Reading Comprehension Research: Implications for Practice and Policy

Narrative review

School-age readers (synthesis across ages); US.

Narrative/theoretical review (simple-view and DIME models). Component predictors are largely correlational/SEM, so causal weight is limited.

Consensus map of what covaries with comprehension: once decoding is adequate, language comprehension - vocabulary, inference, background knowledge - dominates. Establishes instructional TARGETS, not causal levers; predictor rankings are correlational and presumptively confounded.

High for its predictor claims: vocabulary/knowledge/inference-comprehension associations are cross-sectionally confounded by g and passive rGE.

Predictor hierarchy is a stable correlational finding; causal translation remains weak. Framing source, not causal evidence.