Four Levels of Questioning and Comprehension

• Literal
• Interpretive
• Critical
• Appreciative

What exactly do these labels mean? Here is information that will help you understand and be able to use these four levels of comprehension with your children.

Literal Level: Facts that are EXPLICITLY stated in the text; this information can be found 100% in the text of the story or article.

Things to ask questions about:

• A character
• Name
• Traits
• Feelings
• The story setting
• When the story took place
• Picture Reading
• What is happening?
• What do they see?
• A single action or event
• What was the action or event?
• How did it happen?
• What happened?
• List or Sequence
• What items?
• What actions?
• What events?
• What order? (First, Next, Last)
• Comparisons
• Likenesses or differences between
• Characters
• Events
• Places
• Cause and Effect Relationships
• Reasons for certain actions or events
• Results of certain actions or events
• Main Idea
• Idea, theme, or moral of a paragraph or story

Interpretive Level: Interpret information implied in the text; builds on facts in the text. The answers are based 50% on text and 50% on the reader’s interpretation. (Sometimes called Inference or Inferential Comprehension)

• Ask your child to suggest additional details not explicitly stated in the text about
• A character
• The setting of the story
• When the story took place
• Ask them to infer or predict additional details about a single action or event
• Infer what might have occurred previously
• Predict what could happen next
• Predict final outcome of the story
• Ask your child to infer things about a picture in the story.
• What meal does it look like they are having?
• Ask them to infer or predict a list of items, actions, events, or the sequence of several actions or events not stated in the text.
• Ask your child to infer likenesses or differences among characters, events, or places
• Ask child to infer the reasons for certain actions or events
• Ask child to infer the results of certain actions or events
• Ask them to come up with the main idea, theme, or moral that is not stated in the text
• Have your child summarize the story in their own words

Critical Level: Evaluating information based on personal knowledge and experiences; judgment of text. The answers are based 25% on text and 75% on the reader’s knowledge. (Sometimes called Evaluative Comprehension)

• Ask your child to state and support their opinion about:
• Character’s traits, feelings, motives, or actions in the 
• An event in the story
• If they were that character, what would they do and why?
• A sequence of events
• What is happening in a picture in the story
• Overall plot or theme of the story
• The likenesses and differences between two stories
• Characters, actions, events
• Whether the characters, actions, or events could have really happened (realistic or fanciful fiction)

Appreciative Level: Reader’s response to the text; based 50% on text and 50% on author.

• What does your child think of the author’s:
• Use of language
• Values
• Imagery
• Style of text
• What is your child’s reaction to the author’s:
• Ideas
• Language
• Purpose

I gathered this information from

• Bob Jones Curriculum
• Mt. San Antonio College Learning Assistance Center
• Utah State University