English // English Thinking
Reading for Meaning
Understand that reading is about making meaning, not just saying words correctly — a text that can be decoded but not understood has not been read
Quick check
If the learner reads something aloud correctly but then can't tell you what it was about, do they recognise that reading means understanding — not just saying the words?
Ask this to see whether the topic is secure.
Topic // Mastery
What mastery looks like
- Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer)
- reading comprehension research on comprehension-decoding separation
Topic // Map
Where this fits
- RequiredMust come first
- HelpfulHelps, but not essential
Before this
1 topic- Feeling of not understandingHelpful
Learning to Learn // Learning to Learn // Ages 6 to 7
Understanding that reading means making meaning is the English-domain grounding of the universal habit of noticing when you don't understand
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Reading for Meaning
Ages 5 to 6 // Thinking skill
Leads to
2 topics- Monitoring ComprehensionRequired
English Thinking // Ages 6 to 8
Noticing the gap between decoding and understanding requires first having the foundational idea that reading means making meaning
Reading Comprehension // Ages 5 to 7
Linking reading to personal experience depends on approaching reading as a meaning-making activity
English // English Thinking
More in English Thinking
- Inference vs Explicit MeaningAges 7 to 9Thinking skillDistinguish between what a text explicitly says and what you have inferred, assumed, or read in — knowing which is which is fundamental to honest comprehension
- Author's word choicesAges 7 to 9Thinking skillRecognise how an author's deliberate choices — of words, structure, tone, and perspective — create particular effects on you as a reader
- Reviewing Own WritingAges 8 to 10Thinking skillEvaluate whether your own writing achieves the effect you intended on a reader — go beyond checking for correctness to asking whether it actually works
- Knowing What You Don't KnowAges 8 to 10Thinking skillMonitor your own vocabulary gaps — notice words you half-know, distinguish confident from uncertain knowledge, and develop strategies to resolve the uncertainty
- Reflecting on Your Language UseAges 10 to 11Thinking skillReflect on yourself as a language user — how your reading, writing, and speaking shift across audiences, purposes, and contexts, and where you want to develop…