The key components of reading.

Reading is made up of two components, word reading and comprehension.

Word reading refers to the mechanics of reading words, knowing GPC correspondences and using these to decode words, and developing segmenting and blending techniques to decode longer and more unfamiliar words. Word reading also consists of how these words are read which interacts with how a child understands a text (comprehension). Comprehension does not refer to reading itself but, rather, to the way in which we make sense of words, sentences and the wider language we hear or read. Children need both good language comprehension and good word reading to become good readers.

Below is a graphical representation of the composite areas of knowledge that make up these two components.