Reading Comprehension, What We Know: A Review of Research 1995 to 2011
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Volume two, Issue one
February 2012
Reading Comprehension, What We Know: A Review of Research 1995 to 2011 STEVE MCKEE Shinawatra International University, Bangkok, Thailand Bio Data: Steve McKee has a PHD from The Ohio State University and has been an instructor and lecturer for twenty years in the United States and Thailand. He is currently the Associate Dean and lecturer at SIU International University in Bangkok. He has a special interest in teacher education, research methodology and statistics. Abstract This review of research concerning reading comprehension provides incites into what has been learned from 1995 to the present. Reading comprehension is defined as a complex activity that involves several variables. Reading strategies are discussed and how they relate to reading comprehension. Testing is another concern regarding how reading comprehension is measured and research that addresses this concern is reviewed. Suggests related to how reading comprehension can be improved are presented. Keywords: reading comprehension, strategies, testing Introduction Reading is an activity performed to develop an understanding of a subject or topic. Reading is an essential skill that individuals need to process in order to be successful in life. Reading keeps individuals informed, up-to-date, and thinking. Reading is both a receptive and active process. It is a dynamic process in which the reader is searching for connections of ideas in the text. Reading requires the utilization of many mental processes as information is collected, processed and analyzed. Also, reading is a source of enjoyment for individuals (Li and Wilhelm, 2008). While reading is a very important part of an individual’s personal and educational growth, it is the concept of comprehension that may be even more important. Reading in and of itself is not enough: in addition, an individual needs to be able to breakdown, to analyze, and to re-organize ideas and information. A person needs the ability to understand what the writer is attempting to communicate. Reading comprehension is a complex, multiple task ability. These processes were divided into two equally difficult main types, lower-level and higher-level processes (Grabe and Stoller, 2002). The lower level abilities include word recognition, graphophonic and others, while the higher level abilities included syntactic, semantic and other processes. To be able to comprehend what is read, a 45 | P a g e
Language Testing in Asia
Volume two, Issue one
February 2012
person needs to be familiar with text structure and topic, aware of reading strategies, how to use these strategies in the processing of material and word recognition (Pang, 2008). Reading comprehension can be defined as the ability to understand a text, to analyze the information, and to interpret correctly what the writer is stating. “No one process defines reading comprehension by itself, but together they provide a fairly accurate account of the processes required for fluent reading.” (Grabe and Stoller, 2002:17) In a similar ear
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