Understanding Reading Comprehension 1

This is the first of the Reading Comprehension documents that was published to support the primary strategy. With an increased focus on inference and vocabulary in the 2014 curriculum, it is important that we revisit these documents to understand what comprehension is and how we can 'teach' it.

As children learn to read they are able to decode the text by orchestrating a range of
cues. To become fluent readers they must also understand or comprehend what they
read. To help them do this they need to be taught a range of reading comprehension
strategies and be encouraged to reflect on their own understanding and learning. Such
an approach helps children go beyond literal interpretation and recall to explore the
complex meanings of a text using inference and deduction. They can begin to learn
these strategies from the earliest stages of learning to read.
This leaflet will help you to understand how readers make sense of what they read,
review the research evidence and suggest ways to teach reading comprehension
strategies.