Chapter 2 Developing Reading Comprehension – the background

A section of my thesis…

Topic 6: What are the essential ingredients of the effective teaching of reading comprehension?

Identifying the active ingredients of the effective teaching of reading comprehension is fraught with challenges. In 2000, the National Reading Panel (U.S.) concluded that teaching reading comprehension strategies was one of the five essential ingredients of reading instruction (in addition to phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary). However, the reliability of these findings cannot be considered strong as the most appropriate method of synthesising the findings of across the studies collated, namely meta-analysis and systematic review, was not considered possible. The expert review panel suggested that the studies available used widely varying methodologies, measures and implementations which precluded a meta-analytic approach (National Reading Panel (U.S.), 2000).

Several years later, Elleman et al. (2009) echoed these limitations, whilst attempting to summarise the effects of specific vocabulary instructional techniques in the context of the development of reading comprehension. A lack of reporting for measure reliability, treatment fidelity and training of the intervention implementers across the studies means that any results reported cannot be ascribed to the intervention practices studied (Elleman et al., 2009).

There are a dizzying range of programmes and schemes that have been studied, each combining different strategies and approaches:  Collaborative Strategic Reading, Transactional Strategies Instruction, Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies, Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction, Reciprocal Teaching. Yet, it is unclear which individual aspects of each programme can be considered active ingredients (Embry & Biglan, 2008). Many studies focus on improving outcomes for small, targeted groups of students, who have been identified with reading difficulties or special educational needs. Typically, the interventions described are delivered by the researchers themselves, or research assistants. Few studies are concerned with whole class or large group teaching, delivered in within normal school context, by class teachers. Finally, many studies refer to Multi-Component Interventions (MCI), from which it is challenging to isolate the individual effects of the differing aspects of the intervention. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify some high-level guiding principles.

Cognitive components

For students who lack word reading skills, in line with the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer,1986) it is necessary to build these word-level skills while teaching comprehension (Boardman et al., 2008; Scammacca et al., 2007). The Language and Arts Reading Research Consortium (LARRC) (2017) suggests the comprehension of spoken language will constrain reading comprehension. Some researchers suggest that once a level of word decoding mastery has been achieved, a focus on language comprehension is desirable (Clarke et al., 2010; Duff et al., 2011). Alternatively, reading to early readers can help them learn to make sense of text (Swanson et al., 2011; Wright et al., 2022). Studies of fluency indicates that increased reading rate and accuracy do not always result in improved comprehension (Wexler et al., 2008).

Ecological components

In line with Ellis and Smith’s (2017) conceptualisation of an environment supportive of early reading acquisition, Pianta et al. (2008) suggest that a warm, emotional quality to the teaching is essential in combination with tailored one-to-one interactions, high-quality feedback that prompts conceptual development, time on task, and interesting and challenging tasks rather than worksheets.

There are several overarching principles about how teachers influence the environment in their classrooms. Firstly, limited training opportunities for teachers do not seem to be enough to change their habits in the classroom. Secondly, neither purely strategy or purely content focused methods are uniquely effective and thirdly, a blend of both content focused, and strategy focused approaches might not be enough to support the development of the warm, emotionally responsive climate that is thought to be beneficial. It seems both minds and hearts are required.