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Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension

By: C.R. Adler

Comprehension strategies are conscious plans sets of steps that good readers use to
make sense of text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become
purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension.

These seven strategies have researchbased evidence for improving text comprehension.
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Related

Story Maps(http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/story_maps/)
Summarizing(http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/summarizing/)
ThinkAlouds(http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think_alouds/)

1. Monitoring comprehension

Students who are good at monitoring their comprehension know when they understand
what they read and when they do not. They have strategies to "fix" problems in their
understanding as the problems arise. Research shows that instruction, even in the early
grades, can help students become better at monitoring their comprehension.
Comprehension monitoring instruction teaches students to:
Be aware of what they do understand
Identify what they do not understand
Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension

2. Metacognition
Metacognition can be defined as "thinking about thinking." Good readers use
metacognitive strategies to think about and have control over their reading. Before
reading, they might clarify their purpose for reading and preview the text. During
reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their reading speed to fit the
difficulty of the text and "fixing" any comprehension problems they have. After reading,
they check their understanding of what they read.
Students may use several comprehension monitoring strategies:
Identify where the difficulty occurs
"I don't understand the second paragraph on page 76."
Identify what the difficulty is
"I don't get what the author means when she says, 'Arriving in America was a
milestone in my grandmother's life.'"
Restate the difficult sentence or passage in their own words
"Oh, so the author means that coming to America was a very important event in
her grandmother's life."
Look back through the text
"The author talked about Mr. McBride in Chapter 2, but I don't remember much

about him. Maybe if I reread that chapter, I can figure out why he's acting this
way now."
Look forward in the text for information that might help them to resolve the
difficulty
"The text says, 'The groundwater may form a stream or pond or create a wetland.
People can also bring groundwater to the surface.' Hmm, I don't understand how
people can do that Oh, the next section is called 'Wells.' I'll read this section to
see if it tells how they do it."

3. Graphic and semantic organizers

Graphic organizers illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text or
using diagrams. Graphic organizers are known by different names, such as maps, webs,
graphs, charts, frames, or clusters.
Regardless of the label, graphic organizers can help readers focus on concepts and how
they are related to other concepts. Graphic organizers help students read and
understand textbooks and picture books.
Graphic organizers can:
Help students focus on text structure "differences between fiction and nonfiction"
as they read
Provide students with tools they can use to examine and show relationships in a
text
Help students write wellorganized summaries of a text
Here are some examples of graphic organizers:

4. Answering questions
Questions can be effective because they:
Give students a purpose for reading
Focus students' attention on what they are to learn
Help students to think actively as they read
Encourage students to monitor their comprehension
Help students to review content and relate what they have learned to what they
already know
The QuestionAnswer Relationship strategy (QAR) encourages students to learn how to
answer questions better. Students are asked to indicate whether the information they
used to answer questions about the text was textually explicit information (information
that was directly stated in the text), textually implicit information (information that was
implied in the text), or information entirely from the student's own background

knowledge.
There are four different types of questions:
"Right There"
Questions found right in the text that ask students to find the one right answer
located in one place as a word or a sentence in the passage.
Example: Who is Frog's friend? Answer: Toad
"Think and Search"
Questions based on the recall of facts that can be found directly in the text.
Answers are typically found in more than one place, thus requiring students to
"think" and "search" through the passage to find the answer.
Example: Why was Frog sad? Answer: His friend was leaving.
"Author and You"
Questions require students to use what they already know, with what they have
learned from reading the text. Student's must understand the text and relate it to
their prior knowledge before answering the question.
Example: How do think Frog felt when he found Toad? Answer: I think that Frog
felt happy because he had not seen Toad in a long time. I feel happy when I get
to see my friend who lives far away.
"On Your Own"
Questions are answered based on a students prior knowledge and experiences.
Reading the text may not be helpful to them when answering this type of
question.
Example: How would you feel if your best friend moved away? Answer: I would
feel very sad if my best friend moved away because I would miss her.

5. Generating questions
By generating questions, students become aware of whether they can answer the
questions and if they understand what they are reading. Students learn to ask
themselves questions that require them to combine information from different segments
of text. For example, students can be taught to ask main idea questions that relate to
important information in a text.

6. Recognizing story structure

In story structure instruction, students learn to identify the categories of content

(characters, setting, events, problem, resolution). Often, students learn to recognize

story structure through the use of story maps. Instruction in story structure improves
students' comprehension.

7. Summarizing
Summarizing requires students to determine what is important in what they are reading
and to put it into their own words. Instruction in summarizing helps students:
Identify or generate main ideas
Connect the main or central ideas
Eliminate unnecessary information
Remember what they read

Effective comprehension strategy instruction is explicit

Research shows that explicit teaching techniques are particularly effective for
comprehension strategy instruction. In explicit instruction, teachers tell readers why and
when they should use strategies, what strategies to use, and how to apply them. The
steps of explicit instruction typically include direct explanation, teacher modeling
("thinking aloud"), guided practice, and application.
Direct explanation
The teacher explains to students why the strategy helps comprehension and when
to apply the strategy.
Modeling
The teacher models, or demonstrates, how to apply the strategy, usually by
"thinking aloud" while reading the text that the students are using.
Guided practice
The teacher guides and assists students as they learn how and when to apply the
strategy.
Application
The teacher helps students practice the strategy until they can apply it
independently.
Effective comprehension strategy instruction can be accomplished through cooperative
learning, which involves students working together as partners or in small groups on
clearly defined tasks. Cooperative learning instruction has been used successfully to
teach comprehension strategies. Students work together to understand texts, helping
each other learn and apply comprehension strategies. Teachers help students learn to
work in groups. Teachers also provide modeling of the comprehension strategies.


Adapted from Adler, C.R. (Ed). 2001. Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks
for Teaching Children to Read, pp. 4954. National Institute for Literacy. Retrieved Nov.
1, 2007, from
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1text.html.

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Tags: Reading Comprehension | Curriculum and Instruction

Comments

good actives college students can use

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 5, 2009 5:20pm

reply
You might have to get creative. Perhaps, having a student read one sentence at a
time and discuss it, then, adding another and doing the same, etc. until you form a
small paragraph might show a child how sentences build a story. Practicing this for a
long time until they're ready to move on to something more complicated might be a
way to start. Hope this helps.
Submitted by Moises (not verified) on May 8, 2015 10:13am

reply

Im really trying to find other means to use for my struggling readers

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 19, 2009 2:59am

reply

i am trying to help my slow achievers to comprehend, so i have found these strategies

useful
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 11, 2009 8:45pm

reply

Thank you for the graphic organizers.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 15, 2009 2:31pm

reply

Thanks a lot for supplying these tools for free! Great with kids who have auditory
processing disorders.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 25, 2010 3:05pm

reply
this website really helps me with my reading strategies
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 24, 2010 7:52pm

reply

this website makes me use all of my reading strategies and makes me inprove my
reading grades
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 24, 2010 7:59pm

reply

great thank for this good explanations

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 7, 2010 6:54pm

reply
thanks for this summary of Strategies which help the readers to understand any text!!!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 17, 2010 2:33am

reply

This is what I was looking for !!!! Thanks a lot.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 31, 2010 9:31pm

reply

Thanks a lot for these wonderful ideas l really appreciate.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 4, 2010 9:45pm

reply

This article helps me a lot to finish my thesis. Thanks a lot

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 15, 2010 11:57am

reply
Thank you for this great article! The examples were very useful.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 14, 2010 3:49pm

reply

Thank for the detailed explanation and free resources. Very helpful.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 23, 2010 1:33pm

reply

you are really helpful to others .the information are valueable.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on October 1, 2010 1:31pm

reply
excellet. Thank you very much
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 3, 2010 7:50pm

reply

A great resource to help me put together my reading binder for college!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 10, 2010 12:36pm

reply

what a useful info.!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 24, 2010 11:26pm

reply

Thanks alot, I do appreciate your valuable information, Very Very helpful &
useful.Thank you
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 25, 2010 9:45am

reply
Has anyone tried this techniques with DCD or LD students?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 23, 2011 7:57pm

reply

I love the graphic organizers, they will be useful in helping my students with identifying
main idea as well as putting events in order from the story.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 25, 2011 9:30pm

reply

this is an outstanding article.... it gives essential information!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 3, 2011 4:04pm

reply
thank a lot of your info i do need it
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 17, 2011 11:11am

reply

thanks, going to use this with students in school library

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 8, 2011 5:42pm

reply

Thank you so much for the info and especially the graphic organizers . Just what i was
looking for.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 16, 2011 3:10pm

reply

I, like very much, this all information about reading.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 22, 2011 4:39pm

reply
Really helpful. Certainly a milestone in my life
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 26, 2011 10:51pm

reply

as i am going to be a teacher, i really need it.i like it. thanks

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 23, 2011 12:09am

reply

This tool is very important for latinos who are learning a new language and dont have
the opportunity to speak it.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 24, 2011 8:40am

reply
These are great tips for people who may not know them and wants to learm
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 3, 2011 8:41pm

reply

thxs this info really helped <3 :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 6, 2011 7:20pm

reply

please clarify what ages these strategies are for

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 6, 2011 8:52pm

reply

it helped me a lot, thank you.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 8, 2011 11:14pm

reply
Very important in the contents your strong is necesary for my language and learning
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 15, 2011 12:31pm

reply

I am trying to figure out how to teach my 6 year old 1st grader to master these skills.
Your infomation has helped give me some ideas, Thanks so much. I will come back
later with feed back.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 15, 2012 11:13pm

reply

thanks a lot
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 18, 2012 5:12pm

reply
Great ideas some I had forgotten about!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 27, 2012 11:14pm

reply

thanx a lot.I may get benefit for my research

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 3, 2012 1:24pm

reply

thank you. love this article

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 11, 2012 6:40pm

reply

Great resource for reading teachers

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 6, 2012 6:59pm

reply
Additional to this list, a greatly successful strategy is to set up students or children with
a Samson's Classroom account! This web based series that focuses on reading
comprehension, sight words and spelling, helps students from K5 read better!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 1, 2012 3:48pm

reply

Thanks I love this article. It's great!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 2, 2012 4:43am

reply

Excellent, quite useful, really comprehensive......

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 2, 2012 4:18am

reply
Question, my job is programming. As a technical reader, I'm finding it harder to keep
up with some of the changes in technology because of my retention / long term
comprehension rate. Does anyone have some suggestions for keeping the technical
information longer?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 16, 2012 9:17pm

reply

do you have anything on skimming

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 19, 2012 2:27am

reply

As a future educator, this site has helped me tremendously in tutoring struggling

readers. I will definitely refer back to this site once I am in the classroom!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 19, 2012 10:47am

reply
QAR is a good strategy which I have used. Thanks
Submitted by hyacinth wellington (not verified) on February 22, 2015 11:30am

reply

Thank you so much for that very good strategies..It helps

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 9, 2012 12:15am

reply

Good straegies for reading butto encourage children to read is to let them see you
read. check out site www.dadreadtome.com(http://www.dadreadtome.com)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 20, 2012 5:52am

reply

Add comment

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