What does current educational research state about the most effective way for literacy learners to comprehend text?

Question

I can state this, it is not what many of us veteran teachers might think. If you were trained as a teacher to teach the importance of locating the main idea and summarizing the text, you may want to "brush up" on the current research in how literacy learners most effectively learn to comprehend text.

Answer 1

A good deal of the latest research shows that a lack of background knowledge in multiple subjects increases the chances of low literacy. The problem lies within the fact that there is no consistency in curriculum across schools in the U.S. within social studies, history, and American Government, subjects that were put on a shelf years ago when the focus became concentrated on reading and math. Tthese subjects build a great deal of general background knowledge. Without it, many students don't recognize historical dates, language, events, people, or cultures and systems, and these topics are always a part of many books and all standardized tests. We need to focus more on providing students with well-rounded educations in multiple subjects in order for them to truly be able to comprehend what they read now and as they get older. Drilling on reading techniques is good, but it will never be enough to fix the comprehension gap.