towards an analysis of errors made by university students ... - DSpace

"reading comprehension is not merely a
function of capabilities within the reader.
Some writers succeed in making themselves
unreadable. There is a sense, therefore, in
which reading comprehension rests on our
ability to overcome the difficulties placed
in our way by a writer.
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but, says
Gardner,
"to acquire adequate reading comprehension
we need to come to terms with the special and
unique forms of language, which writers tend
to use". 5
Gardner suggests that reading comprehension is more than
"the surface melody offered by the composer.
To probe the underlying harmonies one needs
a means of interpreting the detail of the
score". 6
That is to say, reading comprehension involves application of
some form of analysis to the meanings of the superficial read,
asan extension of the initial comprehension, besides the
assumpti on tha t
"what a reader comprehends is as much a
function of that reader's intentions as it
is of an assumed reading competence". 7
Depending on the reader's intentions the products of reading may
present different levels of comprehension. A reader may read to
obtain only a surface meaning, or he may reflect and pose critical
analysis to his first impressions. Gardner also claims that
"no matter how levels of comprehension are
analysed, however, it seems that an essential
element is the interaction between the
intentions of the reader and the 'meanings'
which are available in the text. The outcomes
of reading rest on: a) what the reader wishes
.to achieve, and b) his competence in utilizing