- Under involuntary control
- Activation of related concepts from prior knowledge
- Information processed from beginning of text that has already been read
- Allows the reader to comprehend the sentence they are on


Automatic Processes

- Building coherence
- Can eventually become automatic processes
- Referring back to certain portions of the text
- Searching through what background information he/she already knows to help with understanding a sentence
- Utilizing text signals, such as italics, bolded words, etc.
- Utilizing integrative processing to together the information from multiple paragraphs


Strategic Processes

- If the standards of the readers are depicted in the text, then strategic process don’t need to be utilizing (only automatic processes)
- If the standards of the readers are not depicted in the text, then strategic processes are utilized


Finding a balance between strategic and automatic processes

- Need to form a balance between forming coherence and remembering what was addressed in the text
- Can only focus on certain parts of the text at a time in order to process it using his/her cognitive “toolbox”
- Are partly automatic (already known) and partly strategic (learned)
- Reading comprehension involves processing multiple components
- The process is cyclical as new information is being processed


Michigan State University

The product is also known as the situational model of the text and the process is the steps taken to develop coherence (the product)

Product vs. Process of Reading Comprehension

van den Broek, P., & Espin, C. A. (2012). Connecting cognitive theory and assessment: Measuring individual differences in reading comprehension. School Psychology Review, 41(3), 315-325.

Connecting cognitive theory and assessment: Measuring individual differences in reading comprehension

- Visualizing information in the mind after reading the text
- If the text is properly comprehended, then the visualization would be considered coherent (formation of semantic relations between different textual elements)
- Involves inferring the text to form referential and causal/logical relations
- Making inferences involves use of prior knowledge


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