Text Comprehension Defined

According to Webster's Dictionary, comprehension is "the capacity for understanding fully; the act or action of grasping with the intellect, and to understand the meaning of written or printed matter.” In short, reading is comprehension i.e. understanding written text. Essentially, it is thought guided by print.
Richard Anderson of the Commission on Reading of the IRA (2008) defines reading as the process of constructing meaning from written texts; he further articulates skilled reading as:

•“constructive: reasoning about written material using knowledge from everyday life and disciplines;
•fluent: demonstrating automaticity i.e. mastering of basic reading processes so that attention is freed for the analysis of meaning;
•strategic: controlling one’s reading in relation to one’s purpose, the nature of the material and whether one is comprehending”.

Identifying words on a page does not make someone a successful reader. When the words are understood and transcend the pages to become thoughts and ideas then [one can be said to be] truly reading. Comprehension, therefore, is the capacity for understanding those thoughts and ideas”