Despite a wealth of international research indicating the importance but also the

dearth of explicit reading comprehension instruction in classrooms, current classroom

reading pedagogy does not appear to have acknowledged and addressed this

shortcoming to any significant degree. This is cause for some considerable concern,

as today’s students require effective, metacognitive reading comprehension strategies

in order to succeed in a vastly expanding multi-literate textual environment. This

paper will discuss a recent study, involving a survey (n=278) and interviews

(n=12), which examined current beliefs and understandings regarding reading, as

well as reading pedagogy and practice among teachers at primary level in Ireland.

The findings revealed that current reading pedagogy, as indicated by the surveyed

teachers, relies heavily on decoding instruction and an affective approach to reading

while explicit comprehension instruction practice remains secondary and more the

exception rather than the rule. The paper will attempt to examine possible reasons as

to why current reading pedagogy remains ‘un-balanced’ in this manner while also

exploring possible avenues for improvement.