DEVELOPMENTAL READING (Finals) Handout No.

Lesson Title: Applied Reading Skills: Comprehension Skills

If you could skim for the topic sentence, scan for specific information, note details, get the main idea,
infer, sense cause and effect relationships, recognize fact and opinion, predict outcomes, then you show the
ability to comprehend. These skills could be classified into three levels: reading the lines or literal
comprehension; reading between the lines or interpretative comprehension; and reading beyond the
lines or critical comprehension.

A. Skimming for the Topic Sentence. To skim, examine the title and headings, read the first
paragraph and last paragraph of the text to find out its main idea. Or you can also read the whole
first paragraph and the first sentence of each of the succeeding paragraphs.

B. Scanning for Important Information. To scan for important information, direct your reading to
specific paragraph where you can locate the answers to your questions or those which your teacher
asks. Read quickly.

C. Noting Details. To note details, read the text slowly, remember items in it, relate them to the topic
sentences of each paragraph or differentiate them from the main ideas the passage conveys.

D. Getting the Main Idea. To get the main idea of the passage, look for the most important thing the
author says or find the central thought of the passage.

E. Inferring. To infer, read between the lines or look for information that is not stated in the text by
relying on clues given by the author.

F. Sensing Cause and Effect Relationships. To sense cause and effect relationships, look for signal
words such as for, thus, as, since, therefore, as a result, consequently, in order that, so that, and
because.
*A cause indicates the reason for something.
*An effect shows the result of some action or cause.

G. Recognizing Fact and Opinion. To recognize fact and opinion, find out if the statement can be
proven true or false and if it expresses attitudes, evaluations, judgments, or even predicts the future
respectively.

H. Predicting Outcomes. To predict outcomes, analyze the events and study their relationships. Then
decide what happens next or make a guess about what you think may happen as a result of several
events.

References:
• Bernardo A. (2013). Developmental Reading 1. REX Bookstores.
• Villanueva, A. and Delos Santos, R. (2018). Developmental Reading 1. LoriMar Publishing Inc.