How to Teach Reading Comprehension
Comprehension is not automatic after decoding. Teach it with targeted questions, retelling, and predicting — the three strategies that work.
A child who can decode every word on a page but can't tell you what the page was about is a common sight in Year 2 classrooms. Decoding and comprehension are different skills and comprehension has to be taught explicitly. The good news: three techniques cover most of what works.
One: ask targeted questions while reading, not after. "Why do you think she did that?" while still in the middle of the story activates prediction and inference in real time. Two: have the child retell the story in their own words at the end — retelling is a direct comprehension test. Three: prediction. Pause at a cliffhanger and ask "what do you think happens next?" This forces engagement with the story structure.
Avoid the trap of endless fact questions ("what colour was the dog?"). Those test memory, not comprehension. Good comprehension questions ask why, how, and what if.
Practise With These Free Games
Printable Worksheets to Go With This Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can my child read but not understand?+
Usually because decoding is taking all their cognitive effort. Fluency (automatic decoding) usually has to come before comprehension has room to develop. Most children's comprehension catches up by Year 3.
What are comprehension strategies?+
Research-backed techniques readers use to make sense of text: predicting, questioning, visualising, summarising, making connections, inferring. Teaching these explicitly improves comprehension measurably.
Should I test comprehension after every book?+
No — make it a conversation. Formal testing kills the enjoyment. Ask one or two questions naturally during reading instead.
What's the best type of question for comprehension?+
Open-ended questions starting with 'why', 'how', or 'what do you think'. Yes/no questions and fact recall questions don't build comprehension.