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5 Types of Reading Comprehension

5 Levels of Reading Comprehension To really understand the dierent levels of

reading comprehension, let's take a familiar text and see how dierent types of

uestions pro!e dierent understandings of the same story"

 The fairy tale Cinderella tells the story of a young girl, whose evil stepmother won't

let her go to the !all" Cinderalla's fairy godmother, however, magically whisks her

o for the night and Cinderella eventually marries her #rince Charming"

Lexical Comprehension$ %nderstanding key voca!ulary words in a text"

Leveled readers are written in a way that too many !ig words are not used on the

same page" &n addition, if an unfamiliar word is used, it is generally explained withinthe same sentence or with a denition !ox in the margin" (lso, words with multiple

meanings may make it di)cult for a less experienced reader to truly understand

what is meant"

&f the word *enchanted* was used in the story, ask the child to dene it for you"

Remem!er, denitions can !egin as a series of examples, where the child identies

a common element !etween them" (lso, sometimes it's !etter to introduce a new

voca!ulary word !efore you read"

Literal Comprehension$ (nswers the uestions +ho, +hat, +hen, and +here with

information found directly in the text"

+ho was the girl who lost the glass slipper

+hat happened when the clock struck twelve

&nterpretive Comprehension$ (nswers the uestions +hat if, +hy, and -ow !y

inferring information from the text"

-ow did the pumpkin turn into a carriage

+hat would have happened if Cinderella hadn't lost her slipper

(pplied Comprehension$ (nswers opinion uestions or uestions that have the

reader relate the new information to !ackground knowledge"

.o you think Cinderella was wrong for going to the !all after her stepmother told

her she couldn't

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(ective Comprehension$ %nderstanding the social and emotional aspects of a text"

&f a child does not grasp why certain characters in a story may respond in a certain

manner, they get lost in the words and the plot"

-ow did Cinderella feel when she went to live at the castle

+hile most children will answer *happy* or *excited* to this uestion, some children

will say *sad*, revealing a deeper appreciation for interpersonal and family

dynamics than you may have expected"