| Give your students plenty of opportunity to | | | | detailed answer (What is the main character's |
| practice using a range of reading comprehension | | | | address?) the successful student goes back to |
| strategies. | | | | the text and reads for that detail. The |
| Successful students commonly use the following | | | | unsuccessful student will guess. |
| strategies when given reading comprehension | | | | 5) INFERENCING |
| tests: | | | | They will come to conclusions about things by |
| 1) GENERAL KNOWLEDGE | | | | inferring. In the fairytale, "The Three Little Pigs", it |
| They use prior knowledge to navigate their way | | | | is rarely stated that the pigs filled their house with |
| through a text. | | | | furniture. However, the reader knows that each |
| What they already know is used as a framework | | | | pig built a house and then began living in it. It can |
| upon which the new information can be laid and | | | | be inferred from this that each pig also put |
| then compared to. | | | | furniture in the house. |
| For example, a student my gain understanding by | | | | 6) PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION WITH THE TEXT |
| reflecting that, "The Big Bad Wolf in the Three | | | | They identify with a character or circumstance |
| Little Pigs is probably bigger and scarier than my | | | | and imagine what it would be like to be in the |
| neigbour's dog". | | | | story. This allows the student to engage their |
| 2) CONTEXT CLUES | | | | emotions and comprehend the elements of the |
| If they don't know the meaning of a word, they | | | | story on a personal level. |
| use words and phrases that give clues to the | | | | 7) PARAPHRASING |
| meaning. | | | | As they read along, they mentally retell the story |
| A student may not know what a pavlova is, but | | | | to themselves in their own words. Sometimes, |
| can use words and phrases like, "After dinner we | | | | this is just a mental conversation with themselves |
| ate the pavlova. It was delicious!", to determine | | | | about the story (oh, that's awful! - I hate that! - |
| that it is a desert that probably tastes good. | | | | What are they going to do now?). |
| 3) REREADING | | | | 8) VISUALIZING |
| They read the text more than once to gain more | | | | As they read along, the student visualize the |
| meaning each time. | | | | story. They create a running film of the text. |
| 4) READING FOR DETAIL | | | | Give your students plenty of varied opportunities |
| They will slow down and reread certain sections | | | | to practice using these strategies and you will see |
| of the text to fully understand important details. | | | | their reading comprehension test scores improve. |
| When a reading comprehension test asks for a | | | | |