Comprehension Teaching in Educational Discourse

Abstract

Comprehension teaching in language pedagogy is defended against its portrayal as inimical to fostering independent personal & critical responses among learners & as authoritarian in its approach. These criticisms are shown to ignore more positive attributes of comprehension teaching. In particular, comprehension teaching is especially effective in situations in which characteristic features of discourses that cause students difficulty can be identified. It is indicated in a review of leading journals that little research actually identifies such features in discourse comprehension in academic programs; they prefer instead to stress a psycholinguistic perspective. It is suggested by this finding that the comprehension teaching approach has not been employed effectively. While it is conceded that teachers need to remain vigilant when using this method, comprehension teaching is not only compatible with, but is badly needed to overcome barriers to developing independent & creative language learners.