Multiple comprehension strategies instruction in the intermediate grades: three remarks about content and pedagogy in the intervention literature

Abstract

This conceptual article provides an overview and critique of the major versions of multiple comprehension strategies instruction (MCSI) that have been studied since 1980. The author argues that MCSI is a multifaceted instructional approach that takes on many different forms in the research literature. Even intervention studies that ostensibly examine the same brand of MCSI can have drastic variability in content and pedagogy. The author claims that independent and self‐regulated reading practices are underemphasized in this literature despite strong conceptual roots in self‐regulation and metacognitive learning theory. Finally, the author concludes that many MCSI studies present a proceduralized view of strategic reading, characterized by repeated use of common strategies taught to students in a prescribed sequence. While previous reviews and critiques of the reading comprehension literature have focused on the effectiveness of MCSI and the way it has been inadequately translated into typical practice, this article comments on the way MCSI is carried out in the intervention literature itself with the goal of understanding the pedagogical features that are prioritized by MCSI researchers. The interpretive remarks in this article provide directions for future work on reading comprehension instruction.