Whatar

etheLev
elsofCompr
ehensi
on?

Understandi
ngwhatisreadorhear
di spartoft
hepr
ocessofcomprehensi
on.Maki
ngsenseof
thetextoraudi
orequi
resdecodi
ngit.Alt
houghcomprehensi
oncanbechall
engi
ng,
pract
icecan
help.

Ther
ear
e,i
ngener
al,
thr
eemai
nst
agesofcompr
ehensi
on,
whi
char
easf
oll
ows:

1.Li
ter
alLev
elCompr
ehensi
on

2.I
nfer
ent
ial
Lev
elCompr
ehensi
on

3.Ev
aluat
iveLev
elCompr
ehensi
on

Whenwet alkaboutcomprehension,i
tencompassesmor ethanjustreadi
ng;i
talsoincl
udes
l
isteni
ngtosounds,wat
chingv i
deos,orreal
l
ybeingpresentatanev entandunderst
andingthe
cir
cumstancesaroundi
t.Butinthispi
ece,we'l
lpaygr
eaterattent
iontoreadi
ngcompr ehension.

Forbothstudentsandwor kingadults,
compr ehensi
onisacrit
icalskil
li
nordertocomprehend
events,r
eadingmat er
ial
s,etc.Accurat
ecompr ehensionofamat eri
alorci
rcumstanceall
owsa
studentorprofessi
onaltocompr ehendit
,identi
fyit
sessent
ialpoints,
andrespondtoinquir
ies
aboutitorrelat
edoccurrences.

Peopl
e'sl
evel
sofcompr
ehensi
onv
arybasedont
hei
reducat
ion,
exper
ience,
andhowdi
ff
icul
t
thei
ssueis.

Let
'sBegi
nwi
th

Li
ter
alLev
el

Under
standi
ngatextl
it
eral
l
yinv
olv
escompr
ehendi
ngal
lofi
tsf
act
s,i
deas,
vocabul
ary
,ev
ent
s,
andst
atedinf
ormati
on.

I
tent
ail
sobtai
ningdetai
l
edresponsest
oinqui
ri
esorassembl
i
ngdat
afori
nqui
ri
esbegi
nni
ng
wi
th"what
,where,when,who,
"etc.

Answeri
ngquesti
onsgl
eanedf
rom abookdi
rect
lyandexpl
i
cit
lyi
snecessar
yforl
i
ter
al
comprehensi
on.

Li
ter
alcomprehensi
oni
sacr
uci
alski
l
lsi
ncei
tser
vesasaf
oundat
ionf
orcompr
ehensi
onat
hi
gherl
evel
s.

Theskill
sneededf
orl
it
eralcomprehensi
onaret
hoset
hatar
erequi
redf
orunder
standi
ngany
textorstat
ementi
ngeneral
.Theyareasfol
l
ows:

t
hecapaci
tyt
ocompr
ehendasent
ence'
smeani
ngwi
thoutdoi
nganyanal
ysi
s.t
hecapaci
tyt
o
decipherwordsintheirl
iter
alsense.havi
ngthecapacit
ytoi
nterpretsent
encesli
ter
all
y.
Asa
studentorwor ki
ngprofessi
onal,youmustbui l
dli
ter
alcomprehensionski
ll
sli
kekeywordi
ng,
skimr eadi
ng,andscanninginordert odevel
optheabove-
highl
ightedtal
ent
sandext r
act
answer sfr
om anydocumentseaml essly
.Theseabil
it
ieswi
llal
lowy outofi
ndand

ht
tps:
//i
ri
sreadi
ng.
com/
what
-ar
e-t
he-
lev
els-
of-
compr
ehensi
on/

I
nfer
ent
ial
Lev
el

Inor
dertomakeani nfer
ence,t
hereaderorvi
ewermustuset hei
rpastknowledgeofthesubj
ect
andrecogni
zepert
inentt
extcues(words,i
mages,orsounds)
.Between-t
he-l
i
nesor"thinkand
sear
ch"comprehensioni
sanothernamef ori
nfer
ent
ialcomprehensi
on.

htt
ps://www.educati
on.v
ic.
gov.au/school/t
eacher
s/teachi
ngresources/
disci
pli
ne/engl
ish/
li
ter
a
cy/readi
ngvi
ewing/Pages/l
it
focuscompr ehensi
on.
aspx#:~:t
ext=Inf
erenti
al%20comprehensi
on%
20requir
es%20the%20reader,
'
think%20and%20search'%20comprehension.

Understandinghiddenideasandi mpli
citrel
ati
onshi
psbetweenlinesi
nabooki sknownas
i
nferenti
alreading.I
nstandardi
zedr eadingexaminat
ions,
questi
onsconcerni
ngthemaintopi
c,
cause-and-eff
ectrel
ati
onships,anddrawi ngconcl
usi
onsarefrequent
lyusedt
oassessthi
sskil
l
(Hamouda&Tar l
ochan,2015).

Samiei
,F.
,Ebadi
,S.Expl
ori
ngEFLlear
ners’
inf
erent
ial
readi
ngcompr
ehensi
onski
l
lst
hrougha
fl
i
ppedclassr
oom.RPTEL16,12(2021).

Ev
aluat
iveLev
el

I
sfrequentl
yrefer
redt
oas"goi
ngbeyondthetext
"andincludesunderst
andi
ngthebi
gpi
ctur
e.
Therei
sfrequentl
ynori
ghtori
ncor
rectr
esponse;t
her
ear eonlyreasonstot
hinki
nacer
tai
n
way.

I
trequi
resther eadertothinkcri
ti
cal
lyaboutthei
rownthoughtsandbeli
efsinconnecti
ontothe
t
ext'
smeani ng.Atthispoint,r
eadersandviewersar
eexpectedtodefendthei
rpositi
ons,gi
ve
r
easonsfort hei
rchoices,cri
ti
call
yeval
uatethetext
,andascert
aint
heauthor'si
ntenti
ons.

htt
ps:/
/www. educati
on.v
ic.
gov .
au/school/t
eacher
s/t
eachingresources/
disci
pli
ne/engl
ish/
li
ter
a
cy/r
eadingvi
ewing/Pages/l
it
focuscompr ehensi
on.
aspx#:~:t
ext=Evaluat
ive%20comprehensi
on%
20i
s%20of t
en%20referr
ed,t
hinki
ng%20in%20a%20particul
ar%20way .
Maki
ngsenseofatextrequi
rescreat
ingament almodelofthei
nformati
oni
tcont
ains.Once
t
hismodelhasbeencreat
ed,itcanbeaccessedlateronwhentheinfor
mati
oni
srequiredt
obe
r
ead.

Scaf
fol
dingReadi
ngCompr
ehensi
ont
oDeepenUnder
standi
ngofText

Largeamount sofmat eri

al mustbepr ocessedbyst udents,andt heymustber eadyto
compr ehendandanal y
zet extinor dertomakesenseoft heirsur r
oundi ngs.Theempi r
ical
researchoncompr ehensioni mpliesthatthereisaneedt olookatr eadingcompr ehension
pedagogysi ncereadingcompr ehensi onisacrucialpartofther eadingpr ocess.Therei s
disagreementov erhowef fectivelyourteachersar eteachingcompr ehensionabi l
it
iesand
met hods,despit
et hefactthatr esearchsuppor tsthenecessi t
yofst udy i
ngthemanneri nwhich
chil
drenpr ocesstext.Ther esearchont hesubj ectofscaf f
oldingr eadingcompr ehension
advisesteacherstouseav ari
etyoft echniquesandabi l
iti
est odi ff
erentiatereading
compr ehensiontraini
ngbef oreev aluati
ngeachst udent'sprogr ess.Thi sisanot herext
ensivel
y
studiedsubject.

Lov
sund,C.(
2018).Scaf
fol
dingReadi
ngCompr
ehensi
ont
oDeepenUnder
standi
ngofText
.
Uni
ver
sit
yofVict
oria

Compr
ehensi
onofTextSt
ruct
ures

WhatWoul
dItMeanI
fTextSt
ruct
ureAf
fect
edTextCompr
ehensi
on?

Possiblyaniceplacetost ar
tifyou'rewri
ti
ngar evi
ewabouthowt extarr
angementaffects
readers.I
tisi
mpor t
anttoconsi derthepotent
iali
mpactofanyresultsonprosecomprehension.
Considerthefol
lowingscenario:Supposeourr evi
ewweretoshowt hatdif
fer
encesintext
struct
ureaccountedfor90%oft hevari
ati
oninstudents'
comprehensionofprosematerial
s.
Imagineifwecouldshowt hatbychangingthesur f
acestr
uct
ureofapassagewhi l
emai ntai
ning
thesubstance(theideas,concepts,andrel
ati
onshipsamongconcept s)
,wecouldrai
sea
student'
sperfor
mancef rom 25per cent.

Pearson,
PD.
,Camper
ell
,K.Compr
ehensi
onofTextSt
ruct
ure.Compr
ehensi
onandTeachi
ng:
Resear
chRev
iews.

Connect
ionofSent
enceOr
derandCompr
ehensi
on

Youngchi l
drencanf ol
lowt heconcept sinaphraseandcompr ehenditsmeaningwhent heyare
awareofhowgr ammat icalelementslikepronouns,l
exi
calreferences,andconnecti
vesfuncti
on
i
nsent ences(Oakhill
,Cain,&El br
o,2015).Whileiti
snotnecessar yforkidst
oknowt henames
ofthesegrammat i
calwor ds,theydoneedt ogainanawarenessofhowsent encesareput
togetheri
nbot hwritt
enandspokenl anguage.Wor ki
ngwithsent encescanbeanel ementof
readi
ngchal l
engingtextswi t
hacl ass.Teacherscanfaci
li
tateadi scussi
onofbriefpassagesof
complextextt
oassistst
udent
sinunder
standi
ngandpar
singcompl
exsent
ences.Compl
ext
ext
off
ersri
chlanguage.

ht
tps:
//www.
doe.
mass.
edu/
massl
i
ter
acy
/ski
l
led-
readi
ng/
language-
compr
ehend/
synt
ax.
html

I
nferent
ial
processingamongadequat
eandst
ruggl
i
ngadol
escentcompr
ehender
sandr
elat
ions
t
or eadi
ngcompr ehensi
on

Multipleregressi onswer eusedt otesti

faccuracyintextconsistencyassessment salonemight
explaincompr ehensionv ari
ati
on.Thef i
ndingspointt
osi gni
fi
cantgr owthbet weenmi ddl
e
school andhi ghschool ,especiall
yforadequatecompr ehendersintextintegrati
onpr ocesses
thatpreservel ocal coherence.Forpassage-l
evel,
butnotsent ence-l
evel
, understandi
ng,
accuracyi ntextconsi stencyassessment saccountedforasizabl eport
ionoft heunique
vari
ance, especi all
yforadequat ecomprehenders.

Bart
h, A.
E.,
Bar
nes,M.,
David,F.
,Vaughn,S.
,Yor
k,M.,2015)I
( nf
erent
ialpr
ocessingamong
adequateandst
ruggl
i
ngadol escentcompr
ehender
sandr el
ati
onstoreadingcomprehensi
on.
Readingandwri
ti
ng28,587-609.

Lear
ners’l
evel
sofcomprehensi
onacrosstextst
ruct
ures:Acompar
isonofl
i
ter
alandi
nfer
ent
ial
comprehensi
onofdescr
ipt
iveandenumerati
veexposit
orytext
s

Thisstudysoughtt obetterunder st
andhowI r
anianEFLst udents'li
ter
alandi nf
erenti
alreadi
ng
compr ehensionskil
lswerer elatedtot extst
ructure.Studi
eshav econsistentlyr
evealedthat
students'performancevariesaf terreadingvari
oust extstructur
es(Amirietal.i
nPr ocSoc
BehavSci 66:402–409,2012) .Theconcent r
ationwasonexpl anatorywor ksusi
ngdescr i
ptiv
e
andenumer ativ
etextst
ruct ures.Fourr eadi
ngpassages, twoofwhi chhaddescr i
pti
vetextand
theothertwohadenumer ativ
et extstructur
es,wer egivent o180upper-i
nt er
mediateEFL
students.Thesepassageswer ef ol
l
owedbyl i
ter
al andinferenti
almulti
ple-choi
cequestions.

Theanswerstothestudy'
sresearchquest i
onswereobtainedbydoi ngav ari
etyofpaired-
samplesttest
s.Accordi
ngtother esul
ts,atbothl
evelsoflit
eralandi nferentialcomprehension,
thepart
ici
pant
s'perf
ormanceont hedescr i
pti
vetext
swasmeani ngfull
ysuper i
or.Theresult
s
alsoshowedthatl
it
eralcomprehensiongreatl
youtweighedinferenti
al compr ehensi
oni nboth
textf
ormatsofdescri
pti
onandenumer at
ion.Theconsiderati
onoft ext-typicalelementsin
pract
icewassuggestedforL2mat eri
alscreat
ors,l
anguagei nst
ructors, andl anguagetester
s.

Saadatnia,M.
,Ketabi,
S.,
Tavakol
i,M.,
(2016)EFLlearner
s’lev
elsofcomprehensionacr
osst
ext
str
uctures:Acompar i
sonofl
it
eralandinf
erenti
alcomprehensionofdescr
ipt
iveand
enumer ati
veexposi
toryt
ext
s.JournalofPsychol
ingui
sti
cResear ch45,
1499-1513.
Ef
fecti
venessofr
eadi
ngal
oudst
rat
egi
esf
ori
nfer
ent
ial
readi
ngcompr
ehensi
onski
l
lsandt
ext
di
ff
icul
ti
es

Thecapaci tytopr ocesst extiscal ledr eadingcompr ehensi on.I ti sacr ucialcomponentof
l
ear ningf orcol l
egest udent s.Ther ear enumer ousr eadi ngst rategi es.Readi ngal oudt echniques
areessent ialreadingt echni quesamongt hem.Engl ishi si ntendedt obeusedasasecond
l
anguagei nSaudi Arabi a.Saudi st udent sst rugglet ocompr ehendt extatacol leger eadingl evel
thatr equiresi nferenti
al ,evaluati
ve, andcr it
ical r
eadi ngski llsbecauseoft heirinferi
orschool -
basedr eadi ngabi l
it
ies.Nonet heless, asur veywasgi vent o27st udentsaspar toft hisst udyt o
fi
ndoutt hei rthought sont heef f
icacyofr eadi ngal oudt echni quesf orSaudi universitystudent s'
textissuesandi nferent ialreadi
ngcompr ehensi onski l
ls.Si ncebot hresear cher swer efrom t he
samer egion, conv eniencesampl ingwasempl oyed.Thest udywascar r
iedouti ntheEngl i
sh
Depar t
ment .KingFai sal Uni v
ersi
tyi nAl hasa, Facult yofAr tsUsi ngSPSSv ersion21, descriptiv
e
statisti
cswer eempl oy edf ortheanal ysis.Thr oughoutt hel iteratureanal y
sisofear l
ierresear ch
projects, t
hepr i
mar yt hemesf rom t heAt l
as- TI8r epor tswer eal soel aborated.Ther esul t
s
i
ndicat edt hatt heset act icshadaf ai ramountofef f ectiveness.Theut il
izati
onoft hecur r
entset
oftact icsbySaudi univ ersi
tystudent sser vedasabasi sf orf uturest udyoni nferentialreading
compr ehensi ont echni quesandhowt osol vechal lengi ngt ext s, andt hesest rategieswer ealso
recommended.

Muhammad, K.,
Sajid,M.
,Fraidan,AAl,
.(2019)Effecti
venessofreadingal
oudstrat
egiesfor
i
nfer
ent
ialr
eadingcompr ehensionski
ll
sandt extdiff
icul
ti
esofsaudistudent
satuniversi
tyl
evel
.
I
nter
nat
ionalJournalofI
nnovat i
veTechnologyandExpl or
ingEngineeri
ng9(1),
2983-2989.

Vocabul
aryandt
extcompr
ehensi
onl
evel
s:whatshoul
dbeconsi
der
edi
nassessment
s

Todev elopasi tuat i

onmodelofat ext,processesi nv olvedi ntextcompr ehensi oninter
actwi th
oneanot her.Tost udyt her elat
ionshi psbet weenv ocabul ar yandv ari
oust extcompr ehension
l
ev el
sandt oi dentifypupils'uniquepr ofi
lesint heseski ll
s, 351st udent sfrom 12Est onian
schoolsunder wentanassessment .Bot hv ari
able-andper son-ori
entedappr oacheswer eut i
li
zed
toanalyzebr oadt rendsi nthedat aanddr awconcl usi onsaboutt hei ndivi
dualv ari
ancesoft he
students.I
nferentialandl i
teralcompr ehensi onwer eshownt obemostst r
ongl yinfl
uencedby
vocabulary,butev aluati
vecompr ehensionwasj ustmar ginall
yso.Di fferenttrendsi npupils'
vocabularyandunder st
andi ngabi l
iti
eswer ehighlightedt hr oughper son-orientedtechniques.
Indivi
dualvariati
onsi nv ocabular yandcompr ehensi onlev elshighlightthenecessi tyof
evaluati
ngst udent s'compr ehensi onusi ngmul t i
dimensi onalassessment sdesi gnedt oidentif
y
compr ehensioncomponentdef icienciesandmoni torst udent s'development alimprovement s.

Kärbl
a,T.
,Männamaa,
M.,Ui
bu,K.
,(2020)Vocabularyandtextcompr
ehensionl
evel
s:what
shoul
dbeconsider
edi
nassessments.Educat
ionalPsychol
ogy40(7)
,875-892