Beyond Word Recognition: Supporting Language Comprehension for Older Struggling Readers

Recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data highlights a persistent and troubling reality: a significant percentage of secondary students are unable to read, comprehend, or analyze grade-level texts independently.

To understand why so many older students struggle to read grade-level text, it’s helpful to look at the specific challenges they face — a subject we explored in our blog, “Why Older Students Struggle With Reading.”

These challenges tend to closely align with the components of skilled reading outlined in Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001), which organizes reading development into two broad categories: word recognition and language comprehension. Each category includes essential strands that, when weak or underdeveloped, can significantly hinder a student’s ability to make meaning from text.

As part of the word recognition strands, older struggling readers often show weaknesses in areas like phonics, decoding multisyllabic words, and fluency, which directly impact their ability to read words accurately and automatically. (For more on addressing foundational skills in the older grades, see our previous blogs: “Four Steps to Effective Word Reading” and “Reading Fluency for Older Students.”)

However, many older students, especially those who can read words aloud, still fail to grasp meaning and struggle just as much, if not more, with the language comprehension strand. These skills include background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge. When these pieces are underdeveloped, students may appear fluent on the surface, but comprehension breaks down.

In this blog, we will focus on how to strengthen language comprehension for adolescent readers by building background knowledge, vocabulary, and reading comprehension strategies. By understanding and supporting these interconnected skills, educators can help older struggling readers move beyond word recognition to become true, skilled readers.

Background Knowledge and Vocabulary: What the Research Says

One of the most common reasons older students struggle to comprehend grade-level texts is that they lack the background knowledge and vocabulary needed to make meaning from them. Without sufficient context or understanding of academic terms, students may read fluently on the surface while missing the central ideas of a text entirely.

A lack of knowledge is especially problematic in secondary content areas, where texts assume a level of prior knowledge and content-specific vocabulary that struggling readers may not possess.

Recent research by Smith, Snow, Serry, and Hammond (2021) reinforces that background knowledge is not just helpful, it is essential. Their review found consistent evidence that activating and expanding background knowledge improves comprehension, particularly for students reading complex informational texts.

They emphasize that background knowledge allows readers to construct mental models of what they’re reading and fill in gaps left by implicit language or assumed context. In essence, background knowledge provides the framework for deeper understanding and inference-making.

In another study, Cervetti, Wright, and Hwang (2016) found that systematic, content-rich instruction helps close this gap by building both vocabulary and domain knowledge in tandem. Slavin et al. (2011) further noted that effective reading interventions at the secondary level consistently integrate knowledge-building and vocabulary instruction into meaningful learning experiences.

Morphological instruction provides another powerful tool for vocabulary growth. As students encounter more multisyllabic academic terms, understanding word parts like prefixes, roots, and suffixes can help them derive meaning and improve spelling. Bowers (2020) found that morphology instruction supports both vocabulary acquisition and word recognition, giving older readers strategies for tackling unfamiliar words in complex texts.

Lack of background knowledge can also affect student motivation. When students don’t feel prepared to engage in a discussion or analyze a text, they often disengage. Al-Adeimi and Lee (2025) showed that activating students’ prior knowledge increased their confidence and willingness to participate in classroom dialogue making it a key lever for increasing both reading comprehension and engagement.

To help struggling readers overcome these barriers, teachers can take small, intentional steps to scaffold both background knowledge and vocabulary in content instruction. This does not require abandoning grade-level texts but instead supporting access to them.

Scaffolding Background Knowledge

Before reading, teachers can assess or activate students' prior knowledge to determine if they have gaps on the topic addressed in the upcoming text. It’s important to remember that background knowledge is unique to each student, shaped by their personal experiences, cultural context, and previous exposure to the content.

By using tools like quick-write prompts, think-pair-share discussions, or visual brainstorming activities, teachers can uncover what students already know and build a bridge between that knowledge and the new content.

For multilingual learners, that bridge may also include specific language supports, such as previewing key vocabulary, using cognates when applicable, incorporating visual aids, real-world examples, and providing connections to their home culture when possible. These scaffolds help ensure all students access and connect with the text, even if the language or content is unfamiliar.

Scaffolded text sets offer another powerful, research-based way to build knowledge over time and support students in accessing complex texts. Rather than simplifying grade-level texts, scaffolded text sets begin with more accessible materials and gradually introduce more complex texts around a common theme or topic.

This approach allows students to deepen their understanding, vocabulary, and content knowledge in manageable steps. As they progress through the set, students encounter increasingly complex syntax, structure, and ideas, all within a familiar conceptual frame.

The gradual increase of complexity not only boosts comprehension, but also builds stamina and confidence. With the right scaffolding in place, even struggling adolescent readers can engage with rigorous academic content and participate in meaningful discussions. These layered supports make grade-level texts more accessible without reducing expectations.

Scaffolding Vocabulary

Vocabulary should be taught explicitly and reinforced consistently across reading, writing, and speaking tasks. For older students, especially those encountering difficult academic language, it's essential that instruction goes beyond just looking up words in a dictionary. Teachers can model how to determine a word’s meaning from context clues, analyze surrounding sentences, and cross-check using background knowledge.

But context alone isn’t always enough, especially when students lack sufficient prior knowledge, so it's equally important to teach strategies that empower them to independently unlock word meaning.

One such approach is morphology-based instruction. Teachers can routinely model how to identify prefixes, roots, and suffixes, then guide students in applying this knowledge to decode and infer the meanings of unfamiliar multisyllabic words. This routine not only builds vocabulary but also strengthens spelling and word recognition.

To truly internalize new vocabulary, students will need repeated exposure to words across varied contexts, along with meaningful opportunities to use those words in both speaking and writing.

These scaffolds not only make complex texts more accessible but also strengthen the underlying language comprehension strands that so many older struggling readers are missing.

Reading Comprehension Strategies: What the Research Says

When discussing reading comprehension, it is important to stop and clarify a common misconception: comprehension skills and comprehension strategies are not the same.

Skills such as identifying the main idea or determining cause and effect are often treated as isolated tasks assessed after reading. However, these skills are outcomes, not processes, and teaching them in isolation does not help students transfer understanding across different texts.

In contrast, comprehension strategies are the cognitive and metacognitive tools students use during reading to make sense of a text. Some comprehension strategies include asking questions, summarizing key ideas, and using text structure to anticipate meaning. Strategies can be explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced, enabling students to become active, flexible readers who know how to construct meaning while reading, not just identify it afterward.

For students who can decode but still struggle to understand complex texts, reading comprehension strategies can be impactful. However, research shows these strategies are most effective when taught using authentic, content-rich texts and combined with vocabulary instruction and background knowledge.

Boardman et al. (2008) highlight that explicitly teaching comprehension strategies, such as summarizing, asking questions, and using graphic organizers, can significantly improve reading outcomes for older struggling readers when these strategies are embedded in content-rich instruction and practiced over time.

Peng et al. (2023) found that strategy instruction significantly improved reading outcomes for struggling readers, especially when focused on a small, clearly defined set of strategies, such as identifying the main idea, summarizing, and analyzing text structure. These interventions were most effective when taught explicitly, sustained over time, and integrated into authentic, content-rich texts.

Scaffolding Reading Comprehension Strategies

To implement this research effectively, teachers should focus on helping students internalize reading strategies they can flexibly apply across a wide range of texts.

Summarizing

Summarization is an effective comprehension strategy for supporting older struggling readers. Instruction should begin with a clear explanation of its purpose: summarizing involves identifying and expressing the main subject and the most important ideas, rather than retelling every detail from a text.

To scaffold this strategy, teachers can model how to break longer texts into smaller, manageable sections. For some students, a manageable chunk might be an entire paragraph, whereas other students might need to focus on a single sentence.

When a section of text is syntactically complex and contains multiple pronouns, it can be challenging for students to track who or what the passage is mostly about.

Teachers can model how to pause and ask, Who or what is this section mostly about? and then demonstrate how to go back in the text to identify the subject and clarify any confusion. Thinking aloud during this process helps students attend to sentence structure and stay anchored in the meaning of the text.

From there, teachers can guide students to restate the central idea in their own words, reinforcing that summarizing is a tool for understanding while reading.

As students begin practicing summarizing, graphic organizers, and sentence stems, such as The subject of this section is ____, This section is mostly about ____, or The author explains that ____ can serve as scaffolds, supporting oral and written responses while reinforcing academic language.

It is also important to highlight how summarization varies by genre. In informational texts, a summary may emphasize a central argument and supporting evidence, while in narratives, it may focus on how a plot unfolds and characters develop.

Questioning

Another impactful comprehension strategy for older struggling readers is learning to generate and answer questions during reading. This approach encourages active reading and helps students begin to monitor their own understanding.

Effective instruction in this strategy begins by modeling the kinds of questions strong readers ask and when to ask them. These can include literal questions, like What is the author saying? as well as inferential questions, like Why did this happen? or What does the author want me to understand? Teachers can show how questioning helps uncover meaning, identify confusion, and deepen engagement with the text.

Scaffolding this strategy often involves reading a short section of text aloud, pausing to model how and when to ask questions.

For example, while reading an informational text, the teacher might pause after a paragraph and say, This section introduces a new term, so I’m asking myself: What does that word mean in this context? How can I figure this word out using a word parts strategy? In a narrative text, the teacher might ask, Why is the character acting this way? or How does this event affect what might happen next?

Sentence stems, such as I wonder why ____?, What does the author mean by ____?, or How does this connect to ___? provide students with language scaffolds for questioning.

Providing opportunities to discuss these questions with peers, then follow up with brief written reflections, reinforces understanding and gives students the chance to express their thinking both orally and in writing.

Summarizing and questioning are just two high-leverage reading comprehension strategies that can support struggling readers. Other impactful strategies include recognizing text structure, making inferences, and monitoring comprehension.

Comprehension Leads to Confidence

Helping older struggling readers means going beyond word reading to intentionally support language comprehension. That means building background knowledge, teaching vocabulary in context, modeling high-leverage strategies like summarizing and questioning, and creating space for students to talk and write about what they read.

When students are taught how to make meaning they grow into readers who can access complex texts, participate in rich academic dialogue, and express their thinking with confidence.

References

• Al-Adeimi, S., & Lee, C. D. (2025). Reading for agency: Culturally responsive approaches to building comprehension and engagement. [Forthcoming publication].
• Boardman, A. G., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J., Murray, C. S., & Kosanovich, M. (2008). Effective instruction for adolescent struggling readers: A practice brief (ERIC ED521836). Center on Instruction, RMC Research Corporation.
• Bowers, J. S. (2020). Reconsidering the evidence that systematic phonics is more effective than alternative methods of reading instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 32(3), 681–705.
• Cervetti, G. N., Wright, T. S., & Hwang, H. (2016). Conceptual coherence, comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition: A knowledge effect? Reading and Writing, 29(4), 761–779.
• Peng, P., Han, R., Clements, D. H., Clarke, B., Schatschneider, C., & Swanson, H. L. (2023). The active ingredient in reading comprehension strategy intervention for struggling readers: A Bayesian meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 149(2–3), 87–110.
• Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of Early Literacy Research (Vol. 1, pp. 97–110). Guilford Press.
• Slavin, R. E., Cheung, A., Groff, C., & Lake, C. (2011). Effective reading programs for middle and high schools: A best-evidence synthesis. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(3), 290–322.
• Smith, K. A., Snow, P. C., Serry, T., & Hammond, L. (2021). The role of background knowledge in reading comprehension: A critical review. Reading Psychology, 42(3), 214–240.