The Comprehension Matrix:

A Tool for Designing

Comprehension Instruction
Sharon Ruth Gill

The Comprehension Matrix provides Why do many teachers still seem unsure about
ways to help students comprehend? Liang and Dole
teachers with a way of dealing
(2006) suggested that information about research-
with the overwhelming amount of proven instructional frameworks for teaching com-
information available on the teaching prehension is not always easy to find. However, there
of comprehension by helping them is a significant body of research on comprehension,
and many recent books, websites, and other re-
organize activities into prereading, during- sources about teaching comprehension are readily
reading, and postreading categories. available. In fact, the number of techniques that have
been described can be overwhelming. Not only must
teachers make decisions about which techniques to

I
use, they must also find ways to fit these techniques
n recent years, reading research has shown us a
into their routines for reading instruction. Part of the
great deal about how to help students comprehend.
problem may be that these techniques are presented
Studies have identified strategies that good compre-
in an isolated way. Another part of the problem may
henders use (Duke & Pearson, 2002), and techniques
be that such decisions depend on teachers own un-
for helping students comprehend appear in books
derstanding of comprehension. Designing effective
and journals frequently. At the same time, however,
comprehension instruction requires first and fore-
researchers report that few if any of these techniques
most an understanding of how readers comprehend,
are used in classrooms. Durkins (1978/1979) study
based on both theory and research. With such an un-
found that comprehension instruction was rare; two
derstanding, teachers can then make decisions about
decades later, Pressley and Wharton-McDonald (1998)
teaching techniques described in books and journals
found little change. Similarly, Onofrey and Theurer
and, more important, design their own comprehen-
(2007) asserted that many teachers still find compre- sion instruction on the basis of this knowledge. This
hension instruction a mystery. Kragler, Walker, and article provides a brief review of comprehension
Martin (2005) found that the primary grade teachers and introduces an organizational tool called the
they observed relied primarily on teachers manuals Comprehension Matrix (see Figure 1), which may
for content area instruction and found that the sci- help teachers understand and plan comprehension
ence and social studies textbooks the teachers used instruction.
focused on assessing student understanding rather
than helping them comprehend. For years it seems
we have tested comprehension but rarely taught it. Understanding
Yet reading teachers and content area teachers alike Comprehension
need to be able to design lessons that help students
comprehend (i.e., learn from) specific texts and need Factors That Affect Comprehension
to develop comprehension strategies that readers can Comprehension is complex; it is affected by a va-
use on many different types of texts. riety of factors. Thinking about our own reading

The Reading Teacher, 62(2), pp. 106113 2008 International Reading Association
106 DOI:10.1598/RT.62.2.2 ISSN: 0034-0561 print / 1936-2714 online
Figure 1
The Comprehension Matrix

The reader The text The situation

n Interest n Layout n The purpose
n Emotional state n Style n Activities that help students
n Physical state n Organization construct/extend their
n Strategies known n Vocabulary understanding
n Background knowledge n Concept load
n Self-image n Illustrations

A B C
Prereading Activities that Activities that Activities that
n Get students interested n Help students understand n Provide a purpose for the
n Build and activate text structure reading
background knowledge n Introduce new concepts and Example: K-W-L, anticipation
n Model strategies vocabulary guide
Example: Observing real Example: Picture walk,
objects, discussion, list-group- organizational walk-through,
label, graphic organizers graphic organizers
During SILENT READING SILENT READING SILENT READING

D E F
reading Occasionally, activities that Occasionally, activities that Occasionally, activities that
n Help students use strategies n Focus student attention on n Provide a purpose for the
n Model thinking text structures reading
n Help students understand n Helps students construct and
Example: DRTA, ReQuest,
think-aloud vocabulary and concepts extend their understanding
Example: Reading guides, Example: Reading guides,
story maps pattern guides

G H I
Postreading Activities that Activities that Activities that
n Extend understanding n Help students understand n Use ideas from the reading
n Help students solidify vocabulary and concepts n Help students construct and

strategies Example activities: labeled extend their understanding

Example activities: news drawings or other graphic Example activities: timelines,
reports organizers graphic organizers

experiences can illustrate these factors. For example, These experiences illustrate three major factors
when you do comprehend best? When do you have that affect comprehension: the reader, the text, and
trouble comprehending? When I ask preservice and the situation (Weaver, 2002). Other researchers and
inservice teachers these questions, they identify a theorists have described the three factors in similar
number of factors that affect their comprehension. ways. Sweet and Snow (2003) identified three factors
They say they comprehend well when they are read- that affect comprehension: the reader, the text, and
ing books of their choice about topics of interest to the activity, all existing within a sociocultural con-
them, when they are reading for a specific purpose, text, while Irwin (1991) identified the three factors as
and when they are undistracted by worries, unfin- the reader, the text, and the purpose. Comprehension
ished chores, or noise. Texts with illustrations, lots of can be affected by the readers interest in and back-
headings and subheadings, and lots of white space ground knowledge of the topic, strategies the reader
on the page also help them comprehend. The pre- knows how to use, and even the readers physical
service and inservice teachers say they comprehend and emotional state and self-image. Style, layout, and
poorly when reading texts assigned by teachers, organization of the text; difficulty of the vocabulary
when they know very little about the topic, or when used; concept load (how many new concepts are
the page has dense text with few paragraph breaks introduced); and even the presence or absence of
or illustrations. illustrations, charts, and diagrams can also affect

The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction 107

 students comprehension. Finally, comprehension drew from your own experiences to create meaning.
can be affected by the situation in which the read- Some readers of this passage tell me that the pas-
ing takes place. Good readers adjust their reading in sage is about two children being dropped off early
different situations and for different purposes. When at school. The younger child wants to be pushed on
readers have specific purposes for the reading, these the swings or merry-go-round; the older child doesnt
purposes will guide readers choice of strategies and want to look uncool by playing on the playground. Yet
ultimately will affect how well readers comprehend none of this information is given in the text; readers
the text. In addition, reading takes place within a must supply it from their own experiences. Schema
sociocultural context. For many of my students (pre- theory tells us that readers must have adequate back-
service and inservice teachers), reading takes place ground knowledge to understand what they read;
within the context of a home in which the reader is it also tells us that readers must activate their prior
also responsible for housekeeping, childcare, and knowledge (Langer, 1984). In other words, you must
other duties, which can provide distractions. For chil- access the appropriate mental file before you can
dren, reading takes place within the culture of the use the information you have. The first time you read
school, but reading can also be affected by students the following passage, you may not comprehend it:
self-concepts and the social groups to which they Like the Pied Piper, it traveled down the street, luring
belong (Weaver, 2002). Understanding these factors children from their houses. The children gave offerings
can help teachers design effective lessons that sup- of coins hastily dug out of pockets and sofa cushions.
port comprehension.
If you did not understand that the passage was
about an ice cream truck, read it again. Does it make
Comprehension Theories more sense this time, when you have had a chance
Teachers also need to understand how comprehen- to activate your prior knowledge? Pressley (2000)
sion takes place. A teachers definition of comprehen- said that the many active processes of reading
sion can affect how he or she teaches comprehension. prediction, construction of images during reading,
My own view of comprehension reflects a sociopsy- monitoring of comprehension and rereading, sum-
cholinguistic view of reading (Weaver, 2002) and has marizing, and interpretationdepend greatly on
been influenced by three theories: schema theory, prior knowledge (p. 551). Understanding the role
transactional theory, and constructivist theory. Each of prior knowledge in comprehension helps us real-
of these theories helps us understand the importance ize the importance of prereading activities that build
of readers prior knowledge in helping them actively and activate background knowledge.
construct their comprehension. Transactional theory (Rosenblatt, 1938) says that
The importance of prior knowledge in reading because each reader brings different experiences to a
is well known. In fact, Smith (1975) defined compre- reading, each reader will take away a different mean-
hension as relating new experience to the already ing. When my students and I compare our responses
known.... Anything [readers] cannot relate to what to Robert Frosts poem Nothing Gold Can Stay, we
they know already will not make sense; it will be non- see that our responses vary. I think of my nephew as
sense (p. 10). Schema theory (Anderson & Pearson, a little boy and how quickly the years passed. Others
1984) describes how readers use their prior knowl- think of different things, although our responses often
edge to make sense of new information. Read the fol- have commonalities as well. Understanding that dif-
lowing passage: ferent people will take different things from a reading
helps teachers ask questions that allow for a variety
S he d r opp e d t hem of f e a r l y. O ne r a n to t he
of interpretations. Transactional theory also explains
playground.
Push me! said one. that readers will adopt either an efferent or an aes-
Yeah, right, said the other. thetic stance as they read (Rosenblatt, 1978). Reading
After a while the bell rang and they went inside. from an efferent stance means reading to take away
information, as we do when we read a phone book.
Who are these people? Where are they? Why does Reading from an aesthetic stance means reading for
one want to be pushed? Why does the other one say, the experience of it. A students stance can influence
Yeah, right? As you read the passage, you probably his or her comprehension as well. For example, when

108 The Reading Teacher Vol. 62, No. 2 October 2008

students know they may be quizzed on an assigned Using the Comprehension
reading, they may change to an efferent stance, read-
ing to remember names and other answers to pos-
Matrix
sible quiz questions rather than reading simply to The Comprehension Matrix is intended to encour-
become engaged in the experience. age teachers apply their knowledge of the various
factors that effect comprehension (factors related to
A constructivist theory of learning suggests that
the reader, the text, and the activity) to design pre-
learners actively construct their own knowledge. It
reading, during-reading, and postreading activities to
suggests that readers construct meaning by making
help students comprehend and learn to use a variety
connections between the text and their prior knowl-
of comprehension strategies.
edge (Dixon-Krauss, 1996). It also suggests that com-
prehension improves when we actively construct our
own representations or interpretations of the material Prereading
that we read. Writing, drawing, creating graphic orga- Section A on the Comprehension Matrix reminds
nizers, and other activities can help students build teachers that prereading activities should get stu-
and extend their comprehension. dents interested, build and activate background
knowledge, and model strategy use. Prereading ac-
tivities may also be used to help students notice the
Comprehension Is a Process structure of the text or to introduce new vocabulary
Teachers must also understand that comprehension and concepts, as shown in Section B of the Matrix.
is not something that either does or does not happen When students understand the organization of texts,
after one reads. The process of comprehension be- they are better able to set up predictions and to com-
gins before we start to read and continues even after prehend what they are reading. Students who un-
the reading is finished. For example, good readers derstand that stories contain plot, character, setting,
use prereading strategies like previewing the text and point of view, and theme and who understand that
use postreading strategies like summarizing in addi- expository texts often follow structures such as de-
tion to the many strategies they use to make meaning scription, sequence, comparison, cause and effect,
during the reading itself. Dividing instruction into and problem and solution can better understand
prereading, during reading, and postreading helps what they read (Tompkins, 2003). Comprehension
teachers design activities for each stage that will im- also improves when teachers help students under-
stand important vocabulary and concepts they will
prove students comprehension (Crafton, 1982) and
encounter in their reading or demonstrate strategies
provides opportunities for teachers to demonstrate
the students can use to figure out unknown words
strategies that readers can use at each stage.
as they read. Finally, Section C reminds teachers that
providing students with an authentic purpose for the
Comprehension Strategies reading will improve comprehension.
Much recent work on comprehension has focused on
Example Prereading Activities. Teachers can get
identifying strategies good readers use and training stu-
students interested in a topic by asking questions
dents to use these strategies. Pressley and Afflerbach
(How many of you have ever seen a thunderstorm?),
(1995) identified comprehension strategies that were
displaying objects related to the story, and leading dis-
shown to be effectively taught in a number of research
cussions. These activities can also activate students
studies: activating prior knowledge, generating ques- prior knowledge. Graphic organizers such as charts,
tions while reading, visualizing the text, summariz- graphs, or labeled drawings can provide needed
ing, and analyzing the structure of stories. A variety of conceptual information. One well-known technique
sources include similar lists of comprehension strate- that creates interest, builds and activates prior knowl-
gies that can be taught (see Table 1) and suggest activi- edge, and provides a purpose for reading is K-W-L
ties for teaching them. Research shows that teachers (Ogle, 1986), in which students think about what they
can effectively teach such strategies and that teaching know, what they want to know, and (after the read-
even one comprehension strategy can improve stu- ing) what they learned. Organizational walk-throughs
dents comprehension (Duke & Pearson, 2002). (McKenna & Robinson, 1993) allow the teacher to

The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction 109

 Table 1
Comprehension Strategies

National Reading
Panel (National
Alvermann, Institute of Child
Harvey and Goudvis Swafford, and Keene and Health and Human
Owocki (2003) (2000) Montero (2004) Zimmermann (2007) Development, 2000)

Connecting Making connections Making connections Using and creating Using prior
schema knowledge
Questioning Questioning Asking questions Asking questions Question generation,
question answering
Purpose setting
Visualizing Visualizing Creating images Using sensory and Making mental
emotional images images
Inferring Inferring Drawing inferences Inferring
Predicting
Retelling

Deciding whats Determining Distinguishing Determining

important importance importance importance
Monitoring Repairing Monitoring Monitoring meaning Monitoring
understanding comprehension comprehension
Evaluating
Synthesizing Synthesizing
Summarizing Summarizing
Cooperative learning
Use of graphic and
semantic organizers
Recognizing story
structure

point out major features of the text: chapter head- trusting them to do so. Most comprehension instruc-
ings and subheadings, pictures and captions, review tion should provide time for students to read silently,
questions, and so forth. Anticipation guides (Head & but occasional during-reading activities can help stu-
Readence, 1986) build interest and set purposes for dents use strategies and can demonstrate the kinds of
the reading by asking students to agree or disagree thinking that take place during reading (Section D),
with a series of statements related to the information help students use text structures and understand new
in the text. Teachers can also provide purposes for vocabulary and concepts (Section E), and provide
the reading by making students aware of postreading more specific purposes for the reading (Section F).
activities they will be doing.
Example During-Reading Activities. Directed
ReadingThinking Activity, or DRTA (Stauffer, 1969),
During Reading is a way of demonstrating that readers make predic-
When students are interested in a topic, have ad- tions as they read. Teachers have students make pre-
equate background information, and have a clear dictions about a story on the basis of the title and
purpose for their reading, they are ready to read si- cover and then have students read the text silently one
lentlyalthough teachers sometimes have difficulty section at a time. At the end of each section, teachers

110 The Reading Teacher Vol. 62, No. 2 October 2008

ask students if their predictions were correct and then reader) is different, the teachers knowledgeabout
they make more predictions about the next section. the students and about comprehension instruction
Reciprocal Questioning Strategy, or ReQuest is paramount. As the teacher previews the text, he or
(Manzo, 1969), is a similar procedure in which the she might ask the following questions:
teacher takes turns with the students, asking questions n What do my students know about this topic?
about the section of text they have just read. Teachers
n  hat specific terms or concepts do they need
W
could use a similar procedure to demonstrate specif-
to understand before they can understand this
ic comprehension strategies. Teachers can also use
passage?
think-alouds (Davey, 1983), in which they read the text
aloud, stopping to model for students comprehension n  ow can I get my students interested in this
H
strategies such as asking questions, making predic- topic?
tions, making connections, visualizing, and so on. n What purposes can I provide for the reading?
Another way teachers can provide assistance dur- n  hat activities will help my students engage in
W
ing reading is by creating pattern guides or reading this text?
guides. Reading guides ask students for specific in- n What strategies do my students need to learn?
formation in an assigned text, highlighting what the
teacher thinks are the important points. Pattern guides
n  hat strategies can I demonstrate with this par-
W
are similarthey provide students with part of the ticular text?
structure of the text and ask students to fill in the rest. n  ow can I help my students understand the vo-
H
cabulary and concepts in the text?

Postreading There are no generic worksheets that can provide

Traditional comprehension instruction often had activities appropriate for each text and group of read-
students answering questions about what they read. ers; only informed teachers can create this kind of
Postreading activities are not limited to assessing instruction.
students comprehension, however. Good postread- For example, one teacher used the Comprehension
ing activities can deepen students understanding of Matrix to help her fifth-grade students read an ar-
texts through the reflection provided by discussing, ticle about the arrival of the Titanics survivors in
writing, or creating visual representations of the text. New York. She preread the text with her students in
Postreading activities also provide purposes for the mind. What did her students know about the Titanic?
reading: Students who know in advance what they Would they be interested in this topic? Because most
will do with the information in the text will read with of them had seen the movie, they knew a great deal
more interest and purpose. about the ship sinking, but the teacher guessed that
few of her students knew about the survivors arrival
Example Postreading Activities. After reading, stu-
in New York or the immediate aftermath of the sink-
dents can extend their comprehension by using the
ing. She also thought that her students would already
information they have read to create something new: have a great deal of interest in the topic. Further, she
a timeline, a map, a television newscast, a newspaper knew that many of her students needed instruction in
report, a letter, a diary, or even a poem. They can ex- comprehension strategies. As she reviewed the text,
tend their conceptual and vocabulary knowledge by she noted that several descriptive passages in the
creating labeled drawings, Venn diagrams, or other text would lend themselves to a demonstration of the
kinds of graphic organizers. Students can also be strategy of visualization, and she also found points
asked to identify any problems they had during read- in the story to stop and ask students to predict what
ing and discuss strategies they used as they read. they thought would happen next.
With these goals in mindto demonstrate the
strategies of visualization and predictingthe teach-
Designing Comprehension er was ready to plan her lesson. Using the Matrix, she
Instruction planned prereading, during-reading, and postread-
How can teachers design comprehension instruction? ing activities. To build and activate students back-
Because each text (and the demands it places on the ground knowledge (Section A of the Matrix), the

The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction 111

 teacher asked they students what they already knew in our heads to help us understand what that night
about the Titanic and constructed a K-W-L chart. To was like? Lets take those pictures and write about
increase students interest and provide purposes for them. Pretend you are someone waiting at the dock,
the reading, (Section A and C), she created an an- a survivor, or even Senator Smith. Write a diary entry
ticipation guide, asking students to predict whether or a letter telling about your feelings and experiences
the following statements were true or false about the that night. In this example, then, the teacher used the
aftermath of the sinking: Comprehension Matrix as a way to think through the
factors that affect comprehension and chose activi-
1. The survivors of the Titanic were taken to New
ties best suited to the readers and the particular text.
York on the Carpathia.
Because this text did not have a heavy concept load
2. T he world already knew the details of what or difficult vocabulary, and because it had a clear
happened to the Titanic by the time the survi- chronological organization, the teacher did not see
vors reached New York. a need to include many of the activities listed in the
3. T here were more than 40,000 people waiting middle column of the Matrix. Other texts, however,
for the Carpathia to dock. might require a great deal more attention to vocabu-
lary and concept development and text structure.
4. A Senate inquiry into the sinking began a few
A teacher designing comprehension instruction for
weeks later.
a text about whales, for example, decided that the ma-
Now that her students were interested in the top- jor concept his students needed to understand from
the text was the difference between fish and mam-
ic and wondering what happened as the survivors
mals. As part of his plan, he created a pattern guide
returned to New York, the teacher used a during-
(see Figure 2) as a during-reading activity to help his
reading activity to demonstrate the use of visualization
students understand the various differences between
and predicting. She read aloud the first paragraph,
fish and mammals that were discussed in the text.
describing the stormy April night in which 40,000
Comprehension instruction has become a hot
spectators anxiously waited for the Carpathia to arrive
topic in reading instruction in recent years (Cassidy
with the Titanics survivors. She asked students to lis-
& Cassidy, 2005/2006), and more books and articles
ten and picture what it must have been like that night
on teaching comprehension are becoming available.
and explained that they had just used an important
However, teaching comprehension remains a daunt-
strategy: visualizing what they read. She then asked
ing task for many teachers. The Comprehension
students what they thought would happen when the
Matrix provides teachers with a way of dealing with
survivors got off the ship. After making predictions,
the overwhelming amount of information available
the students read the next few paragraphs of the story, on the teaching of comprehension by helping them
and then stopped to discuss whether their predictions
were correct and what might happen next. Through
DRTA, the teacher then modeled the kinds of think-
ing that good readers do (Section D of the Matrix). Figure 2
After reading the article, the teacher helped Pattern Guide
students extend their understanding of the article
(Section G of the Matrix) by returning to the K-W-L Mammals Fish
chart and having students fill in the L (What We Breathe air
Learned) section. They also revisited the anticipation
Give birth to live babies Lay ____________s
guide and discussed what they had learned about that nurse on their
each statement. The teacher solidified the students mothers milk
strategy use by reviewing the strategies the students Have _______ or ________ Covered with scales
had learned and having the students begin a class-
_________-blooded Cold-blooded
room chart listing strategies good comprehenders
used. The teacher designed a final postreading activ- Examples: ______________ Sharks, goldfish
ity to further deepen the students understanding. She
invited students to remember how we made pictures

112 The Reading Teacher Vol. 62, No. 2 October 2008

organize activities into prereading, during-reading, McKenna, M.C., & Robinson, R.D. (1993). Teaching through text:
A content literacy approach to content area reading. New York:
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The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction 113