Reading
Reading comprehension

The NRP describes reading comprehension as a complex cognitive process in which a reader intentionally and interactively engages with the text. The science of reading says that reading comprehension is heavily dependent on word recognition (i.e., phonological awareness, decoding, etc.) and oral language comprehension (i.e., background knowledge, vocabulary, etc.). Phonological awareness and rapid naming predict reading comprehension in second grade but oral language skills account for an additional 13.8% of the variance.

It has also been found that sustained content literacy intervention instruction that gradually builds thematic connections may help young children transfer their knowledge to related topics, leading to improved comprehension.

The American educator, Eric "E. D." Donald Hirsch Jr., suggests that students need to learn about something in order to read well. However, some researchers say reading comprehension instruction has become "content agnostic", focused on skill practice (such as "finding the main idea"), to the detriment of learning about science, history, and other disciplines. Instead, they say teachers should find ways to integrate content knowledge with reading and writing instruction. One approach is to merge the two – to embed literacy instruction into social studies and science. Another approach is to build content knowledge into reading classes, often called "high-quality or "content-rich" curricula. However, according to Natalie Wexler, in her book The Knowledge Gap, "making the shift to knowledge is as much about changing teachers' beliefs and daily practice as about changing the materials they're supposed to use".

Researcher and educator Timothy Shanahan believes the most effective way to improve reading comprehension skills is to teach students to summarize, develop an understanding of text structure, and paraphrase.
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