How should students be taught to monitor their own comprehension?

• A. Focus solely on decoding.
• B. Use metacognitive strategies like self-questioning, summarizing, predicting, and clarifying misconceptions during reading.
• C. Read silently without any instruction.
• D. Rely entirely on teacher explanations.

Answer: (B)

Monitoring comprehension through conscious, strategic thinking while reading helps students become independent readers. The idea is to teach students to actively check their understanding as they go and to have a toolkit they can use to repair meaning when it’s unclear. Explicit instruction in metacognitive strategies—self-questioning, summarizing, predicting, and clarifying misconceptions—gives students concrete ways to stay engaged with the text and make sense of it.

Think alouds and guided practice show students how to apply these strategies in real time. For example, a student might pause after a paragraph to ask, “What is the main idea here? Did I understand this part, or do I need to reread?” They might summarize the section in their own words, predict what could happen next, or pinpoint what is unclear and decide on a next step, such as rereading a sentence, looking up a word, or asking for help. Over time, these habits become automatic, and students can monitor and adjust their comprehension without waiting for a teacher.

What doesn’t fit is focusing only on decoding, which leaves meaning unaddressed; silent reading without instruction, which misses opportunities to teach how to check understanding; or relying entirely on teacher explanations, which prevents students from practicing self-regulation.