Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension

This handbook provides essential insights into reading comprehension difficulties and strategies for improvement, making it a valuable resource for educators and students. Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension offers practical tips and research findings.

The ultimate goal of reading extends beyond mere engagement; it lies in the ability to understand the material at hand. Comprehension can manifest in various forms, and recent years have seen a heightened focus on its importance. However, there remains a notable scarcity of accessible resources on this crucial topic for both trainee and practicing educators. Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension steps in to fill this gap, offering a comprehensive overview of contemporary research findings related to reading comprehension and the challenges faced by children in this area.

This essential handbook delves into the characteristics of children who struggle with reading comprehension, providing insights into effective strategies for supporting and enhancing their skills. Written in an approachable manner, it caters to both students and professionals who may lack a background in the psychology of reading or associated difficulties. The book poses the fundamental question of 'what is comprehension?' and explores the understanding of various language units, from individual words to complex prose, while outlining the necessary cognitive processes involved in grasping extended texts.

Moreover, the text examines comprehension in different contexts, particularly focusing on reading for enjoyment versus reading for information. It highlights the role of reader characteristics—such as interest and motivation—in shaping the comprehension experience. Various skills contribute to effective reading comprehension, including word recognition, vocabulary, syntactic abilities, memory, and metacognitive strategies. The authors discuss how these skills develop, starting from pre-reading stages, and lay the groundwork for successful comprehension in later stages of learning.