Essential Skills for Reading Comprehension

1. Using Information for News Reports,
Speeches, Informative Talks, Panel
Discussions, etc. in Everyday
Conversation and Exchanges
Quarter 1 – Module 1

2. Essential Skills for Reading
Comprehension

3. Essential Skills for
Reading Comprehension
1. Decoding
Decoding is a vital step in the reading process.
Decoding relies on an early language skill called
phonemic awareness. (This skill is part of an even
broader skill called phonological awareness.)
Decoding also relies on connecting individual
sounds to letters. For instance, to read the word sun,
young learner must know that the letter ‘s’ makes the
/s/ sound. Grasping the connection between a letter
(or group of letters) and the sounds they typically
make is an important step toward “sounding out”
words.

4. Essential Skills for
Reading Comprehension
2. Fluency
To read fluently, learners like you need
to instantly recognize words, including ones
you can’t sound out. Fluency speeds up the
rate at which you can read and understand
text. It’s also important when you encounter
irregular words, like of and the, which can’t
be sounded out.

5. Essential Skills for
Reading Comprehension
2. Fluency
Sounding out or decoding every word can take a
lot of effort. Word recognition is the ability to
recognize whole words instantly by sight, without
sounding them out.
Fluent readers read smoothly at a good pace.
They group words together to help with meaning, and
they or you may use the proper tone of voice when
reading aloud. Reading fluency is essential for good
reading comprehension.
The main way to help build this skill is through
practice reading books.

6. Essential Skills for
Reading Comprehension
3. Vocabulary
The ability to understand what you are
reading depends on the list of vocabulary
words that you are familiar with. Having a
strong vocabulary is a key component of
reading comprehension. Students can learn
vocabulary through instruction , but they
typically learn the meaning of words
through everyday experience and also by
reading.

7. Essential Skills for
Reading Comprehension
3. Vocabulary
The more words you are exposed to,
the richer your vocabulary become. Try to
include new words and ideas. Telling jokes
and playing word games is a fun way to
build this skill.
When reading aloud, stop at new words
and define them. Even without hearing a
definition of a new word, you can use
context to help figure it out.

8. Essential Skills for
Reading Comprehension
4. Sentence Construction and
Cohesion
When sentences, ideas, and
details fit together clearly, readers
can follow along easily, and the
writing is coherent. This means the
ideas are tied together smoothly
and clearly.

9. A. Repetition of a Key Term or Phrase
This helps to focus your ideas and to
keep your reader on track.
Let us consider this quote of Abraham
Lincoln as an example.
‘You can fool some of the people all of
the time, and all of the people some of the
time, but you cannot fool all of the people
all of the time.’
Coherent Devices

10. Coherent Devices
B. Synonyms
Synonyms are words that have essentially
the same meaning, and they provide some
variety in your word choices, helping the reader to
stay focused on the idea being discussed.
Here’s an example.
Myths narrate sacred histories and explain
sacred origins. These traditional narratives are,
in short, a set of beliefs that are a very real force
in the lives of the people who tell them.

11. Coherent Devices
C. Pronouns
This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they,
and we are useful pronouns for referring
back to something previously mentioned.
The pronouns this, that, these and those
can be used to refer to entire sentences as
well.
When scientific experiments on COVID-
19 vaccines do not work out as expected,
they are often considered failures until some
other scientist tries them again. Those that
work out better the second time around are
the ones that promise the most rewards.

12. Coherent
Devices
D. Transitional Words
There are many words in English that cue the readers to
relationships between sentences, joining sentences together.
Few among the lists of transitional words are however,
therefore, in addition, also, but, moreover, etc. Note that
transitional words have meaning and are not just used at
beginnings of sentences. They can also be used to show
relationships between different parts of the same sentence.
As mentioned above they cue readers to relationships
between sentences/clauses.
Example: I like staying at home, an;;;d yet it is a tiring
routine, too. The days, weeks and months passed swiftly,
but I can't help thinking of going back to the normal
situation. However, the new normal has taught me to
appreciate and pay more attention to the people around
me —my parents, my family.

13. Coherent
Devices
E. Sentence Patterns
Repeated or parallel sentence
patterns keep ideas tied together
and create word patterns readers
can follow easily.
Example: At this pandemic time,
extending a hand and giving an aid
to the much needy is a virtue to help
our economy.

14. Essential Skills for Reading
Comprehension
6. Working Memory and Attention
Working memory and attention are both key to
learning new information. Attention allows
information to be taken in. Working memory helps the
brain make sense of it.
When you used to read, attention allows you to
take information from the text. Working memory allows
to hold on to that information and use it to gain
meaning and build knowledge from what you are
reading.

15. Essential Skills for Reading
Comprehension
6. Working Memory and Attention
Examples of working memory tasks could
include holding a person's address in mind while
listening to instructions about how to get there or
listening to a sequence of events in a story while
trying to understand what the story means. Paying
attention allows the person to take necessary
information while working memory processes the
ideas to be well understood.

16. Key Ideas
Decoding, fluency, and vocabulary skills
are key to reading comprehension.
Being able to connect ideas within and
between sentences helps you understand
the whole text.
Reading aloud and talking or sharing
about experiences can help improve
reading skills
All these are essential skills that are of
great help in gathering information through
various materials like news reports (from
news papers, television, magazines,
brochures and more; informative
speeches and essays; chart and graph of
different kinds and several others.