This article is about human reading comprehension.

For machine reading comprehension, see natural language

understanding.

Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it, and understand its meaning.[1]
Although this definition may seem simple; it is not necessarily simple to teach, learn or practice
(K12 Publishing, LLC, 2015.) An individual's ability to comprehend text is influenced by their traits
and skills, one of which is the ability to make inferences. 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. There are a number of approaches to improve reading
comprehension, including improving one's vocabulary and reading strategies.

Definition

Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text/message. This

understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they
trigger knowledge outside the text/message.[2][3] Comprehension is a "creative, multifaceted
process" dependent upon four language skills: phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.[4]
Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognise words quickly and effortlessly.[5] It is also
determined by an individual's cognitive development, which is "the construction of thought
processes". Some people learn through education or instruction and others through direct
experiences.[6]

There are specific traits that determine how successfully an individual will comprehend text,
including prior knowledge about the subject, well-developed language, and the ability to make
inferences. Having the skill to monitor comprehension is a factor: "Why is this important?" and
"Do I need to read the entire text?" are examples. Lastly, is the ability to be self-correcting to
solve comprehension problems as they arise.[7]

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 and
their associated sounds. This theory was first identified by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S.
Lockhart.[8]

Brain region activation

Comprehension levels can now be observed through the use of an fMRI, functional magnetic
resonance imaging. fMRIs' are 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.[9]

History

Initially most comprehension teaching was based on imparting selected techniques that when
taken together would allow students to be strategic readers however in 40 years of testing these
methods never seemed to win support in empirical research. One such strategy for improving
reading comprehension is the technique called SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and
Review that was introduced by Francis Pleasant Robinson in his 1946 book Effective Study.[10]

Between 1969 and to about 2000 a number of "strategies" were devised for teaching students to
employ self-guided methods for improving reading comprehension. In 1969 Anthony Manzo
designed and found empirical support for the ReQuest, or Reciprocal Questioning Procedure, it
was the first method to convert emerging theories of social and imitation learning into teaching
methods through the use of a talk rotation between students and teacher called cognitive
modeling.

Since the turn of the 21st century, comprehension lessons usually consist of students answering
teachers' questions, writing responses to questions on their own, or both.[11] The whole group
version of this practice also often included "Round-robin reading", wherein teachers called on
individual students to read a portion of the text. In the last quarter of the 20th century, evidence
accumulated that the read-test methods were more successful assessing rather than teaching
comprehension. Instead of using the prior read-test method, research studies have concluded
that there are much more effective ways to teach comprehension. Much work has been done in
the area of teaching novice readers a bank of "reading strategies," or tools to interpret and
analyze text.[12]

Instruction in comprehension strategy use often involves the gradual release of responsibility,
wherein teachers initially explain and model strategies. Over time, they give students more and
more responsibility for using the strategies until they can use them independently. This technique
is generally associated with the idea of self-regulation and reflects social cognitive theory,
originally conceptualized by Albert Bandura.

Vocabulary

Reading comprehension and vocabulary are inextricably linked. 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. Students with a smaller
vocabulary than other students comprehend less of what they read and it has been suggested
that the most impactful way to improve comprehension is to improve vocabulary.[13]

Most words are learned gradually through a wide variety of environments: television, books, and
conversations. Some words are more complex and difficult to learn, such as homonyms, words
that have multiple meanings and those with figurative meanings, like idioms, similes, and
metaphors.[14]

Three tier vocabulary words

Several theories of vocabulary instruction exist, namely, one focused on intensive instruction of a
few high value words, one focused on broad instruction of many useful words, and a third
focused on strategies for learning new word etc...

Broad vocabulary approach

The method of focusing of broad instruction on many words was developed by Andrew Biemiller
who argued that more words would benefit students more, even if the instruction was short and
teacher-directed. He suggested that teachers teach a large number of words before reading a
book to students, by merely giving short definitions, such as synonyms, and then pointing out the
words and their meaning while reading the book to students.[15] The method contrasts with the
approach by emphasizing quantity versus quality. There is no evidence to suggest the primacy of
either approach.[16]

Morphemic instruction

The final vocabulary technique, strategies for learning new words, can be further subdivided into
instruction on using context and instruction on using morphemes, or meaningful units within
words to learn their meaning. Morphemic instruction has been shown to produce positive
outcomes for students reading and vocabulary knowledge, but context has proved unreliable as a
strategy and it is no longer considered a useful strategy to teach students. This conclusion does
not disqualify the value in "learning" morphemic analysis - prefixes, suffixes and roots - but rather
suggests that it be imparted incidentally and in context. Accordingly, there are methods designed
to achieve this, such as Incidental Morpheme Analysis.[17]

Reading strategies
 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 out-reach 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 have come to be
seen as effective strategies 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.[12]

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" (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.[18]

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."[19]

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.[18] Students can practice visualizing by imagining what they
"see, hear, smell, taste, or feel" when they are read 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 they must read their own book. Once they have completed this, they are
given the opportunity to write down their own comprehensive 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.

This strategy:

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

[20]
Provides direct opportunities for a teacher to circulate in the class, observe students, and offer
individual remediation.

Multiple reading strategies

There are a wide range of reading strategies suggested by reading programs and educators. 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.[18] 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.[21]

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.

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. Implementing the following instructions with intermittent feedback
has been found to improve reading comprehension across all ages, specifically those affected by
mental disabilities.[8]

Comprehension Strategies

Research studies on reading and comprehension have shown that highly proficient 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.

1. Making Inferences: In everyday terms we refer to this as “reading between the lines”. It involves
connecting various parts of texts that aren’t directly linked in order to form a sensible conclusion.
A form of assumption, the reader speculates what connections lie within the texts.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.
5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Making Connections: A cognitive approach also referred to as “reading beyond the lines”, it
involves 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. [22]

Assessment

There are informal and formal assessments to monitor an individual's comprehension ability and
use of comprehension strategies.[23] 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

A popular assessment undertaken in numerous primary schools around the world are "running
records"- Running records are a helpful tool in regards to reading comprehension.[24] The tool
assists teachers in analysing specific patterns in student behaviours and planning appropriate
instruction. By conducting running records teachers are given an overview of students reading
abilities and learning over a period of time.

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

1. Select the text

2. Introduce the text

3. Take a running record

4. Ask for retelling of the story

5. Ask comprehensive questions

6. Check fluency

7. Analyse the record

8. Plan strategies to improve students reading/understanding ability

9. File results away

[26] Running Record Codes

Difficult or complex content

Reading difficult texts

Some texts, like in philosophy, literature or scientific research, may appear more difficult to read
because of the prior knowledge they assume, the tradition from which they come, or the tone,
such as criticizing or parodizing. Philosopher Jacques Derrida, explained his opinion about
complicated text: "In order to unfold what is implicit in so many discourses, one would have each
time to make a pedagogical outlay that is just not reasonable to expect from every book. Here the
responsibility has to be shared out, mediated; the reading has to do its work and the work has to
make its reader."[27] Other philosophers, however, believe that if you have something to say, you
should be able to make the message readable to a wide audience.

Hyperlinks

Embedded hyperlinks in documents or Internet pages have been found to make different
demands on the reader than traditional text. Authors, such as Nicholas Carr, and psychologists,
such as Maryanne Wolf, contend that the internet may have a negative impact on attention and
reading comprehension.[28] Some studies report increased demands of reading hyperlinked text in

terms of cognitive load, or the amount of information actively maintained in one’s mind (also see
working memory).[29] One study showed that going from about 5 hyperlinks per page to about 11
per page reduced college students’ understanding (assessed by multiple choice tests) of articles
about alternative energy.[30] This can be attributed to the decision-making process (deciding
whether to click on it) required by each hyperlink,[29] which may reduce comprehension of
surrounding text.

On the other hand, other studies have shown that if a short summary of the link’s content is
provided when the mouse pointer hovers over it, then comprehension of the text is improved.[31]
"Navigation hints" about which links are most relevant improved comprehension.[32] Finally, the
background knowledge of the reader can partially determine the effect hyperlinks have on
comprehension. In a study of reading comprehension with subjects who were familiar or
unfamiliar with art history, texts which were hyperlinked to one another hierarchically were easier
for novices to understand than texts which were hyperlinked semantically. In contrast, those
already familiar with the topic understood the content equally well with both types of
organization.[29]

In interpreting these results, it may be useful to note that the studies mentioned were all
performed in closed content environments, not on the internet. That is, the texts used only linked
to a predetermined set of other texts which was offline. Furthermore, the participants were
explicitly instructed to read on a certain topic in a limited amount of time. Reading text on the
internet may not have these constraints.

Professional development

The National Reading Panel noted that comprehension strategy instruction is difficult for many
teachers as well as for students, particularly because they were not taught this way and because
it is a very cognitively demanding task. They suggested that professional development can
increase teachers/students willingness to use reading strategies but admitted that much remains
to be done in this area. The directed listening and thinking activity is a technique available to
teachers to aid students in learning how to un-read and reading comprehension. It is also difficult
for students that are new. There is often some debate when considering the relationship between
reading fluency and reading comprehension. There is evidence of a direct correlation that fluency
and comprehension lead to better understanding of the written material, across all ages.
However, it is unclear if fluency is a result of the comprehension or if this a separate learned task.
See also

Directed listening and thinking activity

English as a second or foreign language

Fluency

Levels-of-processing

Readability

Reading for special needs

References

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2. ^ Keith Rayner; Barbara Foorman; Charles Perfetti; David Pesetsky & Mark Seidenberg
(November 2001). "How Psychological Science Informs the Teaching of Reading". Psychological
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3. ^ Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd
edition), Boston, Pearson. p 203.

4. ^ Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd
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5. ^ Adams, Marilyn McCord (1994). Beginning to read: thinking and learning about print .
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-51076-6. OCLC 62108874 .

6. ^ Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd
edition), Boston, Pearson. pp. 5, 7.

7. ^ Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd
edition), Boston, Pearson. pp. 205, 208-209, 211-212.

8. ^ a b Cain, Kate; Oakhill, Jane (2009). "The Behavioral and Biological Foundations of Reading
Comprehension". Guilford Press: 143–175. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Cain.2C_2006"
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9. ^ Speer, Nicole; Yarkoni, Tal; Zacks, Jeffrey (2008). "Neural substrates of narrative
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10. ^ Robinson, Francis Pleasant (1978). Effective Study (6th ed.). New York: Harper & Row.
ISBN 978-0-06-045521-7.
11. ^ Pearson, P. David. "The Roots of Reading Comprehension Instruction" (PDF).
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2013. External link in |work= (help)

12. ^ a b Pressley, Michael (2006). Reading instruction that works: the case for balanced
teaching . New York: Guilford Press. ISBN 1-59385-229-0. OCLC 61229782 .

13. ^ Nielsen, Diane. "Study shows greater focus on vocabulary can help make students better
readers" . news.ku.edu. The University of Kansas. Retrieved 15 March 2013. “if they don’t
understand the meaning of the words, then their ability to understand the overall meaning of a
story or other text will be compromised”

14. ^ Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd
edition), Boston, Pearson. pp. 171, 181, 183.

15. ^ Biemiller & Boote, 2006

16. ^ Linda Kucan; Beck, Isabel L.; McKeown, Margaret G. (2002). Bringing words to life: robust
vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford Press. ISBN 1-57230-753-6. OCLC 48450880 .

17. ^ Matthew M. Thomas; Manzo, Anthony V.; Manzo, Ula Casale (2005). Content area literacy:
strategic teaching for strategic learning. New York: Wiley. pp. 163–4. ISBN 0-471-15167-X.
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18. ^ a b c Dan Bell, The GRE Handbook - The How to on GRE, Complete Expert's Hints and Tips
Guide by the Leading Experts, Everything You Need to Know about GRE, p.68

19. ^ Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers (3rd
edition), Boston, Pearson. p. 249.

20. ^ a b "Partner Reading" . Reading Rockets. Retrieved 2016-05-13.

21. ^ Sherry Berkeley (2007). "Reading comprehension strategy instruction and attribution
retraining for secondary students with disabilities". Dissertation Abstracts: Humanities and Social
Sciences. 68 (3-A): 949.

22. ^ http://www.speedreadinfo.com/speed-reading-tip-study-7-reading-strategies-read-
proficiently/

23. ^ Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers
(3rd edition), Boston, Pearson.

24. ^ How To Take Running Records. Canada: Scholastic Canada Ltd. 2002. p. 1.

25. ^ n/a, n/a (2002). How to take running records. Canada: Scholastic Canada Ltd. pp. 9–11.

26. ^ "How to take running records" (PDF). Scholastic. Scholastic Canada Ltd. 2002. Retrieved
2016-05-13. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
27. ^ Jacques Derrida (1987) Heidegger, the Philosopher's Hell, interview by Didier Eribon for Le
Nouvel Observateur issue of November 6–12, republished in Points: Interviews 1974-1994 (1995)
pp.187-8

28. ^ Nicholas G. Carr (2010). The shallows: what the Internet is doing to our brains. New York:
W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-07222-3. OCLC 449865498 .

29. ^ a b c DeStefano, Diana; LeFevre, Jo-Anne (2007). "Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A
review". Computers in Human Behavior. 23 (3): 1616–1641. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2005.08.012 .
ISSN 0747-5632 .

30. ^ Zhu, Erping. Hypermedia Interface Design: The Effects of Number of Links and Granularity
of Nodes. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, v8 n3 p331-58 1999

31. ^ Antonenko; Niederhauser (2010). "The Influence of Leads on Cognitive Load and Learning in
a Hypertext Environment". Computers in Human Behavior. 26 (2): 140–150.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.10.014 .

32. ^ Madrid, Oostendorp and Melguizo: Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 66–75

Further reading

Heim S, Friederici AD (November 2003). "Phonological processing in language production: time

course of brain activity" . NeuroReport. 14 (16): 2031–3.
doi:10.1097/01.wnr.0000091133.75061.2d . PMID 14600492 .

Vigneau M, Beaucousin V, Hervé PY, et al. (May 2006). "Meta-analyzing left hemisphere
language areas: phonology, semantics, and sentence processing" . NeuroImage. 30 (4): 1414–
32. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.11.002 . PMID 16413796 .

External links

Test your English Reading Comprehension Skills

Vocabulary Instruction and Reading comprehension - From the ERIC Clearinghouse on

Reading English and Communication.

ReadWorks.org | The Solution to Reading Comprehension

Last edited 16 days ago by Jiten Dhandha