QVCIPC: Six Reading Comprehension Strategies

I am trying to address this blog to laypeople, but I need to preface the next several blogs with some explanation of research, so please bear with me.  You are welcome to skim over it if you please, but I think it is important to understand where I’m coming from, and I think it is important for you to be educated so that you are able to evaluate the quality of education your child is receiving at home and/or in the classroom.

The present trend among educators is research-based teaching strategies. This only makes sense that teachers would implement proven, effective methods of instruction. One crucial piece of research in the 70’s and 80’s revealed that teachers were not teaching students specific comprehension strategies.  Traditional classroom comprehension instruction consisted mostly of asking questions after a story had been read. Evidently it was assumed that decoding words and answering questions equaled proficient comprehension..

As further research was obtained, experts realized that good readers employ specific reading strategies, and struggling readers can benefit from specific comprehension instruction. Here’s an example of what the results looked like in academia.

One important type of reading comprehension research has focused on the characteristics of good comprehenders. Duke and Pearson (2002) summarize what good readers do, and this is the summary of their summary. Good readers:

• are active and have clear goals in mind.
• preview text before reading, make predictions and read selectively to meet their goals.
• construct, revise and question the meanings they are making as they read.
• try to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words and concepts.
• draw from, compare and integrate their prior knowledge with what they are reading.
• monitor their understanding and make adjustments as needed.
• think about the authors of the text and evaluate the text’s quality and value.
• read different kinds of text differently, paying attention to characters and settings when reading  narratives, constructing and revising summaries in their minds when reading expository text.*

*Research on the Components of a Comprehensive

Reading and Writing Instructional Program

Patricia M. Cunningham, Wake Forest University

James W. Cunningham, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Richard L. Allington, University of Florida

[DRAFT September 11, 2002]

In lieu of this research, educators designed teaching methods that researchers found effective to instill these strategies into young readers.  Some of these methods included:  modeling, think aloud, picture walks, and rereading.  These and other strategies will be the subject of the next several posts, but I will script the information for laypeople.  Correct reading instruction does not have to be complicated.

In my classroom, I employ a method Donna Moore has devised, the QVCIPC Strategy, that can be remembered by using the mnemonic device: “QVC Is Pretty Cheap.”

·         Question

·         Visualize

·         Connect

·         Infer

·         Predict

·         Conclude

Comprehension.  It’s what reading is all about.  I will spend the next several blog entries helping you guide your child through comprehension strategies that will make your child the best reader he or she can be!

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