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What Do Models of Reading Comprehension and Its Development Have to Contribute to a Science of Comprehension Instruction and Assessment for Adolescents?

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Improving Reading Comprehension of Middle and High School Students

Part of the book series: Literacy Studies ((LITS,volume 10))

Abstract

Cognitive models of reading comprehension provide a starting point for asking theoretically-motivated and empirically-driven questions relevant to understanding the reading comprehension of adolescent students. This chapter provides an introduction to the volume by reviewing component skills approaches and process models of reading comprehension followed by a discussion of selected empirical work related to these models. Developmental and individual differences in key comprehension-related processes from these models are discussed with particular reference to adolescent readers. Characteristics of discipline-specific texts that affect comprehension in middle school and high school students are also examined. Implications of this research for informing reading comprehension assessment, instruction, and interventions through the adolescent years are provided, with reference to the other chapters in this volume.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Also see Henderson, Snowling, and Clarke (2013) for an example of difficulties in rapidly accessing less frequent word meanings, such as the river meaning of bank.

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Acknowledgements

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305F100013 to The University of Texas at Austin as part of the Reading for Understanding Research Initiative. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

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  1. Department of Special Education, University of Texas at Austin, Sanchez Building STOP D5300, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Marcia A. Barnes

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  1. Marcia A. Barnes
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  1. College of Education, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    Kristi L. Santi

  2. Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

    Deborah K. Reed

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Barnes, M.A. (2015). What Do Models of Reading Comprehension and Its Development Have to Contribute to a Science of Comprehension Instruction and Assessment for Adolescents?. In: Santi, K., Reed, D. (eds) Improving Reading Comprehension of Middle and High School Students. Literacy Studies, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14735-2_1

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