UNIT 3

Reading Comprehension

Comprehension is the process of making meaning from a written text. Typically, a candidate might have difficulty understanding due to limited vocabulary and/or a lack of familiarity with the subject matter. Both these constraints may be remedied by reading more widely and making friends with a good dictionary.

Reading is all about information. It’s not about the number of words you read, but the amount of value you extract from them. The key to improved reading comprehension isn’t moving your eyes across a page more quickly. It’s about creating a mental framework that helps you process words and ideas.

With a bit of practice, anyone can read faster and more productively. The steps outlined below will help you to extract the maximum amount of information in the least amount of time.

Before reading the text, ask yourself what you already know about its topic. Try to recall as much information as you can. Think of related ideas you’ve learned in the past. Make brief notes about your thoughts or discuss what you remember with others. Reading comprehension requires motivation, mental frameworks for holding ideas, concentration and good study techniques. Here are some suggestions.

WHAT IS READING COMPREHENSION ?

Interestingly, Reading Comprehension is an activity your brain is constantly engaged in. Whatever you do is reading Comprehension for brain. e.g. Reading newspaper, watching billboards on roadside, watching TV, talking with a person, listening to music etc. If I have confused you a bit then let me make some explanations. Reading a newspaper is obviously reading comprehension you would have understood. We read the news printed on the paper, we understand what it means, we analyse the news for ourselves, by which I mean, sometimes we agree or disagree with the opinion expressed in the newspaper article. If it is a report we select the useful portion of news and store it in our memory to be used later. We like or dislike the subject chosen by the writer, sometimes we are made to think or question our beliefs or mindset by some articles, this is data analysis, then we remember what seems important or useful to us in the newspaper and forget much of the news in the paper everyday.

The same procedure happens even when you are watching hoarding on the roadside. The advertisements are the data for your brain. It is raw information that your brain understands and processes. Remember how many times you say after watching an Ad, “Oh, this is not real”, “Oh! does it happen this way, I didn’t know that”, “This is a good Ad”. All of the above reactions when studied closely are a judgment, fact-collection, opinion formation.

You don’t remember everything about every Ad, only the part, appealing to you finds a place in your memory. This is Data Selection. Same for watching TV and listening to music, your mind reads information, comprehends it, processes it, selects the useful section and stores it for future, rejects the useless part. So, to make Reading Comprehension easy.

The entire process of Reading Comprehension could be divided into 7 simple steps. But here is a need for a reckenor. Though reading comprehension is what our brain practices all the time yet we do not always perform very well when attempting a reading comprehension question, why ?

Because what the brain does is at an ordinary simplistic level and we are unaware of even that. But what is required of an aspiring students is a conscious, skilful, determined effort to master the art of reading comprehension.

Lets illustrate all the seven steps involved in Reading Compression describing what we ordinarily do and what are the special concepts a students should keep in mind while attempting the Reading Comprehension section with some useful tips.

STEP 1: Read the Data

Reading is the obvious important prerequisite of the RC section. How well you read, in what manner do you read a given passage, would determine the level of your comprehension and consequently the analysis of information.

WHAT is the RIGHT way of READING ?

As I have mentioned before that all of us are constantly engaged in the process of reading information from our surroundings. Only we do not do it skillfully in the right direction. This is what a student has to practice doing to read everything rightly. HOW? Even an apparently simple process of reading involves many factors that affect the output of reading. How intelligently can you mould these factors will, in turn, improve the quality of reading. These factors are:

• Subject of data
• Interest areas of the reader
• Concentration span of the reader
• Reading speed
• Retaining capacity
• Reading Aptitude

1. SUBJECT OF DATA

It is proven by research that our brains or brains of different people do not respond to different kinds of data in a similar manner or to a similar extent. Just like we all have our area of expertise, I might know a lot about space science while your knowledge of Automobile may be vast. On the other hand, my idea of latest cars, engines and their power may be meagre and you may find yourself fumbling if questioned about planetary movements, composition of stars etc. This is a reflection of reading habits. Ordinarily, we do selective reading, e.g; while reading a newspaper many students are used to skipping the Business news and jumping straight to sports page while many others simply refuse to look at the editorial page and drool all over the page 3 or entertainment section. Whereas reading has many advantages. It is neither feasible nor advisable for a student to read everything available on all topics under the sun. But it is important, nevertheless, for you to have some basic knowledge about most subjects. This will:

Improve your general awareness,

Boost your confidence,

Sharpen your analytical skills because you would be able to use information from different sections and even do a comparative study, if needed, it will also.

Improve your thinking skills because as the quantity of facts will increase, you will be pushed to think about all of them. In this manner you will improve many of your skills, not just one. Also, one should not forget that as a manager one needs to know about not just one field but many. Marketing requires more than just the knowledge of specific sector.

2. Interest of Reader

This factor is closely connected to the first factor. In fact, it is this factor that chiefly decides the subjects we choose to read about. Just like all fingers in a hand are not of the same size, our interest in every field cannot be of the same level. This is why we choose certain fields and eliminate others. e.g; while walking on the road, if there is a large poster of a bike newly launched in market, it is more likely that a teenage or a young boy would stop by to read the details about the bike rather than a girl who would probably stop by to read information on Jewellery or garments ranges. This is just difference of interests. This is the difference that decides the store of one’s knowledge. Ordinarily, it is alright for a person to seek information about one feels drawn to the area of his/her interest. But a student should develop a habit of arousing an interest in different kind of fields equally.

3. Concentration of Reader

Not only in reading but any task to be executed requires concentration. But reading requires it more. So, most students from primary to senior level are heard complaining about lack of concentration as the reason for their poor performance. It has become a popular belief that concentration is naturally endowed on people and so some students have great concentration while others remain restless and cannot concentrate properly. Contrary to the popular belief, the truth is that even concentration can be achieved through effort.

Before I go on telling you the importance of effective concentration and how you can achieve it. I will tell you an incident from the life of a boy who grew to become the president of our Nation.

A lonely boy was sitting under a street light with his books because there was no electricity at his home and candles were too expensive to be afforded. He was engrossed in his reading when a man came up to him and asked him that a marriage procession (a baraat) had just passed from that road. How long had it been since it passed? The boy answered he didn’t know if any procession passed from there. He was reading with such concentration that even a loud procession could not distract his attention. This person is, indeed, an inspiration for all of us. And you must find out the name of this boy.

Coming back to ‘Concentration’ scientifically a human brain is not tuned to keep itself associated with a particular object for long time and that is why many of us face concentration problems. But these problems are easy to handle also. From usual experience you would know that while reading data of your interest, your mind exhibits more concentration. Why can you sit through a movie with complete concentration but not your maths book or even a newspaper for that matter? Because things that you find entertaining, stimulate your brain in a manner, which is positive and, hence, you achieve higher level of concentration. Here again we see the first two factors affecting the third. If you develop interest in many subjects, your concentration will automatically increase. But there is a hitch, you can improve concentration by increasing interest and you can increase interest by reading more. But if you have poor concentration then you con not read more.

4. Reading speed

From a competitive point of view, ‘Time is money’ The faster you read, the more time you will have for comprehension and analysis. If you have followed the first three factors carefully then you will realise that your reading speed will improve greatly itself. But you must keep in mind certain points while trying to read fast. Often what students do is, in their attempt to read fast, they increase the speed of reading words without trying to either understand or retain the information. Remember

Reading Comprehension = Reading + Comprehension. You must read at a fast speed but not at the cost of comprehension because in that case you’ll have to read the passage again and, therefore, the time you saved by reading fast will be consumed in re-reading.

5. Retaining capacity

This is the most important part of Reading. If a student is able to read well, read with concentration, read fast and not able to retain useful information of the data then all is lost. A good reader needs not come back to the passage again and again to look for answers. The first reading of this passage should, therefore, be done with much care and attention so that the reader retains most of the matter.

You can follow some simple steps to improve your retaining capability. Every time you read a passage, made a mental note of the following:

• Title of the passage
• Basic theme of the passage
• The positions that the passage take or the points that the passage makes
• Conclusion of the passage.

6. Reading Aptitude

Reading Aptitude is different from reading skills. The points and factors discussed up till now, constitute reading skill and are regarding the manner you read. Reading Aptitude is what gives an upper edge to a student in the RC section or even otherwise if developed properly.

What is Reading Aptitude?

By reading aptitude, we mean the approach that you take while reading a passage or reading anything. The mindset with which you read it and what is your motive or expectation from the passage. Simply put, Reading aptitude is what do you want from reading. If you approach a reading piece only for the purpose of reading, it to collect facts to add to your existing store of knowledge or only as a practice to improve your reading speed or merely as an examination exercise you would not receive the same results as you will if you read the passage with a different attitude. Consider every piece of written information as a prospective useful draft.

Begin with the rule of WIIFM – what’s in it for me. Once you have used your wisdom to decide if the passage is worth reading. Approach the passage as a mystery novel. There are hidden clues you must look for. From the beginning stay a careful, clever reader. Remember the first reading itself should give you all you may need to have from a passage.

If there are facts in the passage, quickly decide, as you read, which of these are important enough to be memorized and memorize them.

If there is an argument in the passage, keep trail of how the argument proceeds and what are the different evidences offered.

In such a passage, as you read, involve your mind with the passage and form an opinion about the argument.

If a passage is about philosophy offering a philosophical perspective as you read, form a short summary of the philosophical theory in simple words.

If the essay describes a process or an event, then as you read on, form a chain of events in your mind.

STEP 2: Comprehension of Data

Comprehension follows reading and simply put-means understanding the passage. But there are different categories of compositions and the time of comprehension for each would principally vary. Nevertheless, there are some basic principles one must keep in mind while attempting to comprehend a passage.

To make comprehension easy, follow the paragraph division of the passage.

As you read each paragraph, mark the important points stated in the paragraph.

When you have read the passage once, decide onto the basic theme of the passage.

Quickly Re-read the marked section of each paragraph and form a basic argument skeleton of the passage in your mind.

Do not make reading a one way process, rather treat it as a dialogue

Keep your brain actively involved in reading. Treat the passage as if its writer is talking to you. Make it move like a discussion, respond to what is being said in the passage. In this manner your comprehension level will increase greatly.

If you do not understand a word, do not panic, you can make out the meaning of the word by fitting it into the larger sense of the sentence, similarly, if you don’t understand a phrase, try to fit it into the argument of the paragraph to ascertain its meaning.

In case the subject of the paragraph is completely new to you, you must proceed with more care and cleverness. Approach the passage with confidence and an open mind. Do not get taken aback by field-specific jargon, these big and difficult sounding words would not affect your understanding of the composition much.

STEP 3: Data Analysis

Data Analysis is the most important step of Reading comprehension. It is the stage where you analyse the read and comprehended data to find the answers for questions asked in the exercise to Reading comprehension.

Step 4: By Data Selection

By Data Selection we mean choosing the important sections of a given passage. As you read a draft, you realise that not every word of it is just as useful. You have to, therefore, choose and retain only those part of the passage that are useful to you. The fillers (information added to fill the gaps in the themes – examples, illustrations etc.) can be ignored. A similar process is done while attempting comprehension when the students were advised to mark the important sections of the passage while reading. So that the student can revisit the passage without wasting any time. Also, in future, or while reading anything you should always select the useful information and store it in your memory so that you can use it later on whenever the need arises.

REFERENCES

• Adair, John. Effective Communication. London: Pan Macmillan Ltd., 2003.
• Ajmani, J. C. Good English: Getting it Right. New Delhi: Rupa Pubications, 2012.
• Amos, Julie-Ann. Handling Tough Job Interviews. Mumbai: Jaico Publishing, 2004.
• Bonet, Diana. The Business of Listening: Third Edition. New Delhi: Viva Books, 2004.
• Bovee, Courtland L, John V. Thill & Barbara E. Schatzman. Business Communication Today: Tenth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2010.