Purpose: In this article, we respond to Catts and Kamhi's (2017) argument that reading comprehension is not a single ability. Method: We provide a brief review of the impact of strategy instruction, the importance of knowledge in reading comprehension, and possible avenues for future research and practice. Results: We agree with Catts and Kamhi's…

Argues that applying the rhythm of speech to print will lead to improved oral and silent reading. (FL)

Traditionally, reading educators' alternatives for improving students' reading comprehension have been to (a) modify the text, (b) augment the text with aids, or (c) modify the students' reading behavior. The first involves limiting the average number of words per sentence and substituting short, easy words and structures. Results with this…

Considers the significant processes shared by the acts of reading and writing. Argues for the use of literary response to enhance the productivity of the reading-writing connections. Discusses literary reading and response and their potential pedagogical value in reading-writing activities. (HB)

Advocates a psycholinguistic view of the reading process and a language experience approach to reading instruction. Offers suggestions to improve students' reading performance. (FL)

Suggests a conceptual basis for asserting a relationship between sentence combining and reading improvement. (RL)

Establishes the logical validity of instructional activities for teaching reading evaluatively. Supports the view that the 20 characteristics of literate students who read evaluatively were translated into valid instructional activities by experienced classroom teachers. (HB)

Explains how students who have difficulty remembering what they have read may be taught how to reread sections of text by suggesting to them that reading is analogous to watching a video with the remote control in hand. (TB)

Teachers cannot expect that students at any level know how to create meaning with expository text. Students' ability to comprehend expository text can be improved through the use of comprehension skills. In order to learn the skills, they need to be broken down into specific steps and taught explicitly. Six comprehension skills are described in…

Argues that differences in instruction influence differences in students' reading abilities as much as do variations in individual learning styles or aptitudes. Suggests ideas for enhancing instruction of poor readers. (RH)

Concludes that poor readers benefit from a cooperative strategy that gives them practice toward fluency in a supportive situation. Explains how repeated reading works and offers a strategy for using it. (FL)

Argues that the directed reading activity (DRA) is a teaching strategy of limited use to students and discusses how teachers can transform the teaching strategy into a learning strategy. Discusses the generalization of the DRA strategy, emphasizes self-checking for learner control of strategies, and describes attributional consequences of teaching…

Problems that students may have because of their unfamiliarity with the passage structures used in many social studies textbooks are discussed. Passage structures are defined as certain rhetorical structures such as compare/constrast, general/specific, and sequence. A teaching strategy for helping students overcome these difficulties is included.…

Prereading activities, analogous to prewriting activities, can draw on the reader's prior knowledge of the subject and make the student's reading of literature more proficient, raise the comprehension level, and make class discussions more meaningful. Some suggested prereading activities for the literature classroom include (1) making students…

Proposes using the cloze procedure as an instructional technique as well as for testing. Offers cloze exercises designed to teach vocabulary, relationships, and personal involvement. (FL)