Cognitive

Strategies
and
How to Teach It

Activating prior knowledge

Involves reminding and exploring what the
student already knows about the topic produced,
the vocabulary used and the genre of the text.
Importance
Helps students to connect what they are
reading to real life examples and what they
already know through prior experiences.
Encourages scaffolding in which they can add
to previous knowledge and understanding of
the topic.

Inferring
The ability to read between the lines of the text,
using clues and hints from the written text and
visuals.
Importance
Creates a deeper understanding of the text,
allowing the students to form their own
conclusions.
Allows students to individualise meanings
from the text and create personalised
responses

Visualising
This involves students using their prior
knowledge and imagination of aspects of
the story to create an image of what it
being presented within the text.
Importance
Students are able to form a greater
connection to the text if they can
visualise it, therefore supporting
comprehension and understanding.

Self-monitoring
Knowing and identifying when you dont
understand a word, sentence or paragraph
and using appropriate strategies to address it.
Importance
This is crucial to comprehension because it
requires students to be metacognitive.
Encourages students to take control over
their own reading and identify when things
do not make sense.

Summarising
Reducing the information into a
shorter piece, highlighting the main
ideas and concepts.
Importance
Improves comprehension by finding
and noting the key parts of the text.

Making connections
Forming links between concepts within the
text and between the text and previously
learned concepts. Links can be formed
between the text and the wider community
and the world also.
Importance
Helps to link previous knowledge together
whilst adding to it also.
Allows a student to build a greater
understanding of themselves and the world.

Predicting
Involves making sensible suggestions
and predictions about what will occur
next within the text.
Importance
Helps to set a purpose for the
reading and invites students to be
more engaged, focussed and
motivated in their reading.

Critical thinking
An understanding that what we read and see is
written by a particular group or person who holds
their own viewpoints on a topic. It requires
students to decipher facts from opinions.
Importance
Being a critical reading empowers readers,
helping them to challenge ideas and views that
may contradict their own.
Presents a concept that multiple viewpoints can
be made from a set reading, and further
research may be required.

Questioning
Asking questions and forming ideas
about the story before, during and after
reading the text. Sometimes referred to
as wonderings.
Importance
Closely linked to self-monitoring as it
provides purpose and clarifies meaning
for students.

Synthesising
Similar to making connections, synthesising
helps students to combine their knowledge
with the new ideas and concepts to create new
thoughts, perspectives or opinions.
Importance
Incorporates students previous knowledge
and knew knowledge by combining the
information together.
Also reinforces new thinking strategies and
helps to transfer learning.

Strategies highlighted from

Luke, Dooley, & Woods, (2011)
Mudzielwana, (2013)
Samuels & Farstrup, (2011)