There are as many reading comprehension strategies as there are readers. Teachers often ignore this fact as they attempt to foist their favored techniques onto their students. However, if reading is a skill and not a theory or body of knowledge it follows that every individual will have a unique technique. A sports coach can teach the latest tennis theories to hundreds of students but only one will win a championship because skills vary infinitely and so do contexts.
The activity of perusing texts is often compared with decoding. When scholars are faced with ancient texts scratched into clay tablets they set about discovering the meaning behind the symbols that they see. A child is engaged in the same process when he attempts to understand the meaning behind and beyond the marks that he sees on paper, or increasingly on screens.
The phrase, 'reading comprehension' applies to the skill of understanding the meaning behind signs that are inscribed on a blank sheet or surface. In the past they were made vertically in China but that is now changing on computer screens. Not so with Arabic where texts still proceed from right to left, even on computer screens.
Some languages use much more complex systems than others. Despite this, an intellectual strategy for decoding all texts may be described. It is often referred to as the SQ3R strategy. Although every reader will adapt the strategy in a unique way a generally recognized pattern of intellectual activity is discernible.
Surveying a text involves the exercise of skimming and scanning skills to form a general idea of the author's drift. At the same time a good reader starts asking questions of himself about the text before him. Such a querying approach is common to many activities in business military and academic processes.
The questions that crop up can be answered in the process of reading, reciting and reviewing. These are closely related reading skills that need to be applied sequentially. First one deciphers the literal meaning of signs. Although essential this is not the end of the process. Much more remains to be done.
The reciting and reviewing phases may take much longer. A reader will translate the meaning of the text into his personal thought and ask himself questions about the implications and the relevance of what he has read. Deep academic texts may be returned to frequently and light entertainments texts read quickly for pleasure.
Effective reading comprehension strategies are essentially active and not passive. The surveying, questioning and reading activities all imply intense mental activity as skills are applied concomitantly. In the case of leisure texts activity may be purely of the imaginative kind but in academic texts intense activity is part of the process.
The activity of perusing texts is often compared with decoding. When scholars are faced with ancient texts scratched into clay tablets they set about discovering the meaning behind the symbols that they see. A child is engaged in the same process when he attempts to understand the meaning behind and beyond the marks that he sees on paper, or increasingly on screens.
The phrase, 'reading comprehension' applies to the skill of understanding the meaning behind signs that are inscribed on a blank sheet or surface. In the past they were made vertically in China but that is now changing on computer screens. Not so with Arabic where texts still proceed from right to left, even on computer screens.
Some languages use much more complex systems than others. Despite this, an intellectual strategy for decoding all texts may be described. It is often referred to as the SQ3R strategy. Although every reader will adapt the strategy in a unique way a generally recognized pattern of intellectual activity is discernible.
Surveying a text involves the exercise of skimming and scanning skills to form a general idea of the author's drift. At the same time a good reader starts asking questions of himself about the text before him. Such a querying approach is common to many activities in business military and academic processes.
The questions that crop up can be answered in the process of reading, reciting and reviewing. These are closely related reading skills that need to be applied sequentially. First one deciphers the literal meaning of signs. Although essential this is not the end of the process. Much more remains to be done.
The reciting and reviewing phases may take much longer. A reader will translate the meaning of the text into his personal thought and ask himself questions about the implications and the relevance of what he has read. Deep academic texts may be returned to frequently and light entertainments texts read quickly for pleasure.
Effective reading comprehension strategies are essentially active and not passive. The surveying, questioning and reading activities all imply intense mental activity as skills are applied concomitantly. In the case of leisure texts activity may be purely of the imaginative kind but in academic texts intense activity is part of the process.
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