Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 1 

Rebat Kumar Dhakal

rbtdhakal@yahoo.com

Kathmandu

7 January 2010

Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension

Reading

Reading is a common way of acquiring knowledge. It generally means understanding or

making sense of a written text. Reading refers to activities as varied as a first grader's struggling

with simple sentences in a storybook, a cook's following directions from a cookbook, or a

scholar's attempting to understand the meanings of a poem. Melinda and Washington take it as

“the mother of all learning”—an understandable claim when we consider how much of our

knowledge we acquire through reading (1). It is an opportunity not only to note quotations and to

gather information but to examine language, and to learn about writing. Reading is an art that

improves with practice.

Reading is about understanding written texts. It is a complex activity that involves

both perception and thought. Reading consists of two related processes: word

recognition and comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of

perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s spoken language.

Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected

text. Most people learn to read in their native language without difficulty. Many,

but not all, learn to read as children. Some children and adults need additional
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help. Yet others learn to read a second, third or additional language, with or

without having learned to read in their first language. (Pang, Muaka, Bernhardt,

and Kamil 6)

Reading is a skill which entails a series of sub-skills. The main sub-skills of reading are:

- Recognizing the script of a language (word recognition)

- Deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items

- Understanding explicitly or implicitly stated information (making inferences)

- Skimming for main theme of the text

- Scanning for specific information

- Understanding information from diagrammatic display

- Distinguishing main ideas from supporting details

- Deducing meaning from context

- Interpreting text by going outside the text

- Recognizing function and discourse patterns or indicators in discourse

- Predicting what is going to be read (making prediction), etc.

Reason to read

Do we read simply because we have to sit an exam and pass through with good marks or

grade? May be yes, especially for the very young learners, but this obviously is not the sole

purpose of reading. Reading exposes people to the accumulated wisdom of human civilization.

Mature readers bring to the text their experiences, abilities, and interests; the text, in turn, allows

them to expand those experiences and abilities and to find new interests. Pang, et al. argue that
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learning to read is an important educational goal. For both children and adults, the ability to read

opens up new worlds and opportunities. It enables us to gain new knowledge, enjoy literature,

and do everyday things that are part and parcel of modern life, such as, reading the newspapers,

instruction manuals, maps and so on (6). Everyone reads with some kind of purpose in mind. The

ultimate goal of reading is to be able to understand written material, to evaluate it, and to use it

for one's needs.

Reading comprehension

Comprehension is the ability to make meaning from the written text. Reading

comprehension is an essential part of the reading process. It forms the stepping stone for the rest

of a child’s education. It is generally defined as the process of simultaneously extracting and

constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. From testing

and evaluation point of view, it is a staple of almost all standardized testing. There is a reason for

this: reading comprehension exams are a great way to test an individual’s ability to absorb,

comprehend, process, and relate written information in a time-efficient manner.

Reading comprehension is about much more than answering literal questions at

the end of a passage, story, or chapter. Reading comprehension is an ongoing

process of evolving thinking. When readers read, they carry on an inner

conversation with the text. They respond with delight, wonder, even outrage.

They question the text, argue with the author, nod their heads in agreement. They

make connections, ask questions, and draw inferences to better understand and

learn from what they read. (Harvey and Goudvis 2)

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Similarly, Pang, at al. define comprehension as the process of deriving meaning from

connected text. It involves word knowledge (vocabulary) as well as thinking and reasoning.

Therefore, comprehension is not a passive process, but an active one. The reader actively

engages with the text to construct meaning (14). Thus comprehension is an active process in the

construction of meaning. Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary,

grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them understand

written text. Making use of prior knowledge involves drawing inferences from the words and

expressions that a writer uses to communicate information, ideas and viewpoints.

In an influential book, Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (8) argue that reading

comprehension involves much more than readers’ responses to text. It is a multicomponent,

highly complex process that involves many interactions between readers and what they bring to

the text (previous knowledge, strategy use) as well as variables related to the text itself (interest

in text, understanding of text types).

Snow (11) includes three elements in comprehension:

ƒ The reader who is doing the comprehending

ƒ The text that is to be comprehended

ƒ The activity in which comprehension is a part.

In considering the reader, we include all the capacities, abilities, knowledge, and experiences

that a person brings to the act of reading. Text is broadly construed to include any printed text or

electronic text. In considering activity, we include the purposes, processes, and consequences

associated with the act of reading.

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At the junior or high school level, students may have problems with both the complexity and

the amount of material they have to read. Therefore, children need to be taught a range of

reading comprehension strategies to help them fully understand texts. There are a few things we

can do to improve our reading skills. This paper will present some tips not only on how we can

read faster and with more understanding so that we can get through the reading we have to do for

our courses but also on practical outlines for answering the comprehension questions.

Readers adopt various strategies to understand the text. Skilled readers are purposeful and

active and apply comprehension strategies to the text. They typically make use of background

knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to

help them understand written text. Following Shanahan, I shall make the distinction between

strategy and skill.

Skills are learned, trained, and eventually applied effortlessly (referred to as

automaticity). Strategies, unlike skills, require conscious, purpose-directed actions:

“instead of trying to do something quickly without paying attention, strategies slow the

reader down and focus his or her attention according to the demands of purposes and

needs”. (29)

Adding to Shanahan, Himes states “Reading comprehension is about strategy: not faster, but

better (1).”

Many studies have proved that comprehension can be improved by helping readers use

specific strategies. We can help children improve their reading comprehension dramatically if we

know how. There are myriads of ideas about how to improve their reading comprehension. Some
  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 6 

work, some do not, and some are best used in conjunction with others. What we know is that

certain strategies do, in fact, work well: readers can employ certain techniques to increase their

reading comprehension. Recent studies have focused on how readers use their knowledge and

reasoning to understand texts. The term ‘comprehension strategies’ is sometimes used to refer to

the process of reasoning. Comprehension strategies are sets of steps that good readers use to

make sense of the text they are reading. Good readers are aware of how well they understand a

text while reading. They also take active steps to overcome difficulties in comprehension.

A good reading program focuses on various strategies designed to improve reading rate and

comprehension and increase vocabulary development while enhancing critical thinking and

analytical reasoning. In a paper, Melinda and Washington explore two reading strategies they

have found to be particularly successful in working with cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy

(USAFA) at various stages of their academic careers: Previewing and Vocabulary Development.

When we Preview, we narrow the focus of our attention from an infinite number

of ideas to a narrow realm of possibilities. Previewing helps us separate the wheat

from the chaff and enables us to create meaningful connections that can

significantly enhance reading comprehension. At USAFA, we often compare the

reader’s process of previewing a text to a pilot’s “preflight inventory.” We

emphasize that when pilots prepare for take-off, they conduct a series of exercises

to ensure a safe and effective flight. Flying without performing a pre- flight

inventory would be unthinkable. Unfortunately, readers routinely dive into texts

without preparing themselves for their impending “flight,” only to discover that

their lack of preparation leaves them floundering in the text, unable to get their
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bearings and comprehend the author’s message. Consequently, instead of an

exciting journey geared towards the discovery of new ideas and information, the

reading process often becomes an arduous ordeal fraught with frustration.

Another important aspect of reading comprehension is vocabulary development

which includes word recognition and understanding language within specific

contexts. Word knowledge is a source of power. Consequently, vocabulary

development can make us better readers, writers, and critical thinkers. (Melinda

and Washington 1-2)

Comprehension failure

We all encounter at times chapters or books that we just can’t get into. At any level

comprehension might break down. There are lots of reasons for this: sometimes we’re required

to read about a topic that is just plain boring; sometimes we try to read material that is written

way above our current intellectual level; and sometimes we find the writer is just plain bad at

explaining things. And the greatest villain of all is the question: ‘Do we read effectively?’

Effective reading means being able to read accurately and efficiently, understanding as much of

a text as one needs in order to achieve one’s purpose. Not everybody can do this even in his or

her own language. In a foreign language, the problems are of course greater, and comprehension

failure is common. This may be a simple matter of not knowing a word, but it is equally due to a

deficiency in one or more of a number of specific reading techniques. Readers might fail to

understand:

¾ New words or known words that do not make sense in context;

¾ Local idioms and proverbs;

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¾ Ambiguous sentences;

¾ Paragraphs whose sentence relationships are unclear, or connected in several possible

ways;

¾ Words or phrases typical of other cultures;

¾ How the text fits together as a coherent whole;

¾ Implied, sarcastic or caustic meaning; and

¾ Socio-cultural issues.

Simply understanding an author’s words does not guarantee comprehension, as readers must

be able to understand language in context. Despite the fact that the learner may have a very good

vocabulary and syntactic knowledge, sometimes communication breaks down only because they

belong to two different cultural or social groups. According to Hood, Solomon, and Burns,

“Cultural issues might impede text comprehension. What seems to be a straightforward text, for

example, an article about a tree house or one about a family going to the Dairy Queen in a station

wagon may present the reader with difficulties in comprehension because of cultural

differences.” (qtd. in Burt, Peyton and Duzer 5)

Cultural knowledge affects reading comprehension. Jokes and humour also depend on shared

cultural knowledge between the writer and reader. If the writer and the reader do not share the

same cultural background, such texts will be of no use for the reader. As Pang, et al. remark:

Topics that are familiar and openly discussed in one culture may be unacceptable

in another. Children growing up in rural communities will have different experiences

from those from urbanized, developed countries. Some common, high-frequency words

in one culture may refer to unfamiliar concepts for students from another culture.
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Examples of American English words include: prom; snowboard; spam (food); dirt

(soil); potluck. (19)

When there is comprehension failure from your part, never forget to use the first and

foremost comprehension technique: re-reading. So please read, read and read until you can make

sense of the text or until you become quite sure that that’s beyond your level.

Four levels of metacognitive awareness and the ways in which readers monitor their thinking

about their reading are described in Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance

Understanding:

Tacit readers. Tacit readers lack awareness of how they think when they read.

Aware readers. Aware readers may realize when meaning has broken down, but lack

strategies to fix the problem or repair confusion.

Strategic readers. Strategic readers use a variety of strategies to enhance

understanding and monitor and repair meaning when it is disrupted.

Reflective readers. Reflective readers can apply strategies flexibly depending on

their goals for reading. They reflect on their thinking and revise their use of

strategies. You can observe this reflective stance when students comment with

surprise, amazement, or wonder as they read. (Harvey and Goudvis 5)

They further make the following continuum of ways to become more strategic and reflective

readers (7-10):
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Making Connections: A Bridge from the New to the Known

Readers naturally bring their prior knowledge and experience to reading, but they

comprehend better when they think about the connections they make between the text, their

lives, and the world at large. Readers also make other kinds of connections: to literary elements

and features, to different genre, to different authors, and so on.

Questioning: The Strategy That Propels Readers Forward

Questioning is the strategy that keeps readers engaged. When readers ask questions they

clarify understanding and forge ahead to make meaning.

Visualizing and Inferring: Strategies That Enhance Understanding

Inferring is at the intersection of taking what is known by garnering clues from the text

and thinking ahead to make a judgment to discern a theme or speculate about what is to come.

Visualizing strengthens our inferential thinking. When we visualize, we are in fact inferring, but

with mental images rather than words and thoughts.

Determining Importance in Text: The Nonfiction Connection

Thoughtful readers grasp essential ideas and important information when reading.

Readers must differentiate between less important information and key ideas that are central to

the meaning of the text.

Synthesizing Information: The Evolution of Thought

Synthesizing involves combining new information with existing knowledge to form an

original idea or interpretation. Synthesizing lies on a continuum. Rudimentary synthesizing

involves merely stopping and thinking about what we are reading. Taking stock of meaning and
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reading for the gist is a step further down that line. Sometimes readers have a true synthesis, an

“Aha” of sorts where they achieve new insight and change their thinking. This is the ultimate

form of synthesis.

Improving comprehension

In this chapter we review what we know about reading comprehension instruction and

what teachers can do to successfully improve the reading comprehension of their students who

struggle to make sense of what they read.

Various studies have shown the importance of good teaching and of effective school

and/or family leadership in promoting reading achievement. Students seem to learn to read

better, for example, if language teacher or a member in the family is a strong leader with high

expectations about reading achievement. The amount of direct instruction in reading and the

amount of time students spend in reading-related activities also affect reading development.

There are many study techniques that are proved to be beneficial in learning various

kinds of subject matter. One useful study technique is outlining, which helps to develop an

awareness of the main points and details of a selection. Similarly, word study is one way for the

student to improve reading ability. This involves using a dictionary and thesaurus, studying word

parts, and learning how to find the meaning of a word from the context. Students can also

improve their vocabularies by paying conscious attention to any new words they may encounter.

Practice in skimming a passage for general meaning and scanning for specific information is also

useful for developing effective reading habit. One more technique for improving reading ability

is reading actively. When you read actively, you are in control of the input of information and
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are engaged in a process of discovery. Reading becomes a quest to find the answer to questions

you have posed prior to reading rather than waiting passively for the words to wash over you.

This engagement allows you to stay alert and interested. Questioning engages the brain, puts it

into gear, which means you are less likely to drift off or get bored.

Some readers creep up through word by word reading. This is very slow and is seldom

necessary, unless you are working with a highly technical text with very unfamiliar vocabulary,

or in a language in which you are not fluent. It may come as a new idea to you that experienced

readers (this includes you!), working in a language in which they are fluent, do not need to look

directly at every single word.

If you find yourself reading a chapter or book several times without understanding it, try

taking the following steps which will help you work through such and similar difficulties:

1. Look at the sub-headings and try to find the pattern. Most books or chapters will progress

in some manner, whether they show a progression of time or an evolution of ideas.

2. Read the introduction and reflect. Any nonfiction article or book will have an

introductory section that gives an overview of the main points.

3. Read the summary and reflect. The summary at the end of a chapter or book restates the

points that were mentioned in the body of the text.

4. Read the material. Now that you’ve had time to understand the points the author is trying

to convey, you’re more apt to recognize them when they come along. When you see a

major point, flag it with a sticky note.

5. Take notes. Take notes and, if possible, make a brief outline as you read. Some people

like to underline words or points in pencil.

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6. Watch for lists, charts or diagrams. They give you a clear picture of the whole idea at a

single glance.

7. If any new word appears, try to guess the meaning from the context or from the structure

of the word itself. If it doesn’t make clear sense yet, look up the words in the dictionary.

Sometimes guessing meaning can be dangerous! So even when you don’t have time at

hand, you should check the meaning afterwards.

8. Keep on plugging through. If you’re following the steps but you still don’t seem to be

soaking in the material, just keep reading. Give it a second or third reading and see you

can understand! A text that seems difficult on first reading will often, on rereading, prove

rewarding or more engaging. Therefore, don’t give up!

9. Once you get to the end of the piece, go back and review the notes you’ve made. Look

over the important words, points, and lists.

10. Don’t try to read in a noisy environment. That might be OK under other circumstances,

but it’s not a good idea when attempting difficult reading.

11. Don’t be hard on yourself. If this is hard for you, it’s probably just as hard for other

students in your class.

12. Talk to others who are reading the same material.

13. Review the introduction and summary. When you do, you may find that you’ve absorbed

more than you realized.

14. Try to identify reason(s) a text seems difficult. Rather than becoming frustrated when a

writer is commenting at length on an issue that seems unimportant to you, for instance,

ask yourself why scholars in this field might find this issue worthy of attention.
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15. Interact with the text. Pose questions. Speculate about the implications of an argument.

Use your personal experience as a lens to consider the issues raised by the text—and then

imagine how someone quite different from you might approach this issue or topic.

Reading techniques

Reading techniques are the procedure, skill or art used in reading a text. There is no limit to

the number of reading techniques one can use to improve his/her reading comprehension ability.

Some find some techniques more effective while others find some other techniques more

effective for them. Thus we cannot say definitely which techniques are more effective and which

less. It depends upon the type of reader, their prior knowledge, and even the type of reading text.

One should find as many techniques as he/she can and apply one or the other or combination of

many to meet their purpose. Greenall and Swan (1-3) present the following techniques for

reading effectively which you may also find suitable for you:

a. Extracting main ideas [skimming]

Sometimes it is difficult for a student to see what the main ideas of a passage are, or to

distinguish between important and unimportant information. In this case, the students should

read for the general sense rather than the meaning of every word.

b. Reading for specific information [scanning]

It is not always necessary to read the whole of a text, especially if one is looking for

information which is needed for a specific purpose.

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c. Understanding text organization

A student may sometimes have trouble in seeing how a passage is organized. Therefore,

students should try to recognize how sentences are joined together to make paragraphs, how

paragraphs are combined into text, and how this organization is signaled.

d. Predicting

Before reading a text, we usually subconsciously ask ourselves what we know about the

subject matter. This makes it easier to see what information is new to us and what we already

know, as we read the passage.

e. Checking comprehension

Under certain circumstances (such as in examinations) a student may need to study a

passage very closely in order to answer a question correctly, and exact understanding of points of

detail may be crucial.

f. Inferring

A writer may decide to suggest something indirectly rather than state it directly. The

reader is required to infer this information – which may be essential for correct understanding.

Some students may need practice in seeing such implications.

g. Dealing with unfamiliar words

One of the commonest problems facing a student is simply not being able to understand a

word or expression. But it is often possible to guess its general sense by looking for clues, either

in the context or in the form of the word itself.

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h. Linking ideas

In any passage, an idea may be expressed by a number of different words or expressions.

The students should see how different words are related to the same idea.

i. Understanding complex sentences

Some writers, consciously or unconsciously, use a complicated style in which it may be

difficult, for example, to distinguish main clauses from subordinate clauses. Struggling with

complex syntax can make it easy to lose sight of the general sense of the text.

j. Understanding writer’s style

An important part of the pleasure in reading is being able to appreciate why a writer

chooses a certain word or expression and how he/she uses it.

k. Evaluating the text

A full understanding of a passage may depend on appreciating why it was written, or

what purpose particular parts of the text serve. It may, for instance, be important to distinguish

between a statement of fact and an expression of the writer’s opinion.

l. Reacting to the text

Sometimes a reader’s interpretation of a passage may be colored by his own views on the

subject being dealt with. Therefore, a reader should separate what the writer says from what

he/she thinks.
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m. Writing summaries

The ability to write an accurate summary requires accurate comprehension of a passage,

the ability to distinguish between essential and secondary information, and skill in composing

clear, economical text.

The most popular of all reading techniques is the SQ4R approach. It can be taken as the

sum total of all the techniques mentioned above.

Survey: scan the material for the "big picture" understanding

Question: make up questions

Read and Record: read for a purpose, i.e. to answer the question; take notes

Recite: key concepts in your own words

Review: look back at your notes

At first the SQ4R approach might seem like extra work. However, when you consider

that you don’t have to reread, and that you are studying and preparing for exams all at the same

time, then you actually save time. Also, you won’t end up cramming thus reducing anxiety and

feeling more in control.

Effective Reading Strategies

The main goal of reading lesson is to help students develop as effective, proficient and

independent readers. As the readers go along the written text, they apply various comprehension

strategies to understand the text fully and completely. Two most popular comprehension

strategies are: using prior knowledge and generating questions. Both strategies have proven to be

effective in improving students’ comprehension of text.

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Effective readers come to the written text expecting what they read to make sense. By

quickly previewing the text, they identify the type of material to be read and set their purpose for

reading it. As they proceed with reading, they continually monitor their comprehension by

assessing and revising their predictions, by retaining important points or by clarifying

confusions. If they are uncertain about the meaning of a passage, they utilize certain fix-up

strategies such as stopping and going back over the confusing part or even asking a teacher or a

friend to help. When they finish reading, they are able to retell and/or summarize the material

they have read and make critical evaluations of the material. Hence effective reading involves

the use of a variety of strategies that enable a person to construct meaning from the printed page.

This section focuses on effective ways to teach students to use comprehension strategies before,

during, and after reading to assist them in understanding and remembering what they read.

BEFORE YOU READ

Preview/Surveying the Text: Get an idea of what the text is. Look at the title, pictures, captions

under pictures, headings, bold-faced print and other graphics. Read the summary statements at

the very beginning and at the end of the chapter.

Set a Purpose for Reading: Think if you will you be reading to find out what happens in a story

or to learn specific information.

Activate Background Knowledge: Think about what you already know about the content of what

you will read.

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Outline: If your textbook provides chapter outlines, spend time studying them. When an outline

is not provided, sketch a brief one in the margin of your book or on a separate sheet of paper. It

organizes your thoughts about the text and can make complex information easier to understand.

Predict: Think what might happen in the story, what words may be used, or what information the

text might contain.

Question: As you survey the text, ask questions for each section. Ask what, why, how, when,

who and where questions as they relate to the content. You can create questions by: turning the

title, headings, or subheadings into questions. Questions help you pay attention, understand the

text better, and recall the information more easily later on.

WHILE YOU READ

Read : Read one section of a chapter at a time looking for an answer to your question for that

section. Pay attention to bold and italicized text that authors use to make important points.

Cross-check: Check one cue with another. Ask yourself, "Does this word look right, sound right,

and make sense?"

Highlight: The purpose of making marks in a text is to create signals for reviewing. Underlining

or highlighting important information can save lots of time when you study for tests. But be

careful! Don’t do it too soon and very often, do it sparingly, usually less than 10 percent of the

text.

Monitor comprehension: Monitor your understanding by employing the strategic behaviors of

revising predictions, self-questioning, making associations, restating and clarifying. Assess and
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confirm or revise your predictions asking yourself, "Are my predictions coming true?", "Am I

finding the answers to my questions about this topic?"

Employ fix-up strategies: Sometimes you can skip an unfamiliar word and read to the end of the

sentence or paragraph, thinking about what would make sense. Then, using the context, go back

and reread to try to determine the word.

Making association: Connect background knowledge to the information in the text. Think about

how the information is similar to what you already know about the topic, event, or person.

Think About Explicit and Implicit Information: Think about what information is given directly.

Also think about what you know from reading that is not directly stated in words such as how a

character's actions show feelings or why things may have happened based on the clues the author

gave.

Reread (Stop and Review): When problems occur, return to the beginning of a sentence or

paragraph and read it again. Reread the text or a section of the text to help you understand it

better. If you are reading a longer text, stop and think about what has happened in the story so

far.

Answer: As you read, get the answers to your questions and write them down. Write down new

questions and note when you don’t find the answers you were looking for. Use these notes to ask

questions in class.
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AFTER YOU READ

Retell and Summarize: Tell someone or write what happened in the story, including characters,

plot, and important events. If you read a nonfiction piece, review what information was

presented. Form a group and practice teaching each other what you have read. One of the best

ways to learn anything is to teach it to someone else.

Use a Graphic Organizer: Use a story map, biography wheel, or any other charts or diagrams to

show what was included in what you read. This helps your understanding of the text retain

longer.

Evaluate and draw conclusions: Look back and think about what you have read. Think whether

your questions were answered. Consider how the information read relates to what you already

knew about the topic.

Discuss and Respond: Talk with someone about what you have read. Ask each other questions.

Look back at the book to defend your opinions.

Write to Support Understanding: Write about what you have read, telling what it made you

think of or what you learned.

Review: After each text, review your notes. Identify the main points of the reading by looking for

the most important idea in each section. Plan to do your first review within 24 hours of reading

the material. A review within one day moves information from short-term memory to your long-

term memory.
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Review Again: Review your study notes every week to help you remember the information.

When it's time to study for your tests, you'll find you've created an invaluable guide.

Guidelines for reading comprehension passages

Read the text and make marginal notes indicating what seemed like the strongest parts of

the text. When you have completed once through the text, go back and take notes in outline form,

by paraphrasing sentences or paragraphs until you have reduced the many pages of text to a few

pages. You can also underline or highlight the important points. But do not rely on underlining

and highlighting. This is insufficient. In order to “know” (not just answering a comprehension

question in the exam) a text, you need to convert it into your own words, or your own

organization of the text. Underlining is passive and does not help you learn the material. It can be

a momentary approach for answering some questions based on the text.

Here are some Practical applications that can be more worthwhile for improving

comprehension.

™ Methods that prompt the reader’s mind before reading lead to better comprehension.

Perhaps the best way to prompt the mind is to generate questions before and during

reading.

™ Teaching a combination of different strategies is better than focusing on one. Similarly

approaches that teach readers to utilize multiple strategies are superior to approaches that

teach single strategies.

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™ In foreign-language teaching, it is helpful to present cultural information in the students’

native language. This serves as background knowledge before the students attempt to

read in the foreign language.

™ Vocabulary should be taught directly and indirectly.

™ Discussing new words and concepts with students before reading a text is generally

helpful.

™ By talking to students about the different purposes for reading, they will become more

aware of what to focus on as they read.

Don’t stop to check every word with which you are unfamiliar. Try to get the sense of the

meaning from the context. Keep a separate notebook and allow time for some sessions with a

subject-specialist dictionary, your course notes and other source material. Create a glossary of

terms for use in your own work. Observe the style of writing promoted in academic texts. You

will need to emulate this style when writing your own assignment. However, if you need to

constantly translate the text into plain words it may be the fault of the particular author. Burt, et

al. conclude:

Some of the suggestions for working with adult English speakers based on

research may be of use with English language learners, such as teaching letter-sound

correspondence and word analysis skills and providing instruction in comprehension

strategies. However, other suggestions, such as using nonsense words in instruction, or

relying on context clues to build vocabulary knowledge, are not useful with nonnative

English speakers. Difficulties may arise because of cultural differences, gaps in English

oral vocabulary between English speakers and English language learners, and
  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 24 

interference from the native language. Instructors need to consider these differences when

planning and delivering instruction for adult English language learners. (6)

Tips on answering comprehension passages

It is important that candidates be well-grounded in the techniques required for reading

comprehension so as to be able to handle passages with the view not only to determine the

factual content but to analyze, grammatically and semantically, as well as literarily, the details of

the passage.

Reading comprehension exams are a great way to test an individual’s ability to absorb,

comprehend, process, and relate written information in a time-efficient manner. Since in the

examination hall there is limited time at the disposal of the students and in recognition of the

volume of work that has to be done, it is important that some kind of approach be adopted that

will enable them to get at the meaning of the passage in the minimum time. No rule applies

always and everywhere. But the following tips work almost all the time. Try them!

Skim the passage to get the general idea.

Scan the passage for its specific details.

Focus on understanding the passage.

Locate the main ideas, as well as important sub-points.

Work on the meanings of strange or difficult words.

Write down these details in your own words.

Reflect on them, review and revise them before putting down the final answer on the

answer sheet.
  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 25 

Do not copy information directly from the passage. Paraphrase your points as far as

possible.

It is better to read the given texts at least two times before starting to solve the given

exercises. Again, it depends upon the time limit and the difficulty level of the texts.

It is essential for the students to be aware of the fact that all the answers to the given

exercises are found in the passage/text.

For answering the Wh-questions, try to find the clue word/s in the text, which

matches the answer, then, write the answer

Write the answers in complete sentences.

Maintain the tense in your answer in which the question is asked.

As far as possible, do not copy the entire sentence as it is. Try to make your own

sentence. But, do not leave out main words/structure. What is mostly found is if they

find the answer sentence in the text, they copy as it is without even omitting the

unnecessary conjunctions. One instance of such cases is:

ƒ Question: What did Pradip Pal remember?

ƒ Answer: Pradip Pal remembered however was that he had once been a

prosperous farmer.

For giving the meaning whether it is similar or opposite one should keep in mind that

the meaning should be noun-to-noun (singular-to-singular), verb-to-verb (past-to-

past) and adverb-to-adverb, and so on.

If you are not sure of any answer, do not get stuck. That will simply waste your time.

Instead, leave some space and move ahead.

When you have finished, come back to do the question if you have left any earlier.
  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 26 

Spare some time to revise your answers at the end before you handover.

Types of questions asked

Various questions are asked based on the given passage. For example: Meaning (opposite

and similar), matching, filling the gaps, multiple choice, true/false, short questions: Wh-

questions/yes-no questions, locating information, putting in the correct order, etc.

A. Vocabulary questions: This question tests your word-power. It demands the words of similar

meaning. Before attempting it, you must know the meaning of the given words; then, you go

through the text. Find out the paragraph, the line, which talks about them, then you will find the

words. If you are still in confusion, guess the words. Your guess may be true. When you solve

this question, you will copy the words from the question on the left column; then, write the

answer on the right column.

B. True/False Questions: For solving the true/false type of questions, you need to decide

whether the given statements are true or false with reasons. Always copy the sentences first;

then, label them true/false by writing 'T' or 'F' next to them.

C. Rearrange the order question: When the sentences are re-arranged correctly, write the first

event first, then the second event and so on. You need to copy all the sentences.

D. Wh Questions: When the 'wh' questions are solved, the following things should be

considered:

• Make sure what the question is demanding.

• Find the related word/s or phrases in the text.

  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 27 

• Change the question into a simple sentence and place the answer in the proper

order/place.

• Try not to copy word by word from the passage.

Klinger, et al. state, “Mature readers utilize metacognitive strategies (self-thinking,

questioning, and monitoring) unconsciously to monitor their comprehension (102).” They further

argue that a good way for very experienced readers to check their comprehension strategies is by

reading unfamiliar text. They take the following passage asking the readers to consider the

strategies they use while reading it.

“In addition to reducing the concentration of bacteria and suspended particles in

the treatment process, protozoa are also biotic indicators. The presence of

protozoa reflects an improvement in effluent quality and is essential for the

production of good quality effluent. (Lee, Basu, Tyler, & Wei, 371)”

When we encounter difficult text, even good readers make explicit use of strategies. How

did you approach this passage? Did you find yourself rereading elements of the text? Did you

wonder about the meaning of some of the vocabulary words, such as effluent and biotic? Our

guess is that most of us without a science background would have found it useful to link our

understanding of similar topics to information in this passage. If this topic were unfamiliar, it

might help to know that the key idea of this paragraph, and those that follow, is that

microorganisms present in wastewater treatment plants are responsible for water quality.

Klinger, et al. propose that a good way for very experienced readers to check their

comprehension strategies is by reading unfamiliar text. However, I propose that a very good way
  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 28 

for very novice readers to improve their comprehension tactics is by attempting a nonsense text.

In my reading classes, I usually make my students practice with such nonsense texts, especially

when they are much worried about their reading tests. And I have found them to be more

effective in developing their confidence that they can do better in reading tests. Though there is

more trick or tactics rather than comprehension in such texts, they can be the stepping stone in

developing reading comprehension. On this basis, it can be deduced that they give the students

preliminary practice of attempting the reading comprehension tests. Gradually their attention and

practice can be shifted to reading sensible unfamiliar texts. The following is one sample reading

text of that kind. Now try it out. There are some nonsense words which belong to no language

except they are spelt in the English alphabet.

Ocen theere were two croofs. They dayways zintsed at ethotter qantixmatly.

howzdales, one was obsticiny as he was titanicly built upp and so limpeged to the

other who was pight-fashiont. So she unnenely had what she had yackked

onelitude. Surrisly, one daag he gazzed up and she got what she yackked.

Answer the following questions based on the above text:

1. Who were they?

2. How did they zintse at ethotter?

3. Why was one obsticiny?

4. Why did he limpege to the other?

5. When did she get onelitude?

  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 29 

Now check your answers. You will be surprised at your own ability in answering all the

questions correctly.

1. They were croofs.

2. They zintsed at ethotter quantixmatly.

3. One was obsticiny because he was titanicly built upp.

4. He limpeged to the other because he was titanicly built upp and also because the other

was pight-fashiont.

5. She got onelitude when he gazzed up.

It’s simple because you found it simple and got all answers right. Though you did not

understand the meaning of many words, you got the general idea that the two characters are of

opposing nature and the female character wanted to get rid of the male character and finally she

got what she wanted. My motive behind giving you such passage is just to make you develop

confidence in your skills that even if you don’t know the meaning of many words and don’t

comprehend the passage clearly and completely, you can still write answers to the

comprehension questions easily looking at the adjacent words and structures.

Practical hints for examination

The reading comprehension items are of two general categories: referring and reasoning.

Within each of these two general categories are several content categories that further specify the

skills and knowledge assessed by each item. Referring items pose questions about material

explicitly stated in a passage. Reasoning items assess proficiency at making appropriate

inferences, developing a critical understanding of the text, and determining the specific meanings
  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 30 

of difficult, unfamiliar, or ambiguous words based on the surrounding context.

(“COMPASS/ESL Reading Placement Test”1)

Here are some typical hints that can really assist you in understanding, finding answers

and writing answers to the comprehension questions in a better way in an efficient manner within

a set time limit:

1. If the text is an essay, short story, or a short poem, read the whole text to get an overview

of its content.

2. Then, read the text a second time. Use the strategies below to help you analyze and

annotate the text.

- Read the heading and sub heading very carefully.

- Guess what the passage is about?

- Underline important concepts and circle any new vocabulary words. You can do this

matching them with the key words in the questions.

- Take notes and write any questions in the margins. You can later return to your

questions and notes, paying particular attention to certain paragraphs or lines.

3. If you are having difficulty with a paragraph, try these strategies:

- Read the paragraphs that come both before and after it to provide context clues.

- Identify the topic sentence. Remember, the topic sentence may appear in the first or

last sentence of a paragraph. The topic sentence may also be implied.

- Determine the main idea and supporting details. Then try to answer the following

questions about the passage: Who? What? Where? When? Why?

  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 31 

- Look for transition words that might indicate a shift in the text’s meaning, such as

next, before, then, consequently, moreover, in addition, but, however, etc.

4. Locate the answers matching them carefully with the key words in the questions:

- Read the questions very carefully.

- Underline the keywords in the questions which you have to match them in the text

- Understand the nature of questions very clearly.

- Scan or skim the passage according to the questions.

- While reading, underline the key words that you have already underlined in the

questions, in the text.

- Read both question and underlined text again.

5. Write your answers legibly with special attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar.

- You can directly write your answer to the answer sheet.

- Be careful of appropriate placing. Take care! Is it the place of Noun, Verb, adjective

or adverb form?

- Complete the answers within the set time limit for the item(s).

Conclusion

Reading is the commonest way of acquiring world body of knowledge. It exposes people

to the accumulated wisdom of human civilization. For both children and adults, the ability to

read opens up new worlds and opportunities. Reading is a very important skill that students need

to master as early as possible. However, the process of mastering reading is actually very

complex and this is clearly shown by the large number of students who are not skilled in reading.

It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. It consists of two related
  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 32 

processes: word recognition and comprehension. When a reader does not have adequate prior

knowledge and cannot figure out key concepts, comprehension suffers.

The ultimate goal of reading is to be able to understand written material, to evaluate it,

and to use it for one's needs. The main goal of reading lesson, therefore, is to help students

develop as effective, proficient and independent readers. Effective reading means being able to

read accurately and efficiently, understanding as much of a text as one needs in order to achieve

one’s purpose. Thus, reading comprehension is an essential part of the reading process. It is

about much more than answering literal questions at the end of a passage, story, or chapter. It is

an ongoing process of evolving thinking. Readers must interact with a text for comprehension to

occur, combining its ideas and information with what they already know. To reduce the matter

into a small compass, readers adopt various comprehension strategies to understand the text.

They typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge,

experience with text and other strategies to help them understand written text. There are myriads

of ideas about how to improve reading comprehension. Some work, some do not, and some are

best used in conjunction with others.

In the context of our country, most English learner are worried about not understanding

English articles, newspapers, magazines and so on. How to improve our English has become

more and more important to engage struggling readers. Teachers can use a number of strategies

to promote cognitive competence, motivation and social interaction. They should be encouraged

to use real-world interactions to connect them with their own experiences. They should be

provided with an abundance of interesting reading materials, provided with choice, and enabled

to share and discuss their reading experiences with others.

  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 33 

A good way for very experienced readers to check their comprehension strategies is by

reading unfamiliar text. On the other side of the Atlantic, a very good way for very novice

readers to improve their comprehension tactics is by attempting a nonsense text. Teachers

concerned with literacy will also have other valid ideas that they may wish to share. In addition

to sharing ideas, actual progress requires putting ideas into classroom practice. The suggestions

provided in this paper have proved useful in research and experience on the teaching of reading.

Altogether, reading is an art that improves with practice.

  Making Sense of Nonsense: Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension |Dhakal 34 

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