Despite significant funding and efforts to help American children regain lost ground after the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam results show that students continue to struggle with reading. The test, known as “the nation’s report card,” was conducted in 2024 in every state for students in grades four and eight in reading and math, highlighting the widening gap between high-achieving and low-performing students.
This is where evidence-based, high-impact reading programs can bridge the gap. Explicit instruction in each area of reading instruction is key for reading success, according to what’s commonly referred to as the Science of Reading, an extensive collection of research on how children learn to read. While there is much emphasis on phonics instruction, language comprehension instruction is often overlooked, even though the result of these two combined skill sets, reading comprehension, is the desired outcome of reading instruction in the first place.
We must not assume that students come to school or to tutoring with the language skills they need to be strong readers, such as a robust vocabulary. Children vary widely in their understanding of vocabulary, syntax, and text structure, which impacts their ability to comprehend a text. For students learning English as a second or additional language, the skills they’ve developed in their first language must be re-established in English due to differences in vocabulary, semantics, and grammar. This process is essential for developing their English reading comprehension.
Per Scarborough's Reading Rope, Hoot Reading divides language comprehension into five instructional focus categories. Whenever Hoot teachers select a book from our library of 1,200+ complex, multigenre texts, they choose an instructional focus to help their students learn more about language and texts.
These focuses include:
Teachers working with reading intervention programs support children who have spent years struggling with reading. It can be tempting to build up a student’s confidence by having them read texts written for lower grades, especially if they are still struggling to decode words. However, utilizing rich, complex texts is essential to developing sophisticated knowledge of vocabulary words and sentence structures, which leads to reading comprehension.
Hoot Reading’s language comprehension approach includes reading grade-level texts for all students, even those still working on word reading. This happens in every lesson. Our qualified reading tutors read texts aloud to students still learning to decode, allowing them to focus on comprehension. Tutors facilitate intentional conversations directed by the targeted instructional focus, modeling the skill and practicing with the student. This is especially helpful for students learning English as a second or additional language, familiarizing them with academic norms and providing opportunities to listen and interact in English in a structured manner.
Intentional and structured Language Comprehension instruction is essential for a successful reading intervention program. Learn more about Hoot Reading’s comprehensive, structured literacy tutoring and how we’re helping children become confident, independent readers.