How to Teach Reading Comprehension
Over 33 million adults living in the U.S. cannot read or write. Children of parents who are functionally illiterate are 72% more likely to graduate high school with low reading comprehension skills. Additionally, these children are at risk for behavioral issues, getting poor grades and/or dropping out of school altogether. With the undeniable correlation between the inability to read and poverty, more needs to be done to ultimately eliminate illiteracy in America.
Research shows that children who can read independently score higher in all subjects on achievement tests and enjoy reading comprehension more than children who need help reading and understanding what they read. Students in elementary school who read at home also score high on achievement tests and benefit from increased vocabulary growth, reading comprehension, spelling and an overall understanding of the world.
The reading activities provided by our resources will help you teach students how to read and comprehend written content.
Reading Comprehension Skills and Activities
While knowing the spelling and meaning of words are helpful, those aren’t enough. Children and adults who comprehend what they’re reading are engaging in the learned skill of co-constructing meaning and context within a sentence or paragraph.
In this way, reading comprehension may be considered transactional, i.e., the ability of a reader to bring experiences and purpose to what they are reading.
Reading comprehension and what a reader “gets” from written text also depends on their immediate needs and emotions. That’s why two different people reading the same thing can come away with contrasting perceptions of what they just read. Learning effective reading comprehension habits that promote literacy is more advantageous to natural learning than memorizing word meanings. Reading comprehension strategies, such as becoming familiar with word associations, how they are used in the context of a sentence, and grammatical distinctions applied to them provide a holistic reading education.
Visual and media literacy are skill sets vital to improving reading comprehension. Visual literacy is the ability to understand, evaluate and create/use visual media and images to impart ideas to others. This involves the use of paintings, drawings, language and digital images. Media literacy includes understanding when content is persuasive and biased, versus content that’s informative and neutral, by recognizing literary devices such as metaphors and rhetorical questioning. As students enhance their visual and media literacy skills, they can more effectively understand the content they read.
SPELLING & VOCABULARY
- How to Teach Spelling Words to Students of Any School Age: Although teaching spelling is frequently neglected in favor of modern advancements such as computer spell check, spelling is actually a very valuable skill. Any teacher…
- 5 Online Vocabulary Builders for Elementary Students: Whether you’re looking to expand your elementary students’ vocabulary or working with kids learning English as a second language, online vocabulary builders are great additions…
- 6 Fun Ways to Teach Vocabulary Words in Your Classroom: Learning vocabulary may not be the most exciting thing students do school, but by using interesting and fun ways to teach vocabulary words, educators can…
- Five Ways to make Teaching High School Vocabulary Fun and Interesting: Teachers face a variety of challenges on a day-to-day basis, but perhaps their biggest challenge is helping students become successful. A struggling student or struggling…
TEXT FLUENCY
- Strategies for Determining Importance in Nonfiction Texts: The skill of determining importance in a nonfiction text is an area in which students of all ages often struggle. For emerging readers, it can…
- 4 Tips for Improving Middle School Reading Comprehension: Creativity is the key to improving reading comprehension among middle school students. Youth at that age are open-minded and eager to express their imagination. Although…
- 11 Free Reading Comprehension Exercises Online: When students have difficulty comprehending what they’re reading, not only could they have trouble in nearly every subject in school, but they miss out on…
MEDIA & VISUAL LITERACY
- Media Literacy Includes Teaching the Power of Persuasive Language: Recent news articles about fake news and “alternative facts” make it clear that media literacy is an essential skill we should be building in our…
- Beyond ‘Fake or Real’: 5 Quick Lessons in Media Literacy: Differentiating between real and fake news is a good first step in arming students to question the media they encounter. The next step in our…
- How Graphic Novels Help Students Develop Critical Skills: When novels burst onto the literary scene in the 18th century with Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, they presented something truly new: the idea that a…
BOOK FLOOD THEORY
According to the book flood theory, students who are consistently exposed to reading material develop literacy and language skills more easily and quickly. Some studies have found that children who are not exposed to books and reading lack “sophisticated and critical vocabulary” and suffer “gaps in knowledge that negatively impact adulthood literacy.” A child’s home and classroom should always have immediate access to books, magazines and other reading materials to encourage curiosity and reading comprehension.
Reading Intervention Strategies
Reading intervention may be necessary when a student has difficulty recognizing and understanding words and applying them correctly to the context of what they’re reading. Reading intervention programs can include straightforward tutoring, modification of instructional deliveries, using visually-supported tests, and digital reading programs.
Resources in this section provide educators with in-depth information about recognizing and helping kids who are struggling to read.
- Understanding Literacy Difficulties vs. Disabilities: The United States is facing a literacy crisis. According to ProLiteracy, more than 36 million adults in the United States cannot read, write, or do…
- 6 Effective Strategies to Motivate Reluctant Readers: Students who avoid reading or seem disinterested can often be reached when different strategies are used to connect with them. First we have to find…
- Fun With Words: Boost Reading Engagement With Word Clouds: One of the biggest challenges of teaching is appealing to all the different learning styles in a classroom. Teachers have tried to adapt to each…
- Tips to Help a Child Start Reading: Reading is one of the most important skills young children must learn as they begin school. Determining how to teach a child to read requires patience…
- Five Strategies to Help Improve Students’ Reading Levels: The ability for a student to read on his or her grade level is one of the most important skills gained in school, as reading…
- 5 Ways To Help Students Improve Reading Skills: Developed reading skills allow students to get the most from their education—one of the many reasons why it’s part of the curriculum, no matter the…
Reading Education Professional Development
It’s important for educators to keep their skills updated in the area of reading education. New studies and insights bring about new approaches for the teaching of reading and sheds new light on the imperative need for reading comprehension. Here’s a list of conferences and teaching programs that will help keep your knowledge and skills up-to-date.