Reading Comprehension Strategies

Prior Knowledge in Reading

• Prior knowledge is crucial for reading comprehension
• It's the existing information and experiences related to a topic that a reader brings to the text
• Reading about sea turtles connects with existing knowledge about turtles, oceans, and reptiles
• Understanding U.S. current events builds upon knowledge of individual states
• Reading novels involves connecting to past reading experiences and recognized literary genres
• Prior knowledge aids in understanding historical fiction, connecting past events to the text
• For example, understanding slavery in the U.S. deepens the understanding of books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Beloved, and Gone with the Wind

Context Clues

• Context clues help determine the meaning of unfamiliar words
• Looking at the surrounding words in a sentence provides clues to word meaning or potential meaning
• If a word's meaning isn't obvious, surrounding language often provides guidance, avoiding the need for dictionaries
• For instance, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the word "sivilize" is clarified by its context within the sentence
• In The Golden Notebook, the context clarifies that "appendages" refers to secondary or supporting elements
• Contextual understanding minimizes disruptions during reading

Word Structure

• Understanding word structure helps decipher word meaning
• Words can be broken down into smaller components: prefixes, roots, and suffixes
• The root word, prefix, and suffix help understand the overall meaning of a word
• For example, "disenchanted" is broken down into root "enchant", prefix "dis-", and suffix "-ed"
• Understanding root "geo-" from words like "geography" and "geology" helps understand "geocentric"
• The root "centr" in "geocentric" helps understand that it relates to the center
• The context of the sentence "Ancient Greeks believed in a geocentric universe" confirms that "geocentric" relates to Earth being at the center of the universe