Story time: tips for developing the components of reading in children

Comprehension

As the name suggests, comprehension is about checking whether the child has grasped what they read or the story you told them. Usually, when we want to check comprehension, the questions asked have only one possible answer. Either the child understood or they didn't. This component is divided into two parts: explicit comprehension (locating information) and implicit comprehension (inferences). Locating information means understanding a text by finding details that appear in it word for word:

“Louis has a yellow stuffed animal. Its name is Banjo.”

• What is the stuffed animal's name?
• What colour is the stuffed animal?

With inferences, we get into what's left unsaid. It's everything the child has to read between the lines. They have to take the clues in the text into account and connect them with what they already know in order to understand:

“Louis is 6 today. His mother gave him a stuffed animal. It's the same colour as the sun.”

• Why is Louis's mother giving him a present?
• What colour is the stuffed animal?

You've probably noticed that the same question can be used in both cases: what colour is the stuffed animal? However, since the information in the text isn't the same, the child will need to use different strategies to be able to answer.

Interpretation

Interpreting a text or story is personal, since it depends on what the child understands from the text. The child has to explain, based on the hints and clues they've read. Interpretation questions could be:

• Why does the character act this way?
• Why do you think he was sad?

Reaction

When we ask a child to react, it's because we want their opinion. We're asking them to take a stand. So the answer will be a personal one. With this type of question, we're not only asking the child to give their opinion; we also want them to draw on different elements to back up what they say. For example, they could support their position with details from the text or make connections with their own experiences. This component is a really interesting one to work on with your child. You can ask them questions and see the text through their young eyes. It makes for some lovely conversations. Reaction questions could be:

• Have you ever been in a situation like the character's?
• If you were Charlotte, how would you have reacted? Why?

Appreciation

Personally, this is a part I really love, because we ask the child what they think of the work as a whole. This is where the child says whether or not they enjoyed the book and can explain why. They can draw on different elements, such as the story, the characters, the illustrations, the vocabulary used, etc. You can also ask them whether they would recommend this book to someone, and why they would choose that person. Conversations around this component can be very rich.

• Who would you recommend this book to? Why?
• What did you like about this book?
• Was there anything you liked less?

• If you're reading to your child, don't hesitate to ask questions along the way to check their comprehension and interpretation. That way, you can make sure your child is grasping the important elements of the story (interpretation). If your child is captivated by the story, keep reading and save your questions for later.
• Don't interrupt the reading for reaction or appreciation questions. It's better to wait until the end of the reading session (the end of the chapter or the book), since these types of questions take more thought. Otherwise, your child (and you too!) would lose the thread of the story.
• If your child reads on their own, you can ask them about:
  • What they understood from their reading (summarizing it, the moral of the story)
  • What they thought of the work
  • Their fix-up strategies (for when they don't understand what they're reading)
  • Their impressions of the story (reactions, their stance on the story and the characters)

What about you? How do you encourage your kids to talk about what they read?

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