Read to Learn

THREE WAYS TO ENHANCE ADOLESCENT READING COMPREHENSION IN A DIGITAL WORLD

Learning to Read to Learn : Three ways to enhance adolescent reading comprehension in a digital world.

By middle school, typical reading curriculums assume that students have the necessary literacy strategies to decode the writing in front of them. Lessons have shifted from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” with students using texts to make sense of unknown concepts.

But in a digital world, there are countless ways — books, newspapers, social media, blogs, online forums — to read information. This variety of sources can leave middle and high school students confused about which techniques to use to comprehend, analyze, and synthesize what’s in front of them, as well as which reading to use for higher learning.

Now, a study of three adolescent literacy projects reveals instructional approaches that can help teens develop the reading skills they need for consuming 21st-century texts.