6 Effective Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension

6 Effective Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is a crucial skill that is fundamental to academic success and beyond. It involves not only understanding what the words mean but also making meaning from them. It is more than just reading words on a page, as it requires active engagement in the process. Poor reading comprehension can create challenges in understanding various subjects, whether it is a scientific journal article or a cookbook recipe. Here are six effective strategies to improve reading comprehension and help you become a better reader.

1. Preview the Text

Previewing the text before delving into it is a helpful strategy to get a glimpse of what to expect from the material. It can provide students with background knowledge that they can use to make meaning as they read. Skim the headings, subheadings, and illustrations to gather an understanding of what the text will cover. Doing so can help establish an overview of what to expect from the material, making it easier to identify critical information once you start reading.

2. Ask Questions

Asking questions before, during, and after reading is a critical strategy that can help improve comprehension. The questions you ask can guide your focus while reading the text. They can help trigger prior knowledge, draw connections with new information, and help identify the main ideas and details of the reading.

3. Visualize

Creating mental pictures in your mind while reading is helpful to remember information. Visualization is an effective strategy that can help build comprehension by providing readers with a framework to hold onto the material. Whether you draw and jot down mind maps or create mental images, it can help stimulate the imagination and create a lasting impression.

4. Make Connections

Making connections between what you are currently reading and what you already know is essential to comprehension. Identifying these links can help you make sense of the material and retain information better. Text-to-self connections can help readers connect the text to their experiences, while text-to-text connections involve connecting ideas within the text.

5. Summarize

Summarizing the material after reading can help determine what was understood and what was not. It can help improve comprehension by forcing readers to reflect on the critical points of the text. It is a helpful strategy that can be used to identify essential information and link it back to what you already know.

6. Evaluate

Evaluating the material after reading involves determining what the author is trying to communicate and reflecting on the information. It requires analyzing the text and forming an opinion based on the material. Evaluating the purpose of the text can be helpful in understanding the context in which it was written.

Conclusion

In conclusion, implementing these six strategies can go a long way in improving reading comprehension skills. Previewing and asking questions before and during reading, along with visualizing, making connections, summarizing, and evaluating the material, can improve comprehension and help you become a better reader. With practice and patience, these strategies can become second nature and significantly impact academic and professional success.