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Strategies in Reading Comprehension

Explore how good and poor primary readers differ in their use of reading strategies, and what teachers can do to improve comprehension outcomes.

Last updated 8 September 2026

Fadillah, M. (2006). Strategies in reading comprehension: Case studies of good and poor upper primary school readers (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from http://libris.nie.edu.sg/

Background

Having observed that many students underperformed in English reading comprehension, the author was interested in how cognitive processes affected comprehension success.

Aims

The study compared the reading comprehension strategies of good and poor primary school readers and the extent of their knowledge and control of these strategies.

Sample

Four Primary 6 students participated in the study. They were categorised into two good and two poor readers based on the evaluation of the English language teachers and their scores on a reading comprehension test.

Method

The students were given think-aloud reading tasks based on two texts: a personal and a factual recount. Each think-aloud session was followed by retrospective interviews to clarify the data obtained. Other data collected included one-on-one semi-structured interviews.

Findings

The findings showed that the number and frequency of strategies had little bearing on reading success. All of the readers used several strategies simultaneously, most of which were used repeatedly throughout the study with varied frequencies and outcomes. Both groups intertwined global (top-down) and local (bottom-up) strategies.

The findings showed that good and poor readers implemented reading strategies differently. Good readers were able to use reading strategies with greater ease and speed and persisted even when they encountered difficulties with the text. They had better vocabulary and vocabulary handling or learning strategies and made more inferences and elaboration of the text while reading it, which hinged on their stronger background knowledge. On the other hand, poor readers lacked perseverance and often tried to fit their interpretation of the text within their existing schemata. Their application of strategies was random with no specific purpose and lacked depth, flexibility, and sophistication.

Implications

The author recommended that teachers should implement extensive reading programmes, teach students vocabulary handling strategies, teach reading strategies explicitly through modelling and help students improve decoding strategies so they could concentrate more on comprehension.

Original article retrieved from NIE Digital Repository (opens in new tab).