What the Science of Reading says about Teaching Reading Comprehension
In recent years, we’ve all been given the push to incorporate the Science of Reading in our classroom instruction. Much of the emphasis has been on teaching students how to read (through phonics instruction). But, what does the Science of Reading say about teaching comprehension?
What is the Science of Reading?
The science of reading is a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and writing. This research focuses on the ‘Big 5’ areas of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. It is an ever-evolving body of research that can be added to as new discoveries are made. It is NOT a program or method of instruction.
Teaching Comprehension under SOR
The biggest shift that has come with this body of research has been the ‘sound first’ method of phonics instruction. Focusing on the sounds that letters make first and foremost, rather than looking to other clues in the text to help figure out a word is now considered ‘best practice’.
But, what you likely already thought of as quality comprehension instruction hasn’t changed much. Here are some high points for you:
Reading instruction is not meant to be sequential. You can support comprehension instruction from a very early age by asking questions about what students see and hear in the text. Even if comprehension is not the primary focus of a reading lesson, you can always support a student’s comprehension to promote engagement.
If you are going to focus primarily on comprehension, make sure that students are able to decode and read fluently first. Although you can support comprehension at any stage of reading, you do not want to ask students to focus primarily on comprehension if they are struggling to read the text. That is jumping too far ahead in the reading process for where a child’s development is at.
Teaching text structure and text features is still super important. Not everything can be understood by decoding words, alone. Understanding punctuation, the basic plot structure of a fiction story, what a heading is used for, etc. deepen comprehension beyond just what the words on the page actually say.
Strategies for Supporting Reading Comprehension
There are many great ways to foster reading comprehension in your classroom! Here are some great strategies that are backed by recent research (and you probably already use several of these):
Previewing the text. Read the title, look over the features, etc. Get your brain ready to read about the topic.
Make/revise predictions. It’s always great to ask students to predict what the text will be about. But it’s also important to revisit those predictions and invite students to change them if needed. This helps students to monitor their own understanding of a text as they go.
Rereading. It is so important to model and explicitly teach the habit of rereading sections of a text if they don’t make sense the first time, or if a child is unsure of a detail from the text.
Summarizing. Chunk the text and have students summarize what they have read so far. Look for common themes/topics across the different chunks of text.
Asking/Answering questions. Asking questions to monitor comprehension as you read, as well as having students ask questions for things that they are wondering about are powerful ways to build comprehension skills.
And, there you have it! The Science of Reading : Comprehension Research. Check out my other blog posts about my small group lesson routine that is SOR aligned and 4 tips for growing readers in small groups!
FREE Reading Passages
Sign up below to get a FREE sample of The Simple Classroom Reading Passages (2nd grade level). These are a great (FREE) starter pack to support your readers in comprehending texts!