CHAPTER II

READING COMPREHENSION

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The Nature of Reading

(A) Physiological Aspect of Reading

(i) lye movement in reading

(B) Psychological Aspect of Reading

2.3 Reading - its Definitions

2.4 Components of Reading Comprehension

 CHAPTER II

READING COMPREHENSION

2.1 Ittlmanctiiin.

It is said, to learn reading is a life long process.

Reading keeps a man conversant with the latest facts and

information in the area that he is interested in. Reading

helps a great deal in the development of individual's mental

personality. Nell read persons are honoured and respected

in the society. Thus reading plays an important role in

building up personality in general and status in the

society. Reading here means reading with understanding.

In the light of these facts if we examine the meaning

and concept of reading we can easily say that very few

people have a clear concept of reading ability. While

reading what a common man does is that he utters the sounds

of words and speaks them one after an other as they occur in

a sentence. In reality this is not the true meaning of

reading. A lay man who does not know the psychology of

reading would entertain a wrong and unscientific notion of

reading. Reading is a skill-oriented process. There are

many aspects to be kept in view while learning to read. In

the words of Ruth Strange,

"Reading as we now view it, is more than

pronouncing printed words correctly, more than

recognising the meaning of individual words".*

 While Goodman says : "Reading is a meaning-seeking
„ 2
rather than a meaning-extracting process".

Further, John Carroll, in his book, "The Nature of

Reading Process" says, "Reading is a complex andcarefully

3
integrated hierarchy of well—organised Bystem of stimulii •

Thus reading is more than pronouncing printed words or

recognizing them. It is a meaning-seeking process rather

than a meaning-extracting process. Reading is, further, a

purposeful, complex process consisting of various skills,

such as perception, recognition, interpretation,

understanding reaction and evaluation.

In the light of the views of the thinkers and scholars

as quoted above one can conclude that reading is a matter of

great importance in study in particular and in life in

general. Hence, naturally a person would like to be a good

reader. A person can definitely become a good and efficient

reader provided the nature of reading is within his

knowledge and understanding.

2.2 The Nature of. Reading.

The point that has been discussed so far enables us to

establish the significance of reading and its vital role in

the development of the personality of an individual. If it

is so one should know the process of reading. Reading is a

purposeful activity done with various objectives. The role

of oral reading as a process, as a form of thinking, as a

real experience as a vicarious experience and as a tool o£

communication is significant.

As an activity reading involves visual discrimination,

identification of words, rhythmic progress along a line of

print, accuracy in a return sweep of eyes and adjustment of

the rate of reading. Thus reading as an activity has many

objectives to fulfil, Edward L. Thorndike has rightly

stated,

"The reading of a paragraph involves the same sort

of organisation and analysis as does thinking. It

includes learning, reflection, judgement,

analysis, synthesis, problem solving behaviours,

selection inference, organisation, comparison of

data, determination of relationship and critical

evaluation of what is being read.

Thus reading involves many tasks. It involves real

experience, real thinking and real speaking too.

Reading provides vicarious experience as a result of

which we can identify reality and imagination through

reading material.

In this sense reading is something more than

recognition of graphic symbols, and pronunciation of words

given on the printed papers.

As Burton says,
"Word-calling without understanding is not

reading. Reading always involves the arousal of

 3l %

meaning in response to symbols, and sometimes it

is necessary to select one specific meaning from

numerous possible meanings,"5

In support of this Gray rightly says, "Reading includes

recognition, understanding, reaction and integration,"6

To support this statement, Philip Show views be quoted.

He says,

"Reading is the process of seeing or perceiving

independent items of observing and assimilating

their inter-relationships and of integrating or

7
grouping them into main ideas."

This discussion leads us to conclude that reading

claims inference, weighing the relative importance of ideas

and meaning, and seeing the relationship among them. This

is why reading is a means of learning. In the absence of

the ability to comprehend the meaning of the written

passages, reading becomes a sterile intellectual activity.

Briefly speaking reading is a bifold process. The

first fold contains the mechanical or sensory process in

which the printed symbols are brought to the brain. The

second fold consists of the natural mental process which can

be recognized as the perceptual, conceptual or thinking

process. The stimulii are interpreted after they reach the

brain of a reader. In other words we can say that reading

has two aspects; namely physiological and psychological.

 The main objective of the investigator is to develop

the reading ability among the pupils, for it is one of the

four basic language skills. Hence, it is necessary to study

the physiological and psychological aspects of reading.

(A) Physiological &g.p.ac.t. oL Reading

It is clear that reading is a much more complex

process, and that there are many factors that contribute to

its formation. This can well be understood by examining the

physiological aspect of the reading process. The physiology

of reading relates to the visual auditory speech or

articulation with other bodily process that functions in the

process or act of reading.

The primary process in reading is to establish

recognition of the print. Carl Lefevere says,"We go first

to the print and then from the print to the sound and from

the sound to the meaning ".8

Thus the process of reading works in a logical order.

This order is based on physiological principles.

Accordingly, the process of reading involves certain

physiological activities. Eye movement is one of them, and

that too a leading one.

{i ) Eve Movement in Reading

Javal has worked on this aspect. The knowledge as

to how the eyes react during reading has come from his

early work. Javal took up the investigation on the

movement of eyes during the reading process and proved

in 1879 that eyes do not move steadily and continuously

along the printed line of the reading material. The

reader’8 eyes do not make a non-stop sweep across the

printed lines while reading. They move in quick, short

saccadic movement with pauses. The eyes glide from one

spot to the next and from left to right of the printed

line. George I>. Spache says, "The eyes do not read in

a smooth sweep along line tout only when they stop at

some point called fixation".^

The eyes take certain words into vision and the

impressions are sent to the brain. This is called the

physiological process. The photographic records of the

eye movement indicate that the eyes move in a series of

stops call fixation from where the word perception

occurs.

At times eyes make backward movements also. That

is to say the eyes retrace on their progress across a

line of print. This is known as the regressive

movement in reading that generally takes place in the

case when :

1. a reader's thought is blocked by an unfamiliar

word,

2. he reads to re-examine the sentence to understand

it better or to relate it to other ideas in the

passage
3. his perception of successive words is inadequate,

4. he picks up a wrong clue of an idea in the first

attempt and

5. his eyes move more quickly than his thoughts.

Ruth Strang says, "Regression movement of eyes

occur near the beginning of the line when the return

sweep of the eyes is too short to take in all the first

1 ft
words,”

Thus, the important point in reading is the

fixation pauses. Reading depends upon what the reader

perceives during this fixation pause because the eyes

progress in a series of pauses and quick, jerky

movements. The printed line is a blur, for the eyes

move like a flash between the stops. There is no time

to see the word clearly. The length and frequency of

the fixation vary with the legibility of the reading

material, with the reader's conversance with the words

used, with the reader's facility in word recognition,

with the vocabulary level, with his familiarity with

the content, with his purpose, with his ability to

assimilate ideas, and with the format of the printed

pages. John J. Deboer says, "If he perceives only

individual letters or a small group of letters, he will

not be reading because meaning is constructed not from

letters but from whole words.”11

 This means that every individual letter does play

a role in perceiving the word as a whole. Hence, the

reader must perceive the whole or a group o£ words

during the fixation pause. My good and accurate

reader normally perceives one or two words at each

fixation. G.J. Buswell says, "The average child in

grade one made between 15.5 and 18.6 fixation per 3.5

inch line. The average college student made only 5.9

fixation on line of similar length," Other studies***

that the average college student makes about eight

fixations per four-inch line.

A cluster of words that a reader can see in one

fixation is called the recognition span. So, naturally

the number of fixation per line would be fewer in case

the recognition span is board. Albert J. Harris says,

"A good reader is characterized by a wide recognition

span, smaller number of fixation per line and a small

number of recognitions." 14 To exemplify this E,

Taylor15 says that the average first grade makes about

224 fixations per 100 words; and the average collect

student about 90. It can be inferred from the above

discussion that the good readers have fewer fixation

pauses and regressive movement. But this is not

applicable in all cases. Ruth Strange says,

"A good reader who is intently trying to

comprehend the author’s thoughts in a

difficult passage or to remember all the

 important details may pause frequently- on

each line and occasionally go back over the

line. His eye movements tend to be irregular

though not erratic or inconsistent. Properly

interpreted eye movement may give some

indication of the ways in which the mind and

eyes work while the person is reading .”16

When the process of understanding and pronouncing

a word is going on, the eye moves ahead and secures the

visual stimulus for the following response. The

psychologists talk about the eye memory span in silent

reading. This has been defined as the distance the

eyes have travelled ahead of the print at which the

interpretation occurs. The mature readers generally

have large eye memory span. Hence, some thinkers have

been led by the studies of the eye movement in reading

to define it as an act of visual exploration.

The eye span can be widened in many ways and the

reader can improve his reading speed thereby but his

comprehension may not be better. But this is not the

ultimate aim of the reading activity. Reading aims at

comprehension primarily. ”The size of eye span is not

a perceptual problem but a conceptual one. This is,

the question is not that more words cannot be seen by

reader but the interrelated meaning of words cannot be

grasped quickly. Therefore, if people are helped to

 develop comprehension skills, the - eye span will

automatically widen .”17

In this sense, the importance of psychological

aspect depends upon the perceptual process and one

cannot go ahead only on that if the sensory activity is

lacking. That is to say that the physiological aspect

of reading is the foundation of reading whereas the

psychological aspect is the edifice thereon. However

we cannot rest with the foundation level only. The

psychological aspect also should be equally sound.

Let's discuss the psychological aspect of reading now-

(B) Psychological Aspect o£ Reading.

The preceding discussion pertains to the length of the

eye-memory span that includes both seeing and thinking. In

pausing time, the eye sees the print, thinks on it and then

takes another pause. A good and mature reader has a wide

eyememory span. He does not commit to the interpretation

until he has read a sufficient quantum of reading material.

He
t
establishes in his mind the previous reference and the

context in order to make the best interpretation. Gertrude

Hildreth says, "Generally in silent reading, the mature

reader has a span of fifteen to twenty letters. In oral

reading it is slightly less. The rate of improvement

depends, to a great extent, on the shortening of the

fixation pauses and on the lengthening of the eye-memory

span". 18
 .The conceptual thought reacts with the meaning to the

words, the sentence and the paragraph.

The foregoing discussion enables us to conclude that

reading, is also a thinking process. Perception refers to

the interpretation of every thing that the mind senses.

That is to say the mind gives meaning to them. For

example, when one sees black dots on a paper, sensation

consults the wealth of the past experience. Thus a reader

needs to have some awareness of the experiences that the

word stands for in order to understand the meaning of the

reading material. In some cases, in the beginning, the

reader frequently confines himself to the mechanical aspect

of reading so much that the comprehension aspect is

overlooked by him. Because of their exclusive concern for

word identification and pronunciation aspects, they fail to

understand the need for comprehension. In fact reading

demands the interpretation of what is being read and that

requires perception. What is perception ? Perception is a

consciousness or awareness of the experiences summoned by a

symbol. D.O. Hebb defining perception says, "Perception, is

the mediating process to which sensation gives rise quite

commonly. These mediating processes are lebelled thought,

cognition or ideation and they serve as a link between the

19
sensory input and the organisor's response."

This discussion leads to conclude that quick word

recognition is followed by quick perception; and hence word

recognition is not only important for but fundamental to

 3°

perception. This can be supplemented by quoting Albert J.

Harris who says,

•’Words are bricks with which the thoughts are

built and when a child cannot recognize many of

the words which the author has used, he is at a

great disadvantage in trying to extract weaning

from the printed page ."20

This means, unless the pupil develops the skill of word

recognition to a certain extent, he cannot be expected to

progress in his reading ability. In this sense, the skill

of reading depends upon the stock of the words that is

within the knowledge of the reader. That is to say a reader

must have an adequate fund of vocabulary that can be

enriched upto one’s highest ability.

The act of reading is complete only when the child has

interpreted the printed symbol by deriving meaning from it.

In short reading is a perceptual process, as well as a

conceptual process. Reading is a bifold activity namely

physiological and psychological.

2 .3 Reflidiixflgt * Its , f ^ tjti cyMHs

Till now the investigator has made an attempt to

describe the theoretical aspect of the reading activity.

Hence in this section it is worthwhile to discuss some

definitions of reading.
 According to Kenneth S. Goodman, "Reading ia a complex

process of which a reader constructs, to some degree a

message enclosed by a writer in graphical language ",21

F.M. Hodgson says, "Reading ia the process by which the

reader receives, through the media of words, the message

which the writer intends to convey ".22

The above definitions reveal that a reader endeavours

to see and interpret words with the aim of getting message

from them. Thus these definitions emphasise the value of

the interpretation of words written on paper.

In the words of John J. DeBoer, "Reading is an active

process of reaching and searching for meaning ",23

Accordingly, each mark has a separate entity that gives

rise to some concept which is already in the mind of the

reading.

The two definitions quoted just now focus on the same

view point. So let us discuss them by turn.

Robinson, in his definition of reading says that

reading enables the reader to perceive and interpret sounds

and symbols. The discussion in the preceding paragraphs may

be recalled here to interpret this definition. This

definition involves two significant terms namely 'perceive'

and 'interpret'. The term 'perceive' refers to the

mechanical and psychological aspects which means seeing and

perceiving the word. While reading, images and concepts are

evoked by these marks or symbols which help the reader to

gain the meaning. After finding out the meaning the reader

tries to interpret it with a view to searching what the

author wants to say. So reading is an activity that

involves both comprehension and interpretation of ideas

symbolised by the printed page. The interpretation depends

upon the meaning of the words that the reader has in mind.

Hence, the meaning of the word is some times different in

different contexts. Thus the contextual meaning of the

words also plays a vital role in the reading activity.

According to David H. Russel, "Reading is the act of

identifying the symbol and obtaining meaning from the

identified symbol ",24

As per Mackey, "Reading involves skill in the visual

recognition of words and the comprehension of their

contents ".25

'Interpretation' is the psychological process related

to reading. According to this definition given by Robinson

one can infer that the final product of the process of

reading is comprehension.

W.F.Mackey's definition of 'reading' deals with the two

aspects of reading process as it is in the case of

definition by Robinson. His definition also includes two

basic skills - one is the visual perception and the other is

the skill of comprehension. The ultimate aim of reading is

to comprehend the written materials. If it is so, one can

conclude that reading is a process and comprehension is the

output.

Reading is a process of thinking also. In fact, almost

all reading activities include thinking and feeling. While

reading, a reader has to struggle to know as to what the

author wants to say. He has to take pains to go through the

details of the written materials to find out the central

idea from the reading material. For this he has to sink

deep in thinking. It is said that a good reader always

thinks while reading. He applies his own logic for better

comprehension. To agree with what the author wants to say

depends upon the experience and the line of thinking of a

reader. If the reader differs from the author in terms of

experience, the reader thinks differently in his own way.

This is a very common experience of almost all the good

readers. Reading is a complex process involving skills and

abilities.

"Reading of a paragraph involves the same sort of

organization and anlysis as does thinking. It

includes learning, reflection, judgement,

analysis, synthesis, problem solving, behaviour,

selection, inference, organisation, comparison of

data, determination of relationship and critical

evaluation of what is read".2®

According to Thorndike 'reading' includes all mental

activities generated and produced by thinking. For all the

mental processes as stated in the above definition the

'words* are the tools or the symbols that provoke - thinking

and the comprehension is the end of it. In this sense

thinking is the process and comprehension is the product of

it. The reader is satisfied when his purpose is

accomplished by reading. It may happen that a reader may

feel pleasure with reading some times he may feel disgust

too. The style of narration and the content of the reading

material are some times the determinants of satisfaction and

dissatisfaction or pleasure and displeasure on the part of

the reader. Some times the reader is driven by the emotions

aroused by some incident or by a typical type of behaviour

of some character that has been produced by the author. The

view point of the author, and his line of thinking provoke

the thinking process in the reader. These may either

facilitate or hinder the thinking process.

Reading is a process of reasoning.

Thorndike leads all the rest in introducing reading as

reasoning. It consists of selection of right elements of

situations and putting them together in right relations and

context with proper amount of weight and influence or force

for each. Thorndike has given a penetrating analysis of the

reading process and has provided us with the basis for

further and more detailed research.

Frederick B. Davis describes reasoning in reading as

the general mental ability that is involved in the reading

process. This is made up of two identifiable kinds of

reasoning :

(a) facility in weaving together several ideas to see

their relationships and

(b) ability to draw correct inferences from the

writer's statements, that is to go beyond the

literal interpretation.

Thus, according to Frederick, reading enables a reader

to establish co-ordination, correlation and integration

among various ideas. Further, it enables a reader to derive

inferences and conclusions in judicious manner.

Taylor says,

"Reading is a perfect interaction between ocular

functions and interpretive factors. The reader

co-ordinates his eyes as he moves them along the

lines of print in a left to right fashion,

stopping to perceive words or word-parts which he

continuously adds up into thought units. He

interprets what he reads in the light of his back­

ground, associates it with past experience and

projects beyond it in terms of ideas, judgements,

07
applications and conclusions".

Thus reading is not merely perceiving or pronouncing

words. The crux of the reading process is to acquire an

appropriate meaning from the printed material. This is the

way in which, reading has been defined by- Taylor as

understanding.

Now let us see what Russel wants to say. He says,

’’Comprehension carries the understanding of words

or phrases beyond recognition to the understanding

of the meaning intended by the author ’’.28

Recording to Russell besides understanding of meaning

of the printed words, reading is comprehension that carries

with it the understanding of words or phrases.

The Dictionary of Education offers as under,

’’Comprehension is the act of understanding, the

meaning of the printed or spoken language as

constructed with the ability to perceive and

pronounce words without reference to their

meaning".

According to this definition it can be said that

comprehension is the part of the communication process of

transferring the thoughts from the author’s mind to the

reader's mind. This process involves the transmission of an

idea from one mind to the other and hence a difficult task.

This discussion leads us to conclude that the process

of reading in its true sense is not so easy as we think it

to be. Reading comprehension is not a superficial process.

In fact it is a complex activity with several components

 .1

that are required to be assembled. These components are

discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.

2.4 Commaents. of. Reading. Comprehension

Reading is a developmental process. A reader starts

reading to develop the basic skill of language learning and

then gradually reading acquires complexities. Briefly

speaking a reader starts from the simple and goes to the

complex which means from the literal level to the level of

appreciation. According to a commonly acknowledged view

there are three levels of comprehension. They are as under:

i) Literal Level

ii) Interpretation Level

iii) Critical Level

In the light of the above view regarding the levels of

comprehension an attempt is made to enlist the components of

reading comprehension as under. It should, however, be

clarified that the list offered here is not complete or

final. In view of local circumstances and situations, minor

changes can be had. If a sincere attempt is made for proper

development of reading comprehension, the pupil will be able

to perform such activities as mentioned below.

1. To recognize the meaning of the printed words.

2. To follow the instructions and act accordingly.

3. To answer the questions asked on the material read.

4. To arrange events and thoughts in a proper sequence.

5. To understand the meaning of words in the context of

sentence.

6. To find out the central idea of the paragraph,

7. To draw inference from the material read.

8. To correlate the present reading material with the past

experiences.

9. To understand the motive of the author.

10. To supply a proper title to the material read.

11. To answer questions set on the maps, charts, graphs and

tables.

12. To understand the relation between the various

thoughts.

13. To express the details of the material read in a

concise way.

14. To translate the material read.

15. To differentiate between facts and propaganda.

16. To expand the thoughts or ideas in one's own language.

17. To interpret the reading material with reference to

one's experiences.

18. To assimilate thoughts and concepts and produce them as

and when needed.

19. To compare and contrast various reading materials.

20. To draw judicious conclusions.

21. To generalise from one's experiences.

A superficial look at the above list of components

reveals that they are in a hierarchial order as already

discussed in the preceding paragraphs.

 From the componenta discussed above it can be

determined that reading comprehension can be increased

step by step and in accordance with the reader's

potentiality.
 *fO

Referencea

1. Ruth Strang and others. The Improvement of. Reading,

New York : McGraw Hill Book Co. INC., 1961, p.l.

2. Kenneth Goodman, Reading a. Psycholinguistic Guessing

Game. Journal of Reading Specialities {6 May
1967) Wayne State Uni, Press, 1968, pp. 126-135.

3. John Carroll. The Nature o J L Reading Pxo.GS.afi.. Harry

Singar and Robert B. Ruddell (eds.) Theoretical
Models and Processes of Reading. New York :
International Reading Association, 1970, pp. 292-
303.

4. Edward L. Thorndike, heading as. Reasoning1*. A Study

of Mistakes in Paragraph reading. Journal of
Education and Psychology, 8 (June, 1967), p. 331.

5. W.H. Burton. The. Characteristics, a £ a Good Reading.

Programme Developing personal, and group relations,
■through Reading. Fifteeen Year Book of Claremont
College Reading Conference, Claremont, 1950, p.8.

6. w.s. Gray, Growth in Understanding, of. Reading and its.

Development in Youth. Chicago : Chicago University
Press, 1950, pp. 9-13.
\

7. Philip Show, Rhetorical Guides, to Reading Comprehension

The Reading Teacher, IRA. (April, 1958) , pp.239-
245.

8. Carl A. Lifevere. The Contribution o£ Linguistics, In

Frost Joe L. (ed.) Issues & Innovations in the
Teaching of Reading. Illinois : Scott Foresman &
Co., Glenview, 1967, p. 201.

9. George D. Spache. Reading in the Elementary School,

Boston : Allyn and Bacon. Inc. 1967. p.8.

10. Ruth Strang and others. "The Improvement q £_ Reading" ,

New York : McGraw Hill Book Co. Inc., 1961, p.6.

11. John J. DeBoer and Martha Dallman. The Teaching of.

Reading. New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
Inc., 1964, p.20.

12. G.T. Bus we 11, Fundamental Reading Habits.. A Study of

Their Development, Supplementary Educational
Monographs. No. 21. Chicago : University of
Chicago Press, 1922, p. 26.
13. R.Y. Walker, lie. E m Moxament. Of. Good R e a d e r s . Studies
in Experimental and Theoretical Psychology.
r Psychological Monographs. 4.. 1933, p. 133.
James B. Stroud. Psychology in Education, New York
: Longmans, Green and Company, 1955, p. 132.

14. Albert J. Harris. "Hq m to. Increase Reading, Ability".

New York : Longmans Green Company Ltd., 1961,
p.312.

15. E. Taylors, Frackenphl H. and Pettee., J.L. Grade Level

Norms for. the. Components. of. the. Fundamental
Developmental L a b o r a t o r i e s . Inc. Bulletin, No.3.
1960, p. 12.

16. Ruth Strang and others. Op. cit., p. 6.

17. Partxcia W r x g h t . Reading to. Learn m Me.1 ni-k-,.

. Amelia and
Marsitt John*. Reading laday. and Tomorrow.
London; University of London Press, 1972, p. 273.

18. Gertrude Hildreth. leac hing o £ Reading.. New York :

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1958, p. 81.

19. D. O. Hebb. A Text-book of Psych o l o g y . Philadelphia :

W.B. Saunders Company, 1958, p. 48.

20 . Albert J. Harris, "Ho m . to. Increase Reading. Ability*1,

New York ; Longman's, Green and Company, Ltd.,
1961, p. 362.

21. Kenneth S. Goodman, Reading a. £ sy cholingttiBtic Guessing

G a m e . Journal of Reading Specialist (6 May, 1967)
Wayne State Uni. Press. 1968, pp. 126.

22 . F. M. Hodgson, Learning Modern L a n g u a g e s . Rontledge and

Kegan Paul, 1955. As cited by Forrester Jean,
Teaching Without Lecturing, London ; Oxford Uni.
Press, 1968, p.32.

23. John J. DeBoer and Dallmann Martha, The Teaching of.

R e a d i n g . New York ; Holt Rinehart and Winston,
Inc., 1967, p. 19.

24. David H. Russel. Children Learn to. R e a d . New York ;

Ginn and Co., 1960, p. 99.

25. W.F. Mackey, Language Teaching Analysis., London :

Longman's Green and Co., 1965, p. 278.

26. E. V. Dechant. "Improving the Teaching gjL R e a d i n g " ,

Englewood Cliffs; N.J. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1964,
p.10.
27. Standford E. Taylor, Helen Frackenphbl and James L.
Pettee, Grade k i e l Norms for me.. CorfiP.oii.ents oL
the. F-undamenfcal Reading. Skill, New York :
Educational Development Laboratories Inc.,
Bulletin-3, 1960, p.l.

28. David H, Russell. Children Leant to. Bead,. New York :

Ginn and Co., 1960. p. 106.

29. Charter V. Good (Editor). Dictionary of. Education,

London : McGraw Hill Book Co. Inc., 1945, p.89.