UNIT - 3

READING COMPREHENSION

According to Webster’s Dictionary, comprehension is “the capacity for understanding fully; the
act or action of grasping with the intellect”. Reading is “to receive or take in the sense of, as letters
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 printing”.
Identifying words on a page does not make someone a successful reader. When the words
are understood and transcend the pages to become thoughts and ideas then you are truly reading.
Comprehension is the capacity for understanding those thoughts and ideas. Applying what you
have read and understood becomes the successful conclusion.

COMPREHENSION REGULATION:
You can become an active, effective reader through comprehension regulation. This is a method
for consciously controlling the reading process. Comprehension regulation involves the use of pre-
planned strategies to understand text. It is a plan for getting the most out of reading. It allows you
to have an idea of what to expect from the text. Most importantly, it gives you techniques to use
when you are experiencing difficulties.

As an active reader, you can get an idea of what the writer is trying to communicate by:
• Setting goals based on your purpose for reading
• Previewing the text to make predictions
• Self-questioning
• Scanning
• Relating new information to old
Skills for being an effective reader and for increasing comprehension are:
➢ Finding main ideas and supporting details/evidence
➢ Making inferences and drawing conclusions
➢ Recognizing a text's patterns of organization
➢ Perceiving conceptual relationships
➢ Testing your knowledge and understanding of the material through application

When comprehension fails, we can use a plan that includes:

Using structural analysis and contextual clues to identify unknown vocabulary words
e.g., look at roots, prefixes, suffixes). If this fails, keep a dictionary close by and look up
words you don't understand
Reading more critically - ask questions while you read
Summarizing or outlining main points and supporting details
Rereading the material
Try to explain what you've read to someone else

Read the Preface & Introduction: Read the preface and introduction you'll get essential
information for understanding the author's perspective. The preface usually provides information
about the author's objective, the organizational plan, how it is different from others, and the
author's background. Once you know the author's objective or goal, it's easier to see relationships
among the facts presented. The introduction lays the foundation for the rest of the text in the form
of overview and background information that will make it easier to digest information.

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Make More Than One Pass: Reading articles and textbooks often requires more than one
pass. It usually takes two, three, or even more readings to grasp difficult concepts. Skim the
table of contents, preface, headings, and conclusions. Stop and think about the author's intent
as well the instructor's purpose in making the assignment and purpose for reading.

Take Notes: In early readings, take the briefest of notes while reading by adding brackets in
margins or underlining minimally. Note pages where you might want to take formal notes.
After reading, take more extensive notes. When reading and note taking are complete, reread
all of your notes, think about what you've read, and add more notes based on your reflections.
Your goal is to have notes that are concise, capture the reading - and replace it so that you
don't have to go back and reread.

Don’t Highlight: If you underline text, do so minimally and stay focused on the important
details. Avoid the temptation to highlight every line. Heavy highlighting is procrastination
tool because usually you're marking what you should learn instead of focusing on learning it.

IDENTIFYING TOPICS, MAIN IDEAS AND SUPPORTING DETAILS:

Understanding the topic, the gist, or the larger conceptual framework of a textbook
chapter, an article, a paragraph, a sentence or a passage is a sophisticated reading task. Being
able to draw conclusions, evaluate, and critically interpret articles or chapters is important for
overall comprehension in college reading. Textbook chapters, articles, paragraphs, sentences,
or passages all have topics and main ideas. The topic is the broad, general theme or message.
It is what some call the subject. The main idea is the "key concept" being expressed. Details,
major and minor, support the main idea by telling how, what, when, where, why, how much,
or how many. Locating the topic, main idea, and supporting details helps you understand the
point(s) the writer is attempting to express. Identifying the relationship between these will
increase your comprehension.

Grasping the Main Idea: A paragraph is a group of sentences related to a particular topic or
central theme. Every paragraph has a key concept or main idea. The main idea is the most
important piece of information the author wants you to know about the concept of that
paragraph. When authors write they have an idea in mind that they are trying to get across.
This is especially true as authors compose paragraphs. An author organizes each paragraph's
main idea and supporting details in support of the topic or central theme, and each paragraph
supports the paragraph preceding it. A writer will state his/her main idea explicitly somewhere
in the paragraph. That main idea may be stated at the beginning of the paragraph, in the middle,
or at the end. The sentence in which the main idea is stated is the topic sentence of that
paragraph.

Identifying the Topic: The first thing you must be able to do to get at the main idea of a
paragraph is to identify the topic - the subject of the paragraph. Think of the paragraph as a
wheel with the topic being the hub - the central core around which the whole wheel (or
paragraph) spins. Your strategy for topic identification is simply to ask yourself the question,
"What is this about?" Keep asking yourself that question as you read a paragraph, until the
answer to your question becomes clear. Sometimes you can spot the topic by looking for a
word or two that repeat. Usually, you can state the topic in a few words.

The bulk of an expository paragraph is made up of supporting sentences (major and

minor details), which help to explain or prove the main idea. These sentences present facts,
reasons, examples, definitions, comparison, contrasts, and other pertinent details. They are

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most important because they sell the main idea.
In writing, there are three types of paragraphs: introductory, transitional, and summarizing.

Introductory paragraphs tell you, in advance, such things as (1) the main ideas of the chapter
or section; (2) the extent or limits of the coverage; (3) how the topic is developed; and (4) the
writer's attitude toward the topic. Transitional paragraphs are usually short; their sole function
is to tie together what you have read so far and what is to come - to set the stage for succeeding
ideas of the chapter or section. Summarizing paragraphs are used to restate briefly the main
ideas of the chapter or section. The writer may also draw some conclusion from these ideas,
or speculate on some conclusion based on the evidence he/she has presented.
All three types should alert the reader: the introductory paragraph of things to come;
the transitional paragraph of a new topic; and the summarizing paragraph of main ideas that
you should have gotten.

MAKING INFERENCES AND DRAWING CONCLUSIONS:

Read with purpose and meaning: Drawing conclusions refers to information that is implied
or inferred. This means that the information is never clearly stated. Writers often tell you more
than they say directly. They give you hints or clues that help you "read between the lines."
Using these clues to give you a deeper understanding of your reading is called inferring. When
you infer, you go beyond the surface details to see other meanings that the details suggest or
imply (not stated). When the meanings of words are not stated clearly in the context of the
text, they may be implied - that is, suggested or hinted at. When meanings are implied, you
may infer them.

Inference is just a big word that means a conclusion or judgement. Example: you are sitting
in your car stopped at a red signal light. You hear screeching tires, then a loud crash and
breaking glass. You see nothing, but you infer that there has been a car accident. We all know
the sounds of screeching tires and a crash. We know that these sounds almost always mean a
car accident. But there could be some other reason, and therefore another explanation, for the
sounds. Perhaps it was not an accident involving two moving vehicles. Maybe an angry driver
rammed a parked car. Or maybe someone played the sound of a car crash from a recording.
Making inferences means choosing the most likely explanation from the facts at hand.

There are several ways to help you draw conclusions from what an author may be
implying. The following are descriptions of the various ways to aid you in reaching a
conclusion.

Antonyms and Contrasts: When the meaning of a word is not implied by the general sense of
its context or by examples, it may be implied by an antonym or by a contrasting thought in a
context. Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings, such as happy and sad. For
instance, Ben is fearless, but his brother is timorous. You may infer the meaning of timorous
by answering the question "If Ben is fearless and Jim is very different from Ben with regard
to fear, then what word describes Jim?" Write your answer on the following line. If you wrote
a word such as timid, or afraid, or fearful, you inferred the meaning of timorous.

READING RATE: Good readers are flexible readers. Once they determine their purpose for
reading, they adjust their rate to fit the type of material they are reading. Effective readers
typically read at a rate of 280-350 words per minute (WPM) without sacrificing
comprehension, though some can read faster, even up to 500 WPM or more with some
techniques.

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Here is a more detailed breakdown:
• Average Reading Speed: The average reading speed for adults is around 250-300
WPM.
• Proficient Readers: Proficient readers can achieve 280 WPM or higher.
• Speed Readers: Speed readers, who may have taken courses or practiced techniques,
can attain a speed read of 500 WPM or more, but this often comes with reduced
comprehension.
• Subvocalization readers: (Mental readers) generally read at approximately 250
words per minute, auditory readers at approximately 450 words per minute and visual
readers at approximately 700 words per minute
• For reading aloud: it is 183 words per minute.
• For silent reading of English non-fiction: most adults fall in the range of 175–300
wpm; for fiction the range is 200–320 wpm

Five Categories of Reading Rates:

Careful - used to master content including details, evaluate material, outline,
summarize, paraphrase, analyze, solve problems, memorize, evaluate literary value
or read poetry.
Normal - used to answer a specific question, note details, solve problems, read
material of average difficulty, understand relationship of details to main ideas,
appreciate beauty or literary style, keep up with current events, or read with the
intention of later retelling what you have read.
Rapid - used to review familiar material, get the main idea or central thought, retrieve
information for short-term use, read light material for relaxation or pleasure or
comprehend the basic plot.
Scanning - the method by which you read the newspaper - used to get an overview
of the content or to preview.
Skimming - done a little more quickly. It is what you do when you are searching for
something particular in the text - the way you might read a phone book or dictionary.
Used to find a specific reference, locate new material, locate the answer to a specific
question, get the main idea of a selection, or review.

Knowing how to use all five reading styles is a great advantage to you because it gives you a
wide variety of ways to handle your reading. It also gives you choices, and the more choices
you have, the more power you have to arrange your life in satisfying ways.

STRENGTHENING READING COMPREHENSION:

1. Analyze the time and place in which you are reading - If you've been reading
or studying for several hours, mental fatigue may be the source of the problem. If you
are reading in a place with distractions or interruptions, you may not be able to
understand what you're reading.
2. Rephrase each paragraph in your own words - You might need to approach
complicated material sentence by sentence, expressing each in your own words.
3. Read aloud sentences or sections that are particularly difficult - Reading out
loud sometimes makes complicated material easier to understand.
4. Reread difficult or complicated sections - At times, in fact, several readings are
appropriate and necessary.
5. Slow down your reading rate - On occasion, simply reading more slowly and
carefully will provide you with the needed boost in comprehension.

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 6. Turn headings into questions - Refer to these questions frequently and jot down
or underline answers.
7. Write a brief outline of major points - This will help you see the overall
organization and progression of ideas.
8. Highlight key ideas - After you've read a section, go back and think about and
highlight what is important. Highlighting forces, you to sort out what is important,
and this sorting process builds comprehension and recall.
9. Write notes in the margins - Explain or rephrase difficult or complicated ideas
or sections.
10. Determine whether you lack background knowledge - Comprehension is
difficult, at times, and it is impossible, if you lack essential information that the writer
assumes you have.

Levels of Comprehension
The three levels of comprehension.
• Least = surface, simple reading
• Most = in-depth, complex reading
Level 1: Literal - what is actually stated?
• Facts and details
• Rote learning and memorization
• Surface understanding only
Tests in this category are objective tests dealing with true / false, multiple choice and fill in the
blank questions. Common questions used to illicit this type of thinking are who, what, when,
and where questions.
Level 2: Interpretive - what is implied or meant, rather than what is actually stated.
• Drawing inferences
• Tapping into prior knowledge / experience
• Attaching new learning to old information
• Making logical leaps and educated guesses
• Reading between the lines to determine what is meant by what is stated.
Tests in this category are subjective, and the types of questions asked are open-ended, thought-
provoking questions like why, what if, and how.
Level 3: Applied - 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.
• Analyzing
• Synthesizing
• Applying
In this level we are analyzing or synthesizing information and applying it to other information.