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Abstract The ability to use a language in a communicative way is not just a single unified skill. Most recent studies has divided language ability into four separate skill areas; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Reading is considered one of the most important skills which help to build vocabulary and lead to lifelong learning and improvement in first and second language skills. Reading is important for the following reasons: -It develops personal creativity, allows the student to form and construct in their minds how a certain character looks like and how to imagine a certain scene and gives the student a chance to practice creativity and critical reading. - It improves the student’s capacity to grasp principles and ideas (http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/٥٠٠/٥٢٨.html) - It develops critical thinking so that students will be able to think and take their own decisions early in their education, preparing them to “the real world (http://www.peopleoffaith.com/benefits-of-reading.htm) -It develops proficiency in language, leading to development of other skills and increasing vocabulary (US Department of Education: ٢٠٠٦). -It helps students to get knowledge of new things which enlarge their interests. -It develops the positive values in students’ life. (http: //www.ccboe.net/teachers/) -Reading increases students’ ability to focus on their text, and solve their problems (http://www.kernel.uky.edy/٢٠٠١/text/٠١٣١/٠٩aarts.shml) Reading is a complex process involving a network of cognitive actions that work together to construct meaning (Baker and Brown ٢٠٠٢; Block and Pressley ٢٠٠٢; Pearson ٢٠٠٢). Reading is viewed as an interactive process between the reader and the text through which meaning was constructed, but importantly, it is also seen as an intentional thinking process (RAND, ٢٠٠٤). Hence, to read effectively, learners should be able to use comprehension not just to understand the meaning but also to comprehend inside ideas. As Tierney (٢٠٠٥) stressed, reading could not occur without comprehension, so, to comprehend, a reader must have a wide range of capacities and abilities that include: attention, memory, critical analytic ability, inference, visualization ability, motivation, and various types of knowledge (vocabulary domain and topic knowledge, linguistic and discourse knowledge and knowledge of specific comprehension strategies). As a reader begins to read and complete an activity, some of the knowledge and capacities change (NRP, ٢٠٠٠). The features of text have a large effect on comprehension. During reading, the reader creates different representations of the text that are important for comprehension. These include: surface code or understanding the exact wording of text and text base or understanding the idea units representing meaning (NRP, ٢٠٠٠). This helps comprehension by allowing the students to visually understand what they have read and attain the information in their long term memory. Moreover, to know more about comprehension there are actually three main levels or strands of comprehension: literal, inferential and critical comprehension. (Zahran, ٢٠١٠). These are not only three levels but there are lots of classifications which will be mentioned in detail in chapter (٢). ١-literal comprehension: the shallow or direct comprehension, which includes everything related to the thorough and deep knowledge and understanding of the words, with the increase in the number of words, it also includes understanding the literal apparent meaning and learning the meanings of words and grasping the main idea, and secondary ideas, under which falls a set of sub-skills, they are: - Identifying people in reading text. - Identifying times in reading text. - Arranging events in reading text upon occurrence. - Identifying text keywords and frequency of occurrence - Determining the synonyms of words in reading text. ٢ - Inferential comprehension: it is the process of the reader which links between the signals of context and various hints on one hand and the inter-relation of sentences on the other hand, to get the meaning and the required information from the text, and know the purpose of the writer, under which falls a set of sub-skills, they are ‐ deducting the main idea of reading text ‐ deducting the secondary ideas of the reading text ‐ deducting implied meanings in reading text ‐ deducting results from facts included in text introductions ٣ - Critical comprehension: this skill enables the reader to appreciate the importance of what he reads and determines the accuracy of the news that he reads. This ability can be developed when the teacher discusses with his students what they read, and asks them to explain their point of view in the reading text, under this skill falls a set of subskills, they are: -Differentiating between facts and opinions. -Developing an opinion regarding an act or phenomenon appeared in the reading text. -Distinguishing between the related and non-related ideas to the subject. As a part of a balanced strategy, the most powerful facets of using reading comprehension with literature circles is this dynamic interaction or transaction among readers in the group and between readers and the text. This practice encourages, even demands, that students become active participants first in reading their books and second in the group discussions. |