What is one strategy for enhancing students’ reading comprehension?

Having a series of focus questions is an effective strategy for enhancing students' reading comprehension because it directs their attention to specific elements of the text. By using targeted questions, teachers can guide students to consider important themes, characters, and main ideas, which helps them process and understand the material more deeply. These questions can also facilitate critical thinking, prompting students to make connections and draw inferences that are essential for comprehension.

In contrast, providing lengthy texts may overwhelm some students and detract from their understanding if they cannot manage the volume of information. Encouraging silent reading, while beneficial in developing fluency, does not inherently focus students’ minds on comprehension strategies. Assigning group discussions can enhance understanding and provide different perspectives; however, without focused questions, discussions might drift and not effectively target specific comprehension areas that need to be addressed.