Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the construction of meaning through the interaction between reader, text, and context (RAND Reading Study Group, 2002). It is not a passive reception of information but an active, strategic process in which the reader builds a mental model of the text's content, monitors that model for coherence, and repairs it when meaning breaks down. This skill covers the cognitive strategies that proficient readers use, the text structures that organize information, and the instructional frameworks that teach comprehension explicitly.
Agent affinity: rosenblatt (reader response, transactional theory), austen (close reading, narrative intelligence), clay (early literacy, monitoring)
Concept IDs: read-main-idea-details, read-inferencing, read-text-structure, read-summarizing, read-monitoring-comprehension
The Proficient Reader's Toolkit
Research on expert readers (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995; Duke & Pearson, 2002) identifies seven strategies that proficient readers deploy automatically. Developing readers must learn these strategies explicitly and practice them until they become habitual.
Strategy 1 -- Activating Prior Knowledge
Before and during reading, proficient readers connect what they are reading to what they already know. Schema theory (Anderson & Pearson, 1984) explains this: knowledge is organized in schemas (mental frameworks), and comprehension occurs when new information is integrated into existing schemas.
Application. Before reading, ask: "What do I already know about this topic?" During reading: "How does this connect to something I've read or experienced before?" When prior knowledge conflicts with the text: "Do I need to revise what I thought I knew?"
Danger. Prior knowledge can also interfere with comprehension when the reader's existing schema is inaccurate. The reader must be willing to revise beliefs in light of evidence from the text.
Strategy 2 -- Questioning
Proficient readers generate questions before, during, and after reading:
| Timing | Question types | Purpose | |---|---|---| | Before | "What will this be about?" "What do I want to learn?" | Set purpose, activate curiosity | | During | "Why did the character do that?" "What does this term mean?" | Monitor understanding, deepen engagement | | After | "What was the main idea?" "How does this change what I think?" | Consolidate understanding, evaluate significance |
Question quality matters. "What color was the hat?" is a literal recall question. "Why did the author choose to describe the hat in this scene?" is an inferential question that drives deeper comprehension. Teaching students to ask thick questions (requiring synthesis, inference, evaluation) rather than thin questions (requiring only recall) improves comprehension significantly (Taboada & Guthrie, 2006).
Strategy 3 -- Visualizing
Proficient readers create mental images of what they read -- sensory representations of scenes, processes, and relationships. Visualization is especially powerful for narrative text (seeing the setting, the characters' actions) and for scientific text (imagining the process, the spatial arrangement).
Application. "What does this scene look like in my mind?" "Can I draw a diagram of this process?" When the mental image breaks down, it signals a comprehension problem that needs attention.
Strategy 4 -- Inferring
Inferring is reading between the lines -- combining text clues with background knowledge to understand what is not explicitly stated. Inference is the most cognitively demanding comprehension strategy and the most critical for deep understanding.
Types of inference:
| Type | What the reader infers | Example | |---|---|---| | Coherence inference | Logical connection between sentences | "Maria grabbed her umbrella. The sidewalk was already wet." (It is raining.) | | Elaborative inference | Details not stated but implied | "The surgeon picked up the scalpel." (They are in an operating room.) | | Predictive inference | What will happen next | "The dark clouds gathered overhead..." (A storm is coming.) | | Evaluative inference | Judgments about characters, arguments, quality | "The politician's smile did not reach his eyes." (He is insincere.) |
Strategy 5 -- Determining Importance
Not everything in a text matters equally. Proficient readers distinguish main ideas from supporting details, essential information from interesting-but-tangential material.
Signals of importance in expository text:
- Title, headings, subheadings
- Bold or italicized terms
- Topic sentences (typically first sentence of paragraph)
- Summary statements (typically last sentence of section)
- Signal words: "most importantly," "the key point is," "in conclusion"
Signals of importance in narrative text:
- Character actions that drive the plot
- Dialogue that reveals motivation or conflict
- Recurring images or symbols
- Changes in setting or time that mark turning points
Strategy 6 -- Summarizing
Summarizing requires the reader to identify the most important ideas, organize them, and restate them concisely. It is both a comprehension check (can you summarize what you read?) and a comprehension builder (the act of summarizing deepens understanding).
A good summary:
- Captures the main idea and key supporting points
- Uses the reader's own words (not copied phrases)
- Preserves the author's meaning and logical structure
- Is significantly shorter than the original
- Omits trivial details and redundancies
Rule-based summarizing (Brown & Day, 1983):
- Delete trivial information.
- Delete redundant information.
- Substitute a superordinate term for a list of items.
- Select or construct a topic sentence.
Strategy 7 -- Monitoring and Fix-Up
Metacognitive monitoring is the ability to notice when comprehension breaks down and to take corrective action. It is the strategy that governs all other strategies -- the reader's internal quality control system.
Signals of comprehension breakdown:
- Re-reading the same sentence without absorbing it
- Losing track of who is speaking or what is happening
- Encountering a word that blocks sentence meaning
- Noticing internal confusion ("Wait, that doesn't make sense")
Fix-up strategies:
- Re-read the confusing passage more slowly
- Read ahead to see if the text clarifies itself
- Use context clues for unfamiliar vocabulary
- Consult a reference (dictionary, glossary, another text)
- Adjust the mental model ("Oh, I misunderstood -- let me reconsider")
- Ask for help (from a teacher, peer, or reading agent)
Text Structure
Narrative Text Structure
Narrative texts follow a story grammar: setting, characters, problem (conflict), rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. Readers who recognize this structure predict what comes next and organize their understanding around the plot arc.
Story grammar elements:
- Setting: When and where
- Characters: Who (protagonist, antagonist, supporting)
- Problem/Conflict: What the character wants and what stands in the way
- Events/Rising Action: Steps toward resolution
- Climax: The turning point
- Resolution: How the problem is solved
- Theme: The underlying meaning or message
Expository Text Structures
Informational texts use five primary organizational patterns. Recognizing the pattern helps the reader predict, organize, and remember information.
| Structure | Signal words | Graphic organizer | |---|---|---| | Description | for example, characteristics, such as | Web/cluster | | Sequence | first, next, then, finally, steps | Timeline/flowchart | | Compare-Contrast | however, on the other hand, similarly, unlike | Venn diagram | | Cause-Effect | because, as a result, therefore, consequently | Cause-effect chain | | Problem-Solution | the problem is, one solution, as a result | Problem-solution cha