Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension for Secondary& Senior Secondary Classes

What is Reading Comprehension?

The purpose of reading is to gain comprehension. Readers are not reading if they can read the words but do not understand or relate to what they are reading. Good readers are both purposeful and active, with the ability to absorb, analyse, make sense of, and apply what they read. Before doing Reading Comprehension Passages, understand the meaning of skimming, why we need skimming, and the important steps while doing comprehension. I hope, the following discussion will boost your knowledge of Reading Comprehension.

What do you mean by skimming? How does it help comprehension?

Skimming is a method of strategic, selective reading in which you concentrate on the main ideas of a text. When skimming, skip text that contains details, stories, data, or other elaboration. Rather than reading every word, concentrate on the introduction, chapter summaries, first and last sentences of paragraphs, bold words, and text features. Skimming is the process of extracting the essence of the author’s main points rather than the finer points.

Why do we need skimming?

When reading, you need the big picture or major points.

Even if you plan to read the book in-depth, skimming can help you better understand what you read.

Knowing when and how to skim will make you a better reader.

You’ll get better at determining the text’s importance.

Sometimes your lecturer wants you to focus on the big picture rather than the minute details. In such conditions, skimming helps you grasp the text’s main ideas.

Skimming helps in Maximum utilisation of time

You can’t always read everything. Skimming lets you get through a lot of information quickly and gives you more time to do other things.

Even if you don’t have time to finish your reading before class, skimming will help you remember the most important parts and help you learn more in class.

Skimming is also a good technique to refresh your memory before an exam.

Skimming a text helps to recall material and organisation.

While doing comprehension, keep the following steps in mind:

Step 1: Before looking at the questions, skim as quickly as possible to determine the main idea. At this point, don’t be concerned about unfamiliar words.

Step 2: Highlight the words you don’t understand to help you understand the passage completely. This will allow you to answer the vocabulary questions more quickly.

Step 3: Carefully read the words. It is recommended that you keep the order of the questions on the test paper. Read the section relevant to the answer carefully.

Step 4: Concentrate on the vocabulary items and find out the meanings of unfamiliar words from the context.

Consider the following points while Skimming

Read the passage carefully and find out the main points or theme explained in the passage.
Underline the keywords like causes, results, and effects.
Don’t ignore the signal words like versus, pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages.
Read the passage at least two times.
Now, read the questions again.
Start the second reading of the passage. This reading should be exhaustive. Highlight key sentences or words related to the questions.
Make every effort to use your own words. This means you must summarise and interpret information rather than copy entire ‘chunks’ from the passage.
When answering factual questions, do not include information not provided in the passage.

Frequently Asked Questions: Comprehension

What is the connection between word reading and reading comprehension?

Reading consists of two parts: word recognition and language comprehension. Both are required for reading comprehension to take place.
Children who struggle with word reading, on the other hand, will read the text more slowly and may not be able to decode all of the important words accurately.
This can result in significant reading comprehension deficits.
Strong word reading thus contributes significantly to the ease and quality of a child’s reading comprehension.

What do mean by reading comprehension, and why is it required?

Reading comprehension refers to the ability to read text, process it, and comprehend its meaning.
It is based on two interconnected skills: word reading and language comprehension.
We don’t merely remember what we read when we comprehend a text.
Reading with purpose requires good comprehension.

What factors contribute to good comprehension?

Background information and vocabulary
Abilities in integration and inference
Comprehension of language structure/connections
Understanding and application of text structure
Monitoring comprehension

Does the amount of time students spend reading affect their comprehension skills?

Reading time always improves students’ comprehensive skills because they understand the topic better when they devote more time to reading.
Reading to young children and helping them in building positive reading mindsets can help them develop a habit that will allow them to build competency skills and knowledge throughout their careers.

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