Tutoring and Teaching Methods to Improve Reading Comprehension in Classic Literature

Many high school students have a difficult experience with their first classic literature assignment. The archaic prose of works by Dickens, Melville and Shakespeare can prove difficult to understand and seem like a whole other language. So how do we break the barriers between literature and learning?

There are a variety of ways that we can increase comprehension when reading literature. Using these techniques increase the comprehension of a classic novel in a variety of students and can result in successful comprehension of the piece of literature.

One of the top ways to increase comprehension of literature in the classroom, and with tutoring tactics, is to compare the text with a modern day interpretation of the literature. Learning by comparison can be helpful. Comparing the literature to modern situations assist the theme or the classic. Often younger generations will be more adept to learn the themes of classics they are able to identify with. If the tutor is able to provide some mirroring within the classic to modern day situations, the student is more likely to learn the information.

Providing a translation for texts written in poetry can also prove helpful. Since poetry is a language all it's own, especially with Victorian authors such as Byron, Keats and Shelley, providing a text with a contemporary translation under or opposite of each line in the poem increases comprehension for the student.