Comprehension is the ability to read actively and purposefully in order to gain meaning from the text. Comprehension involves the use of vocabulary, decoding, activating background knowledge, and so on. Comprehension, recieving the message of the text being read, is the entire purpose of reading.
Reading comprehension has been defined as a process of constantly pulling information and constructing meaning while actively reading a text. Research shows that teaching comprehension strategies explicitly can help students better understand and absorb what they read. Skills for decoding, vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, and motivation need to be taught in the classroom to aid in comprehension.
Some strategies for comprehension include teaching context clues, morphology, vocabulary, infering, and so on. Background knowledge is also important to comprehension, which can be widened by being exposed to a variety of literature.
Watch the video to learn more about reading comprehension.