Teaching Language Clues to Reading Comprehension.

Reading Comprehension is an illusive entity. It is difficult to define, measure and teach. Researchers attempting to construct a theoretical model of the comprehension process for empirical examination are often confronted with a maze of confusing studies. The untangled maze is perhaps more discouraging. Confusion generally gives way to contradiction. Measurement problems are also prevalent in the area of comprehension. Naturally, any quality which is difficult to isolate and describe is equally difficult to measure. Finally, teachers must face the ominous responsibility of helping students obtain a quality which is vaguely defined and measured. It is the most difficult of these dilemmas with which this discussion deals; teaching students to gain meaning from the printed page.