A teacher notices that a student can decode words but struggles with comprehension. What should be the instructional focus?

Focusing on enhancing the student's comprehension strategies is crucial when a student can decode words but has difficulty understanding the content. Comprehension is a multifaceted skill that involves making sense of text, connecting ideas, and drawing inferences. Since the student already possesses the ability to decode, the instructional approach needs to shift toward strategies that will help the student grasp the meaning behind the words.

Effective comprehension strategies may include teaching the student to summarize passages, ask questions about the text, visualize scenarios described in the reading, and make connections to their own experiences. By developing these skills, the teacher can help the student transform their decoding ability into a deeper understanding of the material, leading to improved overall reading proficiency.

In contrast, options that focus on fluency, phonics, or vocabulary may not directly address the student's comprehension difficulty. While these areas are important in the broader context of reading development, they are not the immediate focus for a student who can decode but struggles with understanding what they read.