How do you understand while reading anything? What are good techniques to understand the exact meaning of things we read; whether it is a newspaper, a novel or a textbook?

Answer 1

The short answer. Lots of practice. The more you read, the better you will understand. The best readers are engaged in books constantly.

The long answer. There a several popular, proven techniques that you can use to help you understand improve your reading comprehension. Keep in mind that the way you will use these strategies changes on the type of reading you are doing. Reading a textbook will look different than reading a novel. However, no matter what you are reading, you can still use these techniques to improve your reading.

1. Activating Prior Knowledge. This technique draws attention to what you already know about the subject matter of what you are reading. I would recommend previewing the reading. Look at the title, pictures, headings, etc. What is the book or article about? How does it connect to something you are familiar with.What set of vocabulary might you be called upon to understand? This will help you set the tone for what you are going to be reading.
2. Inferring. This technique focuses asks you to focus on what the author is saying that is not directly stated in the book(an inference). Most authors rely on the readers ability to understand their inference. Readers can get confused because if they do not understand the context of the inference, or that the author wanted you to make an inference, you will misunderstand the text. For example, if the author writes that "the disheveled adult was standing at the front of the classroom, writing on the chalkboard in a futile attempt to get the class to understand the math problem", you can infer that the adult is probably a teacher. The author does not directly state it, but wants you to know it all the same.
3. Clarifying: This technique involves active reading. While you are reading, you should be constantly clarifying and thinking about what you are reading. What do you understand? What don't you understand? Is there a word you need to look up? When I read, this is one strategy that I forget to use sometimes, and usually when I realize it, I also realize that I have no idea what the last page or two was about, and have to go back and reread.
4. Questioning: This technique involves generating questions about the text while you are reading. Here are some questions I like to think about and answer in my head. What does this character look like? Why does the author do this here? What is another possible action the character could have taken? What are the motivations of the characters?
5. Summarizing: This technique requires the reader to briefly summarize what they are reading. In other words, to briefly restate in your own words. Good readers do this constantly while they are reading. Beginning readers often forget, so it is helpful to set lengths of text to read before summarizing. I have seen students stop every few sentences, or paragraph, or page to take a few seconds to summarize what they just read.
6. Visualizing: This technique has the reader visualize what they are reading. What does the main character look like? What does the setting look like? What do the actions of the characters look like? The reading should play out like movie in your head.

Good readers use several or all of these strategies consistently while they are reading. If you are struggling with comprehension, pick one of them to focus on at a time, and get to reading. I cannot emphasize enough that the best technique to improve your reading comprehension is to make active reading an intentional, daily habit.

Hope that helps.