Levels

of Comprehension
 “Reading is thinking cued by
written language. Effective
readers think within the text.
Effective readers think beyond
the text. Effective readers think
about the text.”
 Making meaning while listening,
speaking, reading, and writing
begins with the mind.
 Readers connect and make
meaning of the text on different
levels to achieve literacy.
Comprehension is the understanding and
interpretation of what is read.
To be able to accurately understand written
material, students must be able to:
a.Decode what they read
b.Make connections between what they
read and what they already know
c.Think deeply about what they have read.
 Readers who have strong comprehension
are able to draw conclusions about what
they read - what is important, what is a
fact, what caused an event to happen, or
which characters are funny. Thus
comprehension involves combining reading
with thinking and reasoning.
 Levels of Comprehension
LEVEL ONE: LITERAL
COMPREHENSION
o Literal – what is actually stated.
• Facts and details
• Rote learning and memorization
• Surface understanding only
o Involves understanding of explicit ideas and
information.
o To verify one’s understanding on this level,
recalling of ideas or identifying main ideas
and details is used.
 Levels of Comprehension
LEVEL TWO: INTERPRETIVE
COMPREHENSION
o Interpretive – what is implied or meant,
rather that what is actually stated.
• Drawing inferences
• Tapping into prior knowledge/experience
• Attaching new learning to old
information
• Reading between the lines to determine
what is meant by what is stated.
 Levels of Comprehension
LEVEL TWO: INTERPRETIVE
COMPREHENSION
oMeans that the reader is able to make
inferences, draw conclusions, and
predict outcomes from information not
directly stated.
 Levels of Comprehension
LEVEL THREE: APPLIED COMPREHENSION
o In this level we are:
• Analyzing information
• Synthesizing information and;
• Applying it to other information

o The reader is able to relate one’s

experiences to provide an evaluation.