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Summary
The act of both reading and understanding a text is called comprehension. In this summary, you will learn how to develop your comprehension skills so you can read and fully understand a text.
When you read a piece of writing and can show that you understand the text, either by talking about it or responding correctly to questions, this is known as comprehension. Comprehension is a skill you use regularly, for example, when you look at the timetable at a bus stop or read a recipe before cooking.
Actively using the facts given in a text and engaging in thinking, based on conventions of its genre and any other clues, is necessary to fully understand a text. To do this, first read the text, make sense of what is written and ask yourself some questions to check you've understood what the text is saying.
This is an example of a very simple text, followed by a question to test your comprehension.
'The fox is wearing a light blue waistcoat, a light blue hat and round glasses.' |  |
What colour waistcoat is the fox wearing?
If you gave the answer 'The fox is wearing a light blue waistcoat' then you are showing your reading comprehension skills, well done!
Note: With longer paragraphs, pages or even books of writing, comprehension can get more challenging because of the extra details.
Using inference
Making predictions about a text
Summarising a text
FAQs
Question: When is comprehension used?
Answer: Comprehension is a skill you use regularly, for example, when you look at the timetable at a bus stop or read a recipe before cooking.
Question: How can I practice my comprehension skills?
Answer: You can improve your comprehension by reading a text, making sense of what is written and asking yourself some questions to check you've understood what the text is saying.
Question: What is comprehension?
Answer: Comprehension is the act of both reading and understanding a text.
Theory
Exercises
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