ABSTRACT
Reading strategies help students accomplish a particular goal or complete a given task based on a text. When students learn to use reading strategies, they gain skills to construct meaning and gain comprehension of all kinds of text. Reading strategies for learning in the college classroom include helping students to establish goals, suggesting to students the strategic behaviors that are part of the reading process, having good reading tools fosters learning in a variety of environments, and that reading strategies can improve learning attitudes in general. The types of reading strategies described in this chapter include prereading, guided reading, contextualizing, outlining, and postreading. Advantages of using reading strategies include spurring and gauging student preparation for learning in class and that these strategies are efficient in that they typically do not require class time to complete. The research demonstrates that guided reading, summarizing and annotating information, question–answer tasks, and that other strategies tied to the learners’ own experiences all improve learning. The chapter also includes specific strategies for using reading strategies in online courses. Finally, the chapter concludes with detailed descriptions of 12 active learning activities to help instructors use reading strategies in class.
