Strategies on improving reading comprehension

STRATEGIES ON IMPROVING READING
COMPREHENSION
CONTENTS
Part A. Introduction
Part B. Development
I. Effective strategies on improving reading comprehension
I.1. Comprehension monitoring
I.2. Cooperative learning
I.3. Graphic Organizers and Story Structure
I.4. Question Answering
I.5. Question Generating
I.6. Summarizing
I.7. Multiple Strategy
II. When and how to use reading strategies
III. Steps to improve reading comprehension
Part C. Conclusion
References

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Part A. INTRODUCTION
The main purpose for reading is to comprehend the ideas in the material. Without
comprehension, reading would be empty and meaningless. In our practicum, we have all
witnessed cases where students are capable of reading the words, but face much
difficulty in expressing their comprehension of the main ideas.
Language teachers are often frustrated by the fact that students do not
automatically transfer the strategies they use when reading in their native language to
reading in a language they are learning. Instead, they seem to think reading means
starting at the beginning and going word by word, stopping to look up every unknown
vocabulary item, until they reach the end. When they do this, students are relying

exclusively on their linguistic knowledge, a bottom-up strategy. One of the most
important functions of the language teacher, then, is to help students move past this idea
and use top-down strategies as they do in their native language.
Effective language teachers show students how they can adjust their reading
behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. They
help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each
reading situation.
As teachers, we need to have an understanding of the theories behind reading
comprehension, as well as a working knowledge of some important strategies that can be
used in the classroom to increase reading comprehension. In this paper, we are going to
focus on some effective strategies to improve reading comprehension.

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Part B. DEVELOPMENT
I. EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES ON IMPROVING READING
COMPREHENSION
Theoretically speaking, if the daily reading curriculum uses research-proven
methods, students should develop skills for comprehending the text. But you may be
wondering which strategies are the most beneficial. That question was answered in 1997
by a 14-member panel appointed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD). The results of their research, published under the title
“Teaching Children to Read” revealed that the seven most effective strategies are as
follows:
•

Comprehension monitoring

•

Cooperative learning

•

Graphic organizers and story structure

•

Question answering

•

Question generating

•

Summarizing

•

Multiple strategy

I.1. Comprehension monitoring
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
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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 make sense of and use appropriate strategies to
resolve problems in comprehension.
In reading comprehension, reading activities can be divided into three categories,
depending on when they take place: pre-reading, reading, and post-reading.
Pre-reading: Collecting and defining vocabulary terms from the text will assist
students in understanding words that otherwise may interrupt their reading. It will also
help them increase their vocabulary in a meaningful, relevant way. Students can record
the terms in a notebook or on flash cards. Another strategy involves having students
preview comprehension questions so that they can focus on answering those questions as
they read.
Reading: Teachers can guide students' interaction with the text by asking
questions about literary elements, having students present oral summaries of the plot, or
asking them to collect details or write observations on post-it notes. If students have
previewed comprehension questions, they can answer these questions as they read.
Post-reading: Summarizing (see below) is an effective strategy that can take
many different forms.

I.2. Cooperative learning
Cooperative learning is a strategy that maximizes student engagement, reduces
class tensions, and promotes student learning. Typically, students work in groups of four
or five to do the task given. If you plan to use cooperative learning frequently in classes,
consider arranging your classroom to facilitate learning in small groups.

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The following are examples of how students can work cooperatively to learn more
about a narrative work of literature:

•

Each group uses a plot diagram to locate and summarize a stage of plot
development.

•

Groups work briefly with the teacher to ensure their answers are correct.

•

Students reassemble into new groups comprising one "expert" from each of
the previous groups.

•

These new groups pool their expertise to fill out every stage of the plot
diagram.

•

The session concludes with a class discussion of the novel, short story,
play, or narrative poem.

I.3. Graphic Organizers and Story Structure
Graphic organizers, which provide a visual map for the reader, can be placed next
to the text as learners read in groups or individually, aloud or silently. They are
particularly useful in helping readers to understand the structure of a narrative or of an
argument. Following are descriptions of three types of organizers.
Comparison/Contrast: These organizers can help students consider the

similarities and differences between stories, plots, themes, and characters by giving
clues so that students can make differences and similarities among them.
Hierarchy Diagram: This graphic organizer can assist students who are reading
informational texts of all kinds, whether related to language arts or to other content
areas. For example, consider placing characterization at the top of the graphic organizer
as the overarching concept. The next level of this graphic organizer can then be assigned

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to characters, and the last level can deal with methods of characterization, including the
use of dialogue, author description, and action.
Matrix Diagram: This organizer is effective in representing comparisons and
contrasts. For example, students can use the matrix diagram to compare and contrast the
styles of various authors by entering key elements of style at the top and then filling in
the lower cells with the similar or different approaches of the authors they are
considering.

I.4. Question Answering
The typical approach to question answering is to answer comprehension questions
upon completion of the selection, but questions can be a part of a reading lesson at many
points. In reading comprehension, 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 “Question-Answering” strategy 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.

I.5. Question Generating
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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.
Besides, students can write questions about the story as a post-reading exercise.
These questions can then be integrated into formal tests or informal questioning games.

Teachers might want to suggest that students generate questions by adapting sentences
from the text. Students can also generate questions to identify their own uncertainties
about the text. They can then try to answer these questions by consulting teachers or
other students.

I.6. 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
This is an effective strategy for readers who have difficulty remembering and

writing about what they have read. A summary can take many forms, including
travelogues, journals, double-entry journals, and letters. For example, students can
create a travel itinerary that summarizes the action of a narrative, write a journal from a
particular character's point of view, set up a double-entry journal about the theme of a
work, or can summarize events in a letter that one character writes to another.

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I.7. Multiple Strategy
This strategy addresses individual learning styles by having students use different
media - such as text, images, or video - to analyze or comment on a work of literature.
For example, readers can follow a procedure like this one:
•

Begin analyzing a story by using a worksheet listing the elements to be
identified.

•

Use word processors and instructional software to create and fill in graphic
organizers with clip art and fields of text.

•

Refer to worksheets for definitions to be added to electronic graphic
organizers.

If students have access to video cameras and editing software, they can also create
videos that offer commentary on a literary work.

II. WHEN AND HOW TO USE READING STRATEGIES
Teachers can help students learn when and how to use reading strategies in
several ways:
1.

By modeling the strategies aloud, talking through the processes of previewing,
predicting, skimming and scanning, and paraphrasing. This shows students how
the strategies work and how much they can know about a text before they begin to
read word by word.

2.

By allocating time in class for group and individual previewing and predicting
activities as preparation for in-class or out-of-class reading. Allocating class time
to these activities indicates their importance and value.

3.

By using cloze (fill in the blank) exercises to review vocabulary items. This helps
students learn to guess meaning from contexts.
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4.

By encouraging students to talk about what strategies they think will help them
approach a reading assignment, and then talking after reading about what
strategies they actually used. This helps students develop flexibility in their choice
of strategies.
When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the

reading experience, and they gain confidence in their ability to read the language.
Besides, reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it
supports learning in multiple ways.
Reading to learn the language: Reading material is language input. By giving

students a variety of materials to read, instructors provide multiple opportunities for
students to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as
they occur in authentic contexts. Students thus gain a more complete picture of the ways
in which the elements of the language work together to convey meaning.
Reading for content information: Students' purpose for reading in their native
language is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying, and this
purpose can be useful in the language learning classroom as well. Reading for content
information in the language classroom gives students both authentic reading material
and an authentic purpose for reading.
Reading for cultural knowledge and awareness: Reading everyday materials
that are designed for native speakers can give students insight into the lifestyles and
worldviews of the people whose language they are studying. When students have access
to newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, they are exposed to culture in all its variety,
and monolithic cultural stereotypes begin to break down.

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III. STEPS TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION
In order to improve reading comprehension, students are advised to follow four basic
steps:
1. Figure out the purpose for reading. Activate background knowledge of the topic
in order to predict or anticipate content and identify appropriate reading strategies.
2. Attend to the parts of the text that are relevant to the identified purpose and
ignore the rest. This selectivity enables students to focus on specific items in the
input and reduces the amount of information they have to hold in short-term
memory.
3. Select strategies that are appropriate to the reading task and use them flexibly
and interactively. Students' comprehension improves and their confidence
increases when they use top-down and bottom-up skills simultaneously to

construct meaning.
4. Check comprehension while reading and when the reading task is completed.
Monitoring

comprehension

helps

students

detect

inconsistencies

comprehension failures, helping them learn to use alternate strategies.

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and


Part C. CONCLUSION
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. The
seven strategies here appear to have a firm scientific basis for improving text
comprehension.
As it transpires, the reading process can be influenced by many factors. All of
those factors, however, are reader-dependent. These strategies introduced here can
support and improve the performance of students before, during, and after reading. Such

strategies help students develop essential skills for understanding and extracting
meaning from text and boost their performance on reading comprehension assessments.
In addition, students who benefit from scaffolded learning are better able to function as
independent readers and to express ideas in a variety of ways. As a whole, appropriate
reading strategies are of paramount importance, as they condition the success in the
overall comprehension of a text.

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REFERENCES
International Reading Association. 1996 Summary of the (U.S.) National Reading Panel
Report "Teaching Children to Read."
< />Edmark. 1997. Let’s Go Read. />Fox, B. A. 1993. The Human Tutorial Dialogue Project: Issues in the Design of
Instructional Systems. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
IBM. 1998. Watch Me Read. />Juel, Connie. 1996. What makes literacy tutoring effective? Reading Research Quarterly
31(3), pp. 268-289.
The Learning Company. 1995. Reader Rabbit’s® Interactive Reading Journey™.

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