READING COMPREHENSION

1. What is Reading Comprehension

1.1. Reading comprehension is the process of making meaning from text. The goal,

1.2. therefore, is to gain an overall understanding of what is described in the text rather

1.3. than to obtain meaning from isolated words or sentences. In understanding read text

1.4. Mental Modelling

1.5. While reading, skilled readers normally develop a text-based model, which is a mental representation of the actual text discourse. The text-based model incorporates propositions extracted from the reading of successive sentences that are sometimes supplemented by inferences that are necessary to make the text more coherent.

2. Comprehension: A Cognitive Process

2.1. As comprehension involves the interaction of a wide range of cognitive skills

2.2. and processes, there are many occasions where difficulties arise that may lead to

2.3. comprehension failure during reading. the

2.4. ability to derive meaning is normally enhanced when there is a reduction in the

2.5. cognitive load of a reader’s working memory, and the reader can decode the words

2.6. and phrases fluently and bring meaning to the unfamiliar vocabulary encountered