For most of us, silent reading comprehension is what we mean when we talk about a person's reading ability. It is the end result of the reading process and is what happens when all of the components interact successfully. Silent reading comprehension is also what is usually measured by standardized tests, such as the TABE and the ABLE.

Reading components such as word analysis (phonemic awareness, phonics), word recognition, fluency, word meaning, and background knowledge are the recognized and taught subskills of silent reading comprehension. Less than mastery of any one of these will impede comprehension. Can we say, then, that if a reader can effortlessly decode the words of a passage and knows their meanings, he/she will be able to read that text with comprehension? Maybe.

There are other subskills of reading comprehension that require knowledge of the structure of language (compound and complex sentences, paragraphs, stories and informational text), and the ability to interact with text (metacognition) by assuming some responsibility for understanding the author's message. Many ABE learners have to learn "how" to comprehend. Teachers address these issues through instruction in reading comprehension strategies.

"[A]BE adults' knowledge about reading, or their meta-comprehension, is more like that of children who are beginning readers. They are less aware than good readers of strategies that can be used to monitor comprehension, view reading as decoding as opposed to comprehending text, and are less aware of the general structure of paragraphs and stories....Comprehension strategies, such as how to monitor comprehension during reading and how to determine a text's basic structure, may need to be taught" (from the Partnership for Reading website).

Explicit instruction in comprehension strategies should be begun when a learner has acquired sufficient word recognition mastery, usually no sooner than low intermediate level, GE 3. Beginning readers are focused on word analysis and recognition within simple text that does not require strategies for understanding.

Research on comprehensive strategies has shown that "direct teaching, as opposed to incidental instruction, leads to increased reading comprehension" (from the Partnership for Reading website). Particular strategies investigated were:

Mikulecky & Lloyd, 1997:

• skimming a text
• reading a text more carefully in order to monitor comprehension
• using headings to help guide the reading process
• focusing on topics in a text

Rich & Shepherd, 1994:
Instruction of even only one strategy (either of these two) increased reading comprehension:

• monitoring their comprehension by asking questions about a text as they read (who, what, when, where, how, and why). This was found to be an especially effective strategy.
• orally summarizing a text as they read.

Curtis & Chmelka, 1994 (a non-experimental study):

• using challenging and adult-oriented words for sound-to-symbol word recognition instruction, [as well as for vocabulary enrichment]. Improving word recognition skill improved comprehension. Easy words are often sight words, but challenging words require a word analysis approach. "The use of more challenging words appears to lead to a faster rate of growth in reading comprehension."

Assessing Comprehension (see Test Bank)

Most formal tests of comprehension require answering multiple choice questions about passages of increasing difficulty (more challenging vocabulary, longer sentences, more information). The questions also become increasingly difficult. The easiest questions require finding explicitly stated information in the text; the most difficult ones require inferencing and comparison of ideas presented in the passage.

Readability

You want to suggest a book to a learner because he has shown interest in the theme of the story. You are not sure whether the level of difficulty would be right for his independent or his instructional reading level. You could use a readability formula to find out.

Running a readability formula to find suitable grade levels of reading material is like having a librarian at your finger tips. All programs use word length and sentence length as their measures. They are easily computed with paper & pencil. If you have text on your computer but are not sure of the reading level, most word processing programs offer readability computation.

The SMOG Readability Formula is available on the web. It is similar to the Flesch-Kincaid Formula that is available on some word processing programs.

Flesch gives an explanation of his formula and instructions for computing it on another website. His is figured by the number of syllables per hundred words and the average number of words per second. The Flesch Formula is also available on the web.

The Fry Formula is useful for all levels but is particularly good for lower reading-level materials. The formula and grade level graph can be found on the web in PDF format and in Fry, et al, all editions.

The Dale-Chall Formula considers the average number of words per sentence. It is suggested for intermediate and above reading materials. (See Chall & Dale, 1995).

The Gunning Fog Index is another formula that uses word length and sentence length as variables. You can find this formula on the web.

The aim of reading instruction is to increase the level of silent reading comprehension. Researchers have found high correlations between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. In order to be able to release attention to the meaning of sentences and paragraphs, learners have to be fluent readers. Hesitations caused by a need to decode unfamiliar words interrupts the flow of the author's intended meaning. Fluent reading requires that word recognition ability be automatic for the particular reading level being assessed. Those who have well-developed reading comprehension skills get information independently and accurately from text; they remember, evaluate, and adapt what they read.