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Reading with Purpose: Reading to Comprehend

When reading to comprehend, learners are reading the material to gain an understanding of the topic or content. Learners commonly associate this type of reading with reading novels, magazines, or blog posts. However, they can also read textbooks, journal articles, study guides, lab manuals and even class notes for general comprehension (Grabe & Stoller, 2011). Reading to comprehend will help them build background knowledge on a subject and allow them to remember basic details. This type of reading can be difficult for ESL learners because it requires fluency and automatic processing of words, grammar, and meaning (Grabe & Stoller, 2011).  If they cannot understand the vocabulary or grammar of a text, it will be difficult for them to comprehend. It is recommended that learners read with at least a reading rate of 200 words per minute (wpm) and 70% comprehension (Anderson, 2014).

 Helpful Skills

  • Previewing text

  • Finding answers

  • Finding the main ideas

  • Questioning the text

  • Skiming for important ideas

  • Summarizing information

  • Checking comprehension

  • Text highlighting

  • Recognizing rhetorical patterns

  • Judging whither objectives were met

  • Understanding vocabulary in context

  • Repairing miscomprehension

  • Predicting the contents of the text

  • Connecting text to background knowledge

  • Reflecting on material and understanding

  • Connecting one part of the text to another

  • Guessing the meaning of a word from context

  • Understanding written problems

  • Understanding expository material

  • Understanding argument

  • Understanding descriptive material

  • Understanding categories

  • Interpreting tables, graphs, formulas, and charts

  • Interpreting cartoons, diagrams, pictures, and maps 

  • Adjusting reading rate relative to purpose and difficulty of material

Academic Tasks

  • Reading and understanding passages

  • Completing exams & quizzes

  • Completing worksheets & study guides

  • Completing projects

  • Writing in and out of class essays

  • Writing short responses

  • Writing a reflective essay

  • Writing a report

  • Preparing a presentation

  • Preparing and participate in discussions

  • Summarizing information

  • Paraphrasing information

  • Taking notes

The information for this page came from Chase et al. (1994), Gallagher (2011), Grabe (2009), Grabe and Stoller (2011), Grabe and Zhang (2013), Gunderson (1991), Jensen (1986), Shelyakina (2010), and Shih (1992).

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