Student Factors
There are several factors that can affect a student’s reading comprehension abilities that teachers need to be attuned to.
FluencyFluency has a positive influence on reading comprehension (Reutzel & Hollingsworth, 1993).
When fluency increases and decoding becomes automatic, greater attention can be focused on comprehending meaning (Reutzel & Hollingsworth, 1993). For middle and upper primary grades, it is important for teachers to firstly review the fluency skills of a student, as fluency has been proven to contribute more to comprehension at the higher end of reading development (Woolley, 2008). Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
MotivationMotivation has a direct link to a student's reading comprehension as it influences the amount of time and breadth of exposure to texts (Guthrie, J.T., Wigfield, A., Humenick, N.M., Perencevich, K.C., Taboada, A. & Barbosa, A., 2006).
Engagement in reading has a similar relationship. When interacting with texts that are motivating, student focus is maintained and strong reading outcomes are achieved, such as improved topic knowledge and proficiency in vocabulary (Guthrie et al., 2006). According to Guthrie et al. (2006) and Winch et al. (2011), to enhance motivation, teachers can:
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CultureEvidence suggests that there are decreased reading comprehension levels amongst upper primary students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (Luke, Dooley & Woods, 2011). This can partly be attributed to curriculum and instruction being disconnected from community and culture (Luke, Dooley & Woods, 2011).
Overall, it is reasoned that comprehension needs to be defined as "a cultural, social and intellectual practice" that makes sense to a student's world and is integrated into the academic setting (Luke, Dooley & Woods, 2011, p. 162). One approach in literacy that can address this issue is to include cultural and sociocultural models that begin from the engagement of students' prior knowledge, community knowledge, epistemological stance and cultural resources (Luke, Dooley & Woods, 2011). Image courtesy of Pixabay |