sometimes stated in the text directly. Thus, at the literal comprehension level, the readers are at the most basic of levels.
According to Carnine, Silbert and Kameenui cited in Schieffer, Marchand- Martella, Martella and Simonsen 2008:19, literal comprehension is seen as the first
level of comprehension. It is the simplest form of locating information in texts because the information is stated directly in the text. Questions assessing literal
comprehension skills examine how well students can identify and understand information that is directly stated in a text. They add that by literal comprehension,
the students recall relevant information explicitly stated in the reading selection by: 1.
Identifying the order of events or a specific event from a sequence of events
2. Identifying a statement that best indicates the main idea.
3. Identifying details such as key words, phrases that explicitly state
important characters, times or place. 4.
Identifying directly-stated opinions. 5.
Identifying directly-stated facts e.g., actions or events, names of characters, places or things in the text, etc.
b. Inferential Comprehension Level
At the inferential comprehension level, the focus shifts to reading between the lines, looking at what is implied by the material under study. In this level, the
students can easily get the specific information which is implied in the text. Especially in finding specific information on narrative text sometime the students get
confused with the extrinsic of the story which is implied implicitly such as the theme of the story, the plot of the story, the point of view and the moral value which can be
adapted in the students’ daily life. According to College of William Mary, Department of Education cited in UKEssay 2013, through inferential
comprehension which focused on the implicit information can facilitate the students in finding it. Inferential comprehension is frequently explained as ability to read
between the lines. In order for inferential comprehension to occur, students should
know how to combine the factual contents in the text with their prior knowledge, insights and mind’s eye to create premises.
Kispal 2008:3 provides evidences that there are preconditions that are needed in order for students to make inference. First, students should be active
participants in reading. Being an active reader is considered to be a major precondition for students in making inference. Second, students who are actively
engaged in their reading process continuously check their understanding because they usually do not permit inconsistencies abandoned that occur while reading.
Similarly, according to Cain, Oakhill and Bryant 2004:35, students who are capable of comprehension may create inference more compared to those who are less
capable. Therefore, it is important to develop these preconditions in order for the students to be successful in inferential comprehension. Reminding how to find
specific information in narrative text which often either implicitly or explicitly is little bit confusing, the students can use this inferential comprehension to ease them in
gaining the supporting information. The information which can be gained in this inferential comprehension is the
theme of the text. In narrative text, the students cannot judge directly the theme by reading the title only, because the theme itself sometimes occurred implicitly from the
text. A narrative text always relates to a moral value in human’s daily life. It means by applying this inferential comprehension, the students may be able to recognize
from the story which is caused from the characters. And the last but not least, the students can predict by themselves how the story will end after reading the climax of
the story. It can facilitate the students drawing conclusion and predicting outcomes. Based on the explanations above, it is clear that inferential comprehension is
basically important to understand what the students read and find the specific information presented implicitly. Corcerning that inferential level is more crucial than
literal level in gaining the information, the students may apply Predict, Locate, Add, and Note PLAN strategy.
2.3 Reading Comprehension Achievement
