Comprehension monitoring means recognising that understanding has broken down, locating the exact difficulty and selecting a useful response. In dense subject reading, the problem may be a technical term, a complex sentence, a missing connection or assumed background knowledge.

Teach a concise repair routine. Do not turn every passage into continuous teacher questioning.

Locate the source of difficulty

Ask the pupil to identify the point where meaning was lost:

• Which term is unclear?

• Which sentence does not fit with the previous one?

• Is the writer assuming knowledge the pupil does not have?

• Has a pronoun or reference become ambiguous?

• Is the sentence structure hiding the main point?

This is more useful than telling the pupil to reread the entire page.

Use a targeted repair routine

1. Stop at the unclear point.

2. Name the problem.

3. Choose one response.

4. Reread and check the meaning.

Possible responses include:

• check the subject definition of a term;

• reread the current and previous sentence;

• identify the sentence’s main clause;

• use a diagram, table or nearby example;

• connect the point with prior learning;

• ask for clarification when the information is missing.

The pupil should not apply every strategy to every problem.

Work through a subject example

Consider a geography paragraph:

High levels of precipitation increase surface run-off when the soil is saturated, particularly where vegetation has been removed.

A pupil may know precipitation but not see the connection between saturated soil and run-off. Ask where the explanation becomes unclear. Return to the clause about saturated soil, use a simple diagram if needed and reread the whole sentence to reconstruct the causal chain.

In history, the problem may instead be a pronoun referring to a previously named group. In science, it may be a technical term. The repair must match the barrier.

Prompt precisely

Use prompts such as:

• “Which part is unclear?”

• “Is it the term, the sentence or the connection?”

• “What could help with that?”

• “Reread just those two sentences.”

Avoid repeatedly asking, “Do you understand?” Pupils may say yes without knowing how to assess their understanding.

Know when to step in

If the pupil chooses a sensible strategy but the text still depends on missing knowledge, provide the explanation. Monitoring should not consume the lesson or prevent access to the curriculum.

Likewise, if the passage is consistently inaccessible, change the level of support. A repair routine is designed for occasional breakdowns, not for struggling through every sentence.

Reduce prompts

Progress from modelling how to find and fix the problem to:

• asking the pupil to locate the difficulty;

• asking them to choose a strategy;

• pointing to a short reminder;

• pausing when they notice a problem;

• independent monitoring.

Do not interrupt when the pupil is already reading with understanding.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Telling pupils simply to reread.

• Asking broad questions about understanding.

• Applying the same repair to every problem.

• Interrupting fluent, meaningful reading.

• Withholding essential knowledge to force strategy use.

• Continuing with a text that is consistently inaccessible.

• Treating monitoring as a substitute for vocabulary or decoding support.

Evidence and further reading

The Education Endowment Foundation’s Reading Comprehension Strategies summary includes metacognitive approaches to understanding text. Its Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools report places reading support within subject-specific disciplinary literacy.