CRITICAL LEVEL OF COMPREHENSION

Reading critically does not, necessarily, mean being critical of what you read.

Both reading and thinking critically don’t mean being ‘critical’ about some idea,
argument, or piece of writing - claiming that it is somehow faulty or flawed.

Critical reading means engaging in what you read by asking yourself questions such as,
‘what is the author trying to say?’ or ‘what is the main argument being presented?’

Critical reading involves presenting a reasoned argument that evaluates and analyses
what you have read. Being critical, therefore - in an academic sense - means
advancing your understanding, not dismissing and therefore closing off learning.

To read critically is to exercise your judgement about what you are reading – that is, not
taking anything you read at face value.

When reading academic material you will be faced with the author’s interpretation and
opinion. Different authors will, naturally, have different slants. You should always
examine what you are reading critically and look for limitations, omissions,
inconsistencies, oversights and arguments against what you are reading.

In academic circles, whilst you are a student, you will be expected to understand
different viewpoints and make your own judgements based on what you have read.

Critical reading goes further than just being satisfied with what a text says, it also
involves reflecting on what the text describes, and analysing what the text actually
means, in the context of your studies.

Literal comprehension is the foundation for critical and inferential comprehension; to go

beyond the text, you must first understand the text. An effective reader thinks critically
about text. Critical comprehension is more than evaluating the quality of the text or
stating an opinion about it. Critical comprehension requires readers to make judgments
about what they are reading based on an evaluation of several text-grounded factors,
such as the quality of the writing, the determination that it is fact not opinion, the
objectivity of the author, and whether the text is believable.

Critical comprehension concerns itself with why the author says what he or she says.
This high level of comprehension requires the reader to use some external criteria from
his/her own experience in order to evaluate the quality, values of the writing, the
author’s reasoning, simplifications, and generalizations. The reader will react
emotionally and intellectually with the material. Because everyone's life experiences are
varied.

Third Level Critical Comprehension = why the author says what he or she says. Finally,
the third level of comprehension is critical reading whereby ideas and information are
evaluated. Critical evaluation occurs only after our students have understood the ideas
and information that the writer has presented.

This high level of comprehension requires the reader to use some external criteria from
his/her own experience in order to evaluate the quality, values of the writing, the
author’s reasoning, simplifications, and generalizations. The reader will react
emotionally and intellectually with the material. Because everyone's life experiences are
varied, answers to some of the following questions will vary: Could this possibly

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happen? Is this argument logical? What alternatives are there? Is this a fact or an
opinion? Do you agree or disagree with the author? What is the best solution to this
problem? To conclude, literal, inferential and critical comprehensive reading is what
makes a skilled, strong reader. This skill must be learned and developed. It does not
just happen. With that thought in mind, it has also been shown that strong readers make
good writers. Sustained exposure to the English language does allow for an expanded
vocabulary and knowledge of correct grammar usage. When this is combined with
literal, inferential and critical reading experiences, it enables writers to better express
themselves.

As a critical reader you should reflect on:

 What the text says: after critically reading a piece you should be able to take
notes, paraphrasing - in your own words - the key points.
 What the text describes: you should be confident that you have understood the
text sufficiently to be able to use your own examples and compare and contrast
with other writing on the subject in hand.
 Interpretation of the text: this means that you should be able to fully analyse the
text and state a meaning for the text as a whole.

What does it take to be a critical reader? There are a variety of answers available to this
question; here are some suggested steps:

1. Prepare to become part of the writer's audience.

After all, authors design texts for specific audiences, and becoming a member of the
target audience makes it easier to get at the author's purpose. Learn about the author,
the history of the author and the text, the author's anticipated audience; read
introductions and notes.

2. Prepare to read with an open mind.

Critical readers seek knowledge; they do not "rewrite" a work to suit their own
personalities. Your task as an enlightened critical reader is to read what is on the page,
giving the writer a fair chance to develop ideas and allowing yourself to reflect
thoughtfully, objectively, on the text.

3. Consider the title.

This may seem obvious, but the title may provide clues to the writer's attitude, goals,
personal viewpoint, or approach.

4. Read slowly.

Again, this appears obvious, but it is a factor in a "close reading." By slowing down, you
will make more connections within the text.

5. Use the dictionary and other appropriate reference works.

If there is a word in the text that is not clear or difficult to define in context: look it up.
Every word is important, and if part of the text is thick with technical terms, it is doubly
important to know how the author is using them.

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6. Make notes.

Jot down marginal notes, underline and highlight, write down ideas in a notebook, do
whatever works for your own personal taste. Note for yourself the main ideas, the
thesis, the author's main points to support the theory. Writing while reading aids your
memory in many ways, especially by making a link that is unclear in the text concrete in
your own writing.

7. Keep a reading journal

In addition to note-taking, it is often helpful to regularly record your responses and

thoughts in a more permanent place that is yours to consult. By developing a habit of
reading and writing in conjunction, both skills will improve.

Critical reading means being able to reflect on what a text says, what it describes and
what it means by scrutinising the style and structure of the writing, the language used as
well as the content.

At this level, students can be tested on the following skills:

 The ability to differentiate between facts and opinions.

 The ability to recognize persuasive statements.

 The ability to judge the accuracy of the information given in the text.

Inference
In some cases, information will not be explicitly stated but will be implied or
inferred. Inference, or inferring, means that you must go beyond what the author has
explicitly stated in a passage and look for those details that are implied or hinted
(thinking beyond the text) and thinking what it means to you. Inference is another word
for conclusion. When you infer something, you base your conclusion on information that
is implied, but not explicitly stated. You make inferences from clues within a reading
passage that lead you to draw certain conclusions.

The Reading test will test your ability to draw conclusions about what an author is
implying. In such cases, look at the examples and ideas that the author has provided in
the text. Connect the text to your own personal experiences. Examine the author’s
attitude expressed in the text. Chances are that you will infer what the author is
implying. Also, use your general sense about the topic to infer meaning.

To answer inference questions on the Reading exam, you need to look beyond what is
explicitly presented in a reading passage. In other words, you need to read between the
lines.

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Attitude
An author might have a certain attitude, such as enthusiasm, compassion, defensive, or
critical, toward the subject. You can discern an author’s attitude toward a particular
subject through the contents and words of a reading passage. Notice strong words and
their effect on meaning. Watch for sentences that are short and precise.

When presented with an attitude question such as, “The author’s attitude toward the
subject is best described as,” look for key words or phrases in the reading passage.
Words such as successfully and fortunately indicate a positive attitude, whereas words
such as inadequate and ineffective indicate a negative attitude.

Fact Versus Opinion

Be prepared to encounter test questions that require you to determine which statements
from a passage are fact and which ones are opinion. You should consider the author’s
qualifications to write on this particular topic as well as the date of the publication.

Factual statements are those that can be proven. Opinions, on the other hand, are
those statements that describe how someone thinks or feels about a particular topic and
therefore cannot be proven. You can look for various context clues to help determine
whether a statement is a fact or an opinion. Statements that are opinions will often
contain words such as think and feel, whereas factual statements will not include any
ambiguous words that can be interpreted to mean different things by a reader.

Example:

Global warming does not exist. (George Bush, 1950)

This statement was written in 1950, so the recency of the information would be in
question, and the author is not an expert in the field of climate change.

Evidence
A portion of the multiple-choice questions on the Reading test assesses your ability to
evaluate supporting evidence. You may be asked to identify which piece of evidence
supports the argument presented in a reading passage. Conversely, you may be asked
to identify which piece of evidence weakens an argument presented by an author.

To evaluate supporting evidence, you need a clear understanding of the argument

developed by the author in the reading passage. When answering an evidence
question, first ensure that you have a clear idea of the argument presented and then
check each answer provided against the argument. This will help you determine which
statement provides evidence that supports the claim made by the author.

Extending and Predicting

Be prepared to go beyond what is presented in a reading passage when answering
extending or predicting type questions. These questions test your ability to extend
information presented to make predictions about what may occur in the future or
whether the author would agree or disagree with these prediction statements.

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When presented with an extending or predicting question, look for those answers that
are most consistent with the information in the reading passage. Questions are usually
asked based on what you think the author would agree with or recommend as future
action.

Example of extending and predicting:

On the way home from the show, Judy said to her daughter, “I did like the rock concert,
but it was too loud. My ears will be ringing for days!”

From the preceding statement, you can predict that Judy will not attend another rock
concert.

Conclusions
Conclusion type questions test your ability to identify the conclusion based on
information presented in a reading passage. For example, you may be asked to identify
what conclusion, from the list of possible answers, is best supported by the information
in the passage.

When answering conclusion questions, look for those answers that are consistent with
the information in the passage.

7 CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES

1. Previewing: Learning about a text before really reading it.

Previewing enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is
organized before reading it closely. This simple strategy includes seeing what
you can learn from the headnotes or other introductory material, skimming to get
an overview of the content and organization, and identifying the rhetorical
situation.

2. Contextualizing: Placing a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts.

When you read a text, you read it through the lens of your own experience. Your
understanding of the words on the page and their significance is informed by
what you have come to know and value from living in a particular time and place.
But the texts you read were all written in the past, sometimes in a radically
different time and place. To read critically, you need to contextualize, to
recognize the differences between your contemporary values and attitudes and
those represented in the text.

3. Questioning to understand and remember: Asking questions about the content.

As students, you are accustomed (I hope) to teachers asking you questions

about your reading. These questions are designed to help you understand a
reading and respond to it more fully, and often this technique works. When you
need to understand and use new information though it is most beneficial if you
write the questions, as you read the text for the first time. With this strategy, you

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 can write questions any time, but in difficult academic readings, you will
understand the material better and remember it longer if you write a question for
every paragraph or brief section. Each question should focus on a main idea, not
on illustrations or details, and each should be expressed in your own words, not
just copied from parts of the paragraph.

4. Reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values: Examining your personal

responses.

The reading that you do for this class might challenge your attitudes, your
unconsciously held beliefs, or your positions on current issues. As you read a
text for the first time, mark an X in the margin at each point where you feel a
personal challenge to your attitudes, beliefs, or status. Make a brief note in the
margin about what you feel or about what in the text created the challenge. Now
look again at the places you marked in the text where you felt personally
challenged. What patterns do you see?

5. Outlining and summarizing: Identifying the main ideas and restating them in your
own words.

Outlining and summarizing are especially helpful strategies for understanding the
content and structure of a reading selection. Whereas outlining reveals the basic
structure of the text, summarizing synopsizes a selection's main argument in
brief. Outlining may be part of the annotating process, or it may be done
separately (as it is in this class). The key to both outlining and summarizing is
being able to distinguish between the main ideas and the supporting ideas and
examples. The main ideas form the backbone, the strand that holds the various
parts and pieces of the text together. Outlining the main ideas helps you to
discover this structure. When you make an outline, don't use the text's exact
words.

Summarizing begins with outlining, but instead of merely listing the main ideas, a
summary recomposes them to form a new text. Whereas outlining depends on a
close analysis of each paragraph, summarizing also requires creative synthesis.
Putting ideas together again -- in your own words and in a condensed form --
shows how reading critically can lead to deeper understanding of any text.
6. Evaluating an argument: Testing the logic of a text as well as its credibility and
emotional impact.

All writers make assertions that they want you to accept as true. As a critical
reader, you should not accept anything on face value but to recognize every
assertion as an argument that must be carefully evaluated. An argument has two
essential parts: a claim and support. The claim asserts a conclusion -- an idea,
an opinion, a judgment, or a point of view -- that the writer wants you to accept.
The support includes reasons (shared beliefs, assumptions, and values) and
evidence (facts, examples, statistics, and authorities) that give readers the basis
for accepting the conclusion. When you assess an argument, you are concerned
with the process of reasoning as well as its truthfulness (these are not the same
thing). At the most basic level, in order for an argument to be acceptable, the
support must be appropriate to the claim and the statements must be consistent
with one another.

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7. Comparing and contrasting related readings: Exploring likenesses and
differences between texts to understand them better.

Many of the authors we read are concerned with the same issues or questions, but
approach how to discuss them in different ways. Fitting a text into an ongoing dialectic
helps increase understanding of why an author approached a particular issue or
question in the way he or she did.

References:

http://www.salisbury.edu/counseling/new/7_critical_reading_strategies.html

http://www.pearsonitcertification.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1401889&seqNum=2

http://www.pearsonitcertification.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1401889&seqNum=2

https://www.thoughtco.com/search?q=level%20of%20comprehension&offset=10

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