Importance Of Comprehension

To comprehend something means to understand it. How you handle a particular situation depends on how you comprehend the situation in the first place. Comprehension is a skill which can be taught effectively in early stages of human life. Teaching children to comprehend though might look very easy, requires constant interaction with the children and understanding the need of comprehension ourselves. Comprehension teaching comprises of two types: reading comprehension and listening comprehension. Of the two, listening comprehension is more basic which begins from the time children start to understand a language. Reading comprehension comes only at a later stage, when children start understanding the written language. In the following lines, we have covered both comprehension types and their relevance.

 

Listening comprehension can be defined as “the ability to recall and understand information which is presented orally”. It is the most basic skill that needs to be imparted to children at a very young age, so that they can understand the twists and turns of the language that would enter at later stages of their life. Listening comprehension starts as early as when a child starts responding to known voices and understands common words. Being able to recall and understand information is an important pre-reading skill. In order to be a strong reader later on, a child must be able to recall information when it is presented orally. Comprehension is very important in inculcating active and effective listening. A child who does not understand what is generally orated to him will always avert from listening attentively, as he/she might view it as a useless activity.

 

Also, strong listening comprehension skills initiate better thought process and creative skills in the young minds. Although it is very easy to promote comprehension in children, you have to involve them in the whole learning scenario. For example, while reading a story book, you need to ask them questions and help them answer if they can’t. You should reward them on showing signs of development, as these positive reinforcements would add as incentives and push them to trying harder and thus growing faster. Listening comprehension also aids the person to become a better speaker as he/ she would understand the nuances of effective speaking from his own listening experiences. Furthermore, a good listener is better able to grab knowledge than a person who doesn’t understand.

Reading comprehension means understanding something that you read and not just read through. Whenever you read something, there may be instances when you just browse through a paragraph which you are reading. On the contrary, at times, you may try to understand what the content is. The latter is the actual way of reading comprehension. You must be able to recollect, assimilate and reproduce whatever you have read. Needless to say, this is the most important skill for success in academics and your career. People who like to read actually comprehend whatever is written. Since reading comprehension is individualistic, so is the interpretation.

 

This often reflects in the fact that different people interpret the same piece of prose or verse in various ways. The ability to interact with the text is directly proportional to the ease of reading or fluency. A person will be able to understand the intentions expressed in whatever he is reading only when he is able to decipher the words without difficulty. If the person spends more time to understand the words, then he will find it increasingly difficult to combine them and form meaningful interpretations. As such, this skill should be imparted early in kids, using story books and illustrated works. When the child starts understanding things easily, he develops a sense of literary comprehension which sticks to him forever.