10 Things Every Teacher

Should Know About

Reading Comprehension

Timothy Shanahan
University of Illinois at Chicago
www.shanahanonliteracy.com
 1. Don’t be misled by reading
comprehension tests

• Do low “reading comprehension scores” mean students

struggle with “reading comprehension”?
• Because reading is a collection of linguistic and cognitive
skills that are embedded and hierarchical, low
comprehension scores do not necessarily mean there is a
need for more comprehension instruction
 Is it a reading comprehension
problem?

Or is it a decoding problem?
 Is it a reading comprehension
problem?

Or is it a word meaning problem?

 Is it a reading comprehension
problem?

Or is it a fluency problem?
 Is it a reading comprehension
problem?

Or is it a comprehension problem?
• Don’t fall for the “comprehension items fallacy”
• You can’t simply teach students how to answer particular
question types such as main idea, vocabulary, inferencing,
supporting details, drawing conclusions, etc.
2. Basic skills teaching improves reading
comprehension

• “Enabling skills” can seem like ends in themselves

• But the purpose of teaching “enabling skills” is that they
can improve reading comprehension
• Need to pay attention to student performance and
developmental level
• NRP reviewed 51 studies of
phonemic awareness instruction
• And 38 studies of phonics
instruction
• NRP reviewed 45 studies on
vocabulary instruction
• And NELP and NLP looks at
vocabulary are revealing, too
• NRP reviewed 16 (or 52)
studies on oral reading
fluency instruction
• Don’t fail to teach these basic skills
• But teach them with a clear purpose
• Skills instruction should eventually end up with “reading for
meaning” as the pay off
 3. Reading comprehension is not
listening comprehension

• Reading comprehension and listening comprehension are

both about thinking with language
• Students low in reading comprehension are often low in
listening comprehension too
• Early listening comprehension is correlated with later
reading comprehension and for English learners these
relations are stronger within English than across languages
• One reason the correlations aren’t higher is because the
demands of decoding: Reading requires students to think
about text WHILE decoding
• Studies do not yet show that improving listening
comprehension is an effective intervention for improving
reading comprehension
• Kindergarten teachers should focus on listening
comprehension
• Unfortunately, teachers often replace reading with
listening lessons because of the difficulty of the books
• This gets you through the books, but doesn’t teach
reading
• Students need to read materials that are challenging
 4. Depth of thought matters
• While question types don’t make much difference, how
deeply students think about the ideas in text does matter
• Close reading is a good idea (if the text justifies it)
• Close reading is a kind of apprenticeship into how to think
about the ideas in text
 Many versions of close reading

• In all versions the meaning is in the text and needs to be

acquired through careful and thorough analysis and re-
analysis (texts don’t just give up their meaning)
• Mortimer Adler & Carl Van Doren (Great Books): How To
Read a Book
 Adler’s Close Reading

• Rereading is essential and each reading has a separate

purpose
• A first reading should determine what a text says
• A second reading should determine how a text works
• A third reading allows the reader to evaluate the quality and
value of the text (and to connect the text to other texts)
 Close Reading
• All focus on text meaning
• Minimize background preparation/explanation (and text
apparatus)
• Students must do the reading/interpretation
• Teacher’s major role is to ask text dependent questions
• Multi-day commitment to texts
• Purposeful rereading (not practice, but separate journeys)
 What does the text say?
• First reading
• Questions should help guide students to think about the most
important elements of the text (the key ideas and details)
• Stories are about significant, meaningful conflicts (between
man and nature, with others, and with oneself)
• Human nature and human motivation are central to the
action and the meaning
• Questions should also clarify confusions (in this case,
confusions about what the text says)
The Big
Orange Splot
by Daniel What was the street like at the beginning of
the story?

Pinkwater
How did everybody feel about that? What
did they want?

What happened to Mr. Plumbean’s house?

How did the neighbors feel about the splot?
Why?

What did they do about it?

How did they think Mr. Plumbean felt about

it? Why did they think that?

But what did he do?

Why does he do this?

How did his neighbors react?
Why?

--
The neighbors were upset… so
what did Mr. Plumbean do?

Why did the neighbors pretend not

to notice?
When the neighbors asked him what he
had done, what is his response?

What does that mean?

Why was the man there?

What happened?

Why did the man do that?

What do the people say about the man?

What happened to him?

What happened then?

What was the street like at the end

of the story? How had the street
changed? What changed it?
 Conclusion of First Reading
• My questions focused on key events and motivations
(particularly events that I thought might be confusing)
• The discussion led by these questions should lead to a good
understanding of what the text said
• A good follow up would be to tell/write summaries or
retellings of the “story”
 How does the text work?
• Second reading
• Questions should help guide students to think about how the
text works and what the author was up to (craft and
structure)
• Stories are written by people to teach lessons or reveal
insights about the human condition in aesthetically pleasing
and powerful ways
• Awareness of author choices are critical to coming to terms
with craft and structure
The Big
Orange
Splot by
Daniel
Pinkwater
------What was he thinking?
(The conflict starts here, but the author
doesn’t beat you over the head with it…
Plumbean has decided something or is
about to.)
How did he say this… bright and
happy? Reluctantly?

(There is more going on here than

is on the page. When is Plumbean
transformed—when does he
decide to be different?)

Why does the author explain why

he painted at night?

(Character motivation is important.

Was he painting at night so he
could get it done before anyone
saw it or was he beating the heat?
He is a different kind of man
depending on what you think is
happening?)

--
How does the author describe
Plumbean’s house? Why does he
compare it to a rainbow, a jungle,
an explosion?

(The author describes the house

three times… each time in colorful
metaphorical language, a technique
he uses throughout the story when
he wants to emphasize the feelings
of the neighbors?)

--
What do you notice here?

Why does the author tell you the

neighbors’ feelings in this way?

(I want to make sure the students

see the repetition of this literary
device and that they try to make
sense of it.)
What’s going on here?

(The repetition of this literary

device should be evident by now.
By saying the same thing over and
over again with colorful language
we get a sense of how strong the
emotions are).
Why didn’t the author reveal this
conversation?

(Given that Plumbean just worked

this out for himself, I doubt that he
had the certainty to persuade his
neighbor. My hunch is he just told
him his own story and the neighbor
identified with it.)
Why did the author have the man explain
himself like this?

(Although the man claims to be

unique—and he is in terms of the
specific dream his is pursuing—but
ultimately he states his individualism
in a way that mimics Plumbean’s.)
Why does the author have the people
say this?

(The whole neighborhood is now

caught up in Plumbean mania. They
are pursuing their individual versions
of their dreams, expressing themselves
identically to Plumbean. They wanted
conformity at the beginning and they
end up with conformity at the end).
 Conclusion of Second Reading
• My questions focused on why and how the author told
his story (particularly focusing on literary devices, word
choices, structural elements, and author purpose)
• The discussion led by these questions should lead to a
good understanding of how the text works and to a deeper
understanding of its implications
• A good follow up would be a critical analysis of the story
or some aspect of the story (How do Mr. Plumbean and the
neighbors change across the story?)
 What does the text mean?
• “Third” reading
• Questions should help guide students to think about what this
text means to them and how it connects to other
texts/stories/events/ films
• Stories relate to other stories and to our lives
• Evaluations of quality and connecting to other experiences is
an essential part of the reading experience
• Do you know other stories like this? How were those stories
similar and different?
• Which of these stories did you like best? Why?
• What did you think about how the author used literary
devices? How effective were these?
 5. Don’t get in the way of the text

Current pre-reading ritual:

• Guided/directed/assisted reading includes:
• Background review/context
• Previewing (predicting, picture walks, etc.)
• Purpose setting/motivation
 Pre-reading (cont.)
Rule 1: The candle has to be worth the game
• Pre-reading can be/seem endless
• Limit pre-reading
• It should be no longer than the reading itself

Rule 2: Let the author do the talking

• Try not to reveal too much information from the text
• If an idea is explained in the text, then it ought not to be in the pre-
reading
• Students need to figure out what a text says by reading it and
analyzing the information from the text
 Pre-reading (cont.)
Rule 3: Give students enough information that they have a reason
to read.
•A brief blurb or tease is not harmful especially if it does not repeat to
much of the author’s message or method
•Title: Profile: You Belong With Me by Lizzie Widdicombe
Blurb: Taylor Swift’s teen angst-empire.
Caption: Swift hooked a previously unrecognized audience:
teen-age girls who listen to country music.
•Title: The Obama Memos by Ryan Lizza
Blurb: The making of a post-post-partisan Presidency.
Caption: Hundreds of pages of internal White House memos
show Obama grappling with the unpleasant choices of
government.
6. Reading comprehension can be
taught explicitly

• There is more to comprehension teaching than just

building enabling skills
• It is possible to provide instruction that helps students to
think more effectively while they read (to understand and
remember more)
• NRP reviewed 205 studies that showed that reading
comprehension could be taught directly throughout the
elementary and secondary grades.
• These studies emphasized teaching students how to think
effectively during reading
 7. Strategies should be taught as
strategies rather than skills

• Historically, reading instruction has emphasized

comprehension skills
• Skills are meant to be carried out quickly, easily and
without conscious attention
• But strategies are intentional and complex
Reading Comprehension Skills

• Cause and effect • Problem and solution

• Classify and categorize • Identify theme
• Compare and contrast • Literal recall
• Draw conclusions • Tone
• Fact and opinion • Mood
• Main idea • Etc., etc., etc.
• Important details
• Inferences
• Sequence
• Bias and propaganda
Reading Comprehension Strategies

• Summarizing (18)
• Questioning (27)
• Story mapping (17)
• Monitoring (22)
• Question answering (17)
• Graphic organizers (11)
• Mental imagery (7)
• Prior knowledge (14)
 Strategies vs. Skills

Strategies: Skills:
Intentional Automatic
Metacognitive Over-learning
Reflective Immediate
Complex/multi-step Simple/single step
Probability of success Certainty of success
Approximation Accuracy
 8. Clear explanations matter

• Studies show that how well teachers can explain mental

processes makes a difference in student progress
• Core programs and professional development can give
teachers guidance in teaching strategies clearly
• Students need explanations of how text works (e.g.,
vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, structure, literary devices,
data presentation devices)
• Students need explanations of how strategies work
Students need to learn the
what,
when,
how,
why
of strategies.
 9. Gradual release of control
approaches are effective

• Modeling and explanation

• Guided practice and explanation
• Independent practice
Gradual release of control:

I do it.

We do it.

You do it.
Gradual release of control:

I do it.

We do it.

You do it together.

• You do it.
 10. Disciplinary strategies matter, too

• Strategies are about taking intentional mental actions to

understand a text
• Story maps versus character change charts
 Chemistry Note-taking

Atomic
Substances Properties Processes Interactions Expression
 History Events Chart
TEXT WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHY?
1

Relation:
2

Relation:
3

Relation
4

Main point:
Character Change Chart
What is main character like at What is the main character like
the beginning of the story? at the end of the story? How
has he or she changed?

Crisis

Given this character change, what do you think the author wanted you to learn? ________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
 Summing Up
1. Don’t be misled by reading comprehension tests
2. Basic skills teaching improves reading comprehension
3. Reading comprehension is not listening comprehension
4. Depth of thought matters
5. Don’t get in the way of the text
6. Reading comprehension can be taught explicitly
7. Strategies should be taught as strategies rather than skills
8. Clear explanations matter
9. Gradual release of control approaches are effective
10. Disciplinary strategies matter, too
10 Things Every Teacher
Should Know about
Reading Comprehension
Timothy Shanahan
University of Illinois at Chicago
www.shanahanonliteracy.com