How to See if Someone Read a Text

Reading is a skill many people have for granted, but the act of reading and properly comprehending a text is a complex and interactive process. It requires several dissimilar brain functions to work together and most ofttimes requires ane to puzzle through multiple layers of context and meaning.

Because reading comprehension is and then complicated, we can often find ourselves understanding the about basic interpretation of a text, merely missing the emotional cadre or the "big picture." Or nosotros might only find our brains spinning with no clue at all as to what a text is attempting to convey.

But luckily for anybody who struggles in English classes, on standardized tests, or in daily life, reading comprehension can be improved upon (and it's never too late to first!). In this guide, I explain footstep-past-step how to improve reading comprehension over fourth dimension and offering tips for boosting your agreement equally you read.

What Is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the agreement of what a particular text means and the ideas the author is attempting to convey, both textual and subtextual. In society to read any text, your brain must process non just the literal words of the piece, simply besides their relationship with 1 another, the context behind the words, how subtle language and vocabulary usage tin impact emotion and meaning behind the text, and how the text comes together as a larger, coherent whole.

For case, let's look at the commencement line from Jane Austen'due south novel, Pride and Prejudice:

"It is a truth universally best-selling, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Now, a completely literal interpretation of the text, just based on discussion-significant, would have us believe that 'all rich men desire wives.' But the context, discussion option, and phrasing of the text really belie that interpretation. By using the phrases "universally best-selling" and "must be in want of" (accent ours), the text is conveying a subtle sarcasm to the words. Instead of information technology beingness an actual truth that 'rich men want wives,' this ane sentence instantly tells u.s. that we're reading nigh a guild preoccupied with marriage, while also implying that the opening statement is something people in that society may believe, but that isn't necessarily truthful.

In only a few brusque words, Austen conveys several ideas to the reader nigh one of the principal themes of the story, the setting, and what the culture and people are like. And she does so all the while seeming to contradict the literal words of the piece.

Without practice in reading comprehension, nuances like these tin can become lost. And then it tin can happen that someone may find themselves reading, but not truly comprehending the full pregnant of a text.

As you can see, reading comprehension involves many processes happening in your brain at one time, and thus it can be piece of cake for some aspects of a text to become lost in the muddle. But the good news for anyone who struggles is that reading comprehension is a skill but like whatsoever other. It must be learned through practise, focus, and diligence, just it absolutely CAN be learned.

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Why Reading Comprehension Is Of import

Proper reading comprehension can be hard, so why carp? Even though learning how to properly read and comprehend texts is a complicated procedure, it is a necessary skill to main, both for work and for pleasure.

Yous will need to know how to read and interpret all kinds of different texts—both on the basic, literal level and on a more than in-depth level—throughout your schooling, in college, and in the working globe (as well equally in your recreation time!). If nosotros remember about "reading" just every bit a literal or surface agreement of a piece and "reading comprehension" as the complete agreement, a person can only get by in the world on pure "reading" for and then long.

Reading comprehension is essential for many pregnant aspects of daily life, such as:

  • Reading, understanding, and analyzing literature in your English classes
  • Reading and agreement texts from your other course subjects, such as history, math, or science
  • Doing well on both the written and math sections of the SAT (or all five sections of the ACT)
  • Understanding and engaging with electric current events presented in written form, such as news reports
  • Properly understanding and responding to whatsoever and all other workplace correspondence, such every bit essays, reports, memos, and analyses
  • Simply taking pleasure in written work on your own leisure time


Just similar with any goal or skill, we tin can master reading comprehension one pace at a fourth dimension.

How to Improve Reading Comprehension: 3 Steps

Because reading comprehension is a skill that improves similar whatever other, you tin improve your understanding with exercise and a game plan.

Dedicate yourself to engaging in a combination of both "guided" and "relaxed" reading practice for at least two to three hours a week. Guided practice will involve structure and focused attention, like learning new vocabulary words and testing yourself on them, while relaxed exercise will involve merely letting yourself read and enjoy reading without pressure level for at least 1 to ii hours a week. (Note: if yous already read for pleasance, add at least one more hour of pleasure-reading per week.)

Past combining reading-for-studying and reading-for-pleasance, you lot'll exist able to improve your reading skill without relegating reading time to the realm of "piece of work" alone. Reading is a huge part of our daily lives, and improving your comprehension should never come at the cost of depriving yourself of the pleasure of the activity.

So what are some of the first steps for improving your reading comprehension level?

Stride ane: Understand and Reevaluate How Y'all're Currently Reading

Before you can improve your reading comprehension, you must outset understand how you lot're currently reading and what your limitations are.

Start by selecting excerpts from different texts with which you are unfamiliar—text books, essays, novels, news reports, or whatever kind of text you feel you lot particularly struggle to sympathise—and read them as you would usually. As you read, see if y'all can find when your attention, energy, or comprehension of the material begins to flag.

If your comprehension or concentration tends to lag after a menses of time, start to slowly build up your stamina. For instance, if yous continually lose focus at the 20 minute mark every fourth dimension you read, acknowledge this and push button yourself to slowly increase that fourth dimension, rather than trying to sit and concentrate on reading for an hour or ii at a stretch. Begin by reading for your maximum amount of focused time (in this case, twenty minutes), and then give yourself a intermission. Side by side fourth dimension, try for 22 minutes. Once you've mastered that, endeavour for 25 and see if you lot can still maintain focus. If you lot can, then effort for xxx.

If yous find that your concentration or comprehension starts to lag again, accept a step back on your timing earlier pushing yourself for more. Improvement comes with time, and it'll but cause frustration if you endeavour to rush it all at once.

Alternatively, you may discover that your issues with reading comprehension have less to exercise with the time spent reading than with the source material itself. Perhaps you struggle to comprehend the essential elements of a text, the context of a slice, character arcs or motivation, books or textbooks with densely packed information, or material that is heavily symbolic. If this is the case, then be sure to follow the tips below to improve these areas of reading comprehension weakness.

Improving your reading comprehension level takes time and do, but understanding where your strengths and weaknesses stand now is the first step towards progress.

Step 2: Improve Your Vocabulary

Reading and comprehension rely on a combination of vocabulary, context, and the interaction of words. So you must be able to sympathise each moving piece before you can understand the text equally a whole.

If you lot struggle to understand specific vocabulary, it'southward sometimes possible to pick up meaning through context clues (how the words are used in the sentence or in the passage), but it'southward always a good thought to look upward the definitions of words with which you aren't familiar. Equally you read, make certain to continue a running list of words you don't readily recognize and make yourself a set of flashcards with the words and their definitions. Dedicate fifteen minutes 2 or 3 times a week to and quizzing yourself on your vocab flashcards.

To get started, yous'll demand some blank index cards and a system to go along them organized. These basic cards are an affordable option that are also available in fun colors. You can go along them organized with plastic baggies or condom bands, or you can get an organizer.

Alternatively, endeavor these easy-flip flashcards that include binder clips. Though we strongly recommend making your own flashcards, y'all tin can also buy pre-made ones —the best option is Barron'south 1100 Words You lot Need to Know, a series of exercises to master central words and idioms.

In order to retain your vocabulary noesis, you must use a combination of expert memorization (similar studying your flashcards) and make a point of using these new words in your verbal and written communication. Guided vocabulary practice like this volition give you access to new words and their meanings besides as allow you to properly retain them.

Step three: Read for Pleasure

The best mode to improve your reading comprehension level is through exercise. And the best way to practice is to have fun with information technology!

Make reading a fun action, at least on occasion, rather than a constant chore. This will motivate y'all to engage with the text and embrace the activity as part of your daily life (rather than but your study/work life). As you practice and truly engage with your reading material, comeback will come naturally.

Begin by reading texts that are slightly below your historic period and grade level (especially if reading is frustrating or hard for you). This will have pressure off of y'all and permit you lot to relax and savour the story. Hither are some fun, easy reads that we recommend to get you started:

  • Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roksani Chokshi
  • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
  • Ghostby Jason Reynolds
  • The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin
  • From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil Eastward. Frankweilerby E.L. Konigsburg
  • The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
  • I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stoneby J.K .Rowling

One time you lot feel more than comfortable reading and practicing your comprehension strategies (tips in the next department), get ahead and allow yourself to read at whatever reading or age level you feel like. Even if you feel that yous don't understand some of the text correct now—or even a large portion of it!—if yous enjoy yourself and give it your all-time shot, y'all'll observe that your reading comprehension levels will improve over fourth dimension.

Ultimately, reading should be a fun and functional activity. So try to keep your reading exercises balanced between work and pleasance.

5 Reading Comprehension Tips

Improving your vocabulary and increasing the amount of fourth dimension you spend reading overall will help you lot to better your reading comprehension over time, only what do you lot do to help you to comprehend a detail piece of text?

Here, I'll walk yous through the steps to take as you're reading then that y'all can sympathize the text and better how you're reading, when y'all're reading.

Tip one: Terminate When You lot Go Confused and Try to Summarize What You Only Read

As you read, let yourself stop whenever you lose focus or feel confused. But stop. Now, without re-reading, summarize aloud or in your caput what y'all've comprehended and then far (earlier the place where you became dislocated).

Skim back through the text and compare how yous've summarized it with what's written on the page. Do you feel you've captured the salient points? Practise yous experience a piffling more focused on what's going on now that you've put the material into your ain words?

Keep reading with your summation in mind and allow yourself stop and repeat the process whenever the piece becomes confusing to you. The more than y'all're able to re-contextualize the work in your own words, the better you'll exist able to understand it and lock the data in your mind as you continue reading.

Tip 2: If Y'all're Struggling, Try Reading Aloud

Sometimes, we can grade a sort of "mental cake" that tin halt our reading progress for whatever reason (maybe the sentence looks complex or bad-mannered, maybe you're tired, maybe you feel intimidated by the word selection, or are merely bored).

Reading these problematic passages aloud can often help circumvent that block and help you to class a visual of what the text is trying to convey.

Tip 3: Re-read (or Skim) Previous Sections of the Text

For the about part, reading is a personal activity that happens entirely in your head. So don't feel you have to read only like anyone else if "typical" methods don't work for y'all. Sometimes it can make the most sense to read (or re-read) a text out of order.

It is often helpful to glance backwards through a piece of text (or even re-read large sections) to remind yourself of any data you lot need and accept forgotten—what happened previously, what a particular discussion means, who a person was...the list is endless.

Previous sentences, sections, or even whole chapters can provide helpful context clues. Re-reading these passages will help to refresh your memory so that you tin can better empathise and interpret later sections of the text.

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Tip four: Skim or Read Upcoming Sections of the Text

But like with the previous step, don't feel that the only style to read and sympathise a text is to work through it completely linearly. Allow yourself the freedom to have apart the text and put it back together again in whichever style makes the virtually sense to you.

Sometimes a electric current defoliation in a work will exist explained later on in the text, and information technology can help you to know that explanations are upcoming or even simply to read them ahead of time.

So skip forward or backwards, re-read or read ahead every bit you lot need to, have the piece in whatever order you demand to in order to make sense of the text. Non everyone thinks linearly, and not anybody best understands texts linearly either.

Tip five: Discuss the Text With a Friend (Even an Imaginary Friend)

Sometimes discussing what you know then far about a text can help articulate up any defoliation. If yous accept a friend who hasn't read the text in question, so explain it to them in your ain words, and discuss where you experience your comprehension is lacking. You'll find that you've probably understood more than than yous think one time you've been forced to explain it to someone who's completely unfamiliar with the piece.

Even if no one else is in the room, trying to teach or discuss what a passage says or means with "someone else" can be extremely beneficial. In fact, software engineers telephone call this technique "prophylactic duck debugging," wherein they explain a coding problem to a rubber duck. This forces them to work through a trouble aloud, which has proven time and fourth dimension again to help people solve problems. Then if a slice of text has your caput spinning from trying to piece of work through it by yourself, commencement chatting with your nearest friend/pet/safety duck. You'll be surprised with how much easier it is to empathise a text once you've talked it through with someone.

Even if that someone is a duck.

Quack.


The Take-Aways

Improving reading comprehension takes time and effort, merely it tin can exist done. Exist patient with yourself, work through your reading comprehension steps, and try not to get frustrated with yourself if you feel your progress is slow or if you feel yous're "falling behind." You will utilize your reading skills throughout your life, so go at a pace that works for y'all, and take care to maintain that balance between reading for pure pleasure and reading for dedicated comeback.

Equally you begin to incorporate more and more reading into your daily life, you'll notice that comprehension volition become easier, and reading volition get more fun. In every piece of text, there are worlds of meaning to explore, and learning how to uncover them can exist the ultimate rewarding journeying.

What's Side by side?

Can't get enough reading? Whether as office of your reading exercise or but for fun, check out our picks for the 31 all-time books to read in loftier school.

Bug with procrastination? Whether you're studying for the Sat'due south or studying your reading comprehension vocabulary check out how to beat procrastination and get your studies back on track.

Want to earn improve grades? Our guide will help you get that 4.0 you're striving for.

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These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you buy an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a committee.

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About the Writer

Courtney scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT in high school and went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is passionate about bringing didactics and the tools to succeed to students from all backgrounds and walks of life, as she believes open education is one of the cracking societal equalizers. She has years of tutoring experience and writes creative works in her complimentary time.

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Source: https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-improve-reading-comprehension

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