Junior School Resource Centre
Why worry about reading comprehension?
Reading is more than saying the words or getting from the beginning of the book to the end. To be successful readers, children need to be able to comprehend and form opinions about what they are reading. Research has shown a number of strategies parents can share with children as they read that will help them gain understanding.
In this fortnights article I have included some of these, along with sample questions you could ask your son to liven up your reading discussions at home…
1. Making Connections
Readers constantly make connections as they read; connections to their own lives, another book, or world events. Discussing these connections can increase interaction and interest in a text as well as deepen comprehension.
- What does this book remind you of?
- Can you understand how the character was feeling? Why?
- Does this book remind you of another book?
2. Visualising
Readers create pictures in their minds as they read. If the book is too difficult they are unable to do this and comprehension is lost. Living in a world that gives them constant visual stimulus, visualisation is an increasingly important element to reading comprehension and a skill that boys find a challenge.
Questions from parents could include:
• What do you picture as you read this paragraph?
• When reading this story did you make pictures in your head?
• How did these pictures help you understand the story better?
3. Questioning
When readers question the text before, during, and after they read, they attend more closely to the text, clarify meaning, make predictions, and focus their attention on what's important.
Before Reading
What do you think will happen?
During Reading
What do you think?
What do you wonder?
How come…
What does this word mean? How can I figure out using clues from the text?
After Reading
What would have happened if…
I wonder why the author…
I wonder where we could look to find out more about…
4. Inferring
More than simple prediction, inferring happens when readers can take what they know and what is written in the book to read between the lines. The ability to infer helps the reader get to the why of the story and draw conclusions. You can help your son use inference by asking…
• Why did you think that would happen?
• Why did the author write the story in that way?
• Why do you think the character feels that way?
• Why did the character do that?
So whilst the competitive nature of boys means that they want to be reading at a higher level, parents and teachers need to encourage them to slow down and enjoy their reading journey and ensure they are comprehending what they are reading.
Enjoy your fortnight of reading.
Mrs Kathryn Salt
Junior School Teacher-Librarian
