Reading, Comprehension and Learning for Effective Teaching

Reading, Comprehension and Learning in Education

Analyzes the interrelationships between reading, understanding, and learning from the teacher's perspective.

We start by stating that teaching reading is teaching how to understand and construct meaning. Reading is a process of interaction between reader and text, a process in which the reader attempts to satisfy the objectives that guide the reading. It is the reader who reconstructs the meaning of a text.

Active Reader and Reading Purposes

This view has several consequences, one of which is the figure of the active reader who processes and examines the text. In addition, there is always a purpose that guides reading—read for something. When reading, the interpretation given to a text depends on the goal of our reading. Reading goals are essential elements to consider when teaching children to read and to comprehend.

The Reading Process: Text, Reader and Context

Reading is the process by which we understand written language. It involves the text—its form and content—together with the reader, the reader's expectations, and prior knowledge. A good reader is one who can reconstruct the meaning of a text with greater ease and minimal effort, for whom reading is both informative and enjoyable—an activity as profitable as any other means of communication.

Comprehension Control and Strategy

When you read and understand, everything flows and we are in a state of autopilot; but when something is unclear we stop and try to resolve the obstacle. This is the control of comprehension: because we know what and why we read, we must make sense of the text to continue reading. Understanding is not all or nothing; it depends on the knowledge available to the reader about the text's subject and the objectives that have been set. These objectives determine the strategies used to achieve an interpretation of the text.

Teaching Young Readers and Motivation

At the beginning of a child's reading development, if the child only follows others, they may develop an expectation of failure; the teacher must intervene and turn this into a positive experience. Teachers should use individualized strategies so that everyone can learn. Reading must be motivating; it must interest the reader. Although it can be difficult to motivate all readers, the teacher's task is to create, foster, and educate motivation. Texts should be chosen according to the reader's prior knowledge and what makes sense to them so they can interpret and understand.

Practical Strategies for Teachers

• Match texts to students' prior knowledge and interests.
• Set clear reading goals before and during reading.
• Teach comprehension-monitoring strategies (pause, clarify, reread).
• Provide individualized supports when students expect failure.
• Encourage active engagement with text through questioning and discussion.

Ausubel and Meaningful Learning

Ausubel speaks of meaningful learning. Learning as an integrated representation—its own model—means being able to attribute meaning to the content in question, a process that leads to a personal construction: subjective yet grounded in objective content. This process allows us to relate what we know with what we want to learn. When we want to learn from a text, we seek connections with what we already know so our understanding becomes more complete and complex. Comprehensive learning and meaningful memorization allow us to continue learning.

Reading to Learn and Teacher Responsibilities

When a reader is understanding, they read in order to learn. This should be kept in mind by future teachers as a central element of the educational process of reading. We must not forget that reading contributes to the formation of the whole person: reading is a fundamental learning tool.