English
How to Improve Reading Comprehension
Preview the text, read in short chunks and retell each one, notice where understanding stops, and answer questions by returning to the line that proves it.
The short answer
Reading comprehension improves when reading stops being passive. Preview the text, read it in short chunks, and after each one say in your own words what it said. Notice the moment you stop understanding and go back rather than reading on, and answer questions by returning to the line that proves it.
The method, step by step
Preview before reading a word of the body
Read the title, any headings, the first paragraph and the last, and the questions you will have to answer. Two minutes spent here gives the brain a frame to hang the detail on, and detail that has somewhere to go is remembered. It also means you read the text knowing what you are looking for.
Read in chunks and retell each one
Stop at the end of each paragraph or section and say, in your own words, what it said. This is the single highest-value habit in the whole topic, because it converts reading from something the eyes do into something the mind checks. A chunk you cannot retell is one you did not take in, and you find out immediately rather than at the end.
Notice the moment understanding stops, and repair it
Skilled readers monitor themselves and stop when comprehension breaks; weaker readers keep going and hope. Naming the repair options makes them available: reread the sentence, slow down, work out the word from context, read on to the end of the paragraph and come back, or look it up.
Ask questions of the text as you go
Turning each heading into a question, then reading to answer it, gives the reading a purpose that summarising alone does not. It also rehearses the exact move an exam will require — going into a text looking for something specific rather than absorbing it in general.
Map how the text is organised
A story has characters, a setting, a problem and a resolution; an argument has a claim, reasons and evidence; an explanation has a sequence. Recognising which shape you are reading tells you what to expect next and where an answer is likely to sit, which is why structure is worth noticing early.
Answer questions by pointing at the line
For every answer, find the words in the text that prove it and put a finger or a mark on them. Answers assembled from memory feel right and are frequently approximate. This one habit accounts for a large share of the difference between students who understand a text and students who score well on it.
Why rereading feels productive and mostly is not
Reading a passage a second time makes it feel familiar, and familiarity is easily mistaken for understanding. It is the most common revision strategy in this area and one of the least effective, because nothing in it requires the reader to produce anything.
Retelling does. Closing the book and saying what a section argued forces retrieval, and retrieval is what builds both memory and the honest signal of whether comprehension happened. The discomfort of not being able to retell a paragraph is the useful part.
What to do about words you do not know
An unfamiliar word is not automatically a reason to stop. Read to the end of the sentence and often the meaning is recoverable from the surrounding text, from a familiar root inside the word, or from the contrast the sentence is drawing.
The judgement is whether the word is load-bearing. A single unknown adjective rarely changes the meaning of a paragraph; an unknown word in a topic sentence usually does. Reserve the interruption of looking something up for the second case, and keep a list of the words that came up for afterwards.
Answering comprehension questions in an exam
Exam comprehension is a different task from reading for pleasure, and it has its own procedure. Read the questions first so the reading is directed. Note how many marks each carries, because that number is a reliable instruction about how many separate points to make.
Then answer from the text rather than from memory or from general knowledge. Questions that ask how you know, or ask for a quotation in support, are testing exactly this. An answer that is true about the world but not supported by the passage does not score.
- Read the questions before the passage
- Let the mark allocation tell you how many points to make
- Underline the words in the text that support each answer
- Answer the question that was asked, in the form it was asked
- Use your own words where the question requires it, and quote where it asks you to
How we teach reading comprehension
We read aloud with students and stop them at the end of each paragraph to ask what it said. It is slow at first and it is the part that changes results, because it makes visible the moment a student's understanding stopped — something silent reading hides from the student as well as from the tutor.
For exam classes we mark the evidence rather than the answer. A correct answer with no line pointed to is a lucky one, and luck does not survive a harder passage.
Common questions
How can I improve my reading comprehension quickly?
Stop at the end of every paragraph and say in your own words what it said. That one habit does more than any other, because it turns reading into something you check rather than something you get through, and it tells you immediately where understanding broke.
Why do I forget what I have read?
Usually because the reading was passive — the eyes moved and nothing was produced. Retelling each section, asking questions of the text and previewing before starting all force the mind to do something with the words, which is what makes them stay.
What should I do when I hit a word I do not know?
Finish the sentence first. The meaning is often recoverable from context or from a familiar part of the word. Stop and look it up only when the word is carrying the meaning of the sentence, and keep a list of the rest for afterwards.
Should I read the questions before or after the passage?
Before, for an exam. Knowing what is being asked directs your attention while reading and means you notice the relevant lines the first time through. For reading you are doing for its own sake, the order matters far less.
How do I answer comprehension questions properly?
Go back to the text and find the words that prove your answer before writing it. Let the mark allocation tell you how many points to make, and answer in the form the question asked — your own words when it says so, a quotation when it asks for one.
Sources
- Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension — Reading Rockets
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