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been read. It is an active process that depends not only on comprehension skill, but also on the reader’s experiences and prior knowledge.
Nutal 1996: 168-169 states that the central ideas behind reading are: the idea of meaning, the transfer of meaning from one to another, the
transfer of message from writer to reader, how we get meaning by reading and how the reader, the writer, and the text all contribute to the process.
Another definition is proposed by Harris and Hodge in Fresch 2008: 83 who state that “reading comprehension is the construction of
meaning of a written communication through a reciprocal, holistic interchange of ideas between the interpreter and the message in particular
context”.
Klingner, et al. 2007: 2 state that “reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning by coordinating a number of complex
processes that include word reading, word and world knowledge, and fluency”.
Paris 2005: 20 states “subtests of reading comprehension are entities like finding main ideas, selecting details, determining word
meanings, drawing conclusions, determining cause-effect relations, and distinguishing fact from opinion”.
Davis in Paris 2005: 20-21 reviewed the literature describing reading comprehension as a construct and found several hundred skills
mentioned. Then, he sorted them into nine categories, such as: 1 Word meanings; 2 Word meanings in context; 3 Answer specific text-based
questions; 4 Main thought; 5 Follow passage organization; 6 Text- based questions with paraphrase; 7 Draw inferences about content; 8
Authors purpose; and 9 Literary devices.
3. Levels of Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is considered to occur at four levels of complexity. These levels are often referred to as literal level, inferential
level, critical level, and creative level. a.
Literal level At the literal level, the basic facts are understood, for example, knowing
that the lady’s name is Miss Chow; she lives in an apartment on the 10th floor; her neighbors are noisy; she has complained to the landlord
before. This information is contained explicitly within the text.
b. Inferential level
At the inferential level, the reader is able to go beyond what is written on the page and add meaning or draw conclusions. For example, Miss
Chow believes that her landlord will tell the neighbors to be less noisy, that he will sort the matter out for her. It can also be inferred that things
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may not improve even if the landlord does complain. The reader also gathers that the landlord is becoming a little frustrated or irritated by
Miss Chow’s complaints.
c. Critical level
At the critical level, the reader assesses the good sense of what he or she is reading, its clarity, accuracy, and any apparent exaggeration or bias.
For example, when Miss Chow’s landlord offers her a different apartment on the 18th floor and says it is the best apartment, with the
best view of the harbor, the reader knows he could be exaggerating. Critical and inferential reading together probably make the reader feel
that moving up to the 18
th
floor may not suit Miss Chow and it is not a good solution.
d. Creative level
At the creative level, the reader can take information or ideas from what has been read and develop new ideas from them. The creative level
stimulates the reader to new and original thinking. For example, the reader comes to understand that landlords should write a clause in their
leasing agreement to say that if the tenant makes noise and the landlord receives complaints, the tenant will be asked to leave within one week.
The reader might also be able to suggest other ways of dealing with Miss Chow’s problem; or might write a short story indicating what
happens next time Miss Chow is disturbed by her neighbors Smith in Peter, 2001: 21-22.
4. Microskills and Macroskills for Reading Comprehension
