What keeps readers from monitoring their comprehension?

BIG teaching puzzle from this year, as I worked on implementing Reading Apprenticeship techniques:


What makes it difficult for readers to monitor their own comprehension?



Could it be that readers...?

assume that if they "know" (recognize) the words they have made sense of the text (assuming reading is just decoding, and decoding naturally produces full comprehension)

avoid unpleasant feelings associated with lack of understanding

have low expectations for their own comprehension, based on past difficulties

don't sense that they are missing meaning because they lack background knowledge

limit the reading purpose to answering narrow teacher or text questions

use coping skills from past classrooms to ignore meaning going beyond these narrow questions