Simply put, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. While the definition can be simply stated, the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice. Reading comprehension is an intentional, active process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing.
What is the reading process? What do we do during the reading process? The following ideas can sum up the main things that happen on each stage.
The reading process has three stages: The initial stage, prereading or before reading, then the second one that happens while reading and the third and last one is the post reading or exploring and extending your reading.
What we do during the prereading process embraces a preview of the text and make predictions about the contents, organization, and style. It also includes drawing upon a prior knowledge which means what you already know about the subject atter of the text. And it is also determined the purpose for reading the text and focuses your attention.
In the second stage, while we read, we adjust the reading rate based on our purpose, the level of difficulty and prior knowledge. We identify the text´s main ideas, jot down notes as we read and adjust and confirm predictions.
We also make connections between the text and the prior knowledge and experience.
Finally, the last part, after we read, we confirm the understanding of the text; we decide whether you achieved your purpose for reading. We draw conclusions and generalize about the text while summarize the text´s main ideas and important details. And at last, they evaluate the text for accuracy, bias, and overall quality.
Good readers read the text slowly, at least twice. And while they do so they get the gist of what the text is about. They underline or circle unknown words and try to figure them out. They do also annotate and underline key vocabulary. They do also use the text to answer questions and gather evidence from it. Finally they read again to summarize or answer specific questions.
Another important aspect we need to consider is the reading skills, which include : getting the main idea of the text, the author´s purpose, the cuse and effect, facts and opinions, the genre, point of view, sequencing, theme and story elements.
The main reading strategies required for reading comprehension are the following: making predictions, asking questions, summarizing, visualizing, making connections , monitoring comprehension and inferring.
