about this skill token
1 Step
- Score 80% or higher on the Counting Syllables Quiz in the English Phonics and Spelling Quest.
Syllable Drum Flower
Being in possession of this potion enables you to express meaning of a single phrase or sentence as well as connect meanings from several sentences in order to come to a specific conclusion on a topic. With this ability you can also understand explicit meanings (literal meaning of text - the words mean exactly what they say), or implicit (the words imply something that is not said directly).
The effectiveness of this potion depends on the complexity of the text you are trying to understand. When sentences are short and the vocabulary is basic, it is much easier to understand than text with long sentences and less frequently used words.
This potion is optimal for text that is roughly the same complexity as those used in British Schools for Grade 9. (In the quests, however, you will get exposure to text of a highter level of complexity - as well as lower. See our quest requirements for a better understanding of the minimum difficulty of text you must be able to read before embarking on this quest.)
There is no simple way to define the difficulty level of reading material. School grade standards vary from curriculum to curriculum and country to country. A better way to define it is to use global standards that are used by curriculum creators and industries worldwide. There are several online tools available that can assess a piece of text and provide the score for these standards or provide example texts. These standards are technical to understand and are given here as optional information for those that are interested:
✨Flesch Reading Ease Score: a percentage – the higher, the easier the material is to read. Your aim is to master text at a level of 60 – 70% – or lower.
✨Flesch-Kincaid Grade: A score invented based on the grade level of American schools. Your aim is to master text at a level of 10 or higher.
✨Gunning-Fox Index: metric used to measure the readability of a text, developed by Robert Gunning in 1952. It considers the number of sentences, number of words, and the number of complex words consisting of three or more syllables in the text. Your aim is to master a text level of 10 or higher.
✨CEFR Level (Common European Framework of References for Languages): Text are measured as A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 (from easiest to hardest). Your aim is to master text at B2 level or higher.
We use words to express our understanding - we may understand text that we read, but if we cannot find the right words to convey this understanding to others, the is no proof that you understand it in the first place.
💠…we can answer by using almost the exact words from the text (called paraphrasing) in a sentence.
💠…we need to explain the meaning of a word or phrase, which requires finding our own words.
💠…the answer is not in a specific place in the text, but spread across several sentences that we need to form an understanding and put that understanding forth – often using mostly our own words.
As seen from above, the writing aspect varies from one scenario to the next. Being the owner of this potion not only increases your understanding of what you read, but it also expands your vocabulary and increases your ability to find the right words to express your understanding.