6 essential skills for reading

comprehension
Some people think of the act of reading as a straightforward task that’s easy
to master. In reality, reading is a complex process that draws on many
different skills. Together, these skills lead to the ultimate goal of reading:
reading comprehension, or understanding what’s been read.

Reading comprehension can be challenging for lots of reasons. Whatever

the cause, knowing the skills involved, and which ones your child struggles
with, can help you get the right support.

Here are six essential skills needed for reading comprehension, and tips on
what can help kids improve this skill.

1. Decoding
Decoding is a vital step in the reading process. Kids use this skill to sound
out words they’ve heard before but haven’t seen written out. The ability to do
that is the foundation for other reading skills.

Decoding relies on an early language skill called phonemic awareness. (This

skill is part of an even broader skill called phonological awareness.)
Phonemic awareness lets kids hear individual sounds in words (known
as phonemes). It also allows them to “play” with sounds at the word and
syllable level.
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Decoding also relies on connecting individual sounds to letters. For instance,
to read the word sun, kids must know that the letter s makes the /s/ sound.
Grasping the connection between a letter (or group of letters) and the sounds
they typically make is an important step toward “sounding out” words.

What can help: Most kids pick up the broad skill of phonological
awareness naturally, by being exposed to books, songs, and rhymes. But
some kids don’t. In fact, one of the early signs of reading difficulties is
trouble with rhyming, counting syllables, or identifying the first sound in a
word.

The best way to help kids with these skills is through specific instruction and
practice. Kids have to be taught how to identify and work with sounds. You
can also build phonological awareness at home through activities like word
games and reading to your child.

2. Fluency
To read fluently, kids need to instantly recognize words, including words
they can’t sound out. Fluency speeds up the rate at which they can read and
understand text. It’s also important when kids encounter irregular words,
like of and the, which can’t be sounded out.

Sounding out or decoding every word can take a lot of effort. Word
recognition is the ability to recognize whole words instantly by sight, without
sounding them out.

When kids can read quickly and without making too many errors, they are
“fluent” readers.

Fluent readers read smoothly at a good pace. They group words together to
help with meaning, and they use the proper tone in their voice when reading
aloud. Reading fluency is essential for good reading comprehension.

What can help: Word recognition can be a big obstacle for struggling
readers. Average readers need to see a word four to 14 times before it
becomes a “sight word” they automatically recognize. Kids with dyslexia,
for instance, may need to see it up to 40 times.

Lots of kids struggle with reading fluency. As with other reading skills, kids
need lots of specific instruction and practice to improve word recognition.

The main way to help build fluency is through practice reading books. It’s
important to pick out books that are at the right level of difficulty for kids.

3. Vocabulary
To understand what you’re reading, you need to understand most of the
words in the text. Having a strong vocabulary is a key component of reading
comprehension. Students can learn vocabulary through instruction. But they
typically learn the meaning of words through everyday experience and also
by reading.

What can help: The more words kids are exposed to, the richer their
vocabulary becomes. You can help build your child’s vocabulary by having
frequent conversations on a variety of topics. Try to include new words and
ideas. Telling jokes and playing word games is a fun way to build this skill.

Reading together every day also helps improve vocabulary. When reading
aloud, stop at new words and define them. But also encourage your child to
read alone. Even without hearing a definition of a new word, your child can
use context to help figure it out.

Teachers can help, too. They can carefully choose interesting words to teach
and then give explicit instruction (instruction that is specialized and direct).
They can engage students in conversation. And they can make learning
vocabulary fun by playing word games in class.

For more ideas, watch as an expert explains how to help struggling readers
build their vocabulary.

4. Sentence construction and cohesion

Understanding how sentences are built might seem like a writing skill. So
might connecting ideas within and between sentences, which is
called cohesion. But these skills are important for reading comprehension as
well.

Knowing how ideas link up at the sentence level helps kids get meaning from
passages and entire texts. It also leads to something called coherence, or the
ability to connect ideas to other ideas in an overall piece of writing.

What can help: Explicit instruction can teach kids the basics of sentence
construction. For example, teachers can work with students on connecting
two or more thoughts, through both writing and reading.
5. Reasoning and background knowledge
Most readers relate what they’ve read to what they know. So it’s important
for kids to have background or prior knowledge about the world when they
read. They also need to be able to “read between the lines” and pull out
meaning even when it’s not literally spelled out.

Take this example: A child is reading a story about a poor family in the
1930s. Having knowledge about the Great Depression can provide insight
into what’s happening in the story. The child can use that background
knowledge to make inferences and draw conclusions.

What can help: Your child can build knowledge through reading,
conversations, movies and TV shows, and art. Life experience and hands-on
activities also build knowledge.

Expose your child to as much as possible, and talk about what you’ve learned
from experiences you’ve had together and separately. Help your child make
connections between new knowledge and existing knowledge. And ask open-
ended questions that require thinking and explanations.

You can also read a teacher tip on using animated videos to help your child
make inferences.

6. Working memory and attention

These two skills are both part of a group of abilities known as executive
function. They’re different but closely related.

When kids read, attention allows them to take in information from the
text. Working memory allows them to hold on to that information and use it
to gain meaning and build knowledge from what they’re reading.

The ability to self-monitor while reading is also tied to that. Kids need to be
able to recognize when they don’t understand something. Then they need to
stop, go back, and re-read to clear up any confusion they may have.

What can help: There are many ways you can help improve your child’s
working memory. Skillbuilders don’t have to feel like work, either. There are
a number of games and everyday activities that can build working
memory without kids even knowing it.

To help increase your child’s attention, look for reading material that’s
interesting or motivating. For example, some kids may like graphic novels.
Encourage your child to stop and re-read when something isn’t clear. And
demonstrate how you “think aloud” when you read to make sure what you’re
reading makes sense.