Let us understand the basics on how to improve the language skills and why many of us show lack of understanding and interests.
One major reason for lack of understanding or confusion is a textbook. Most content textbooks in middle and high schools are designed to fill as much information as possible in the textbook and in each of its chapters. The compactness of content information may justify the cost of textbooks, which is at the expense of student understanding the content.
Another reason for the lack of understanding is the high level, vocabulary-specific content (science, social studies, etc.) in textbooks, which leads to an increase in the complexity of the textbook. The organization of a book with subheadings, bold words, descriptions, charts, graphs and sentence structure also adds complexity.
This discrepancy between student reading levels and literary difficulties suggests that increased attention should be paid to teaching and modeling reading comprehension strategies in all areas of content. Some students may not have the background or maturity to understand things written for older audiences.
Many students have trouble trying to find key ideas in detail; some readers find it difficult to understand the purpose of a paragraph or chapter of a book. Helping students expand their understanding of reading can be the key to academic success or failure. Strategies for good reading comprehension, therefore, are not only for low-level students but for all students.
These mental activities include, but are not limited to:
- Predicting the meaning of a text;
- Determining the purpose of a text;
- Activation of prior knowledge in order to…
- Connect prior experiences to the text;
- Identify word and sentence meanings in order to decode the text;
- Summarize the text in order to create new meanings;
- Visualize the characters, settings, situations in the text;
- Question the text;
- Decide what is not understood in the text;
- Use strategies to improve understanding of the text;
- Reflect on the meaning of a text;
- Apply understanding of the text as needed.
Now let us discuss below, the effective 10 strategies to improve Students comprehension of a text.
1. Generate Questions
A good idea is to teach all students that instead of just running through a paragraph or a chapter, let’s stop and ask questions. These could be questions about what has just happened or whether they think it could happen in the future. Doing this can help them focus on the main ideas and increase the learner’s involvement in the activities.
2. Read Aloud and Monitor
While some may think of a teacher who reads aloud in the second grade as a first practice, there is evidence that reading aloud also benefits middle and high school students. Most importantly, by reading aloud teachers can show good learning style.
Reading aloud to students should include comprehension stops. Teachers can show their own thinking aloud or communication objects and intentionally focus on the meaning of “within the text,” “about the text,” and “beyond the text”. Post-reading conversations can support classroom discussions that help students make critical communication.
3. Promote Cooperative Talk
Having students pause from time to time to talk and discuss what has just been read can reveal any issues with understanding. Listening to students can teach and help the teacher to reinforce what is being taught.
This type of collaborative learning, in which students learn formal learning strategies, is one of the most powerful teaching tools.
4. Attention to Text Structure
The best strategy that will be a second nature soon is for troubled students to read all the topics and subheadings in any chapter assigned to them. They can also view pictures and any graphs or charts. This information can help them get an overview of what they will be reading as they read the chapter.
The same attention to text structure can be applied to reading literary works using a story structure.
5. Take Notes or Annotate Texts
Students should always read with paper and pen in hand for writing. They can then take the written notes of things they predict or understand. They can write down questions. They can make a list of all the words highlighted in the chapter as well as any unfamiliar words they need to define.
Annotations in the text, sidewalk or highlighting, are another powerful way to record comprehension. This strategy is ready to be implemented.
6. Use Context Clues
Students need to apply the suggestions given by the author in the text. Students may need to look up clues in context, that word or phrase directly before or after a word they may not know.
7. Use Graphic Organizers
Some students find that photo editors such as the web and mind maps can greatly enhance reading comprehension. This allows students to identify areas of focus and ideas that are important for learning. By completing this information, readers can deepen their understanding of the author’s meaning.
8. Practice PQ4R
This has six steps: Preview, Question, Reading, Thinking, Reading, and Review.
Preview: Students scan the tool to get the full view. The question means that students should ask themselves questions as they read.
The four R’s teach the students what to write, reflect on what has just been read, state key points to help them read better, and then go back to the text and see if you can answer the questions that have been asked before.
9. Summarizing
As they read, students should be encouraged to pause from time to time and concentrate on what they have just read. In creating a summary, students should integrate the most important ideas and integrate the information details in the text. They need to bring out the best in you in less important or less important things.
10. Monitor Understanding
Some students prefer to explain, while others are free to summarize, but all students must learn how to know how to read. They need to know how smooth and accurate they are reading the text, but they also need to know how to get their understanding of building materials.