Comprehension involves the ability to understand what is read through either oral or silent reading. There are four levels of comprehension: literal, interpretative, critical, and application. The literal level focuses on identifying important information explicitly stated. The interpretative level requires making inferences about what is implied. The critical level involves making judgments about the validity or worth of what is read. The application level combines understandings from the lower levels to develop new ideas and insights.

1. Comprehension

2. In reading, the ability to understand what is read; may be
assessed via oral or silent reading.

3. A.
B.
C.
D.
Literal Level of Comprehension
Interpretative Level of Comprehension
Critical Level of Comprehension
Application Level of Comprehension

4. Literal Level of Comprehension
• The literal level focuses on reading the
passages, hearing the words or viewing the
images. It involves identifying the important and
essential information. With guidance, students
can distinguish between the important and less
important ideas.

5. Interpretative Level of Comprehension
• At the interpretive level, the focus shifts to
reading between the lines, looking at what is
implied by the material under study. It requires
students to combine pieces of information in
order to make inferences about the author's
intent and message. Guiding students to
recognize these perceived relationships
promotes understanding and decreases the risk
of being overwhelmed by the complexities of the
text being viewed, heard or read.

6. Critical Level of Comprehension
• The principal focus of this level of
comprehension is the aspect of evaluation .
Critical level of comprehension is the
judgment of validity or worth of what is read or
heard , based on sound criteria of standards
developed through previous experiences .

7. Application Level of Comprehension
• Understandings at the literal and interpretive
levels are combined, reorganized and
restructured at the applied level to express
opinions, draw new insights and develop fresh
ideas. Guiding students through the applied
level shows them how to synthesize information,
to read between the lines and to develop a
deeper understanding of the concepts, principles
and implications presented in the text.