Martin Luther King

Teaching Reading Comprehension to Adolescents

Reading comprehension is the process of gaining meaning from text, which is the purpose of reading. The act of comprehending text involves a person's ability to know and use strategies before, during, and after reading to successfully understand what is being read. Many adolescents struggle with reading comprehension, and many teachers are unaware of how to deal with this type of situation. However, there are many strategies that can be used to teach adolescents to comprehend what they read. Although there are many different, effective comprehension strategies, it is a challenge for a teacher to find one that works for the individual case at hand.

Comprehension is an important ability for adolescents to possess because of the large amount of text that students must read in content-areas. Most textbook-based instruction assumes that students can read and derive meaning from the text. A reader has text comprehension only when he or she is able to understand how the reading material is structured. In order for a student to construct meaning from text structures such as a narrative or expository, effective reading comprehension strategies are needed. For struggling adolescent readers, the goal of reading comprehension instruction is to teach them when and how to use effective strategies (Pressley, 2001, p.1-19).

Comprehension-monitoring strategies should be used before, during, and after reading so that they can repair the comprehension problems and understand text. Before reading, students should learn how to activate their background knowledge in connection with the topic to be read (Tovani, 2000, p.109). Also, students should be taught key vocabulary related to the topic and they should know the purpose for reading beforehand. The students should be given a strategy for helping them to preview and think about the text so that they have a sense of the content to be read. During the reading, students should be taught self-questioning strategies to monitor their understanding of the text. Also, the use of graphic organizers and study guides are helpful in facilitating comprehension. When students do not understand what they are reading, they should be taught how to self-question themselves in order to reflect on what they have read. In addition, students should be able to summarize and retell what they have read (Pressley, 2001, p.1-19).

There are many different research-based interventions for teaching reading comprehension to struggling adolescent readers. One intervention is text preview, which is a pre-reading strategy that includes a teacher-developed introductory passage containing a framework for understanding a section of text. This can be used with both narrative and expository text. Text previews include a section to motivate students, a synopsis of the passage, and questions to guide reading. Another intervention is paraphrasing, which is when students learn how to recall the main idea and specific details of the text that they have read (Ellis, 1996, p.638). Some students use the term RAP as a reminder to Read, Ask questions, and Put the main idea and details into their own words. Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is another intervention used. With this intervention, students learn four reading strategies to be used before, during, or after reading. These strategies are: to apply preview before reading, to get the gist during reading, and to wrap-up after reading. Predicting, brainstorming, finding the main idea, determining the meaning of unknown words, and summarizing the text read are what these strategies emphasize. The POSSE Strategy is an intervention used often by adolescents. This is where students discuss their reading and use the strategies of Predicting, Organizing, Searching, Summarizing, and Evaluating to comprehend expository text (Tovani, 2000, p.110). . Finally, another intervention used widely is story-mapping. This is when a student uses the elements of story grammar in narrative text. Story grammar consists of the setting, the problem statement, goals, and the like. Story-mapping provides a framework for identifying and recording important information and for answering implicit and explicit comprehension questions about a story (Pressley, 2001, p.1-19).

One of the most widely used strategies to improve reading comprehension is vocabulary instruction. Providing vocabulary instruction to adolescents is one of the most significant ways in which teachers can improve students' reading