A Lattice Model of the Development of Reading Comprehension

In this article, I present a developmental model of how children learn to comprehend what they read, which builds on current models of reading comprehension and integrates findings from instructional research and evidence-based models of development in early and middle childhood. The lattice model holds that children's developing reading comprehension is a function of the interacting, reciprocal, and bootstrapping effects of developing text-specific, linguistic, and social-cognitive processes, which interact with instruction as child-characteristic-by-instruction (CXI) interaction effects. The processes develop over time and in the context of classroom, home, peer, community, and other influences to affect children's development of proficient reading comprehension. I first describe models of reading comprehension. I then review the basic processes in the model, the role of instruction, and CXI interactions in the context of the lattice model. I then discuss implications for instruction and research.