Comprehension

Comprehension: The Goal of Reading

Comprehension, or extracting meaning from what you read, is the ultimate goal of reading.
Experienced readers take this for granted and may not appreciate the reading comprehension skills
required. The process of comprehension is both interactive and strategic. Rather than passively
reading text, readers must analyze it, internalize it and make it their own.

In order to read with comprehension, developing readers must be able to read with some proficiency
and then receive explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies (Tierney, 1982).

 Strategies for reading comprehension in Read Naturally programs

General Strategies for Reading

Comprehension
The process of comprehending text begins before children can read, when someone reads a picture
book to them. They listen to the words, see the pictures in the book, and may start to associate the
words on the page with the words they are hearing and the ideas they represent.

In order to learn comprehension strategies, students need modeling, practice, and feedback. The
key comprehension strategies are described below.
Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing
When students preview text, they tap into what they already know that will help them to understand
the text they are about to read. This provides a framework for any new information they read.

Predicting
When students make predictions about the text they are about to read, it sets up expectations based
on their prior knowledge about similar topics. As they read, they may mentally revise their prediction
as they gain more information.

Identifying the Main Idea and Summarization

Identifying the main idea and summarizing requires that students determine what is important and
then put it in their own words. Implicit in this process is trying to understand the author’s purpose in
writing the text.

Questioning
Asking and answering questions about text is another strategy that helps students focus on the
meaning of text. Teachers can help by modeling both the process of asking good questions and
strategies for finding the answers in the text.

Making Inferences
In order to make inferences about something that is not explicitly stated in the text, students must
learn to draw on prior knowledge and recognize clues in the text itself.

Visualizing
Studies have shown that students who visualize while reading have better recall than those who do
not (Pressley, 1977). Readers can take advantage of illustrations that are embedded in the text or
create their own mental images or drawings when reading text without illustrations.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Narrative Text

Narrative text tells a story, either a true story or a fictional story. There are a number of strategies
that will help students understand narrative text.
 Story Maps
Teachers can have students diagram the story grammar of the text to raise their awareness of the
elements the author uses to construct the story. Story grammar includes:

 Setting: When and where the story takes place (which can change over the course of the story).
 Characters: The people or animals in the story, including the protagonist (main character),
whose motivations and actions drive the story.
 Plot: The story line, which typically includes one or more problems or conflicts that the
protagonist must address and ultimately resolve.
 Theme: The overriding lesson or main idea that the author wants readers to glean from the story.
It could be explicitly stated as in Aesop’s Fables or inferred by the reader (more common).

 Printable story map (blank)

Retelling
Asking students to retell a story in their own words forces them to analyze the content to determine
what is important. Teachers can encourage students to go beyond literally recounting the story to
drawing their own conclusions about it.

Prediction
Teachers can ask readers to make a prediction about a story based on the title and any other clues
that are available, such as illustrations. Teachers can later ask students to find text that supports or
contradicts their predictions.

Answering Comprehension Questions

Asking students different types of questions requires that they find the answers in different ways, for
example, by finding literal answers in the text itself or by drawing on prior knowledge and then
inferring answers based on clues in the text.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Expository Text

Expository text explains facts and concepts in order to inform, persuade, or explain.

The Structure of Expository Text

Expository text is typically structured with visual cues such as headings and subheadings that
provide clear cues as to the structure of the information. The first sentence in a paragraph is also
typically a topic sentence that clearly states what the paragraph is about.

Expository text also often uses one of five common text structures as an organizing principle:

 Cause and effect

 Problem and solution
 Compare and contrast
 Description
 Time order (sequence of events, actions, or steps)

Teaching these structures can help students recognize relationships between ideas and the overall
intent of the text.

Main Idea/Summarization
A summary briefly captures the main idea of the text and the key details that support the main idea.
Students must understand the text in order to write a good summary that is more than a repetition of
the text itself.
 K-W-L
There are three steps in the K-W-L process (Ogle, 1986):

1. What I Know: Before students read the text, ask them as a group to identify what they already
know about the topic. Students write this list in the “K” column of their K-W-L forms.
2. What I Want to Know: Ask students to write questions about what they want to learn from reading
the text in the “W” column of their K-W-L forms. For example, students may wonder if some of
the “facts” offered in the “K” column are true.
3. What I Learned: As they read the text, students should look for answers to the questions listed in
the “W” column and write their answers in the “L” column along with anything else they learn.

After all of the students have read the text, the teacher leads a discussion of the questions and
answers.

 Printable K-W-L chart (blank)

Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers provide visual representations of the concepts in expository text. Representing
ideas and relationships graphically can help students understand and remember them. Examples of
graphic organizers are:
Tree diagrams that represent categories and hierarchies

Tables that compare and contrast data

Time-driven diagrams that represent the order of events

Flowcharts that represent the steps of a process

Teaching students how to develop and construct graphic organizers will require some modeling,
guidance, and feedback. Teachers should demonstrate the process with examples first before
students practice doing it on their own with teacher guidance and eventually work independently.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension in Read Naturally

Programs
Several Read Naturally programs include strategies that support comprehension:

Strategies for Reading Comprehension

Read Naturally Intervention
Program Quiz / Graphic
Predictio Retelling
Comprehension Organizer
n Step Step
Questions s

 Main idea
Read Naturally Live:  Literal
A mostly independent, cloud-based  Vocabulary
program with built-in audio support.
Focuses on fluency and phonics with  Inferential
additional support for vocabulary.  Short answer
✔ ✔  Retell /  
 Learn more about Read Naturally summary
Live  Comparison
 Video: Working through a story questions (levels
5.6–8.0)

Read Naturally Encore:  

A mostly independent, print-based
✔ ✔  Main idea
 Literal
program with audio support on CDs.
Focuses on fluency and phonics with  Vocabulary
additional support for vocabulary.  Inferential
 Short answer
 Learn more about Read Naturally  Retell /
 summary
Encore  Comparison
 Read Naturally Encore sample questions (levels
stories 5.6–8.0)

Read Naturally GATE:

Teacher-led instruction for small
groups of early readers. Focuses on  Literal
phonics and fluency instruction with (containing
additional support for phonemic many words
awareness and vocabulary.
✔ ✔ with the featured  
phonics patterns)
 Learn more about Read Naturally
 Short answer
GATE
 Read Naturally GATE samples

One Minute Reader Live:

A component of web-based Read
Live for supplemental, independent
 Main idea
reading that develops fluency with
support for vocabulary and  Literal
comprehension.      Vocabulary  
 Inference
 Learn more about the One Minute
Reader Live

One Minute Reader Books/CDs:

Printed books with audio support on  Main idea
CDs that develop readers’ fluency
with support for vocabulary and  Literal
comprehension.  Vocabulary
     Inference  
 Learn more about the One Minute  Short answer
Reader Books/CDs (oral response)
 One Minute Reader sample book

Take Aim at Vocabulary: A print-    

based program with audio CDs that
 Main idea ✔
 Literal
teaches carefully selected target
words and strategies for  Vocabulary
independently learning unknown  Inference
  Vocabulary:
Clarify target
words. Students work mostly words
independently or in teacher-led small
groups of up to six students.  Vocabulary: Stu
dy word parts
 Learn more about Take Aim at and review
Vocabulary target words
 Take Aim at Vocabulary samples  Vocabulary:
Apply the target
words

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