Successful comprehension of a text requires students to be able to easily decode the words on the page. Many would argue that without the ability to read the words on the page, comprehension of a text cannot happen (Scanlon, Anderson, & Sweeney, 2017). It is important when students struggle to find out what the cause of the struggle is. In many cases, a lack of phonics instruction is the reason for struggle. 

To successfully comprehend a text, students must have:

• Word recognition, automaticity, and fluency

• Genre and text structure knowledge

• Background knowledge of topic and discipline

• Strategy knowledge

• Vocabulary knowledge

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In order to access the last four points, students must have a strong understanding of word recognition and fluency. Mastery of this includes:

• Letter identification

• Phonemic awareness

• Letter-sound knowledge

• Alphabetic principle and decoding

• Larger orthographic units for multisyllabic decoding

• Sight word automaticity

• Fluency

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In essence, if students cannot read the words on the page, 

they cannot comprehend the text!