Reading comprehension is a skill that is learned over time. It requires the reader to be able to read fluently, stay focused, and think critically about the book or text in question. Unfortunately, many students struggle comprehending texts. Some cannot discern the main ideas from the details while others have a hard time understanding what the book is even talking about. Therefore, helping students increase their reading comprehension is a key to their educational success or failure. Following are 10 effective tips and strategies that you can use to help.

1. Read Aloud

While some might think of a teaching reading aloud as something that only happens in elementary classrooms, there is evidence that reading aloud also benefits middle and high school students as well. For one thing, teachers can model good reading behavior.  In addition, they can help make challenging texts more understandable to students. 

2. Stop and Ask Questions to Yourself As You Read

 A good strategy to teach struggling readers is that instead of just rushing through a passage or chapter, they should stop and ask themselves questions. These can either be questions about what has just happened or what they think might happen in the future. Doing this can help them focus on the main ideas and increase the student's engagement with the material. 

3. Talk With Someone Else About What Is Being Read

Having students stop periodically and discuss what has just been read can reveal any issues with understanding and can reinforce what is being taught. 

4. Look at the Headings and Other Information Before You Begin

An excellent strategy that soon becomes second nature is to have struggling students read through all the headings and subheadings in any chapter that they have been assigned. They can also look at the pictures and any graphs or charts. This information can help them gain an overview of what they will be learning as they read the chapter. 

5. Keep Paper Handy for Notes and Questions

Students should read a chapter with paper and pen in hand. They can then take notes, write down questions they think of, and create a vocabulary list of all the highlighted words in the chapter along with any unfamiliar terms that they need to define. 

6. Learn to Cluster Words

 Clustering is a skill that increases reading comprehension by having students learn to read groups of words that form phrases or fit together semantically into one cluster. Instead of students focusing on individual words, they look at words in a small group and gain greater meaning from it. 

7. Use Graphic Organizers As You Read

 Some students find that graphic organizers like webs and concept maps can greatly enhance reading comprehension. These allow students to identify areas of focus and main ideas in a reading. By filling in this information, students can deepen their understanding of the author's meaning.  

8. Practice PQ4R

This consists of four steps: Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, and Review. Preview has students scan the material to get an overview. Question means that students should ask themselves questions as they read. The four R's have students read the material, reflect on what has just been read, recite the major points to yourself to help learn better, and then finally go back over the material and see if you can answer the questions you previously asked.  

9. Stop and Summarize

 As students read, have them periodically stop their reading and summarize what they have just read. This will aid in their understanding of the material being covered. 

10. Write Questions About the Material

 After students have read a passage, have them go back and write questions that could be included in a quiz or test on the material. This will require them to look at the information in a different manner.