Improve Reading Comprehension

 What is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the ability to comprehend or understand, what is read. This is an intentional and active part of reading and it happens before, during and after reading. By comprehend what you are reading, you can extract the meaning of the text and better identify what the author is trying to convey.

Reading comprehension has two components:

Text comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Vocabulary knowledge is the ability to understand the language in use, and text comprehension uses this language to develop the ability to recognize what the meaning behind the text is.

Why is Reading Comprehension Important?

Reading comprehension is important for many reasons and provides many benefits. Learning to read effectively read can improves both your personal and professional life and increases your overall enjoyment of reading. Knowing how to understand texts can help you expand your knowledge in particular area and help you learn new skills and information faster.

Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension 

There are several reading strategies to improve your reading comprehension. The more you practice, the better you will understand what you read. The here are seven simple strategies you can use to help in comprehend your reading:

1. Expand your vocabulary

Knowing the meaning of the words you read improves your ability to comprehend the meaning of the text. To improve your vocabulary, you can:

• Take an online vocabulary quiz to assess your current level of vocabulary understanding
• Quiz yourself using flashcards once or twice a week
• Make a point to use newly learned words in oral and written communication
• Read as much as you can to better guess what a word means in a given context
• Make a list of unfamiliar words as you read and look them up in the dictionary

2. Ask questions about what you are reading

Asking questions about what you are reading can help you dig deeper into the text, thus improving your reading comprehension. It also allows you to examines themes, motifs and other constructs of the text that you would not otherwise question, giving you a better overall understanding of what you are reading.

3. Use contextual hints

Using contextual hints is a great way to understand what you are reading even if you don’t know all the vocabulary being used. Contextual hints can be found in the words and sentences around unfamiliar words. Contextual hints let you focus on key phrases or ideas in a sentence and use that information to infer the main idea of a sentence or paragraph. You can also search nearby words that are synonyms or antonyms of words you don’t know.

4. Find the main idea

Identifying the main idea of a paragraph or article helps determine the article's importance. Understanding why what you read is important will help you better understand what the author is trying to convey. When reading, pause every few paragraphs to see if you can decipher what the main idea. Then, try to express the main idea in your own words for better understanding.

5. Write a summary of what you read

A good way to increase your knowledge of what you have read is to write a summary. Summarizing is determining what is important in a text and expressing it in your own words. Summarizing helps you decide  whether you really understood what you read and helps you remember what you have read in the long term.

6. Split readings into smaller chunks

If you are reading longer or more challenging text, consider splitting it into smaller chunks. For example, you could read two paragraphs at a time and then pause to quickly summarize what you just read in your mind. Splitting what you are reading can help you feel less overwhelmed and give you a better chance of truly comprehending the information in the text.

7. Pace yourself

Pace yourself by setting realistic goals for your reading practice and habits is also an effective way to improve your reading comprehension. This is especially true for books and other literature that you find difficult. Set goals for yourself that you know you can achieve each day. For example, instead of saying you want to read the whole book in two days, read three chapters in one night. This will help you reach your goals and give you plenty of time to digest what you read between each session.