To express a text well, to read it with feeling that matches what it means, is one of the best ways to understand it. In order to match the proper expression to each word or phrase, you have to understand both the meaning of the words and the grammar of each sentence.
Expression is such a powerful comprehension strategy because it instantly increases your access to meaning as you read.
If you want to be 100% certain that you're understanding what you read, you may need to slow down, and perhaps re-read a particular passage, in order to get the expression just right.
The following are some effective expressive reading strategies.
Go Slow. To increase expression, most readers have to lower their speed. If you feel like you’re going a bit too slow, you’re probably doing just fine. It feels a bit strange at first, but you’ll get used to it with practice. Repeat Till It’s Complete. If you mess up, don’t go on, go back and repeat the sentence from the very beginning. If you keep messing up, take a moment to practice the word or phrase you’re having trouble with, then try again. Up at the End for a Question Mark. The pitch of your voice should go up at the end of a question. Straight Up for an Exclamation Mark. Shoot your voice straight up in both pitch and volume if you see an exclamation mark. Big Pause at a Full Stop, Small Pause at a Comma. Pay attention to punctuation. Treat colons, semi-colons, and dashes just like commas. Character High, Narrator Low. In passages that contain dialog, raise the pitch of your voice for spoken parts (the dialog), lower the pitch for attributions (the "He saids and She saids) and other text by the narrator. Emphasise the Important Word. Pick one key word in a sentence and call attention to it by raising the volume of your voice, changing tone, or stretching it out to make it last just a bit longer than normal. This strategy should also be used very subtly.