#SHORT TEXTS FOR READING HOW TO#
But other US educators consider this reading approach to be completely backward for very young children, arguing that the children must learn how to decode the words in a story through phonics before they can analyze the story itself. Many educators in the United States believe that students need to learn to analyze text (comprehend it) even before they can read it on their own, and comprehension instruction generally begins in pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read.
This being the case, it is generally believed that proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly. Humans are thought to have a set reserve, an established threshold for attention and absorption of information, commonly referred to as processing capacity. This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text. Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text. But what makes it so special? Why is it so revered by both students and teachers alike? To answer these questions, it helps to know just what reading comprehension is. Beloved reading comprehension, a friend to nearly every teacher of language.
If there were only one aspect of language that students could study (or that educators could teach), it would invariably be reading comprehension.