Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension

The Handbook of Reading Comprehension presents an overview of recent findings on reading comprehension and comprehension problems in children. It provides a detailed examination of the characteristics of children who have reading comprehension difficulties, and examines ways in which comprehension can be supported and improved. It is accessibly written for students and professionals with no previous background in the psychology of reading or reading problems. This indispensable handbook asks the question 'what is comprehension?' The authors consider comprehension of different units of language: understanding single words, sentences, and connected prose and outline what readers (and listeners) have to do to successfully understand an extended text. This book also considers comprehension for different purposes, in particular reading for pleasure and reading to learn and explores how reader characteristics such as interest and motivation can influence the comprehension process.

Jane Oakhill is Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex. Kate Cain is Professor in Language and Literacy in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University. Carsten Elbro is Professor of Reading and Director of the Centre for Reading Research at the University of Copenhagen.

1. Introduction: What is comprehension?; 2. Comprehension in the reading context; 3. The development of comprehension skill: skills that contribute to successful reading comprehension; 4. Comprehension difficulties: why do some children fail to understand text?; 5. The assessment of comprehension skill; 6. Can we train or improve reading comprehension skill?