Learning Media - Te Pou Taki Kõrero

Teaching Reading Comprehension by Dr Alison Davis is an engaging, informative handbook that covers all aspects of teaching reading comprehension. It bridges the gap between theory and practice by working from a teacher’s perspective – connecting the theory to the everyday experience of classroom teachers.

A new approach to teaching reading comprehension was the catalyst for this exciting publication and professional development project. Dr Alison Davis, an experienced and respected literacy developer and coach, wanted to draw on her research in New Zealand schools to bring together the contemporary understandings of research, theory, and practice in teaching reading comprehension – and to emphasise the understanding that the professional expertise of teachers is key.

In her introduction to Teaching Reading Comprehension, Dr Davis writes, “As I taught across a range of year levels, I saw that many teachers were particularly confused about reading comprehension and how they could best teach the strategies needed to develop this.”

We worked with Dr Davis to produce a handbook that would address this confusion. The need was to treat a complex area of literacy teaching in an informative and comprehensive way, and to detail why and how a teacher’s decisions can lift student achievement. We needed to unpack effective instruction by showing what happens when teachers understand both how to teach comprehension (and decoding, vocabulary, and fluency) and how to base their teaching on the needs of their students.

We took a hands-on, research-based approach and included in the book:

• direct instruction of comprehension strategies, and when and how to use them
• step-by-step instruction on how to develop metacognition
• in-depth coverage of instructional approaches and strategy instruction for all aspects of the five elements of reading – phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency
• practical advice on teaching to individual needs, including sections for underachieving readers and able readers
• a variety of examples to support strategy instruction.

We designed this book with the busy teacher in mind, favouring a clear, simple layout and supportive photographs. The result is an engaging, informative, and highly recommended tool for teachers and educators.

To support the publication of Teaching Reading Comprehension, Learning Media developed a nationwide programme of workshops. Dr Davis delivered sixteen workshops for principals, teachers, literacy leaders, and advisers to discuss the strategies outlined in the handbook. The workshops were developed in partnership with literacy clusters and principals’ associations and were customised to suit the needs of the participants.

Teaching Reading Comprehension has been reprinted twice since its launch in 2008. Nearly 800 teachers and educators have attended the related workshops, strengthening our links to the education sector in New Zealand.

Order Teaching Reading Comprehension.