Teach note-taking skills. Sometimes it is very easy to get lost in the details of a reading passage, particularly if it involves a complex story line or has many different characters. Ask your adult students to take notes, either in the margins of a book or in a notepad that they can read and review after each chapter, in order to have a clear grasp of the action that has happened. The students will feel more confident about reading and recalling different events that have happened in the story.
Teach the basics of finding the main idea. At times, students may feel pressured to remember every detail of what is written in a story. Reassure the students that they should focus on the main ideas of the story and should be careful to not spend too much time getting lost in minor details which do not have an effect on the story. Tell your adult students to pay close attention to the movement of characters in and out of a story, as these tend to be significant elements in the plot.
Teach non-fiction. News stories, biographies and other non-fiction can also be challenging for adult learners. Teach them to look for the who, what, when, where and why elements. Give your students a news article to read and then ask them to highlight what they think are the main ideas in the story. Then, ask the students to give you a summary of what they read without looking at their highlighted notes. Afterwards, they can compare their summary to the notes they took to see how much information they were able to recall. They can do this several times, and they will gradually become more skilled at retaining information that they have read.
Identify the right reading strategy. No two people are exactly alike, and when it comes to learning for adults, the same rule applies. A great way to improve an adult learner's reading comprehension is to do individual assessments to gauge their current level of learning aptitude. Then you can craft the appropriate strategy that is most suitable for the student. There are many publications written by the pros that can help you. The International Reading Association has a wide variety of interactive tools, software and downloads on their website.