Close reading (sometimes called repeated reading) is a proven approach for teaching reading comprehension, yet it is not as widely used in UK schools as other approaches to reading tuition. So what is it? Most simply, close reading is an approach that teaches children to read and re-read text to achieve deeper understanding.

In a sense, close reading teaches children to read for meaning the way that you and I do as adults. It gives them a reading method that they internalise and then eventually use to interpret the texts they read independently.

Close reading, then, is an approach that builds independence. But it’s not about children reading on their own. Instead close reading is grounded in quality teacher-led learning to ensure that children are clear about the purpose of what they are reading, that they know how to go about that reading and that they know what to do with the knowledge gained from their reading.

There are four stages to close reading.

Preparing: a first read where children skim read to get the gist of the text.

Reading closely: a second reading where the children begin to explore vocabulary, sentence features and text structure.

Discussion: A third read where children discuss the text in pairs or small groups and where they begin to explore questions about the text.

Writing: a fourth read where children take deeper analysis and write responses to the text.

Because close reading involves reading a text several times, it is best to choose short texts or extracts. Some teachers worry about doing this but so long as children experience full texts at other times (such as through your read aloud curriculum or the texts you use to stimulate writing) there really isn’t a problem.

There are two main ways that teachers use close reading. The first is with small groups of children at similar levels of reading ability. This means a text can be chosen to meet the specific needs of the children. These close reading sessions often look similar to small group guided reading with the children exploring the text with the teacher, and then without them on subsequent days as they work their way through the four-stage close reading sequence. If you’d like to read more about this approach, I recommend you read The Daily Reading lesson, a paper I wrote for Scholastic UK about robust and systematic approaches to teaching reading.

The second way that many teachers use close reading is in their teacher-led whole class guided reading lessons. These teachers select a text and then study it using the four-stage close reading sequence over a series of lessons (usually four – five) so that their children achieve deep understanding of the text. Frequently, the final day of this approaches sees the children complete SAT style questions based on the close reading text.

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that close reading is a proven approach to teaching reading comprehension. In Visible Learning for Teachers, John Hattie calculates the impact of actions taken by teachers on children’s learning. He calculates that close reading has an effect size of 0.75. Bearing in mind that 0.4 is the point at which an intervention has greater effect than average effect, the 0.75 scored by close reading shows that it is clearly an effective approach to use to teach reading comprehension.

So, what now? First off, I’ll recommend again that you take a look at the Daily Reading Lesson published on the Scholastic UK website. I also recommend that you take a look at their Short Reads, the only published programme specifically designed for close reading currently available in the UK. Secondly, I invite you to enjoy me for a 1-hour webinar introducing you to close reading. This is next scheduled for 9th June and is available to book via our Eventbrite page. I think you’ll find it a compelling approach to use in your school whether it be as a small group or whole class approach.