UNIVERSITY OF CAGAYAN VALLEY

Balzain Campus, Tuguegarao City

READING COMPREHENSION AND ITS BASIC TECHNIQUES

 Reading Comprehension is the most complex aspect of reading.
 According to Webster’s Dictionary, comprehension is “the capacity for understanding fully; the act
ofgrasping with the intellect”. Webster also tells us that reading is “to receive or to 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.
 Comprehension=Understanding

CATEGORIES OF READING SKILLS

1. Rapid Reading
 is quick reading which aims to seek specific information or main ideas. The best examples of this are
skimming and scanning.
A. SKIMMING
 Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or ‘gist’.
 It is used when you read newspapers, books and more.
 Newspaper (to quickly get the general news of the day); Magazines (to quickly discover which articles
you would like to read in more detail); Business and Travel Brochures (to quickly be informed)
How to Skim?
1. Relax your eyes and move them across the lines rapidly.
2. Do not stop and look back.
3. Use your finger as a pointer while reading across the line.
4. When reading a paragraph, focus more on the first and the last sentences; they usually contain the topic of
the text.

B. SCANNING
 Scanning is a reading skill that you use to get specific information.
 It is used when you check your final grade in the class record, when you get the titles of books, when
you read the price in the menu, when you research for the topics assigned to you, and when you take
examinations or tests.
How to Scan?
1. Read the questions carefully.
2. Decide what information you are looking for. Is it a date, a rate, a place of a person’s name?
3. Relax your eyes and move them across the lines rapidly.
4. Look only for that information. Do not read every word.
5. Find the information which you think is the answer. Double check the information to be certain that you
have the correct answer.

2. PREVIEWING
 It allows the reader to examine the readily observable parts of a text like illustrations, table of contents,
and chapter titles. It helps them learn the material better by allowing the readers to set purposes, to focus
on the most important information, and to connect the text to their schema or what they already know.

_________________________________________________________________________________________
DEVELOPMENTAL READING 1 (Midterm Lesson)
Prepared by: Ms. Jade L. Macababbad, LPT
 UNIVERSITY OF CAGAYAN VALLEY
Balzain Campus, Tuguegarao City
How to Preview?
1. Clarify your purpose.
2. Read the title.
3. Browse the table of contents.
4. Browse the introduction and summary.
5. Check the headings.
6. Look at the illustrations and other visual elements.

3. LITERAL READING
 It allows the readers to deduce facts and ideas not directly expressed in the text, such as making
generalizations, inferences, and conclusions. It also known as “reading between the lines”.

4. CRITICAL READING
 It is a more active way of unveiling information and ideas presented by the text.
 It involves, analysis, interpretation and evaluation.

How to Read Critically?

1. Read the text with an open mind.’
2. Read with specific questions in mind that you want the text to answer.
3. Consider the cultural and historical context of the text.
4. Evaluate the author’s credibility.
5. Distinguish facts from opinions.
6. Make inferences about the author’s point of view.
7. Preview the text by reading the summaries and abstracts, introductions, conclusions, headings and
subheadings.
8. Analyze the organization of the text.
9. Examine the thinking fallacies and manipulative languages.
10. Look for what is not explained.
11. While reading, ask higher order questions that will promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the text.

READING STRATEGIES (Most Effective Strategies)

1. Comprehension Monitoring
2. Cooperative Learning
3. Graphic Organizers
4. Story Structure
5. Question Answering
6. Question Generating
7. Summarization
8. Metacognition

1. Comprehension Monitoring
 Reading activities can be divided into three categories: prereading, reading, and post-reading

_________________________________________________________________________________________
DEVELOPMENTAL READING 1 (Midterm Lesson)
Prepared by: Ms. Jade L. Macababbad, LPT
 UNIVERSITY OF CAGAYAN VALLEY
Balzain Campus, Tuguegarao City
 Prereading- collecting and define vocabulary terms from the text will assist students in understanding
words that otherwise may interrupt reading. Students can record the terms in a notebook or a flash cards.
 Reading or While-Reading is where teachers can guide students’ interaction with the text by asking
questions about literary elements such as the presentation of the plot, setting, character, conflict, climax,
mood, theme. If students have previewed comprehension questions, they can answer these questions as
they read.
 Post-reading is doing summarization where one determines what is important or what main idea is in
the text and writing it using fewer words.

2. Cooperative Learning
 Cooperative learning is a strategy that maximizes student engagement, reduces class tensions, and
promotes student learning. Typically, students work in groups.
 The following are examples of how students can work cooperatively to learn more about a narrative
work of literature:
- Each group uses a plot diagram to locate and summarize a stage of development
- Groups conference briefly with the teacher to ensure their answers are correct
- Students reassemble into new groups comprising one “expert” from each of the previous groups
- The session concludes with a class discussion of the novel, short story, play or, narrative poem.

3. Graphic Organizers
 Graphic organizers provide a visual map for the reader which can be placed next to the text as learners
read in groups or individually, aloud or silently.
 Maps, graphs, frames, clusters, webs, storyboards, and Venn Diagrams are some examples of these.

4. Story Structure
- This strategy can be used when you are reading fiction. You can draft the story structure by identifying the
characters, setting, significant events, conflict, denouement and resolution. This can also be combined using
graphic organizers.

5. Question Answering
- If you are a student who would speed rate a text given by the teacher because you wanted to get the answers to
the questions posted on the board as soon as you can, then this strategy will work for you. Asking questions will
give you a purpose for reading critically. You can start by asking explicit (specific) questions first and then
move to implicit (broad) questions.

***Four (4) types of questions you may use:

a. Questions found right in the text.
(Who is the character?)
b. Questions based on the recall of facts that are directly found in the text.
(What is the meaning of the given selection?)
c. Questions where you can make use of what you already know against what you have learned from the text.
(Why is it important….?)
d. Questions based on your experiences.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
DEVELOPMENTAL READING 1 (Midterm Lesson)
Prepared by: Ms. Jade L. Macababbad, LPT
 UNIVERSITY OF CAGAYAN VALLEY
Balzain Campus, Tuguegarao City
(What can you infer about the selection in the text in your real life situation?, If you were the character, what
will you do…?)
6. Questions Generating
- Students can write questions about the story as a post-reading exercise. These questions can then be integrated
into formal tests or informal questioning games. You might want to suggest that students generate questions by
adapting sentences from the text. Students can also generate questions to identify their own uncertainties about
the text. They can try to answer these questions by consulting their teacher.

7. Summarizing
- This is an effective strategy for readers who have difficulty remembering and writing about what they have
read. A summary can take many forms, including travelogues, journals, and letters. For example, students can
create can create a travel itinerary that summarizes the action of a narrative about a theme of a work.

8. Metacognition
- Metacognition is thinking about thinking.
- Besides knowing your limitations, you should also be aware of how you process thinking. Be clear about the
purpose of your reading before starting to read. While reading, be aware of how fast or slow you read and
understand the text. After reading, you try to assess how much of the text were you able to understand. Try to
assess what part made it hard for you to understand and then find a way to fix this.
- You may use the steps listed below:
 Identify where the difficulty occurs.
 Identify what the difficulty is.
 Restate the difficult sentence in your words.
 Look back through the text.
 Look forward in the text for information that might help you resolve the difficulty.

RESEARCH THE FOLLOWING:

I. THEORIES ON TEACHING READING
 A. The Top-Down Reading Model
 B. The Bottom-Up Reading Model
 C. Interactive Reading Model
 D. Literary Appreciation Skills

II. READING FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

 A. Reading for Information
 B. Reading for Appreciation and Enjoyment
 C. Critical Reading
 D. Reading for Study

_________________________________________________________________________________________
DEVELOPMENTAL READING 1 (Midterm Lesson)
Prepared by: Ms. Jade L. Macababbad, LPT