READING

COMPREHENSION
UNIT -1
Interpreting the Reading Comprehension 
section accurately is not an easy task and
requires special skills on the part of the
students.
* The passages will be complex, with difficult
vocabulary and will not have direct answers.

* So, the students will have to read between

the lines to understand the actual meaning of
the passage.

* This could prove a challenging task, as not

many are trained to do this efficiently.
 
 Steps to follow in Reading Comprehension

1. Skim through
2. Contextual understanding
3. Use clues
4. Annotations v/s Connotations
 SKIM THROUGH
 
* The first step is to Skim Through the
passage quickly, so that you get some idea as
to what the obvious sense of the passage is.
* The theme of the passage will come through
clearly, if you read the passage once.
* This step will also include registering the
difficult words that are not part of your
vocabulary and processing the information/
data given in the passage
 CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING

* To be able to read between the lines, one has to

understand the contextual meaning of the words and
sentences.
* Often, what we read is not what the passage is all
about.
* The real meaning of the passage lies in the context
in which the words have been used
. For instance, in the sentence,
‘The businessman had blue blood, he didn’t
understand the problems of the masses’- the
connotations of ‘blue blood’ is very different from its
literal annotations.
‘Blue blood’ here stands for royalty, aristocracy.
So what the sentence means is that the businessman
belonged to aristocracy, hence, was detached from the
world of the common public.
Understanding the contextual meaning is a
challenge the candidates need to prepare for.
 USE CLUES
* The passage will provide enough clues for you
to find out the hidden meaning of the passage.
* These clues might come in the form of
information, data, any remark about anyone and
so on.
* You should keep an eye out for such clues
while reading the passage, as they will help you
to get inside the passage and also the mind of
the author.
 
 ANNOTATIONS

* While comprehending a passage, there are

two terms which you need to understand.
* The first term, annotations, refers to the
literal meaning of the words used in the
passage.
* The more number of words you have in your
vocabulary bank, the more words you will be
able to identify in the passage.
* Knowing the literal meaning of the words
enable you to understand the passage without
appreciating the subtleties in the passage.
 CONNOTATIONS
It is only when you understand the
connotations of particular words, phrases
and idioms used in the passage that your
engagement with the passage is enriched
and you begin to see meanings that are not
so obvious.
Comprehension is the “essence of reading”
( Durkin,1993).

It is a complex thinking process that requires the

reader to construct meaning from the text .
 Three important tips for Reading
Comprehension

* Reading comprehension is the ability to read

text,process it and understand its meaning.
* An individuals ability to comprehend text is
influenced by their traits and skills, one of
which is the ability to make inferences.
* Reading comprehension is an intentional,
active, interactive process that occurs before,
during and after a person reads a particular
piece of writing.
 The Literal Level

* The Literal level focuses on reading the

passages, hearing the words or viewing the
images.
* It involves identifying the important and
essential information.
* With guidance,students can distinguish
between the important and less important
ideas.
 The Interpretative Level

* At the interpretative level, the focus shifts

to reading between the lines, looking at what
is implied by the material under study.
* It requires students to combine pieces of
information in order to make inferences
about the authors intent and message.
 The Applied Level

Undestandings at the literal and interpretive

levels are combined,reorganised and
restructured at the applied level to express
opinions,draw new in sights and develop
fresh ideas.
 Closed Questions

* Closed questions are the kind of questions

that require a short response that can be found
in the text.
* Many comprehension tests use closed
questions,and readers need to know how to
find the informaiton in the given text.
 Open Questions

* Open questions require more in-depth

answers.
* Often the answer is not explicitly stated in
the text.
* Some open questions require the reader to
use their own ideas plus the infiormation in
the book to draw a conclusion about the topic.
* Open questions can often begin with words
such as why,how,explain,and what if.
 Yes/No Questions

* Yes No questions are closed questions that

effectively cut off the discussion by setting
up the reader to answer with a Yes or a No.
* If Yes/No questions are asked,they should
always be followed up with a clarification
question,such as: why ? Or,How do you
know ?
 Retelling Questions

* Retelling questions have the reader to

retell stories she or he has read.
* A prompt that gets the retelling started
could be: Tell me what happened in the
story.
* If the reader needs more prompting other
prompts could be: what was this story
about ? Who was in the story?
 Wait –Time

Wait time is the amount of time that elapses between

asking a question and either getting an answer from
the reader or providing more prompts.
Links for Reading Comprehension practice tests

Easy Reading comprehension Passage:

https://www.mbarendezvous.com/easy-reading-compr
ehension-passages/

Average Reading Comprehension passage

https://www.mbarendezvous.com/average-reading-co
mprehension-passages/

Difficult Reading Comprehension passage: