Certify Teacher Practice Test 2025 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

Setting a purpose for reading is a highly effective instructional strategy that significantly enhances both reading comprehension and fluency. When students understand the specific goals of their reading, they engage more deeply with the text. This approach encourages them to focus on key ideas and details, which improves their ability to summarize, make inferences, and draw conclusions—essential components of reading comprehension.

Furthermore, by establishing a purpose, students are motivated to monitor their understanding as they read. This active engagement helps them practice fluent reading, as they work to process the text in a meaningful way, rather than just decoding words. The heightened attention and intentionality fostered by setting a purpose aligns well with strategies that cultivate both fluency and comprehension simultaneously.

In contrast, independent reading time, while beneficial for fluency practice, may not always ensure students are focusing on comprehension unless a clear purpose is established beforehand. Assigning book reports primarily assesses comprehension after reading, rather than enhancing the real-time interaction with the text. Conducting timed reading passages can improve fluency but may not provide the depth of understanding that accompanies purposeful reading, thus not fully addressing comprehension needs.