Expository works are often designed for an older population, so they may be harder for younger readers to understand. While older readers can make inferences on what words mean from surrounding text, younger readers might not have the skills needed. If students cannot understand what the piece means, they will lack engagement. To deal with this problem, teachers can front-load vocabulary words. This simply means that students are told about any new words and what they mean before they read the text. Teachers can also provide highlighters for students to highlight any words that they do not understand. That way, after everyone reads, they can discuss the words they highlighted together to clear up any confusion.
One way students increase comprehension is by making connections to what they read. Those connections can be personal, or they can be connections they make to other works or the world. Expository pieces sometimes discuss problems that students do not immediately have a connection to, which can hinder comprehension of new material. One way to fix this problem is to pair an expository work with a piece of fiction that will engage the students. Students can read the piece of fiction either before or after the expository piece. For instance, if students are reading a newspaper clipping about a soldier killed in the Iraq war, they can also read a fiction piece about a military family.
Sometimes students can have a hard time following an expository work because it does not follow the narrative forms that they are used to seeing. Expository works are oftentimes organized by category. Ask students to skim the work before they start to look for headings, bold type and any italicized words. This will help them find the main ideas. You can also have them complete a flow chart that asks them to write information on each main category from the expository text in one box. This will help them understand how the information is organized and increase their comprehension.
One of the goals of education should be to encourage children to think for themselves and give them the tools they need to make their own opinions. In the classroom setting, students might be presented with an expository text that shares an author's opinion; however, the students might not realize that they are reading opinions and not facts. To fix this, pair opinionated pieces with works that show opposing viewpoints, too.