Top Strategies of Experienced Readers: Effective Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension

We all know readers who seem to move effortlessly through challenging texts. Some of your students may even read this way already. But what sets strong, experienced readers apart from the rest?

Researchers Nell Duke and David Pearson have helped answer this question by identifying key strategies used by skilled readers and connecting them to classroom practices that can support developing readers. Understanding these habits is essential, especially as the reading crisis, poverty, and limited vocabulary continue to impede pupil success for many students who haven't yet developed these natural instincts.

In the sections below, we’ll explore these strategies and highlight practical ways teachers can help students build the habits of effective, confident readers.

Understanding Effective Reading Strategies: The Concept Behind Skilled Reading

Duke and Pearson identified six effective reading strategies. It’s important that you don’t let your students feel overwhelmed; choose one to start with and adjust as needed.

1. Make predictions

When a student picks up a book, have them pause and scan the title, table of contents, and photos. This process of activating expectations is a key part of how world knowledge can overcome the fourth-grade slump, as it forces the brain to retrieve what it already knows about a topic.

2. Think out loud

Encourage students to voice their thought process. Sharing frustrations like “I don’t understand this part” helps the reader focus and discourages hasty conclusions.

3. Pay attention to text structure

Focusing on how a text is formed enhances comprehension. Narrative texts follow a chronological path, while informational texts use signal words. Recognizing these patterns is vital, particularly when navigating the differences in digital vs. paper reading and why pupils often read less deeply on screens.

4. Use visual representation

Have students summarise the text using an arrow diagram or other visual illustration. This shows students that reading is a pathway to subject mastery.

5. Summarise

Written summaries help students grasp the essence of a text. This skill is a cornerstone of reciprocal teaching and modeling to help struggling readers, where summarizing is one of the four core pillars of the method.

6. Pose questions on the text

Ask questions while your students read to gauge and deepen understanding. This is the heart of enhancing reading comprehension with the 'Questioning the Author' method, where students move from passive recipients to active interrogators of the text.

The Cognitive Network of Reading

It’s a common practice for experienced readers to question a piece's worthiness, but this skill must be taught. The more thoughtful the teaching strategy, the better the outcome. This is because, as insights from 12 years of research show, knowledge drives reading comprehension; the more "hooks" a student has in their memory, the easier these strategies are to apply.

Practical Classroom Applications: Integrating Strategies

Duke and Pearson offer the following guidelines for effective teaching:

• Explicit Instruction: Teachers must clearly identify and model the use of a strategy.
• Meaningful Context: Reading education should prioritize rich texts and focus on vocabulary and global knowledge growth.

Tips for Implementation:

1. Prioritize motivation: Let students choose relevant reading material.
2. Introduce variety: Study everything from stories to news reports.
3. Encourage real-life application: Teach them what steps to take when they don't understand a section.
4. Collaborate: Use group discussions to make reading more enjoyable.

Comprehensive Checklist: Reading Instruction in the Classroom

Duke and Pearson created a simple checklist to guide your instruction. Ask yourself:

• General: How much reading do students do outside of class? Do they have a specific objective?
• Reading Tactics: Do you teach them to make predictions, use prior knowledge, and monitor their own comprehension?
• Instruction: Are you modeling first, then practicing together, and finally using scaffolding for independent work?

Key Takeaways: Mastering Reading Strategies

• Every reader uses reading strategies, whether consciously or not.
• Strategies benefit comprehension before, during, and after reading.
• Work on strategies with a specific reading objective in mind.

Next up in this series: Boosting Reading Comprehension: How Reciprocal Teaching and Modeling Help Struggling Readers

Reference

Duke, N. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2008). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension.