Reading Comprehension And Reading Comprehension

Chapter 1

Introduction

According to Burns, Roe and Smith (2002) “Reading is a combination of many skills leading to the construction of meaning, through integrating prior knowledge with information presented in the text.” The aim of reading is to communicate thoughts and ideas through written language. Over the years The Ministry of Education in Jamaica, educators, parents, and politicians continue to express concern over the low literacy rates demonstrated by schools especially at the grade four level where they sit the Grade Four Literacy Test. Although researchers pursue the root of reading disabilities and effective reading methods, concern is still expressed by teachers that many students cannot read at their instructional grade level. Several reading interventions and methods for remediation have been designed and implemented to increase reading fluency. As a result of these interventions, some students who struggle to

It is often believed that fluency can be the link between decoding and comprehension. Decoding refers to a child’s ability to recognize words. Word recognition skills can be taught through phonemic awareness and phonics. For many readers problems with word recognition can lead to problems with fluency, which can lead to problems with comprehension. According to Armbruster, Lehr, and Osborn (2001), less fluent readers focus their attention on decoding words, leaving less attention for comprehension. When students begin to develop decoding skills and word recognition becomes natural and automatic, gains in fluency and comprehension can be made. Fluency also allows the reader to see that meaning is not only carried through by words, but by expression, punctuation, and phrasing (Rasinski, 2003). Once a student can learn to accurately, effectively, and effortlessly decode words he or she can begin to naturally read passages and stories, and can focus on