MUET MOMENTS: Lesson 5: Comprehension Skills

By DR KOH SOO LING

COMPREHENSION SKILLS
For the reading component, candidates are assessed on their ability to comprehend  types of text of varying length and complexity. Comprehension is the practice of understanding. It is:
- Making connections between what you already know about a topic and what you are reading.
- Making use of the structure of the text to make predictions.
- Making use of problem-solving strategies to think and expand on the text.

Areas to focus on are listed in the table below:
SKILLS                                                                                                     
Comprehension
One strategy for reading comprehension is the technique called SQ3R. This stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review.

DETAILS
-  Skimming and scanning
- Extracting specific information
- Identifying main ideas
- Identifying supporting details
- Deriving the meaning of words, phrases, sentences from the context
- Understanding linear and non-linear texts
- Understanding relationships
-- Recognising a paraphrase

Application
Making a connection is when you can relate a passage to an experience, another book or other facts about the world. Making connections will help you understand  the author’s purpose  and what the story is about.

DETAILS
-Predicting outcomes
- Applying a concept to new situation

Analysis
Read the text and find answers for the following: who, what, where, when, why, and how.

DETAILS
-  Understanding language functions
-  Interpreting linear and non-linear texts
-  Distinguishing the relevant from the irrelevant
-  Distinguishing fact from opinion
-  Making inferences

Synthesis
Synthesising is when you take what you already know about a subject along  with your reflections from the book to create your own interpretation and ideas about a certain text.

DETAILS
- Relating ideas and concepts
- Following the development of a point or an argument
- Summarising information

Evaluation
It is about making judgments on what you read and then explaining why you made them.
Evaluating non-fiction texts can be done by using a criteria checklist (i.e. table of contents, index, titles, headings, for example) to help you rate a text.

DETAILS
- Appraising information
- Making judgments
- Drawing conclusions
- Recognising and interpreting writer’s views, attitudes or intentions

NEXT WEEK: Skimming and scanning

Source: Learning Curve - New Straits Times