LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd notes
Unit 5 – Developing proficiency in written Comprehension and Production
Prepared by
Sabarish P
Levels of reading
Reading comprehension involves two levels of processing, shallow (low-level) processing and deep (high-level) processing. Deep processing involves semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words. Shallow processing involves structural and phonemic recognition, the processing of sentence and word structure and their associated sounds. This theory was first identified by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart.
The Three Levels of reading Comprehension
The Literal Level (reading on the line)
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.
Reading for Understanding & Remembering
Find meaning directly in the text
Mentally answer the questions “Who?” “What?” “When?” and “Where?”
The Interpretive/inferential Level (reading between the lines)
The interpretive/inferential 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 author's intent and message. Guiding students to recognize these perceived relationships promotes understanding and decreases the risk of being overwhelmed by the complexities of the text being viewed, heard or read.
Reading for Applying & Analyzing
Readers interpret what is in the text
Key concerns are:
What does the passage represent, suggest, or personify?
What does a certain allusion or metaphor mean?
You are analyzing, interpreting, classifying, comparing, contrasting and finding patterns.
The Thematic Level (reading beyond the line)
Understandings at the literal and interpretive levels are combined, reorganized and restructured at the thematic level to express opinions, draw new insights and develop fresh ideas. Guiding students through the applied level shows them how to synthesize information, to read beyond the lines and to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts, principles and implications presented in the text.
Evaluating & Creating
Readers move beyond the text to connect literature to their own experiences as well as with universal meaning.
“How does this text connect with my life?”
“How does it connect to life for all people?”
“How does it connect with my ideas about morality or values?”
What perceptions about life in general is the author communicating to me?”
“What do I think of these perceptions?”
The 4 levels of reading comprehension
Literal - The literal level deals with understanding and absorbing facts,
Inferential - The interpretive level concerns underlying implications,
Applied - The applied level focuses on translating topics into real-world situations
Evaluative/Appreciative- The appreciative level looks at the reader's response based on personal feelings.
Skills required in the reading process
scanning from left to right
recognising words and understanding punctuation marks
interpreting the written word aloud or internally at a pace suitable for comprehending the text
creating meaningful units from words and
combinations of words, and following long and maybe complicated sentences that may involve
self-correcting, re-reading, and guessing from contextual clues
following the sequence of ideas and retaining meaning
connecting new meanings with what is known already.
Prepared by
Sabarish P
