English 111

Comprehension is the ability of readers to understand what they are reading to interpret ideas and inject meaning to
printed words
Levels of Comprehension
1. The literal level refers to understanding facts or ideas extracted from the explicit or stated information given in
the text. These facts are answers to questions as the “wh’s” e.g. who, what, when, where.
2. The interpretative level or “reading between the lines” refers to understanding ideas extracted from implicit
information in the text. The interpretative level is applied to what the author said in order to derive meaning
from a statement. You look for relationships among statements within the material you have read. From these
intrinsic relationships, you derive various meanings. HOW and WHY questions are often asked that call for some
reasoning, implications, conclusions, assumptions and interpretation provided from reading the selection.
3. In the applied level, the reader put together what he has learned from the selection (integration) and then uses
this knowledge in a related situation (application). An imaginative reader may find inspiration in the selection he
has read and use it as his “gem of thought” that grows into a story or a poem of his own (creation). Or, he may
want to share his experiences with others by reading the selection using his voice and face to aid in interpreting
the story. He may even enact it on stage. Thus, a selection can be the springboard for something new.
4. The critical reading refers to “reading beyond the lines.” Critical Reading is applied when comprehension of a
reading material involves not only the ideas directly stated and the inferences made on these stated facts but
also judgments or conclusions. Examples of such judgments are the analysis of the characters in a selection or
of the author’s style. Thus, experiences or ideas the reader already possesses plus his attitudes and standards
are involved in comprehension.
SQ4R is a classic method (used by learners to get a maximum understanding of the main ideas and their relationships)
because students have found it useful since the early 60’s. Although using this may seem time consuming at fisrt, once
you know the steps the process takes only a few minutes.
S = Survey
Before you crack open your book to page one and dive in, take a few minutes to read the preface and
introduction to the text and browse through the table of contents and the index. This will tell you the main topics that
the book will cover, the author's particular approach to the subject (i.e., why he/she wrote another text on the subject
when there are probably twenty on the market), and what the basic organizational structure will be.
A similar process is repeated before each chapter. Read all the titles and subtitles, study any pictures, charts or
graphs, and, if there are any, read the summary at the end of the chapter and any study questions. Surveying a chapter in
this way gives you the "big picture;” a framework of the main ideas which will help to hold the details together later.
Q = Question
Before beginning to read, take the subtitle of the section (or the first sentence of a paragraph) and turn it into a
question. For example, if you're reading part of a chapter called "Functions of the Spinal Cord," ask yourself, "What are
the functions of the spinal cord?"
R#1 = Read
Then read; not passively sliding your eyes over the words, but actively engaging the text, trying to find the
answer to your question. Be cautious, however, that you don't end up skimming for the answer to your question and
missing other important information.
R#2 = Respond
Once you've read the section, close the textbook and answer your question, either orally or on paper, in your
own words. If you can't answer the question, you should re-read that section until you can. If, after several tries, you still
can't answer your question, go on to the next few sections and see if things become clearer. You may find that you need
to change your question. For example, you may have first posed the question, "What is the Treaty of Versailles?" for the
subtitle "The Treaty of Versailles," but, after reading the section, you may find that a better question is, “Why was the
Treaty of Versailles created?" If changing your question doesn't help clarify the reading, it's time to get some help. Your
instructor or LRC tutors are good places to start.
R#3 = Record
Once you've understood the material and can summarize it in your own words, the next step is to record the
information in some way. Some common methods are to highlight and/or mark the text, or take notes, or some
combination of both. Whichever method or combination of methods you choose (some pros and cons are summarized
next), it's critical to remember to read and understand the material first and then go back and record.
R#4 = Review
In courses where there is a lot of factual material to remember, a regular review period (usually once a week)
can be a very effective strategy for retaining information. Integrating a weekly review period into your study routine will
help you remember more of the information longer, thereby changing the nature of the studying done at exam time.
Rather than relearning material that has been forgotten because you haven't looked at it since reading it or writing it
down, preparing for an exam can include a review of familiar material and rehearsal strategies like trying old exams.
The secret to making regular review periods effective is to start from the beginning of the course in each review
session. The volume of material to review increases as the semester progresses, but the amount of time needed to
review older material decreases. After you've reviewed the first week's material a few times, it will take only minutes to
skim over it and recall the key points.

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Comprehension is the ability of readers to understand what they are reading to interpret ideas and inject meaning to

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