand what information they have comprehended. These strategies also
activate reading strategies that good readers use when reading and understanding a
text. [9]

Think-Alouds

When reading a passage, it is good to vocalize what one is reading and also their
mental processes that are occurring while reading. This can take many different
forms, with a few being asking oneself questions about reading or the text, making
connections with prior knowledge or prior read texts, noticing when one struggles,
and rereading what needs to be.[9] These tasks will help readers think about their
reading and if they are understanding fully, which helps them notice what changes
or tactics might need to be considered.

8
Know, Want to know, Learned

Know, Want to know, and Learned (KWL) is often used by teachers and their
students, but it is a great tactic for all readers when considering their own
knowledge. So, the reader goes through the knowledge that they already have, they
think about what they want to know or the knowledge they want to gain, and
finally they think about what they have learned after reading. This allows readers
to reflect on the prior knowledge they have, and also to recognize what knowledge
they have gained and comprehended from their reading.[9]

Comprehension strategies

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Research studies on reading and comprehension have shown that highly proficient,
effective readers utilize a number of different strategies to comprehend various
types of texts, strategies that can also be used by less proficient readers in order to
improve their comprehension.

Making Inferences: In everyday terms we refer to this as "reading between the

lines". It involves connecting various parts of texts that are not directly linked in
order to form a sensible conclusion. A form of assumption, the reader speculates
what connections lie within the texts. They also make predictions about what might
occur next.

Planning and Monitoring: This strategy centers around the reader's mental
awareness and their ability to control their comprehension by way of awareness.
By previewing text (via outlines, table of contents, etc.) one can establish a goal for
reading: "what do I need to get out of this"? Readers use context clues and other
evaluation strategies to clarify texts and ideas, and thus monitoring their level of
understanding.

Asking Questions: To solidify one's understanding of passages of texts readers

inquire and develop their own opinion of the author's writing, character
motivations, relationships, etc. This strategy involves allowing oneself to be
completely objective in order to find various meanings within the text.

Self-Monitoring: Asking oneself questions about reading strategies, whether they

are getting confused or having trouble paying attention. [9]

9
Determining Importance: Pinpointing the important ideas and messages within the
text. Readers are taught to identify direct and indirect ideas and to summarize the
relevance of each.

Visualizing: With this sensory-driven strategy readers form mental and visual
images of the contents of text. Being able to connect visually allows for a better
understanding with the text through emotional responses.

Synthesizing: This method involves marrying multiple ideas from various texts in
order to draw conclusions and make comparisons across different texts; with the
reader's goal being to understand how they all fit together.

Making Connections: A cognitive approach also referred to as "reading beyond the

lines", which involves (A) finding a personal connection to reading, such as
personal experience, previously read texts, etc. to help establish a deeper
understanding of the context of the text, or (B) thinking about implications that
have no immediate connection with the theme of the text.[41][9]

Assessment

There are informal and formal assessments to monitor an individual's

comprehension ability and use of comprehension strategies.[42] Informal
assessments are generally through observation and the use of tools, like story
boards, word sorts, and interactive writing. Many teachers use Formative
assessments to determine if a student has mastered content of the lesson. Formative
assessments can be verbal as in a Think-Pair-Share or Partner Share. Formative
Assessments can also be Ticket out the door or digital summarizers. Formal
assessments are district or state assessments that evaluates all students on
important skills and concepts. Summative assessments are typically assessments
given at the end of a unit to measure a student's learning.

Running records

[43] Running Record Codes

A popular assessment undertaken in numerous primary schools around the world

are running records. Running records are a helpful tool in regard to reading
comprehension.[44] The tool assists teachers in analyzing specific patterns in
student behaviors and planning appropriate instruction. By conducting running
records teachers are given an overview of students reading abilities and learning
over a period of time.

10
In order for teachers to conduct a running record properly, they must sit beside a
student and make sure that the environment is as relaxed as possible so the student
does not feel pressured or intimidated. It is best if the running record assessment is
conducted during reading, so there are not distractions. Another alternative is
asking an education assistant to conduct the running record for you in a separate
room whilst you teach/supervise the class. Quietly observe the students reading
and record during this time. There is a specific code for recording which most
teachers understand. Once the student has finished reading ask them to retell the
story as best they can. After the completion of this, ask them comprehensive
questions listed to test them on their understanding of the book. At the end of the
assessment add up their running record score and file the assessment sheet away.
After the completion of the running record assessment, plan strategies that will
improve the students' ability to read and understand the text.

Overview of the steps taken when conducting a Running Record assessment:[45]

Select the text

Introduce the text

Take a running record

Ask for retelling of the story

Ask comprehensive questions

Check fluency

Analyze the record

Plan strategies to improve students reading/understanding ability

File results away

11