WHAT IS COMPREHENSION?

Some students are able to sound out words although they do not know what
the words mean. In the real sense this is not reading. What the student do is
not reading but word calling. When one reads, there must be comprehension;
otherwise reading does not take place.
Comprehension takes place when there is communication between the
author and the reader. In plain language, it is understanding what the author
has written.
The following are generally considered manifestations of comprehension:
noting details, getting the main idea, inferring, predicting outcomes, drawing
conclusions. Other reading authorities give a longer list of comprehension
sub-skills.
The comprehension subskills when classifies according to the level of
thinking involved, will fall under three (3) levels:

1. Literal (Reading the lines)

2. Inferential (Reading between the lines)
3. Critical (Reading beyond the lines.
Reading on the literal level requires readers to remember or recall facts
explicitly or directly found in the material read.
Inferential reading requires the reader to look for implied information in the
selection.
Critical reading takes place when the reader evaluates the materials read,
gives judgement or opinions on ideas read using his prior knowledge or
background experiences in relation to the information read.

One’s ability to comprehend, therefore, ranges from reproducing the

explicitly stated ideas in the text to producing the mental constructs creatively
and with originality.
NOTING DETAILS

Noting details is a factual type of reading comprehension in which the reader

is directly concerned with remembering items within the passage. This calls
for a relatively slow and exacting type of reading.

What details are supposed to be remembered? Significant details of course!

When are details considered significant or insignificant? The answer to this
leans heavily on the reader’s purpose. A reader who reads an article about
an organization may be very much concerned about details on finances if he
wants to know how financially stable the organization is. On the other hand,
another reader might be meticulously reading the organization’s projects to
find out how relevant they are to national development goals. If the reader
plans to formulate a generalization, he remembers all details necessary to
give factual basis for the generalization. Details therefore are significant only
in relation to the reader’s purpose. In common classroom reading instruction,
details asked for are usually those related to the central thought or theme of
the selection. This implies that in many instances, the purpose of reading a
certain selection is to get its central thought or theme.

POINTERS IN READING FOR DETAILS:

1. Be definite about your purpose in reading a selection. There are times
when you have to read a selection more than once if your purposes
are different every time you read. It is just like viewing a movie more
than once for a number of reasons. Probably, the first time you view it,
you are after the dialogue. The second time, you keep track of the
photography, etc.
2. Read the passage slowly and carefully.
3. Remember the details in relation to ideas you want to remember rather
than as isolated bits of information.
4. Be able to distinguish main or big ideas from sub-ideas. When you
know the main ideas, it is easier to remember supporting details.
NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: ________
WRITTEN WORK: ______________________ SCORE: __________

Read the selection that follows. Answer some questions in the

list. The question call for knowledge of details explicitly stated in
the passage.

Mother’s Day Today

By Carmelita T. Baring
(An excerpt)

Definite and indefinite harder than bearing a child is being a mother.

For motherhood does not end after nine months, but lasts a lifetime.
Because of this, a mother’s work is never done, not even after the
child is grown up and has his own children.

In most families throughout the world, Mother is cook, nanny,

laundress, cleaning-woman, doctor, arbiter, and adviser, among other
things, all rolled into one unsalaried package. In a growing number of
number of households, she is also a career woman and Father’s
business partner.

Believe it or not, after centuries (since Eve) of “doing her thing”

Mother was first honored 75 just years ago in the United States.

A certain Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia, started the crusade

for the celebration of Mother’s Day in honor of her beloved mother.
Miss Jarvis was 41 when her mother died and from thereon spent the
remainder of her life to establish the second Sunday of May as a
memorial to all mothers of the world, living or dead. At 84, she died
penniless and nearly blind, her fortune devoted to her crusade. But
her mission was successful

In 1908, then the American President Woodrow Wilson officially

proclaimed every second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day. Today,
most English and European nations follow the tradition. Asian
countries, including Japan and China, have also adopted the day as
“a special occasion to remember mothers.”

In the Philippines, the lush and lusty month of May bring with its fruits
and flowers the season of harvest and fiestas, Flores de Mayo and
Santacruzan, and the now popular Mother’s Day.

As in other Catholic-populated countries, Mother’s Day in the

Philippines assumes greater significance because it falls on the
month of the Blessed Mother Mary, the paragon of all mothers…

With book launchings, essay-writing contests, theater presentations,

commercial premiums, Mother’s Day movies and other festivities
dizzying one and all, the true spirit of Motherhood is always felt but
sometimes overshadowed. Indeed, whatever the gift, whoever the
giver, wherever the gift-giving takes place, the best way to celebrate
this sentimental day is to be with dear ever-youthful Mom, showering
her with “thank-you” kisses that she deserves and needs. After all,
your mother may have just about the toughest job of all: loving a face
that only she could love.

Source: Bulletin Today

May 8, 1983

A. Write your answers to the following questions.

1. Who started the celebration of Mother’s Day?