IMPROVING

STUDENTS’ READING
COMPREHENSION
 Cookbooks, social media, instruction manuals — no
matter where you look, we live our lives surrounded by words.
That’s why reading comprehension is one of the most valuable
skills a student can master.
But it’s not automatic. Reading comprehension
needs to be taught in the classroom to have a lasting
impact, whether you’re teaching kindergarten or high
school English.
Many students struggle with reading comprehension and
understanding for a variety of reasons:
• They prefer a different learning style
• They’re not interested in reading or writing
• They don’t have the necessary prior knowledge to understand
the text
• They have trouble focusing on one word at a time and skip
important ideas
• They’re working with a learning need like dyslexia that makes
understanding written materials difficult
What is reading comprehension and why
is it important?
Reading comprehension is a reader’s ability to understand the explicit and
implicit meaning of a text or piece of writing.
It moves beyond vocabulary knowledge and word recognition to add meaning.
When students use reading comprehension skills, they’re turning words into
thoughts and ideas.
Reading is one of the most important ways students and adults learn new
information. As one study in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain
Sciences states: "Reading comprehension is one of the most complex cognitive
activities in which humans engage, making it difficult to teach, measure, and
research."
 Reading comprehension can also
help struggling readers build enjoyment
of reading and participate more fully in
lessons.
And it’s not just for the classroom, either — reading
comprehension has real-life applications for readers of all
ages. It can:

• Equip readers to make good day-to-day decisions with available

information
• Give readers the ability to think critically about what they read online
and in the news
• Help readers decipher meaning in recipes, directions or other step-by-
step instructions
• Help students move past word recognition into understanding and
remembering the text
TWO CORE COMPONENTS OF
COMPREHENSION
The two main components of reading
comprehension are vocabulary
knowledge and text comprehension. Both
of these skills combine to help students get
the most out of a text.
VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

Vocabulary knowledge is where reading comprehension starts.

Students with good vocabulary strategies understand what words
mean and have the background knowledge to understand a given
text.
It also includes strategies for using context clues to determine the
meaning of unfamiliar words. The reading comprehension process
is over before it begins if students don’t have solid vocabulary
knowledge or the ability to learn new words.
TEXT COMPREHENSION
Text comprehension is a big-picture look at what, exactly, a text
means. It helps students interact with a text to understand what’s being
said and what they need to learn from it.
When students have good text comprehension skills, they can answer
questions about what the author is saying, summarize the passage and
connect information between texts or prior knowledge.
In short, it helps them move beyond literal comprehension and into higher
levels of thinking.
11 WAYS TO IMPROVE
READING
COMPREHENSION
SKILLS
1. BUILD ON EXISTING KNOWLEDGE

One of the biggest barriers to reading comprehension is a lack of

background knowledge.
If you’re reading a text about astronomy, for example, ask students to
record or explain what they already know about the solar system. For easy
insights, have students answer quick questions or fill out a KWL (Know,
Want to Know, Learned) chart and share the results.
Or read non-fiction and fiction books that cover the same or overlapping topic. For
example, a non-fiction book about pigs and a picture book that includes pigs as
characters. Teachers can reference the facts from the non-fiction book to discuss
what is fact versus fiction.

Make sure all students understand key terms and ideas before you read the text, so
everyone starts on the same page (literally). This helps students draw inferences and
make connections between the text and things they already know, levelling the
playing field when it comes to prior knowledge.
2. IDENTIFY AND SUMMARIZE KEY IDEAS
After students read, summarizing a text can help
them pull out main points and absorb more information.
As you introduce summarization, guide students through with
leading questions and a specific structure — length, key points,
etc. Use the “I do, we do, you do” format to model good
summarization techniques.
As you model the practice, teach students how to:
• Separate facts from opinions
• Find key ideas amid extra information
• Identify important words and phrases
• Look up vocabulary they don’t understand
Teaching students how to do this consciously helps train their brains to start
summarizing automatically, leading to better reading comprehension
overall.
3. USE ONLINE RESOURCES

Thanks to the internet, reading doesn't just happen IRL — it's online, too!
There are lots of resources you can use in your classroom to engage kids
with different interests as they practice their reading comprehension.
Prodigy English is a brand-new adventure that introduces kids to a world
filled with adventures, wishes and more ways to love reading.
Its game-based platform encourages students to answer curriculum-aligned
reading and language questions to get more energy. Once players are
energized, they can gather resources from an ever-growing world, craft
items, earn coins and build their very own village.
As they play, you'll be able to track their progress and achievement. Sign up
for a free teacher account today!
4. USE VISUAL AIDS
To help students build a picture in their minds of what they’re reading, use
visual aids and visualization techniques.
Start by reading aloud and asking students to try and picture what’s
happening in their heads. After, use writing prompts like:
• What colors did you see the most?
• What do you think the setting looked like?
• How would you describe the main character?
• What sounds do you think you would hear in the world of the story?
Have students draw out a scene, character or story for even more
understanding. They can make a family tree of the characters or
fun notes to help them remember the key points in the story!
Anchor charts, word walls or picture books can also help
reinforce key concepts for your students. When they’re able to
visualize the story or information they’re reading, they’re more
likely to retain key information.
5. DEVELOP VOCABULARY SKILLS
Vocabulary is an important part of understanding a text and is vital for
reading ease and fluency. Vocabulary teaching strategies can help
students build the tools to understand new words on their own.
To help students learn and remember new words, try:
• Making a word wall in your classroom
• Pairing new words with physical actions
• Creating graphic organizers that help relate known words to new
ones
6. IMPLEMENT THINKING STRATEGIES
To encourage students to engage critically with a text, ask
questions about:
• Where they can spot bias in the material
• Why the author chose a particular genre or style
• What they think happened before or after the story
• Why characters responded to situations the way they did