What is Literal Comprehension?

Strategies for Literal Comprehension

Early Stage 1 – locating information using big books

Stage 1 – locating directly stated information

Stage 2 – retelling and locating information

Stage 3 – skimming and scanning

Stage 4 – finding key information and summarising

Literal Comprehension

Literal comprehension is the understanding of information and facts directly stated in the text. It is recognized as the first and most basic level of comprehension in reading. Students can employ literal comprehension skills (keywords, skim reading and scanning) to better 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 quickly reading through a text to get the main idea. Students can skim read by looking at headings and sub–headings, pictures, diagrams, captions, any italicized 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.”