What is an effective way to teach reading comprehension skills?

Implementing summarizing and questioning techniques is highly effective in teaching reading comprehension skills because these strategies actively engage students in the text. Summarizing encourages learners to identify main ideas and key details, allowing them to distill information into their own words. This process helps solidify their understanding of the material and reinforces retention and recall.

Questioning techniques further enhance this by prompting students to think critically about the text. When students formulate questions, they must interact with the material at a deeper level, examining themes, motives, and connections between ideas, which promotes active reading and analytical thinking. Together, these techniques foster a more interactive and reflective reading experience, enabling students to better comprehend and engage with the content.

In contrast, an exclusive focus on phonics limits comprehension skills to decoding words rather than understanding their meaning in context. Encouraging only silent reading might not provide adequate support for students who struggle with comprehension, as it does not inherently involve active engagement with the text. Lastly, using lengthy texts without breaks can lead to fatigue and disengagement, making it challenging for students to maintain focus and process the material effectively.