‘Reading is the process of constructing meaning from text, whether written or graphic, paper-based or digital,’ (Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl, & Holliday, 2010, p. 4) and reading comprehension is the ability to understand its meaning. ‘Comprehension is not just finding answers in a piece of text – it is an active process whereby the reader creates a version of the text in his or her mind. Comprehension is heavily dependent on the reader’s oral language abilities, understanding of word meanings and the syntactic and semantic relationships among them, and the ability to engage with the text at a deep level’ (Konza, 2011, p. 1).
However, before looking into what reading comprehension is, teachers should answer this question:
'What makes a good reader?' Duke and Pearson (2002, p. 205) state that a good reader reads ‘selectively, continually making decisions about their reading- what to read carefully, what to read quickly, what not to read, what to reread, and so on.’ Reading has a purpose and what each individual reads has meaning to it and by ‘constructing meaning from text, readers combine what they know about the world, the topic of the text, the grammatical structure of the language in which the text is written, and the way spoken language relates to the letters, words, visual elements, and symbols on the page’ (Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl, & Holliday, 2010, p. 4). |
Although meaning is meant to be at the heart of reading, the meaning is important to consider because it is interpreted somewhere between the writer and reader found either within the text, found in some code within the text or in the reader’s head (Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl, & Holliday, 2010). These are all different perspectives on how students connect with a text through understanding and meaning. The meaning can be found through any one of these perspectives, as well as a combination (Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl, & Holliday, 2010).
As a graduate teacher it is important to understand the information behind these views so that you can decipher:
As a graduate teacher it is important to understand the information behind these views so that you can decipher:
- how a student is connecting with a text?
- how a student is grasping the meaning conveyed?
- how are they interpreting a text?