Which term describes understanding and making meaning from text, the core purpose of reading?

• A. Text comprehension
• B. Phonemic awareness
• C. Fluency
• D. Vocabulary

Answer: (A)

Text comprehension is understanding and making meaning from what you read. It’s the purpose of reading: you decode the words and then interpret them, connect them to what you already know, and build new understanding from the text. This involves identifying the main idea, supporting details, making inferences, and integrating ideas across the passage. Phonemic awareness focuses on hearing and manipulating individual sounds, a foundational skill for decoding but not about meaning. Fluency deals with reading smoothly, quickly, and with expression; it helps access meaning but doesn’t by itself define understanding. Vocabulary contributes word knowledge, but knowing words alone doesn’t guarantee that you grasp the text’s overall message.