ABSTRACT
Reading comprehension is a complex accomplishment that requires readers to coordinate multiple features of text-seamlessly and fl uidly-for optimal performance. As early as 1917, Thorndike characterized reading comprehension as “an elaborate procedure…involving many elements” (p. 323). Forty years later Gray and Reese (1957) wrote that “comprehension, if its multiple and complex role is thoughtfully considered, is little short of a miracle.” Comprehension certainly seems miraculous, especially when one considers the myriad features that must be processed for skilled reading (e.g., phonological, orthographic, morphological, syntactic, semantic, metacognitive, and strategic) as well as the relative infl exibility of beginning and struggling readers, who often focus on graphophonological features of print to the exclusion of meaning (Bialystok & Niccols, 1989; Clay, 2001; Dewitz & Dewitz, 2003; Gaskins & Gaskins, 1997; Oakhill, 1993; Oakhill & Yuill, 1996; Pressley, 2006; Schwartz & Stanovich, 1981).
