What you should know about the three levels of comprehension Imagine that you have in your hands a very important text you must pay close attention and understand it perfectly and what would be your strategy how would you read it to understand it better more channeling a text is easier if you take small ordered steps, that is, reading little by little and several times these steps are called levels of comprehension and there are three the literal the inferential and the critical the secret is to do an independent reading for each step level so in each reading you can concentrate on a specific aspect and better understand what you read the first reading at a level corresponds to literal comprehension the most important thing in this stage is to identify the basic characteristics of the text and understand the explicit information that is, the information that can be seen clearly and without interpretations in this first stage it is convenient to find out what type of text you are reading if it has a specific format a recipient or a specific function identify the author the time and any other information about what you are going to read on this poster for example by doing a quick reading and concentrating on the literal level, that is, what is seen with the naked eye you can determine the following is an advertising poster about a vaccination campaign the author of both the poster Since the campaign is a government agency, it is aimed at the general public, it focuses on two diseases, the flu and pneumococcus. The second reading corresponds to the inferential or interpretive level. At this level, you must relate everything you know if you know about what the text says. From this moment on, it is possible to make assumptions or conjectures. This is where the deepest understanding occurs. For example, in this second stage, you relate what you read with what you know about the diseases, your own experience suffering from one of them or with the health center that offers vaccines. You can infer details such as that it is surely winter, a time when these diseases increase, or relate the information to some recent news. Finally, the third reading corresponds to the critical level. During this last stage, the text is analyzed, judged, and even criticized, the characters, and the resources used by the author. Beyond saying whether you liked what you read or not in this stage, the most important thing is to act, that is, to include some of what you learned by reading in your daily life. Returning to the example, in this third level of understanding, after interpreting the information received, for example, you may decide to get vaccinated, depending on the complexity of the text, perhaps each step has a level of If it takes you more than one reading to understand, don't worry. As you practice, it will become easier and easier the next time you have to read a text and ensure its understanding. Identify the three levels. Read the text as many times as you need and put these tips into practice. [Music]