Levels of comprehension
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BOTTOM
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Level 1 Sounds to words What are the patterns of meaningful sound? At this level, speech sounds are perceived, categorized and retained in some kind of organized string. What are the words being said? The perceived sounds are segmented into 'units', which then have to be recognized as words. |
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Level 2 Words to basic meaning What do these 'words' mean? Lexical meanings are accessed for the 'words' (semantic processing), the grammatical cues, eg word order, endings, may be processed (syntactic processing) and the listener tries to arrive at a basic sentence meaning or proposition. |
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TOP
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Level 3 Meaning to intention What is the speaker really trying to say? At the intention level, the listener tries to map the different propositions into a coherent whole and understand the significance of the meanings as intended by the speaker. |
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Level 4 Communication level Having understood what has been said in terms of its intention, the listener has to ask: how should I respond appropriately? For example, do I agree with what has been said: if not, how can I disagree politely? |
