» Nine Strategies for Reading Comprehension from The Vermont Strategic Reading Initiative

Nine Strategies for Reading Comprehension from The Vermont Strategic Reading Initiative

The Strategic Reading Initiative is a multi-faceted statewide effort to help all Vermont students become good readers. Nine strategies have been shown to help readers understand, analyze and interpret challenging text. Although use of these strategies is virtually automatic for proficient readers, other readers, especially struggling readers, are unaware of them. These strategies are especially useful in the content areas, where expository texts often seem daunting!

To read is to construct meaning from print. Good readers read to gain information, to deepen their understanding, and for pleasure. Strategic reading requires that readers operate metacognitively, to think about their own thinking. They do this by asking themselves, “Am I getting it?” Metacognition enables readers to monitor their comprehension so they can determine when and why text is unclear, then choose the strategy or strategies that will help them construct meaning. These strategies can be used before, during or after reading. Discussion and writing also support the construction of meaning, and supplement the benefits of strategic reading.

Good readers are efficient, active learners. Good teachers share their enthusiasm for books and reading, teaching and continually reminding their students of the following strategies.

Strategic readers:

Imagine, Using a Variety of Senses
(Standards 1.1 Reading Strategies, 1.3 Reading Comprehension, 5.13 Responding to Text)

This strategy includes visualizing a scene depicted in the writing, creating a graphic or three-dimensional representation of an abstract principle, imagining how a substance might feel, smell, or taste, etc.

Make Connections
(Standards 1.1 Reading Strategies, 2.2 Problem Solving)

This strategy includes drawing upon prior knowledge to make text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections in order to clarify and extend understanding of the text.

Analyze Text Structure
(Standards 1.1 Reading Strategies, 1.4 Reading Range of Text, 5.13 Responding to Text)

This strategy includes using transition words, table of contents, subheads, bold print, and text patterns to help discriminate among fiction, nonfiction, comparative, explanatory and other text structures, as well as paying attention to other technical aspects of the author’s craft.

Recognize Words and Understand Sentences
(Standards 1.1 Reading Strategies, 5.18 Structures)

The decoding of words and the comprehension of sentences provide the underpinning for successful reading. Strategic readers use: knowledge of sounds, syllables and letter patterns; a range of cueing systems; familiarity with vocabulary and word origins; contextual cues; knowledge of syntax; etc.

Explore Inferences
(Standard 1.1, Reading Strategies, 1.3 Reading Comprehension, 5.13 Responding to Text, 7.3 Theory)

This strategy involves various means of thinking about the text, including recognizing cause-and-effect relationships, making predictions, developing analogies, extending the logic of a piece of writing, and merging known and new information to develop new understanding.

Ask Questions
(Standard 1.7 Respond to Literature, 2.1 Ask a Variety of Questions, 5.13 Responding to Text)

The reader creates questions about the text, such as “What is the author trying to say?” “How does this relate to my life?” or “Why did the author write in the way he or she did?”

Determine Important Ideas and Themes
(Standard 1.1 Reading Strategies, 6.3 Analyzing Knowledge)

Strategic readers focus on introductory material, topic sentences, and/or concluding material in order to identify important parts of text and to distinguish among subplots, examples, big ideas, and underlying themes.

Evaluate, Summarize, Synthesize
(Standards 1.1 Reading Strategies, 1.3 Reading Comprehension, 2.3 Types of Problems)

Strategic readers pause during or after reading to consider the main points, construct new ideas from two or more pieces of text, and reflect on the quality and relevance of the text.

Reread and Adjust Approaches to the Text
(Standards 1.1 Reading Strategies, 1.2 Reading Accuracy, 3.2 Learning Strategies)

In response to the differing demands of text, strategic readers modify the pace and rhythm with which they read, and take notes to clarify their understanding. As necessary, they also re-read, read aloud, and/or underline the text, etc.