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d. Background Experience
Those who have limited experiences with words in the number of setting will have difficulty with comprehension in general because
of their low level of schemata . Besides, Baker and Brown 1985: 32 in Muhtar 2010: 11 the ability to grasp the logical organization of the
text is firmly rooted in the reader’s prior knowledge of the world. If a reader does not have the relevant background information, it may be
difficult or imposible for him to detect the logical organization of the text being read. It can be said that efficient comprehension requires the
ability to relate the textual material to the reader’s existing or prior knowledge.
6. The Level of Reading Comprehension
In reading passage, the readers must know the levels of comprehension as Heilman 1981: 246 in Robiah 2009: 15 classifies
reading comprehension into three levels. They are: 1 literal comprehension: 2 interpretive comprehension; and 3 critical
comprehension. The three levels of reading comprehension will be described briefly, as follows:
a. Literal Comprehension
Literal comprehension is level which includes understanding the ideas and information explicitly stated in the passage, the abilities
in the knowledge of word meaning, recalling of details directly stated
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or paraphrased in own words, understanding of grammatical verbs, pronouns, conjunction, and so forth, recalling main idea explicitly
stated and knowledge of sequence of information presented in passage.
b. Interpretive Comprehension
Interpretive comprehension is a level which concerns with understanding of ideas and information which is not stated in the
passage explicitly. In this level, the reader must present their understanding about the author’s tone, purpose and attitude, infer
factual information, main ideas, comparison, cause-effect relationship which is not explicitly stated in the passage and summarization of
story content. c.
Critical Comprehension Critical comprehension is a level which includes analizing ,
evaluating, and personally reacting to information offered in a passage. In this level, the readers must have some abilities, for
example; reacting to information in a passage personally, indicating its meaning to the reader , analyzing and evaluating the quality of
written information. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that reading
comprehension is the core of reading activity. It means that comprehending a text in order to convey the meaning is influential
factor to the success of reading process. The process of
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comprehending involves decoding the writer’s words and then using background knowledge to construct and approximate understanding of
the writer’s message. If a reader does not have the relevant background information, it may be difficult or imposible for him to
detect the logical organization of the text being read. To be able to achieve the purposes of reading comprehension,
the readers must know the level of comprehension the aspects of reading comprehension. They are literal, interpretive, and critical
comprehension. The indicators of literal comprehension are to know the information explicitly stated in passage and to know word
meaning . The indicators of interpretive comprehension are to know the information implicitly, to present their understanding about the
author’s tone, purpose and attitude general idea and mean idea, and to infer factual information from the text word reference. In critical
comprehension, the readers must have the ability to analize and evaluate the information from the text. In this research, the researcher
will limit the aspects of reading comprehension, literal and interpretive comprehension.
7. 10 Strategies for Reading Comprehension
