Ten Good Ways to Improve Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension occurs when a person understands the text he reads. Developing and improving reading comprehension requires motivation, creative teaching techniques, a proper learning environment and constructive feedback. Reading comprehension is a skill that needs to be developed -- it cannot develop in isolation or vacuum. There are ways to improve reading comprehension that teach a student to interact with the text and then monitor the student's understanding of that text.
  1. Prediction

    • In this teaching technique, the reader is encouraged to predict where the text is going. The facilitator must give a preview of the story or narrative for this method to succeed. The reader is encouraged to talk about what the characters in a story might do based on the reader's personal experience. This method of teaching not only helps to boost a student's interest, but it also improves memory for stories, helping to improve the overall understanding of a story.

    Thinking Aloud

    • This method of developing reading comprehension can be done by the reader or the facilitator. When the facilitator thinks around, it helps the student learn effective strategies for comprehension. When reading a story, the facilitator thinks aloud about what a character may do or how a situation may pan out. As the story is read, the facilitator and the student see if their visualization was correct.

    Text Structure

    • The text structure is important in helping readers understand and recall important ideas from the story. Structural elements of a story or expository -- like story maps, flowcharts and visual representations of key points -- help readers understand and remember the main elements of the text.

    Visual Representation of Text

    • A visual representation helps a student understand, organize and remember what she read -- or at least some parts of the text. In this method of developing reading comprehension, the text is abstract and can be forgotten, but the visual representation is concrete and can be easily memorized and recalled.

    Summarization

    • The overall reading comprehension can be improved through summarization. This method involves going through large texts, sorting out the important points or ideas from the unimportant ones and transforming those ideas into a new text that represents the original text. Summarization can be done orally or verbally, but it requires practice.

    Questioning

    • A comprehension activity is incomplete without asking the reader about his reading. This can take place before the reading, during the reading or after the reading is completed. The questioning should contain an array of question to check the reader's understanding and recalling of the text.

    Right Type of Reading Material

    • The reader should be provided with the correct kind of reading material based on her ability to read. If the reader is a child, the book should contain a minimum of 90 percent words the reader can recognize and understand without any assistance.

    Reread the Text

    • Get the reader to reread stories and text that he find interesting. The aim is to build fluency so the reader can sift through the words quickly and decipher the meaning of words swiftly without wasting any time.

    Encourage Reading Similar Themes and Topics

    • If the reader enjoys a particular theme or topic, she should be encourage to read a variety of books and magazines on the same topic or theme. This will help to build knowledge on the topic and make the task of prediction easy.

    Build Vocabulary

    • Many readers tend to struggle with reading comprehension, as they have limited vocabulary and do not understand meanings of many words. Reading comprehension can improve this by building vocabulary through a variety of word games. This method of building vocabulary will be interesting and enjoyable for the reader.

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