At later stages, reading activities should demand that pupils show an overall grasp of a text, an understanding of specific details and how they contribute to the whole, make inferences, supply appropriate supporting evidence, and identify intended audience, purpose and features of style. In longer reading activities, for example novels, teaching the strategies which will help them to make sense of aspects such as plot, characters and themes is essential. In all of these activities, pupils will be helped by developing knowledge about language.

In teaching reading through all stages, in ways appropriate to pupils' ages and attainment, the teacher can focus on texts:

before reading,

by priming pupils for the task, for example by alerting them to unfamiliar content or ideas;

by directing them into the task;

during and after reading,

by providing questions which ask for literal, inferential and evaluative responses;

by asking them to demonstrate understanding by doing or speaking;

by asking readers to use the text as a model for their own writing.

The accompanying grid, which maps out content and teaching and learning approaches, has the following strands: reading for information; reading for enjoyment; reading to reflect on the writer's ideas and craft; awareness of genre; and knowledge about language. Detailed accounts of each of these strands, developed as attainment targets, can be found in Section 2.