EDF3306 Literacy Assessment 2:
Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension skills and strategies
Differentiating between skills and strategies
Reading skills
Reading skills refer to the automatic skills necessary for efficient decoding and fluent reading. These include skills such as basic decoding and an understanding of sound-symbol relationships (Afferbach, Pearson & Paris, 2008; Konza, 2011; Winch et al., 2011).
Reading strategies
Reading strategies are higher order thinking strategies which readers use deliberately and flexibly in order to gain a deeper understanding of texts (Hill, 2012; Miller, 2013; Winch et al., 2011, p. 90). Examples of reading strategies include predicting, summarising, questioning and critiquing texts (Duke & Pearson, 2002).
This website focuses on the reading strategies required for effective comprehension as the majority of middle to upper primary students in your school will have mastered basic reading skills.
There are a number of reading comprehension strategies which skilled readers utilise before, after and during the reading process (Hill, 2012; Winch et al., 2011). We have outlined a range below that are widely recognised in research literature as the universal reading comprehension strategies (Duke & Pearson, 2002; Hill, 2012; Miller, 2013; Munro & Munro, 1994; National Reading Panel, 2000; Winch et al., 2011).
Universal reading comprehension strategies
Activating prior knowledge
The reader uses their knowledge of the text's genre and topic as well as their own prior experiences to make connections to the text by synthesising new textual information with what they already know.
Predicting
The reader makes informed predictions about what will happen next in the text based on what they have already read, the visual elements of the text and their prior knowledge of similar texts types. Good readers constantly evaluate and adapt their predictions as they read.
Questioning
While reading or viewing a text, good readers constantly question what they are comprehending in order to clarify meanings, integrate information and identify key ideas.
Inferring
Effective readers make inferences by drawing conclusions from information in the text and using their prior knowledge. In this way, readers can develop understandings which are not explicitly stated in the text.
Summarising
As they are reading, good readers summarise the most important information in the text in their own words. This helps readers to recall the text quickly later and to understand how different ideas in the text relate to each other.
Visualising
Good readers construct mental images about the text as they are reading. This makes the text easier to recall and enables a deeper level of comprehension.
Monitoring understanding
Readers continually reflect on their comprehension of the text and recognise when they do not understand. They then use repair strategies to improve their understanding. These include rereading, reading ahead, clarifying the meanings of words or asking for help.
Critiquing/Critical skills
Effective readers analytically critique the content, structure, language and images used in a text. Readers analyse the views and values in a text and what how the text functions in the broader sociocultural context.
Adapted from Duke and Pearson (2002), Hill (2012), Miller (2013), Munro and Munro (1994) and Winch et al. (2011)
