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Effective Reading Comprehension Strategies and Instruction

Lindsey Finch

Franciscan University of Steubenville

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Introduction

Have you ever wondered why sometimes you might read a paragraph, a page, or a

chapter of a book and have to go back and re-read it because you did not retain any of the

information? Well, that could be for two reasons: you had a distracting thought impeding your

mind at the time, or you struggle with reading comprehension. Reading comprehension, as

described by the National Reading Panel (2002), is: "intentional thinking during which

meaning is constructed through interactions between text and readerThe content of meaning is

influenced by the text and by the readers prior knowledge and experience that are brought to

bear on it" (Reutzel & Cooter, 2012). There is a myriad of research presented on the topic of

reading comprehension because it is a growing problem in schools across the nation. Many have

conducted studies through trial, assessment, and observation, which have exposed successful

reading comprehension teaching strategies and instruction.

Purpose

Reading comprehension is essential to success in the real-world. No matter what

profession or career one has, or dreams of having, it will involve reading comprehension to some

extent. I was not effectively taught reading comprehension strategies in my elementary years;

therefore, I struggle with understanding and retaining text. This dilemma especially surfaces

when I take standardized tests; my lowest grade among all of the sections is always in
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comprehension. This is either because I get the questions wrong or I do not finish the section in

the allotted time due to re-reading the passage several times over. Because of the importance of

reading comprehension, and because I strive to be a great, influential teacher, I have researched

the lingering question: What are effective strategies and instructional practices for teaching

reading comprehension?

To implement this research, I have investigated other studies and literature regarding

effective reading comprehension strategies. I also interviewed two current teachers in order to

identify what they implement in their classrooms for successful reading comprehension

instruction.

With this action research, I am expecting to find many different strategies that have

evidence of successful outcomes in the classroom. I hypothesize that there will be many different

kinds of prosperous strategies and instructional approaches, and that they will cover just about

every learning type in order to differentiate instruction to the fullest.

Review of Literature

A study conducted by Klingner., Urbach, Golos, Brownel, & Menon (2010) shows the

status of teaching reading comprehension in special education. The purpose of this study was to

"determine the extent to which and in what ways [teachers] promoted students reading

comprehension" (p. 59). The participants consisted of 41 special education teachers teaching

their third-fifth grade students with learning disabilities. For this study, the researchers used the

method of evaluation and assessment. They evaluated the teachers instructional practices and

assessed their reading content knowledge, and assessed students reading achievement using

various other measures. The results of this evaluation study found that many teachers use several
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different methods of teaching reading comprehension that were classified under six categories

identified by the researchers: teachers questions, interactive dialogue, identifying text structure,

metacognition, comprehension strategies, and instruction in comprehension strategies. These

strategies are what the researchers found to be the most common in special education

classrooms, however, the authors highlight that although they found a large quantity of reading

comprehension instructions, it is the quality of the instruction that matters the most.

I liked this article because it included fairly straight forward language making it simpler

for the average reader to understand. The authors included "Tables" which really helped as a

visual aid, and they broke down the different categories of teaching strategies so that the reader

could better understand what the teachers in the study did in the classroom. It was a very

organized article. The one thing I wish they had done better was include information about the

students that were being taught in the classrooms. Were they severely disabled? Mildly disabled?

I think that would have been good information for the reader to know. This article is relevant to

my Action Research project because I am doing my research on teaching reading comprehension

effectiveness. This article allows me to not only look at reading comprehension in the general

education classroom but also in the special education classroom. To further the research, I would

take this study and evaluate each of the teaching methods and assess which ones seem to have

the most positive impact on the students reading comprehension.

A classroom project conducted by Young (2014) demonstrates ways in which in-class

workstations improve reading comprehension in early childhood. The author implemented 15

workstations: summary, connections, sequence, retell, questions, predictions, reader response

stems, synthesis, theme, expositions, determining importance, inferring poetry, nonfiction text

features, drama, and scripting. The purpose of this project was to increase levels of reading
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comprehension in students by using diverse, engaging workstations in the classroom. The

method used was an action research-based project and the participants are the teacher (Young)

and his second grade class (amount of students in the class is unspecified). Youngs (2014)

conclusion was that his second grade students exceeded the expected growth. Because of these

in-class workstations, 89% of the class showed an increase in reading comprehension. The test

used to measure reading comprehension was a computer adaptive test called "Imagination

Station". According to the "Istation" website, this e-learning program places students on

personalized instructional paths which meet their individual needs by engaging them through the

game-like structure.

This article was the best article I have ever read. The author used mid-high academic

language and used pictures for visual representation. For every workstation described, the author

includes an explanation of exactly how to implement each one in the classroom. It is reasonable,

simple, straight-forward and effective. It was also a shorter article (11 pages) and it was easy to

understand. I would certainly use these workstations in my future classroom considering the

effects it had on Youngs (2014) students. There is nothing that I disliked about the article or

found "bad" about the article. This article relates to my project because it highlights specific,

real-world strategies that I can implement into a classroom to improve students reading

comprehension. To further this project, I would suggest that the author implemented these

workstations in a first and third grade classroom to see if that affects the results at all. I would

also suggest furthering it in the area of special needs. These workstations could have a large

impact on reading comprehension for children with special needs because of their diversity and

simplicity.
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Schaffner, Schiefele, and Ulferts (2013) conducted a survey in order to study the

relationship between reading motivation and reading comprehension. The purpose of this study

was to examine "indicators of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on reading amount

and reading comprehension. The main research question referred to the role of reading amount as

a mediator of motivational effects on reading comprehension" (p. 370). The participants in this

study consisted of 159 fifth grade elementary students. The method used for this research was a

ninety-minute survey or test, which students took in their regular classes. The results proved to

be in accordance with the authors hypotheses: if a child is intrinsically motivated to read, they

typically read more and had higher reading comprehension than those with components of

extrinsic reading motivation who often read less and had lower reading comprehension.

This was one of my favorite articles because of the straightforward and simple language,

which makes it easy to read for the average reader. I also enjoyed it because it confirmed a

personal assumption; I normally score lower on reading comprehension tests than on other tests

because I do not have an intrinsic motivation to read and I never have. I do not know why I have

never been particularly motivated to read, but it make sense now why I score lower in reading

comprehension areas. I did not find anything that I disliked about this article. In relation to my

Action Research project, this could be a strong contributing factor to my research. This helps to

show that if a teacher can somehow instill an intrinsic motivation in their students to read, then

they will ultimately have higher success rates in reading comprehension, which is amazing! To

further this study, I would research different strategies for encouraging reading motivation so that

I could potentially increase my students chances at succeeding in reading comprehension.

An experiment conducted by Garcia-Madruga, Elosa, Gil, Gomez-Veiga, Vila, Orjales,

Contreras, Rodriguez, Melero, & Duque (2013) shows the effects of a reading comprehension
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intervention done in primary schools. The purpose of this study was to implement a training

program to improve reading comprehension, which was tested in two experiments. The authors

hypotheses for the first experiment were that the experimental group would increase after

training in the posttest measure, and that there will be a positive correlation in the pretest across

the three cognitive variables studied: reading comprehension, working memory, and intelligence.

Their hypotheses for the second experiment was that there would be a significant increase after

training in the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading Comprehension (DARC), that there would be a

pretest to posttest increase in the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT) and working memory,

that there will be a higher increase in the low reading comprehension group than the high reading

comprehension group, and that there would be positive correlations in the pretest among reading

comprehension, working memory, and intelligence. The participants of this study were third

grade primary school students and the method the authors used was experimental. Here is a short

description of the results of the two experiments:

"Experiment 1 showed a greater gain after training the experimental group in

contrast to the control group in reading comprehension and intelligence. In
experiment 2, we focused on the training processes and compared training results
of high and low pretest reading comprehension groups. Results confirmed the
increase in reading comprehension, intelligence, and executive processes and
showed that the low group reached a greater gain in reading comprehension after
training than the high group did" (Garcia-Madruga, et al., 155).

With these findings, most of the authors hypotheses were correct.

I liked that the authors did two experiments in order to deepen their research. They also

included "Tables" for their findings and for their training tasks, which are great visuals for

displaying information. I did not like the language they used; it was very academic and difficult

to understand at times. This experiment was also conducted at a primary school in Spain-

therefore I do not know how useful this is to American teachers. This relates to my project
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because I am investigating teaching reading comprehension effectiveness and this article gives

great ideas for programs and strategies for improving teaching reading comprehension. To

further this research for myself, I would look into the differences between primary schools in

Spain and primary schools in America to see if the teaching strategies they use there would be

effective for teaching/learning here.

Methodology

The method used when conducting this research was action research consisting of a

review of literature and an interview with two current teachers: Mrs. Munges, a middle school

Language Arts teacher, and Mrs. Hide, a middle school Math teacher. The participants teach at

the same Catholic school in Southern California and are not representative of the population. The

participants were selected because they both have over fifteen years of teaching experience and

are very knowledgeable on how to accomplish student success.

To conduct the interview, I emailed both teachers the same three questions. They both

responded to the emailed interview questions within one week and provided great insights into

reading comprehension instruction within the classroom. The interview questions were as

follows: How did you teach reading comprehension in your classroom(s) (strategies, activities,

etc.)? What did you find to be particularly effective when dealing with students who struggled

with reading comprehension? What did you find to be particularly ineffective when dealing with

students who struggled with reading comprehension?

Findings
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After the review of literature and the interview, substantial results were found. There

were many suggestions made by the authors in the articles, which provided valuable resources,

comprehension strategies, and instructional techniques. My hypothesis was correct in that I

discovered several successful strategies for various learning types. Schaffner, Schiefele, and

Ulferts (2013) found that children with intrinsic reading motivation read more and had greater

reading comprehension skills than children with extrinsic reading motivation. Garcia-Madruga et

al. (2013) showed that after being trained in the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading

Comprehension (DARC), students reading comprehension, intelligence, and executive processes

improved. The study conducted by Young (2014) showed that implementing the several

strategies in the in-class work stations improved 89% of his students reading comprehension

skills, which is a tremendous increase. Many of the concepts he focused on in the work stations,

such as predicting, summarizing, connecting, retelling, questioning, responding, determining

themes and importance, and practicing with a variety of genres are similar to that of Mrs.

Munges and Mrs. Hides instructional strategies.

The first question asked for the interviews was about the type of strategies they use in

their classrooms when teaching reading comprehension. When asked what reading

comprehension strategies she uses in their classroom, Mrs. Munges said:

it was extremely important to read stories to my students. In my combined

classroom, I read for thirty minutes after lunch, every day, and we chose books
that were from many different genres. Whatever I read to them, I read it in such a
way that I would draw them into the story. They were not asked to do anything
but listen. Hearing the words used in the correct context, pronounced correctly,
listening to the cadence of my speech, and feeling the range of emotions as the
stories unfolded, helped them immensely in their own path to being articulate.
Mrs. Munges explained how reading aloud to her students modeled for them the appropriate way

to read and retain information. By improving their reading skills, they were able to focus more

and improve in their comprehension skills. When asked the same question, Mrs. Hide answered:
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As for teaching reading comprehension in math, I have students focus on key

words. Vocabulary is a big one for me. If students do not know the vocabulary, no
matter how well they can solve problems (numerical ones), they will not be able
to figure out the word problems (most of real life problems). Consequently, I
build vocabulary skills. In the context of word problems, we read the problem
through, then pick it apart, break it down. Ask the typical questions, what do we
need to find out, what do we know, how can we use what we know to find the
answer. Look at the units involved. See how to manipulate the units to get the
units needed in the answer. Then we will translate verbal expression into
mathematical expression. I often have students draw a picture of what the
problem is describing. This helps students visualize and give meaning to the
words.

Although Mrs. Hide is a Math teacher, it is still necessary for students to have a sense of reading

comprehension in order to understand the problems, especially the ones related to real-world

situations. Vocabulary is key in reading comprehension. A student must know the meaning of the

word in order to understand the context of a sentence. Furthermore, many concepts used to solve

Math problems are the same concepts used to comprehend reading: know the context, ask

questions, break things down, and translate verbal expression into cognitive and visual

expression. Therefore, reading comprehension is essential across all curriculums; without it,

students would not be able to interpret information in other content areas.

The second and third questions went hand-in-hand in regard to teaching children who

struggled with reading comprehension. When asked about this, Mrs. Munges explained:

For the students who struggled to read at grade level, I would place them in
similar age groups and we would read, out loud, together. As we read, I would
occasionally stop the story and ask the students to discuss what they believed was
happening in the story. How did they feel about the character, and about the turn
of events? Did they believe they knew where the plot was headed? Reading was
always the best part of the day. These students also kept logs about the main idea
and wrote summaries at the end of each chapter I would read their logging and
summaries each week and spend time with those who didnt really get what
they read. If I felt the book was above their ability, we chose a new book.
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In this case, she would focus on predicting and summarizing for the struggling readers in order

for them to have extra practice in retelling and summing up the story in their own words. If she

could figure out the problem, she would address it and make any changes to suit their needs.

When asked the same question, Mrs. Hide said:

As stated [before], I need the students to know vocab terms. Reading in math is
useless if they do not know what sum is or quotient, diagonal vertex, etc are. It is
almost like learning a foreign language. Vocab comes first, then grammar. I
constantly build on what they know. I provide models and visuals. I think, most
importantly, is I use the proper language/vocabulary when I speak. When I solve
problems, I speak the process out loud all the time.

Something important mentioned here is the use of modeling for students. Mrs. Hide said she uses

the vocabulary in her speech that she wants her students to start using, and then they will catch

on to the vocabulary and understand it better in context. Modeling is an excellent technique to

demonstrate important concepts.

Recommendations

To further this research, a study could be conducted that implements the strategies and

instructional approaches in my findings to determine which strategy is the most effective out of

all of them. The limitation to this action research was that the sample group, or participants, were

convenient samples. There were only two of them, so this could not nearly represent the

population. The interviewees also middle school teachers, so the strategies and approaches they

mentioned may be restricted to middle school classrooms. To improve my findings, other

researchers could email this interview to hundreds of teachers, instead of just two. They could

also send it to teachers of different grade levels and parts of the country to rule out grade level or

geographical bias.
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To the field of literacy, I have one recommendation: to successfully improve students

reading comprehension, you can implement all of the comprehension strategies in the world, but

ultimately it comes down to the quality of teaching, not the quantity.

References

Edmonds, M. S., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J., Reutebuch, C., Cable, A., Tackett, K. T., Schnakenberg,

J. W. (2009). A synthesis of reading interventions and effects on reading comprehension

outcomes for older struggling readers. Review of Educational Research, 79 (1), 262-300.

Garcia-Madruga, J. A., Elosa, M. R., Gil, L., Gomez-Veiga, I., Vila, O., Orjales, I., Contreras,

A., Rodriguez, R., Melero, M. A., & Duque, G. (2013). Reading comprehension

and working memorys executive processes: An intervention study in primary school

students. Reading Research Quarterly, 48 (2), 155-174.

Istation Website: http://www.istation.com/About

Klingner, J. K., Urbach, J., Golos, D., Brownell, M., & Menon, S. (2010). Teaching reading in

the 21st century: A glimpse at how special education teachers promote reading

comprehension. Learning Disability Quarterly, 33 (2), 59-74.

McKeown, M. G., Beck, I. L., & Blake, R. G. K. (2009). Rethinking reading comprehension

instruction: A comparison of instruction for strategies and content approaches.

Reading Research Quarterly, 44 (3), 218-253.

Reutzel, D.R., & Cooter, Jr., R.B. (2012). Teaching children to read: The teacher makes the

difference. Boston: Pearson.

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Schaffner, E., Schiefele, U., & Ulferts, H. (2013). Reading amount as a mediator of the effects of

intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on reading comprehension. Reading Research

Quarterly, 48 (4), 369-385.

Young, C. (2014). Providing independent reading comprehension strategy practice through

workstations. Texas Journal of Literacy Education, 2 (1), 24-35.

Appendix

Questions asked to participants:

1. How did you teach reading comprehension in your classroom(s)? (strategies, activities, etc.)

2. What did you find to be particularly effective when dealing with students who struggled with

reading comprehension?

3. What did you find to be particularly ineffective when dealing with students who struggled

with reading comprehension?