Of English Language Comprehension

Of English Language Comprehension

Linguistically speaking, the question asked in exams based on heard or written speech is a test of practical understanding of English language – how quickly one grasps and how correctly one answers

By Mukesh Sharma

Be it academic or competitive exams for various government services in India, the question on comprehension is very common and compulsory. It is a test to assess the understanding of the students regarding English language; it is a test of quick grasping of the subject matter discussed; it is a test of vocabulary; it is a test of syntax; it is a test of knowledge of grammatical rules; it is a test of self-expression.

Of English Language Comprehension

Broadly speaking, comprehension is an exercise that trains students to understand a language, and it also tests the understanding of the students regarding a language. It can be divided into two categories:

1. Listening Comprehension

2. Reading Comprehension 

Listening Comprehension (LC)

It is a test of the ability of the students to grasp the message quickly when it is read out to him/her, and answer the questions set out on the message. Usually, when something is read out in native tongue, one grasps it in no time. For instance, a native speaker of Hindi can understand a Hindi song even with varied pitch, beat or tone. But when it comes to second language (English), he/she faces problem in understanding even the simple words because of unacquainted pronunciation and the problem becomes serious when a native speaker of English speaks. Hindi speaking people are not able to understand English songs completely without the written lyrics – the root cause of the problem is accent. However, English is such a language that has many variations – American English, British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English, etc. It won’t be wrong to say that there is no standardized pronunciation of a particular word in English or there is no standardization accent. What is more, each variation is governed by its own grammar. For instance, American English doesn’t use ‘helping verbs’ like ‘does’, ‘shall’, etc.:

He don’t like it (AE)

He doesn’t like it (BE)

I shall attend party (BE)

I will attend party (AE)

Furthermore, Bill Bryson, an American journalist and the author of The Mother Tongue says:

There are over 4000 words which have common spellings; same pronunciation, but different meanings in both the countries – America and Britain.

For instance, the word ‘fanny’ means buttock (in AE) and Vagina (in BE), ‘knock up’ means get pregnant (in AE) and wake up call (in BE) etc. Surprisingly enough, American English sounds different even to native speaker of English from Britain. A great litterateur G.B. Shaw makes a Ironic comment:

US and UK are the two countries divided by the common language

In fact, the listening comprehension (LC) depends on how one recognizes a word through the sound of its pronunciation as one recognizes one’s near and dear by the distinctive sound of their voice. So a non- native of speaker must listen to native speaker of English to get himself/herself used to the distinctive sound of pronunciation of the words, and that leads to understanding of the accent too. As far as English language is concerned, a non-native speaker of English must watch CNN, BBC, and other English programme including movies. Very recently, a video grab of a 12 year old Haryana (India) girl went viral where she was shown speaking English with American and British accent. When she was asked how she learnt it, she said: “I have picked it up by listening and studying the accent of native speakers of English."

Furthermore, the test of listening comprehension (LC) is also one of the compulsory questions in IELTS (International English language Testing System) and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign language) where the students who wish to study abroad or in some foreign university in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom (England, Welsh, Ireland & Scotland), and USA, are made to listen a recorded speech, and they are asked to answer the questions based on heard speech. In IELTS, the recorded speech may be played in one of different accents e.g. American, British, Canadian, etc., while in TOEFL, it is American accent only.

Reading Comprehension

How one comprehends a written text in English. Linguistically speaking, the question on written text or unseen passage in the exams, is a test of practical understanding of English language- how quickly one grasps and how correctly one answers the question based on that. It depends on one’s ability to recognize the words through their distinctive shape as one is able to recognize his/her very close acquaintances by their body shape and gait even from some distance in the dark. In the mind of well-read man, a discernible shape of each written word is stored in the form of a picture. Just a cursory glance of a particular written word makes the shape of the word complete in the mind. This is how a trained and qualified chemist is able to read even an scribbled prescription of a doctor. Thus such pictorial memory of the mind, makes one read the written text faster than an ordinary reader. So, to pass out the test of reading comprehension one must develop good reading habit. Read as much as one can the different material on variety of subjects. With the practice, one can increase the speed of reading a book up to 60 pages per hour. Of course, it takes time to develop the pictorial memory.

In common parlance, the question on reading comprehension in exams is also known as question on unseen passage. It is common in most of the competitive exams for government services in India, particularly, in Banks Probationary Officers including IELTS and TOEFL. The students with poor English find the question rather challenging. The common complaint is that the passage was very tough; English was very difficult; students were not able to catch even main idea. Majority of students with poor knowledge of English, also find the question time- consuming. Though there is no format, and no rote-learning works, here this blogger seeks to suggest the easiest way to attempt the question successfully even with not-so-good English:

1^st step

Read the passage as quickly as possible so as to grasp the main idea, read for the message not for sentences or words.

2^nd step

Read the questions set on the passage one by one.

3^rd step

Re-read the passage carefully and underline the sentences/words that may be related directly or indirectly to given questions.

4^th step

Read questions once again

5^th step

Re-read the passage and look at the marked/underlined sentences/words, carefully.

6^th step

Start answering the question in your own words based on underlined sentences in the passage; no patch work.

Mind you, only a well-read student would be comfortable  in answering the question on unseen passage. However, good reading-habit and good practice can improve the reading comprehension. Nothing is difficult, if one is determined to do it – an attempt always paves the way to solution of a problem.