S10 E14: Your comprehension questions answered, with Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, returning guest, Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D., joins Susan Lambert to close out the season by answering thoughtful and thought-provoking comprehension questions submitted by listeners. Nathaniel and Susan answer questions about comprehension strategies, the relationship between comprehension and memorization, and how to shift the mindset amongst your teaching colleagues to help them understand comprehension.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions!
• Bonus: Watch Dr. Hoover's complete responses to a listener guest.
• Learn more about Nathaniel Swain on his website
• Connect with Nathaniel Swain on LinkedIn.
• Access free, high-quality resources—including our recent Essentials episode on Science of Reading: The Podcast—at our companion professional learning page
• Download our free Comprension 101 bundle for comprehension resources, including ebooks, and on-demand professional learning
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast
• Join our community Facebook group
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

"What we're trying to do is create meaningful text experiences. ... The strategies are background, the powerhouse behind the work we're doing, but the star of the show is the language and the text." —Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

"If you ever feel like your comprehension work only allows students to produce or perform something on a particular day in which you've just read that text, then you may be missing the opportunity to weave meaningful text together." —Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

"When we're teaching reading comprehension, really let the text be the center of what we're doing." —Susan Lambert

Timestamps*:
00:00 Introduction: Answering listeners' questions on comprehension
03:00 The difference between oral and written language as it relates to comprehension
06:00 Supporting students who read fluently but struggle with comprehension
16:00 The role of comprehension strategies
21:00 Oral language development and comprehension
28:00 The connection between memory and comprehension
36:00 How to help colleagues adjust their mindset on comprehension
42:00 Overall takeaways from this batch of mailbag questions
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute