Name: REINALYNE F. IGNACIO & ANGELYN ALACBAY
Subject: DEVELOPMENTAL READING
Topic: COMPREHENSION AND LEVELS OF COMPREHENSION
What is Comprehension?
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Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary offers this definition of comprehension: “capacity of the mind to
perceive and understand.” Reading comprehension, then, would be the competence to perceive
and understand the meanings communicated by texts.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, comprehension is “the capacity for understanding fully; the
act or action of grasping with the intellect.” Webster also tells us that reading is “to receive or
take in sense of (as letter or symbols) by scanning; to understand the meaning of written or
printed matter; to learn from what one has seen or found in writing or in print.”
The ability to understand or get meaning from text (any type of written material). It is the
reason for reading and a critical component of all content learning.
It is the think done before, during, and after reading.
Comprehension is not something that happens after reading (Fountas, 2000).
It is the interaction between the text being read and the reader’s existing prior knowledge and
expectations will generate meaning and comprehension (Leu and kinzer, 1995).
If readers can read the words but do not understand what they are reading, they are not really
reading.
Construction of
meaning from text
Ability to use
appropriate strategies
to synthesize what they
read
Retelling text orally
and/or in written form
Responding to text in
oral discussion and
written form
Indicators of Learners’ Reading Comprehension
Activation of
Monitoring of learners
background knowledge own understanding of
before, during and after text
reading text
Creation of visual and
Identification and
other sensory imagery
interpretation of
from text during and
vocabulary critical to
after reading
the meaning of the text
Summarizing text orally Using graphic aids and
and/written form
illustrations
Making inferences from
text
Ability to compare
complex concepts of
text
Identification of what
they do not understand
Generating questions to
generate information
from text
Examining and
extending the meaning
of the text
Analysis of the text
structure and story
elements
Comprehension Levels
The levels of comprehension, or complexity of thinking, are presented in the following hierarchy
from the least to the most sophisticated level of reading.
LEVEL
Description
Question Asked
Common questions used to illicit this
 This level is knowing what is
type of thinking are who, what, when,
actually stated which includes
and where questions. These are the
facts and details, rote learning
easiest to answer because the answer is
and memorization.
expressed directly.
 This level involves surface
understanding only.
 At the literal level of
Level One
comprehension, readers are at
LITERAL
the most basic of levels. Readers
are building their knowledge but
they do not necessarily have
command of it.
 When they first approach brand
new information, readers are at
the literal level of
comprehension.
The types of questions asked are open The reader gleans what is
ended, thought-provoking questions like
implied or meant, rather than
why, what if, and how. The answers to
what is actually stated.
these questions are not directly stated.
 This level involves drawing
One is asked to analyze and think about
inferences or reading between
what he has read and to use his
the lines.
background knowledge about the
 Readers tap into prior
subject to answer the question.
knowledge/experience and
attach new learning to old
information.
 Readers make logical leaps and
Level Two
educated guesses.
INTERPRETATIVE
 Readers read between the lines
to determine what is meant by
what is stated.
 At this level, readers are
attempting to understand what
the author meant by what
he/she said in the story,
paragraph or textbook. It is
presumed that they have already
memorized certain facts at the
literal level and now they are
attempting to see the
implications of the author’s
words.
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Level Three
APPLIED
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At this level, readers are
attempting to understand that
which they memorized at the
literal level of comprehension.
This involves taking what was
said(literal) and then what was
meant by what was said
(interpretive) and then extend
(apply) the concepts or ideas
beyond the situation.
Readers analyze or synthesize
information and apply it to other
information.
At this level the reader or
student
Can attempt to answer this
question: How would the
author’s message apply to other
situations given what you
memorized and understood at
the other two levels?
Readers are attempting to
elevate or raise their thinking
one more “notch” or level to a
more critical, analyzing level.
This presumes that they have
already reached the previous
two levels. They are “reading
between the lines” and then
examining the message from the
author and attempting to apply
that message to other situations.
Common questions may include In what
ways…If these are…If you were…
These questions ask one to go beyond
literal and interpretive reading by
applying the information one has just
read to another similar or familiar
situation.
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Skills that are Important for Comprehension
Understand the words
Comprehend what the words
Find facts and details
Seek one or more pieces of information in the text
Find main ideas
From the whole content, prioritize the overriding (primary)
theme or idea
Figure out the sequence
Tell the order or events
Find cause-effect
See how one person, action, or event triggers another; also,
identify the “who” or “what” that occurs
Make inferences
Develop ideas or images based on what is read in the text but
do not stated
Generalize
Discern the relationship between single events and the larger
situation or other events
Identify tone/mood
Sense how the author was feeling and how he wanted the
reader to feel while reading
Identify “theme”
See the “big picture” moral or abstract idea
Identify characterization
Comprehend what makes characters act as they do
Distinguish fact from fiction
Sort out what is real and what is part of the imaginary world
created by the author
Find bias or propaganda
Notice obvious or hidden bias
Cognitive Factors that Affect Reading Comprehension
Reader
interest/Motivation
for Reading
Schema
Waxier (2004) claims that “we cannot downplay the role that student interest
and motivation play in constructing meaning.” Readers read for several reasons,
e.g. for pleasure, knowledge generation and many other reasons. However, we
must consider the materials that are appealing and interesting to them.
In reading, there are two general motivation orientations. These are:
Intrinsic – engagement in a reading activity by choice and for its own sake;
deep involvement that fulfills a desire to learn or know.
Extrinsic – engagement in a reading activity for the purpose of receiving some
external, usually surface level reward or recognition, such as praise or positive
evaluation, or avoidance of punishment; desire to complete the reading task
rather than understand it
This is distinctly personal store of knowledge gained through a lifetime of
experiences. This stored knowledge along with its storage structure is called
schemata. This term is often used in its singular form - schema – that refers to an
organized lump of knowledge or experience, often coupled with feelings or
emotions associated with experience at the time the information was stored.
When readers have little or no schema for a subject, comprehension is greatly
impeded. Schema is often compared to the filing system our brain uses catalog
information the files on a computer and the storage system by which those files
are organized in the computer’s memory. This theoretical construct of cognitive
structure again argues for reading as a meaning making activity that is unique to
the individual. Comprehension does not proceed independently of a reader’s
fund of related experiences and background knowledge or schemata.
Schema theory was developed by R. C. Anderson, a respected educational
psychologist. This learning theory views organized knowledge as an elaborate
network of abstract mental structures which represent one’s understanding of
the world. SIL international (1999) maintains that analyzing the Schema Theory
leads us to realize that:
 It is important to teach general knowledge and generic concepts. A large
proportion of learner difficulties can be traced to insufficient general
knowledge, especially in cross-cultural situations.
 Teachers must help learners build schemata and make connections
between ideas. Discussion, songs, role play, illustrations, visual aids, and
explanations of how a piece of knowledge applies are some of the
techniques used to strengthen connections.
 Since prior knowledge is essential for the comprehension of new
information, teachers either need to:
- Help students build the prerequisite knowledge; or
- Remind them of what they already know before introducing new
material.
 Schemata grow and change as new information is acquired.
 Learners feel internal conflict if they are trying to assimilate schemata
which contradict their previous suppositions. Teachers need to
understand and be sympathetic to this tension.
 Deep-seated schemata are hard to change. An individual will often prefer
to live with inconsistencies rather that to change a deeply-held value or
belief.
Another important concept related to the development of fluent reading is
that of metacognition or metacognitive awareness. Simply stated metacognition
is knowing about knowing, thinking about thinking.
Metacognition is knowing “what we know” and “what we don’t know.”
The basic metacognitive strategies are:
 Connecting new information to former knowledge.
 Selecting thinking strategies deliberately.
 Planning, monitoring, and evaluating thinking processes.
Metacognition
A thinking person is in charge of his behavior. When he employs
metacognition, he does the following:
 Determines when it is necessary to use metacognitive strategies;
 Selects strategies to define a problem situation and researches
alternative solutions;
 Tailors this search for information to constraints of time and energy;
monitors, controls and judges her thinking;
 Evaluates and decides when a problem is solved to a satisfactory degree
or when the demands of daily living take a temporary or permanent
higher priority;
Metacognitive reflection questions could include: What was expected to do?
What part of this process/assignment were difficult, and why? If I were to do this
over again, what would I do differently? What are some connections between
learning this and other subjects? How does what I have learned relate to other
things I do? What are some examples of what I did well/ how has this problem
helped me become a better problem-solver? Which vocabulary and
comprehension strategies best work for me?