Reading Comprehension: Theories and Strategies Toward an Effective Reading Instruction

Comprehension is a vital component in the reading process and is associated with a learner’s success in school, and even in life. However, research shows that many students are struggling to comprehend what they are reading, especially texts that require higher order thinking skills. Several factors could be ascribed to this problem and one of them is the insufficiency of teachers in terms of pedagogical knowledge. Many of them felt unprepared to teach reading skills and strategies; they focused more on assessing students’ reading comprehension rather than teaching them how to comprehend better. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to present some of the theories that explain how reading comprehension occurs. It also reviews the different researches conducted on teaching reading comprehension strategies specifically on how to comprehend single and multiple texts. Further, this paper argues that it is imperative for reading teachers (including content area teachers) to have operational knowledge on the different strategies in teaching reading comprehension and how to strategically apply these in their instruction, particularly when reading multiple texts to improve their students’ critical thinking skills. Keywords : Reading comprehension, strategies, theories, reading instruction, single and multiple texts comprehension DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-13-12 Publication date :May 31 st 2019