Reading Comprehension Research: Implications for Practice and Policy

Abstract

To increase reading comprehension, educators will need to provide early and sustained instruction in knowledge, vocabulary, inference generation, and comprehension monitoring. Key Points • • Improving adolescent reading comprehension will require a concerted effort from researchers, educators, and policy makers to forgo short-term gains on measures that tap low-level comprehension for long-term solutions that take years to develop. • • An early and sustained focus on developing background knowledge, vocabulary, inference, and comprehension monitoring skills is necessary to improve reading comprehension across grade levels. • • Despite decades of reading comprehension research, a limited amount of time is spent using evidence-based methods in classrooms. • • Education leaders will need to strengthen teacher preparation programs and professional development to ensure teachers are prepared to use evidence-based practices to meet the literacy needs of their students.

Systematic Review of Research in Second Language Acquisition: A Snapshot of the Past Ten Years (2009 – September 2019)

“…Figure 1 shows an overview of the systematic search process. Thematic analysis, which was defined by Braun and Clarke (2006, p. 6) (Elleman & Oslund, 2019). This also highlights the idea that different parts of a language cannot be separated from each other and cannot be taught in isolation that is in line with the argument of Larsen-Freeman (2018b, p. 63) about future directions in second language acquisition research in which language development needs to be understood "from a system perspective."…”

Literary Analysis and Writing: An Integrated Instructional Routine

“…Comprehension, the end goal of reading, is widely understood as a complex process in which a reader actively engages in constructing meaning from a text (Elleman & Oslund, 2019; Perfetti, Landi, & Oakhill, 2005; RAND Reading Study Group, 2002). As such, it is unsurprising that effective comprehension requires a reader to draw on a wide range of knowledge and skills, including fluent word and text reading, vocabulary and background knowledge, awareness of text structures, and a variety of text‐focused thinking strategies (Elleman & Oslund, 2019; Perfetti et al, 2005; RAND Reading Study Group, 2002).…”

“…Comprehension, the end goal of reading, is widely understood as a complex process in which a reader actively engages in constructing meaning from a text (Elleman & Oslund, 2019;Perfetti, Landi, & Oakhill, 2005;RAND Reading Study Group, 2002). As such, it is unsurprising that effective comprehension requires a reader to draw on a wide range of knowledge and skills, including fluent word and text reading, vocabulary and background knowledge, awareness of text structures, and a variety of text-focused thinking strategies (Elleman & Oslund, 2019;Perfetti et al, 2005;RAND Reading Study Group, 2002). Consequently, supporting students' development of reading comprehension requires instruction that builds this array of knowledge, skills, and strategies (Elleman & Oslund, 2019;Perfetti et al, 2005) and that leads students to apply these component skills and strategies in a purposeful, integrated way to understand the texts (Oakhill, Cain, & Elbro, 2019).…”

How Reading Motivation and Engagement Enable Reading Achievement: Policy Implications

“…It requires integrating information within and across text units ranging from the individual word to phrases and sentences, to paragraphs and chapters, to complete articles and books. The cognitive components of reading comprehension have been rigorously tested (see Elleman & Oslund, 2019). A critical question remains, however, in view of the cognitive complexity of reading comprehension: How can teachers and schools motivate students to become truly engaged readers?…”