Literal Comprehension Strategies

The first key to comprehending a written passage is to understand it from a literal point of view. A literal comprehension involves understanding the written meaning of a passage; the definition of words, the context of the writing, the main idea of the passage and the sequence of thought chosen by the author. Literal comprehension reserves studying author interpretation until after a student understands the basic message of a passage. Literal Comprehension that is the level which the student comprehend the text according to his own understanding
level of understanding of a text: the reader has access to the surface details of the text, and can recall details which have been directly related.

Literal Comprehension Overview

Direct Locate

Literal comprehension is seen as the first level of comprehension. It is the simplest form of locating information in texts because the information is stated directly in the text. Questions assessing literal comprehension skills examine how well students can identify and understand information that is directly stated in a text. According to Carnine, Silbert and Kameenui (1997), literal questioning can vary in difficulty depending on:

the length of the text the order in which the questions are asked and how they match to the order of the text the use of pronouns, because the pronoun reference needs to be identified before finding the information in the text.

Connecting Literal Information

If no interpretation is required to locate or connect the information, students are employing literal comprehension skills. Using key words, skim reading and scanning will help students to locate information efficiently. Key words Key words are the content words that carry the most meaning in a text. Students can underline or highlight the key words. Skimming Skimming is reading quickly through a text to get the gist or main idea. Students can skim read by looking at headings and subheadings, pictures, diagrams, captions, any italicised or bold words, and the first and last paragraphs of the text. Scanning Scanning is reading to locate particular elements or specific details in a text, such as key concepts, names, dates or certain information in answer to a question. Students can scan by looking through the text to locate key words to find the specific information quickly.

With what speed in miles/hr (1 m/s = 2.23 mi/hr) must an object be thrown to reach a height of 91.5 m (equivalent to one football field)? Assume negligible air resistance. Given: a = -9.8 m/s2 vf = 0 m/s d = 91.5 m Find: vi = ?? t = ?? First, find speed in units of m/s: vf2 = vi2 + 2*a*d (0 m/s)2 = vi2 + 2*(-9.8 m/s2)*(91.5 m) 0 m2/s2 = vi2 - 1793 m2/s2 1793 m2/s2 = vi2 vi = 42.3 m/s Now convert from m/s to mi/hr: vi = 42.3 m/s * (2.23 mi/hr)/(1 m/s) vi = 94.4 mi/hr It was once recorded that a Jaguar left skid marks that were 290 m in length. Assuming that the Jaguar skidded to a stop with a constant acceleration of -3.90 m/s2, determine the speed of the Jaguar before it began to skid. Given: a = -3.90 m/s2 vf = 0 m/s d = 290 m vf2 = vi2 + 2*a*d (0 m/s)2 = vi2 + 2*(-3.90 m/s2)*(290 m) 0 m2/s2 = vi2 - 2262 m2/s2 2262 m2/s2 = vi2 vi = 47.6 m /s Find: vi = ??

A kangaroo is capable of jumping to a height of 2.62 m. Determine the takeoff speed of the kangaroo. Given: a = -9.8 m/s2 vf = 0 m/s d = 2.62 m 2 2 vf = vi + 2*a*d Find: vi = ??

(0 m/s)2 = vi2 + 2*(-9.8 m/s2)*(2.62 m) 0 m2/s2 = vi2 - 51.35 m2/s2 51.35 m2/s2 = vi2 vi = 7.17 m/s