Types and sequences of self-regulated reading of low-achieving adolescents in relation to reading task achievement Ilona de Milliano Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Amos van Gelderen Kohnstamm Institute, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Peter Sleegers Educational Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands This study examines the relationship between types and sequences of self- regulated reading activities in task-oriented reading with quality of task achieve- ment of 51 low-achieving adolescents (Grade 8). The study used think aloud combined with video observations to analyse the students’ approach of a content-area reading task in the stages of orientation, text reading and answering questions. Results show that in general these low-achieving adolescents are infre- quently monitoring their text comprehension or making connections with prior knowledge. Nevertheless, important differences are found between types and sequences of self-regulated reading activities related to task achievement. The low-achieving adolescents showing a straightforward linear approach to the task (orientation, reading of the whole text and finally answering of questions) yielded more success. In addition, readers demonstrating more activities directed at connec- tions between text contents and prior knowledge during reading showed better task achievement. Implications of these findings for literacy education of this special group of adolescents are discussed. Reading comprehension is an important factor for academic and professional success and a requirement for participation in the information society. Although many adolescents acquire sufficient competence in reading comprehension without much difficulty, various studies have shown that a substantial part of the adolescent student population struggles with reading comprehension and performs below the levels required by the school curric- ulum (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2006; Hofman, Spijkerboer & Timmermans, 2009; Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2008; OECD, 2003). These findings led to calls for a better understanding of the specific challenges of adolescent literacy, especially of low- achieving adolescents. Copyright © 2014 UKLA. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA Journal of Research in Reading, ISSN 0141-0423 DOI:10.1111/1467-9817.12037 Volume 00, Issue 00, 2014, pp 1–24