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                                                                         A Guest asks about.....

     Reading Comprehension

      "What are the levels of comprehension?"


That's a important question.  Thank you for asking.

"Levels of comprehension" refers to types of comprehension questions.  The term "levels" developed when researchers began examining the questions that were being asked in reading texts.  They found that they were predominantly all one "level" - literal questions, such as "What was the dog's favorite food?",  "What was the main character's brother's name?" 

In an attempt to rememdy this, reading instructors looked at different taxonomies for thinking from the realm of psychology, the most popular being Bloom's Taxonomy.  These taxonomies incorporate the thought that some types of thoughts require "higher level thinking," than other types.  For example, remembering a fact is thinking at a lower level than judging between two different facts.

When I teach graduate students who are becoming reading specialists, I choose to emphasize that in reading comprehension, one type of question is not "higher" or better than another.  They're all important.  When a student is learning about the life style chimps, pure facts matter, and will probaly appear on any test he/she takes on chimps.  However, just remembering facts is not enough.

Below an adapted version of my favorite taxonomy.   I find this one helps teachers/parents the most when it comes to asking questions of differing levels, or types.  To make it easy for teachers and parents to think-up questions of all levels on the spot, I've written "scripts" for each type.  For example, if you want to ask a question at the analysis level, you could ask, "Do you think____________ should have done that?  Why?"   Framing the question with words like that will require the reader to think in a way that is unique for that "level". 

When checking a reader's comprehension by asking questions, the goal is to ask questions of all types.  Think of it like giving the reader a mind-workout.  You wouldn't want to just exercise you arms over and over again.  In the same way, we don't want to ask the same type of question over and over.  We want to make the reader think about what they have read in multiple ways, and that's what "levels of comprehension" is all about!

Here is my adaptation of a popular taxonomy.  Give it a try, and please let me know how it works for you.

1.  Memory:a.  facts - ask literal questions from the text
b. definitions - check knowledge of word meanings

2.  Translation: a.  definitions:  check for understanding of phrases, idioms, figurative                                                         language, metaphors and similies

3.  Interpretation:     a.  inference:  "Why do you think that happened?" 
                                                                       "What do you think will happen next?" 
                                                     Ask for text-based evidence from the reader to support their
                                                     answers.
b. cause and effect:   "Why did _____ happen?" 
  "Why did the boy_____?"
                                               "When she did ____________, what happened?"
c. comparision:  "How is _________like ________?"   
  "Compare ______with ___________."
"  Is ___________the same as ________ today?"

4.  Ayalysis:a.  Analyzing a character or a situaion in the story, and personally evaluating                                             them/it: 
"What words can you think of to describe    Sally's  dad     ?" 
                                                            "Would  you  like   Billy    for a friend? Why or why not?"
                                                             "Do you think     Jane       should have done that?  Why or my
not?"

5.  Synthesisa.  Ask the reader to put themself in the story:
  "If you were the hen, what would you do?"

6.  Application:    a.  Think of an incident that happened in the story, a lesson, or a point that
                                            was being made in the reading material and ask the reader to apply it to
                                            apply it to their life:
  "Have you ever asked for someone's help and
                                                                 they refused, like what happened to           ?   How
    did you feel?  What did you do?"
   "Have you ever not been invited to a birthday
     party like what happened to __________?  How 
     did you feel?"

7. Evaluation:a.  Ask the reader to evaluate conclusions drawn by the author, to
(of the author's         examine the author's facts and his/her use of persuasive  language           writing )                                 and their writing craft.
      "How would you change the story?
      "What did the author do well?  What would improve it?"
"What do you like/dislike about this author's writing style?"
                                            "Do you want to read more from this author?"

8.  Summarization:a.  Have the child summarize what they read.