10 Strategies to Increase Student Reading Comprehension

"They don't understand what they are reading!" laments the teacher.

"This book is too hard," complains a student, "I'm confused!"

Statements like these are commonly heard in grades 7-12, and they highlight a reading comprehension problem that will connect to a student's academic success. Such reading comprehension problems are not limited to low-level readers. There are several reasons that even the best reader in class may have problems understanding the reading that a teacher assigns.

One major reason for a lack of understanding or confusion is the course textbook. Many of the content area textbooks in middle and high schools are designed to cram as much information as possible into the textbook and each of its chapters. This density of information may justify the cost of textbooks, but this density may be at the expense of student reading comprehension. 

Another reason for a lack of understanding is the high level, content-specific vocabulary (science, social studies, etc) in textbooks, which results in an increase in a textbook's complexity. A textbook's organization with sub-headings, bolded terms, definitions, charts, graphs coupled with sentence structure also increase complexity. Most textbooks are rated using a Lexile range, which is a measure of a text's vocabulary and sentences. The average Lexile level of textbooks, 1070L-1220L, does not consider the more wide range of student reading Lexile levels that may range from 3rd grade (415L to 760L) to 12th grade (1130L to 1440L).

The same can be said for the wide range of reading for students in English classes, which contributes to low reading comprehension. Students are assigned reading from the literary canon including works by Shakespeare, Hawthorne, and Steinbeck. Students read literature that differs in format (drama, epic, essay, etc). Students read literature that differs in writing style, from 17th Century drama to the Modern American novella.

This difference between student reading levels and text complexity suggests increased attention should be given to teaching and modeling reading comprehension strategies in all content areas. Some students may not have the background knowledge or maturity to understand material written for an older audience. In addition, it is not unusual to have a student with a high Lexile readability measure encounter problems with reading comprehension because of his or her lack of background or prior knowledge, even with a low Lexile text.

Many students struggle trying to determine the key ideas from the details; other students have a hard time understanding what the purpose of a paragraph or chapter in the book may be. Helping students increase their reading comprehension can be a key to educational success or failure. Good reading comprehension strategies, therefore, are not only for low-level readers but for all readers. There is always room for improving comprehension, no matter how skilled a reader a student may be. 

The importance of reading comprehension cannot be understated. Reading comprehension is one of five elements identified as central to the instruction of reading according to the National Reading Panel in the late 1990s. Reading comprehension, the report noted, is the result of many different mental activities by a reader, done automatically and simultaneously, in order to understand the meaning communicated by a text. These mental activities include, but are not limited to:

Reading comprehension is now thought to be a process that is interactive, strategic, and adaptable for each reader. Reading comprehension is not learned immediately, it is a process that is learned over time. In other words, reading comprehension takes practice.

Here are ten (10) effective tips and strategies that teachers can share with students to improve their comprehension of a text. These are strategies for all students. If the students have dyslexia or other special learning requirements, they may need additional strategies.