Wanna know why I think reading strategies for comprehension are essential tools to have for any student? Then keep reading! Teaching your students effective reading strategies for comprehension will help them attack any written text they come across now and in the future and they will know what to look for. They’ll learn the tools to decipher texts and understand its clues in a structured way. What’s not to like?
As a new teacher, I found my students didn’t seem to understand the basic features of the texts I was giving them. And because of that, they weren’t understanding what was in it, even though the texts should have been on level. I realized it was because they weren’t applying clear strategies to decode these texts and understand it before even reading it thoroughly. So I went to work and created a reading strategies for comprehension guideline for them, and it has worked wonders for their reading skills! Let me tell you what those strategies are below!
Wanna skip ahead? Download my free Reading Strategies PDF to use for yourself or give to students as a resource! Or print the document off as reading strategies for comprehension posters to hang on the wall!
What are reading comprehension strategies?
Reading strategies are tools that help students ask themselves the right questions about a text they have been given to read. These tools decipher a text in the way that it shows what this text is all about before a reader dives into the actual words that are written. They can be used for any text, and after asking themselves these questions, the reader will have a better understanding of the meaning of the words.
Best reading strategies for comprehension
There might be more of them, I don’t know, but I think these 7 strategies for reading comprehension are the best ones. They cover the ‘before reading’ part, a ‘while reading’ section, and the ‘after reading’ portion of the work. So without further ado, my reading strategies to increase comprehension are:
1. Determine the goal
2. Predict
3. Prior knowledge
4. What to do when you don’t understand
5. Ask questions
6. Visualize
7. Summarize
Reading strategies to improve comprehension explained
Before your read:
Determine the goal
Ask yourself: what is the goal of the text? What purpose does it have? Why was it written? For example, a dictionary’s goal is to help people find the meaning of words, and a menu helps people decide what they want to eat at a restaurant. The author’s purpose can be one of 3 different things: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. And this purpose is what the text wants from the reader.
Predict
Predict what the text will be about without reading anything yet. Ask yourself: what do I notice about this text? What do I think this text will be about? Why do I think that? Only look at lay-out, title and headings, images, captions, the author and the source, the structure, and words that stand out. Predicting things helps us connect what we already know to what we think we will learn next.
Prior knowledge
You probably already know things about the topic of the text. Remind yourself of this and it will help you understand the text better and connect it to other things you’ve learned before. This too helps us connect what we already know to what we think we will learn next.
While you read:
What to do when you don’t understand
When you come across a word you don’t know: 1) Read the sentences around it (again) and guess the meaning. 2) Still don’t know? Look up the word in a dictionary. 3) Find linking words to determine what the author is trying to say: but, because, however, first, second, third, so, therefore, etc. 4) Check out adverbs to figure out time and place: here, there, yesterday, tomorrow, where, when
Ask questions
Ask yourself the 5W and H questions: who, what, where, when, why and how? They will help you decode the most important things about his text and the main thing the author is trying to tell the reader.
Visualize
Paint a picture in your head of what the text is saying. Is it about a cause and its effect? Similarities and differences? Problems and solutions? Could you now explain it to someone who hasn’t read this text?
After you read:
Summarize
Summarize what you’ve learned from this text. First, highlight key words or phrases. Then note down what the goal of this text is. Next, highlight the main idea. Last, highlight other important things. Then make these parts into a new document, like a table, a drawing, a word web, a road map, or a short piece of text.
PDF of these reading strategies for comprehension
So that’s it! I hope teaching your students these strategies will help them become better readers, like mine have. Before you go, grab the PDF with all of these strategies by clicking here! Use them for your own reference, to keep in your bag. Print off copies for students for them to use. Or print them off to hang up as reading strategies for comprehension posters on the wall. I have done all three of these options myself, lol 🙂
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