LESSON 1 | TEXT ANALYSIS
READING COMPREHENSION 3-STEP METHODOLOGY
The process by which we will approach reading content in this course is trifold and should be
adhered to closely to progress through the stages of comprehension.
1 Skim for Word Recognition
Circle (or otherwise identify) words you know, and use these as 'pegs' to try to figure out the
general gist or theme of the reading passage.
2 Educated Guessing
Look more closely at words you did not recognize, and try to guess their meaning (even if only
partially) based on:
• Context: If you know most of the words in a sentence, you can often take an educated
guess at the meaning of the one or two words that you did not recognize.
• Root letters: Even if you do not know the meaning of a word, you might get some sense
of its meaning if you recognize the root letters. For example, you can guess that the
word /
0
B
š
5
$
,
(
probably has something to do with eating.
• Morphological patterns: You may recognize a specific pattern of a word (e.g.
ا
ِ
ﺳْﻢ
ُ
اﻟﻔﺎﻋ
ِ
ﻞ )
and, similarly the tense and mood of verbs (even if you don't know the meaning of the
verb, you can recognize its 'shape' as !
"
;
$
O
/ ;
*
›&#
0
a / =&œ 0 ).
3 Translation
Based on stages 1 and 2, figure out the structure and syntax of sentences, and utilize the
accompanying vocabulary list to confirm or change your educated guesses from Step 2.
Note about Vocabulary
The accompanying vocabulary lists for each text are given to aid in comprehension of the text
being studied. Students are not responsible for committing these words to memory each
week. However, students will naturally pick up these words through context and repetition
throughout the story.