What is reading comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the ability to understand the meaning of a written text. Reading comprehension is totally different from recognizing words because the word-recognizing process just focuses on word recognition, and this process does not fulfil the purpose and goal of reading. Without knowing the word's meaning, we cannot understand the message of the writer. Reading comprehension allows you to understand, interpret, and comprehend the actual message of the text. Reading comprehension involves not only recognizing and decoding words on a page but also comprehending the meaning, ideas, and information conveyed by the text.

Levels of reading comprehension:

There are four levels of reading comprehension. The four levels of reading comprehension that I will describe in this blog are often associated with the popular reading comprehension strategy called the "QAR" (question-answer relationship) framework. These four levels of reading comprehension help readers understand the questions they may encounter while reading and how to understand and approach these questions.

Level 1:Right there:

At this level of reading comprehension, the answer to the question is clearly mentioned in the text. Readers can find the answer by looking for specific information directly in the text without having to interpret or make guesses. These types of questions usually begin with phrases such as "In the text..." or "According to the passage..."

Level 2: Think and search:

At this level, the questions are designed to make readers think and search for the answer in the given text. The answer might not be directly mentioned, but it can be discovered by gathering information from various sections of the text. This level of questioning requires a bit more analysis and connecting ideas that are presented in the text.

Level 3: The Author and You:

At a certain level of reading comprehension, readers are expected to go beyond the words written in the text and rely on their own understanding, personal experiences, and insights to answer questions. The answers to these questions are not directly stated in the text, so readers must use their understanding of the text and combine it with their background knowledge to make educated guesses or inferences about the answers.

Level 4: In your Head:

This refers to the most advanced level of reading comprehension. At this level, readers need to depend mainly on their own thoughts, past experiences, and personal understanding to answer questions. While the text may provide some initial information, the answers cannot be directly found within the text itself. Readers at this level are expected to develop their own opinions, make thoughtful judgments, and relate the information from the text to their own knowledge and understanding.

These four levels of reading comprehension are designed to assist readers in enhancing their understanding of how to approach and answer questions about a text. They promote a more profound involvement with the material and the development of critical thinking abilities.

Kinds of the meaning of reading comprehension:

There are 7 types of meaning in reading comprehension that are given by Geoffrey Leech (1974) as follows:

1. Conceptual meaning comprehension (denotative, cognitive)

In simple terms, when we talk about the "dictionary meaning," we are referring to the definition or explanation of a word that we find in a dictionary. This definition helps us understand the concept or idea behind that word.
When we read, we often come across different words that have similar conceptual meanings. For instance, let's consider the word "walk." The primary dictionary meaning of "walk" is to move forward by putting one foot in front of the other. However, there are also other words in the dictionary that have a similar meaning, like "stroll," "stride," or "march." All these words, according to the dictionary, convey the idea of moving forward on foot.

2. Contextual meaning comprehension: (connotative, communicative)

This means that a word can have both a literal meaning (what it actually means) and an emotional or cultural meaning (what people associate with it). For example, the word "snake" might mean a type of animal, but it can also make people feel scared or think of something evil because of cultural associations with snakes. These emotional meanings are called "connotations," and they exist alongside the literal meaning of the word.

3-Affective meaning comprehension:

In simple terms, the affective meaning of reading comprehension refers to the emotions or attitudes that a person associates with a word or an ongoing situation. It's important to note that each individual may have a different emotional meaning for a word. Only the person using the word knows the specific emotional meaning they have attached to it. For instance, let's take the word "winter" as an example. The word winter, in its literal sense, refers to a specific time when one hemisphere is farthest from the sun. However, different people may have different emotional associations with the word. The way we stress or emphasize certain parts of a word and the intonation we use can also convey different emotions or attitudes in our speech.

4. Social meaning comprehension:

The social meaning of reading comprehension is how language is used within a society and how various factors influence the meaning that a speaker wants to convey. These factors include the social class of both the speaker and the listener, as well as the level of formality in the conversation. It suggests that not all of the meaning in a conversation is conveyed through the actual words used. For example, when someone says "hello" or talks about the weather, these words may not have a significant dictionary meaning. Instead, they serve as a way to be friendly or polite.

5-Reflective meaning comprehension:

Reflective meaning discusses that certain words can have multiple meanings, which can lead to confusion or uncertainty. It compares this phenomenon to when light or sound reflects off a surface and reveals unintended things. For example, when doctors use the term "chronic bronchitis," the word "chronic" also has a connotation of something being "bad," and this additional meaning can influence our understanding of the condition. Sometimes, these additional meanings can prompt us to choose a different word instead. Therefore, reflective meaning emphasizes how words can possess hidden meanings that were not originally intended and how these unintended meanings can create confusion.

6. Collocative meaning comprehension:

This passage explains a concept called "lexical collocation." It refers to the connections or associations that a word develops based on the meanings of other words that often appear together with it. In simpler terms, it is the part of a word's meaning that is suggested by the words that come before or after it. For example, the phrase "heavy news" implies sad or distressing news, while "heavy schedule" suggests a very busy or tightly packed schedule. Similarly, "fast color" refers to a color that does not fade easily, "fast friend" means a trustworthy or reliable friend, and "fast woman" refers to a woman with loose morals or promiscuous behaviors.

7-Thematic meaning comprehension:

In simple terms, this sentence means that when something "relates to or constitutes a topic of discourse," it means that it is connected to or associated with that particular subject. The word conveys a meaning that is linked to the theme or topic being discussed. Additionally, types 2 to 6 are considered to have an associative meaning, meaning they are also connected to or associated with something else.

Kinds of meaning according to Charles Morris:

Charles Morris has identified three different types of meanings. The first is referential meaning, which is the relationship between signs (such as words or symbols) and the real-world entities they represent. The second is pragmatic meaning, which is the relationship between signs and the people who use them. This includes several subtypes of meaning, such as identification meaning (when a sign is used to identify something), expressive meaning (when a sign is used to express emotions or attitudes), associative meaning (when a sign is associated with other signs or concepts), social meaning (when a sign is used to convey social status or identity), and imperative meaning (when a sign is used to give commands or instructions). The third type of meaning is intralingual meaning, which is the relationship between different signs within a language. This includes phonological meaning (the sounds of words), graphemic meaning (the written form of words), morphological or lexemic meaning (the meaning of individual words or word parts), syntactic meaning (the way words are put together to form sentences), and discoursal or textual meaning (the meaning of larger units of language, such as paragraphs or entire texts).

Types of Reading Comprehension:

There are four types of reading comprehension:

1-Skimming reading :

Skimming is a reading technique that involves quickly going through a text to understand the main idea or the overall message. It is sometimes called gist reading because the reader tries to get a general sense of the text without reading every single word. Instead, they concentrate on the main theme or the central point of the text. Skimming can be compared to flipping through a magazine or newspaper, where you glance over the headlines, pictures, and main points to get a general idea of what the article is about. Another example of skimming is when you search for a specific name in a telephone directory, where you quickly scan the pages to find the desired information without reading every entry in detail.

2-Scanning reading:

In this type of reading comprehension, "Here, the reader quickly scuttles across sentences to get to a particular piece of information" means that the reader is rapidly moving through the sentences in a text to find a specific piece of information they are looking for. The word "scuttles" implies a quick or hurried movement.

The second sentence, "Scanning involves the technique of rejecting or ignoring irrelevant information from the text to locate a specific piece of information," explains the process of scanning. When scanning, the reader uses a technique where they intentionally discard or disregard any information in the text that is not relevant to what they are searching for. The purpose of scanning is to efficiently locate and extract the specific piece of information they need.

3-Intensive reading:

Intensive reading refers to a reading technique that requires a significant amount of time compared to skimming and scanning. It demands the reader's full attention and focuses on understanding the text in detail. In this approach, the reader carefully analyzes and comprehends the meaning of every word to gain a thorough understanding of the text.

4-Extensive reading:

Extensive reading refers to a reading approach that focuses more on reading fluency than accuracy. The main purpose of extensive reading is to enjoy the reading material, and it typically takes place outside of the classroom. It is highly unlikely for readers to engage in extensive reading of texts they do not find interesting or enjoyable.