Comprehension in Early Literacy

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Recommended: Essays on teaching reading comprehension

Comprehension is one of the most important components when it comes to reading no matter what age. As much as it is important for children to understand the words they are reading they should also be able to understand what they are reading. Reading comprehension is something many students have trouble with throughout their school years, and this can possibly lead them to discouragement and disliking reading all together. Reading is used for every subject and a skill and asset we will need for the rest of our lives so it is important that children enjoy and want to read. A question concerning comprehension is do the students know what comprehension is, this is something that should be explained to the students clearly so they understand what it is expected of them.

Over the past decade there have been many changes to the way teachers have taught comprehension to students. Back in 1998 it was believed by teachers that the more students read the better they would be able to comprehend, at the time there were not any effective way teachers were able to teach students comprehension. Research has become influential in the changes of how teachers have been teaching students reading comprehension (Morrow, Gambrell & Pressley, 2003, p. 112). There are many different types of methods for reading comprehension that can be taught to students effectively and it is important as educators that we try to use many of these different methods so our students will be able to understand what they are reading and it will hopefully encourage our students to enjoy and want to read but this should start as soon as students begin to read.

According to Best Literature “good readers are very active and strategic as they read” (Morrow, Gambrell & Pres...

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... comprehend what the story is all about and this can start even before the students can read. One quote I found while researching that I really enjoyed reading was “Even before they can read, children should see reading as a way to explore the human adventure” (Shagoury, 2010, p. 65). Children can learn so much from reading but in order for them to learn they need to have an understanding of what they are reading.

Works Cited

Cunningham, P. M., & Allington, R. L. (2011). Classrooms That Work. Boston, MA: Pearson

Morrow, L. M., Gambrell, L.B. & Pressley, M. (2003). Best Practices in Literacy Instruction. (Ed. 2) New York, NY: The Guilford Press

Kesler, T. (2010). Shared Reading to Build Vocabulary and Comprehension. Journal of The Reading Teacher, 64, 272-277.

Shagoury, R. (2010). Making Reading Meaningful. Journal of Educational Leadership, 63-68.

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