“Once teachers understand what is
involved in comprehending and how
the factors of readers, text and context
interact to create meaning, they can
more easily teach their students to be
“Comprehension is the process of
simultaneously extracting and
constructing meaning through
interaction and involvement with
By Laura Pardo
explicit instructions of useful
Teach students to monitor and repair.
Use multiple strategy approaches.
Make reading – writing connections visible.
Other examples of PRE – READING activities
Skimming to find the theme or main idea and eliciting
related prior knowledge
Constructing semantic webs (a graphic arrangement
of concepts or words showing how they are related)
Looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs and
Reading over the comprehension questions to focus
attention on finding that information while reading
Understand that reading is a process to
Build up their background knowledge
on the subject before they begin to read.
Use their background knowledge as they
Know their purpose for reading.
Strive for fluency (conversational like
Order of reading the
elements in the text.
Searching for answers
Use information from the text to complete sentences
Use information from the text to choose options or
Other examples of WHILE – READING activities
Rearrange paragraphs or sentences of the text for
students to put back in the correct order.
Give the students pictures of events in the story
which students put in order as they read the text.
Omit words in a text, giving the students a list of
words with which to fill in the gaps.
Replace certain words with a picture to help students
work out what the missing word is.
Give their complete attention to the reading
Keep a constant check on their own
Adjust their reading rate to match purpose and
Monitor their reading comprehension and do it
so often it becomes automatic.
Can match their reading strategies to a variety
of reading materials.
Stop only to use a fix-up strategy when they do
Use information from the text to expand vocabulary /
Other possible OUTCOMES – Little or no Language
Using figures: Transfer information to grids, flow
charts, maps, graphs and so on.
Classification, definition etc.
Comparison, contrast, advantages / disadvantages.
Other possible OUTCOMES – Involving Spoken
Drama, simulation and role play.
Debate and discussion.
Other possible OUTCOMES – Involving Writing
Reassembling and making use of the information.
Summarizing and note taking.
Write a book review.
Decide if they have achieved their goal for
Respond personally and critically to what they
read by making connections such as text/self;
text/text; or text/real world.
Evaluate their own comprehension of what
Summarize the major ideas.
Seek additional information from outside
strategies are the COGNITIVE and
readers use to
accomplish the GOAL of
Cognitive strategies assist in
understanding what is being
allow individuals to monitor
and assess their ongoing
understanding what is being