What Do Good Readers Do As They Read?
One way that researchers have studied what good readers do, has been to ask them to think aloud
as they read. From these studies, researchers have determined that the seemingly effortless activity
described as “good reading” is made up of a set of highly complex, well-developed, and well-practiced
skills and abilities. Particularly impressive is the way in which good readers actively and consciously
coordinate these skills and strategies before, during and after reading a text.
Before reading, good readers tend to set goals for their reading. They note the structure, or
organization of the text, and often create a mental overview or outline of the text to help them decide
whether it is relevant to their goals.
During reading, good readers read words accurately and quickly, and simultaneously deal with
the meanings of those words – as well as the meanings of the phrases and sentences into which the words
are grouped. Good readers connect the meaning of one sentence to the meaning of another. If something
is confusing to them, they use their background knowledge to try to clarify the meanings of words and
phrases. Sometimes good readers interact with the text by asking themselves questions about its content
and reflecting on its ideas. They are adept at using their background knowledge to make predictions about
what might happen next and to understand ideas as they encounter them. Good readers continuously
evaluate their predictions and revise them as needed.
Good readers are selective as they read. They are likely to focus more of their attention on the
parts of the text that are most closely tied to their reading goals. They may decide to skip some parts of a
text because they already understand the content or because they do not think the parts are important to
what they need (or want) to learn form the text. They may decide, after reading several pages, to skip the
rest of the chapter because they recently read something similar. On the other hand, they may decide –
either because they do not clearly understand the content or because they find the topic interesting – to
reread a passage or chapter before going on. They also may summarize the content of a passage as they
read it. In doing so, they may consciously determine what is important, what is supportive, and what is
less important.
As they read, good readers often make inferences. They may draw on their background
knowledge or look for cues in the text to supply information about characters or events that the author has
not provided directly. Some good readers may also create mental images, or visualize a setting, event, or
character to help them understand a passage in a text.
Good readers monitor their comprehension as they read. When they realize that they do not
understand what they are reading, they apply procedures to “repair” or “fix-up” their lack of
understanding. For example, they may ask themselves questions about the meaning of what they are
reading, they may rephrase a passage in their own words, they may look up the meanings of difficult
words, or they may outline the content of the text.
After reading, good readers often think about, or reflect on what they read. They may mentally
summarize major points or events in the text, or even go to other sources to find additional information
about the topic of the reading.
In short, good readers are most often strategic readers. That is, they use a number of
comprehension strategies to get meaning from text. Comprehension strategies are conscious plans or
procedures that are under the control of a reader, who makes decisions about which strategies to use and
when to use them.
In addition, good readers engage in metacognition as they read. Cognition refers to mental
functions such as remembering, focusing attention, and processing information. Metacognition refers to
people’s awareness of their cognition; that is, their thoughts about their own thinking. From an array of
possibilities, for example, readers with metacognitive awareness are able consciously and automatically to
select the appropriate comprehension strategies for use with a particular text.