The Essence of Reading Comprehension Strategies

Jennifer Partrick
Apr 20, 2009

We all know the importance of teaching the reading comprehension strategies (compare and contrast, main idea and detail, inference, fact and opinion, sequence, cause and effect, and literature elements), but do we ever teach our students why knowing them is important? Do we ever teach our students the importance of being able to compare or contrast or the importance of main idea, etc.?
I would guess that most often we teach our students what the comprehension strategies are and how to locate them and use them, but we do not teach any deeper than that. We do not teach our students why knowing the comprehension strategies is important or how they use and rely on those strategies in their daily lives.

Let us look at compare and contrast. Most often we have our students compare and contrast characters, settings, etc. in fictional text, and perhaps locations, historical figures, etc. in expository text. But, how do those activities deepen students' understanding of what they are learning? Are the students even aware that the activity is helpful to them? The question is: Why do we compare and contrast? When do we compare and contrast? Think about when you purchase anything; most often you do some comparing and contrasting before deciding on what you will purchase. It is in the comparing and contrasting that we learn most about the object we want to purchase. We compare and contrast in order to make the best selection possible based on what we have learned when comparing and contrasting the objects of our desire. So, when we ask our students to compare and contrast two characters, which is what we most often do, the outcome is to deepen understanding of the characters. Thus, knowing why we compare and contrast is the essence of what comparing and contrasting is all about. Our students compare and contrast when they have to choose what they want to eat for lunch. Many students have to decide who they will play with during recess, or which piece of play ground equipment they should play on first. They compare and contrast when deciding if they should play with a certain group of students that they may like, but those same students may be engaging in risky behavior. They compare and contrast different courses of action when interacting with other students or even their teachers. In all of these scenarios, comparing and contrasting before acting, or deciding, or choosing, helped the individuals to make the best judgment possible, based on what they learned or knew about the things they were comparing and contrasting.

As you teach the comprehension strategies, move a step beyond and ask yourself how knowing these strategies helps our students comprehend. The answer is worth teaching! The answer will deepen students' understanding of the strategies and help them to understand why knowing them is so vital to their education.

See Reading Comprehension for ELA Teachers 2-5 and Reading Comprehension for ELA Teachers 6-12 for more information on reading comprehension strategies.