Questions: Reading Comprehension Strategies - Early

Question 1

Before reading a story about a dog, a teacher asks 'Have you ever had a pet? What was it like?' This is an example of which comprehension strategy?

• A. Visualization — making a picture in your mind
• B. Connecting to prior knowledge — linking the story to your own experience
• C. Prediction — guessing what will happen next
• D. Asking questions — wondering about the text

Answer: (B)

The teacher is asking the child to connect the upcoming story to prior personal experience. This activates relevant background knowledge, which helps comprehension. The child who thinks about their own pet is more prepared to understand the story because they have context. Connecting to prior knowledge makes new information meaningful.

Question 2

Which of these is an example of a child using visualization while reading?

• A. The child correctly identifies all the words in the story
• B. The child makes a picture in her mind of the character running through the forest
• C. The child remembers the story correctly after reading
• D. The child asks 'Why did the character do that?'

Answer: (B)

Visualization is creating mental images of scenes described in the text. When a child pictures the character running through the forest, she's creating a visual representation of the text. This enriches comprehension and engagement. It's a different strategy from identifying words (decoding) or remembering details (memory).

Question 3

Teaching comprehension strategies to young readers is less important than teaching decoding skills; comprehension will develop naturally once a child can read the words.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

False. Comprehension does not develop automatically from decoding. A child who can accurately decode a paragraph might not understand it. Comprehension requires active engagement — connecting prior knowledge, visualizing, predicting, asking questions. These strategies must be explicitly taught and practiced. Research shows that strategy instruction significantly improves comprehension.

Question 4

Asking children to retell a story after reading is primarily a test of memory, not a comprehension strategy.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

Retelling is both an assessment tool AND a comprehension strategy. When a child retells a story, she organizes information, identifies key events, and sequences them logically. The act of retelling deepens comprehension because it requires organizing and processing information. It's also a valuable strategy for self-monitoring — retelling helps a child realize what she understood and what she missed.

Question 5

Explain why thinking aloud (where a teacher models strategy use by narrating her thinking while reading) is an effective way to teach early comprehension strategies.

Model answer: Thinking aloud makes the invisible visible. Comprehension strategies happen in the mind, and young readers don't automatically know how to do them. When a teacher narrates her thinking ('I predict... I visualize... I'm connecting this to...'), students see exactly what good strategy use looks like. With repeated modeling, students internalize the processes and begin to use them independently.

Explicit instruction and modeling are hallmarks of effective reading instruction. Comprehension strategies are no exception. A teacher who thinks aloud while reading provides a mental model that students can imitate. Over time, with scaffolding and guided practice, students develop independence in strategy use. This is far more effective than expecting students to discover strategies on their own.