What are the four components described in the four-part processing model for understanding text?

• A. Figuring out what words say; knowing what they mean; putting everything together with what is already known; understanding the whole story or text
• B. Identifying the main idea; summarizing; predicting; evaluating
• C. Decoding; encoding; recalling; retelling
• D. Listening; speaking; reading; writing

Answer: (A)

This question is about how readers process text in four main steps: figure out what the words say (decoding), understand what those words mean (vocabulary/word knowledge), connect the new information to what you already know (activating prior knowledge), and then combine all of that to understand the text as a whole (comprehension). The option describing these four parts matches that flow exactly: decoding the words, knowing what the words mean, linking new information with prior knowledge, and grasping the overall meaning of the story or text. This framing helps teachers diagnose where a reader might need support—whether in decoding, vocabulary, background knowledge, or constructing meaning from the whole text.

Other options mix in strategies or different skills that aren’t the four processing components described here. For example, some focus on identifying the main idea or predicting and summarizing, which are useful strategies but not the four core processing steps. Others blend decoding with recalling or retelling, which isn’t the same processing sequence, or list listening, speaking, reading, and writing, which are modes of language use rather than the processing stages readers go through.