Why Deeply Diving Into Content Could Be The Key To Reading Comprehension

A lot of people are concerned that American kids aren’t learning to read. And rightly so. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows only about a third of fourth-graders are proficient in reading. Much of the recent debate has been a return to an old battle between advocates of phonics instruction versus those who favor a whole-language approach to teaching the building blocks of reading. But that debate focuses on early learning and the mechanics of reading. Education journalist Natalie Wexler has a whole different argument to make that focuses on why kids often don’t comprehend what they read.

“There are really two different aspects to reading,” said Wexler on KQED’s Forum program. “One is decoding, just matching sounds to letters. That really is a set of skills that you need to be taught directly. But reading comprehension skills are different.”…………………...………………….……………………..