What does "focus on comprehension" mean?

[leosmith]

And what exactly do you need to do to "focus on comprehension"? I hear this a lot, but honestly do not know what it means. Does it just mean pay attention? Only consume level-appropriate material (comprehensible input)? When you encounter something you don't understand, does this principal suggest you repeat it/look it up/ask a native speaker until you comprehend it before continuing your studies? Or is this a more general "only do activities that enable you to comprehend" principal?

[jeff_lindqvist]

Perhaps "listen actively" (and not just have the audio in the background). Or "do your best to understand" (but don't translate).

[Dragon27]

In what context is it said? On the face of it, it probably just means that you should focus on trying to comprehend (grasp the meaning of) the text you're reading/listening to, instead of analyzing other linguistic elements like grammar, phonology, etc.

[Iversen]

You could also be focusing on things like pronunciation, and then the meaning is less important. Or on grammar or vocabulary, but then you also to some extent have to try to understand the meaning of whatever you are listening to. But even here you may be trying hard to understand everything, which is different from just trying to guess the general meaning of something from scattered clues.

[Cainntear]

And what exactly do you need to do to "focus on comprehension"? I hear this a lot, but honestly do not know what it means.

I'm not sure you're going to get a useful answer here. People are effectively just saying what they understand when you say those words without any context, which could be very different from what the phrase is being used to mean by the people you've heard and/or read saying it.

I think there's a deeper problem that people might be using it believing they understand it when really they don't. My assumption is always that if someone can't say something clearly, they don't really know clearly. That's why I'm always asking questions -- because I want to know whether they actually do have a clear idea that they're trying to express, and because if they don't, I'm hoping that in trying and failing to find an answer to my question, it might make them realise that they really doing have a clear idea in their head.

It's not a put-down -- I'm not trying to make them feel bad or look bad -- I'm just hoping to get them more open to discussion, because it's through open discussion that we can collectively move towards a better common understanding.

[Iversen]

OK, second attempt. Focus on comprehension is NOT focus on pronunciation or external circumstances - then it must be on meaning somehow. Within meaning it can't be relying on sloppy guesswork (I hope), so it has to be the same as trying to understand everything.

Others may have other definitions, but this is mine.

[tommus]

I find there are situations in spoken language where I understand all the individual words but don't understand the meaning of the sentence. Sometimes, of course, it is because of idioms and strange expressions, but it also occurs in simple speech, often as the result of word order. In other words, it is colloquial. Native speakers have ways of saying things that other native speakers instantly recognize. The meaning could have been expressed in a more straightforward way that non-natives would find easier to understand. But that is not the way natives speak to each other "colloquially".
So how could you "focus on comprehension" of colloquial speech or text? I guess you record the speech, do some STT, translate it so you understand what was said and meant. And then listen to the recording until you can repeatedly understand it. But it takes lots and lots of practice listening and trying to understand native speech. Not easy.

[Le Baron]

I find there are situations in spoken language where I understand all the individual words but don't understand the meaning of the sentence. Sometimes, of course, it is because of idioms and strange expressions, but it also occurs in simple speech, often as the result of word order. In other words, it is colloquial. Native speakers have ways of saying things that other native speakers instantly recognize. The meaning could have been expressed in a more straightforward way that non-natives would find easier to understand. But that is not the way natives speak to each other "colloquially"...

This is actually a great response and seems to me the 'answer'. In short that comprehension is more than the sum of the parts.

[Iversen]

I find there are situations in spoken language where I understand all the individual words but don't understand the meaning of the sentence.

But you tried, and that's the core meaning of 'focus'. You don't have to succeed, and you don't have to produce a translation.

[Le Baron]

I find there are situations in spoken language where I understand all the individual words but don't understand the meaning of the sentence.

But you tried, and that's the core meaning of 'focus'. You don't have to succeed, and you don't have to produce a translation.

It's not the core meaning of comprehension though!