Reading · StudentHub Lesson
Reading Comprehension Strategies
Build strategies like summarizing, context clues, and connections to understand texts deeply.
What you will learn
- Use context clues to determine word meanings
- Summarize a passage in your own words
- Find connections between ideas within a text
- Use text features to locate information
- Ask questions while reading to check understanding
Watch the lesson
Finding connections between ideas within a passage | Reading | Khan Academy · Khan Academy
Watch on YouTubeTopic notes
Main Idea
Strong readers use active strategies—like making connections, summarizing, and using context clues—to understand and remember what they read.
Key Concepts
- Context clues help figure out unfamiliar words
- Summarizing condenses a text's main ideas in your own words
- Making connections links ideas within a text or to background knowledge
- Text features (titles, headings, captions) guide understanding of nonfiction
Definitions
- Context clues: hints in surrounding text that reveal a word's meaning
- Summary: a brief restatement of the main ideas in your own words
- Text features: elements like headings, bold words, and captions that organize information
- Inference: a conclusion drawn from evidence and reasoning, not stated directly
Structures / Templates
- Summarizing template: 'This text is about [topic] and explains [main points].'
- Connection template: 'This reminds me of [idea] because [reason].'
Examples
- Context clue: 'The gloomy, dim room felt somber.' → 'somber' likely means sad/serious
- Text feature: A bolded heading signals a new subtopic
Common Mistakes
- Rereading without actively questioning the text
- Summarizing by copying sentences instead of paraphrasing
- Ignoring text features that clarify structure
- Making connections that aren't relevant to the main idea
Key concepts
Important terms
- Context clues
- Hints in the surrounding text that help reveal a word's meaning.
- Summary
- A brief restatement of a text's main ideas in your own words.
- Inference
- A conclusion drawn from evidence rather than stated directly.
- Text features
- Organizational elements like headings, captions, and bold text.
Quick revision
- Context clues help decode new words
- Summaries restate main ideas briefly
- Look for connections between ideas
- Text features organize nonfiction
- Inference = reading between the lines
- Ask questions while reading
Check your understanding
Question 1 · Multiple choice
What are context clues used for?
Question 2 · Multiple choice
A good summary should:
Question 3 · True or false
An inference is a conclusion stated directly in the text.
Question 4 · Short answer
What organizational elements like headings and captions are called?
Question 5 · Multiple choice
Which strategy involves linking a text to prior knowledge or other texts?
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