Reading Strategies

SKIMMING

Skimming is sometimes referred to as gist reading. Skimming may help in order to know what the text is about at its most basic level. You might typically do this with a magazine or newspaper and would help you mentally and quickly shortlist those articles which you might consider for a deeper read. You might typically skim to search for a name in a telephone directory.

You can reach a speed count of even 700 words per minute if you train yourself well in this particular method. Comprehension is of course very low and understanding of overall content very superficial.

Skimming involves reading quickly to get the main idea of a text. Reading topic sentences (usually the first sentence of a paragraph) can be an effective way of understanding the main idea of the text.

•         Read the first paragraph of the chapter line by line
•         Next, read all the bold print headings starting at the beginning
•        Read the first sentence of every paragraph
•        Study and pictures, graphs, charts, and maps
•        Finally, read the last paragraph of the chapter

         

SCANNING

Scanning involves searching for numbers, symbols and long words in a text. This is a useful way of locating answers in reading exams. You can scan the text for words or numbers from the question.

Scanning involves getting your eyes to quickly scuttle across sentence and is used to get just a simple piece of information. Interestingly, research has concluded that reading off a computer screen actually inhibits the pathways to effective scanning and thus, reading of paper is far more conducive to speedy comprehension of texts.

Something students sometimes do not give enough importance to is illustrations. These should be included in your scanning. Special attention to the introduction and the conclusion should also be paid.

•        Looks for contextual clues.
•       Tries to anticipate what the answer might look like and what sorts of clues would be useful.
•         Be aware of the graphic form that the answer may take, such as a numeral, a written number, a capitalized word or a short phrase that includes key words.

INTENSIVE READING

We use this skill when we need to understand every work in a part of a text. This may be used when we answer detailed reading questions in exams.

This type of reading has indeed beneficial to language learners as it helps them understand vocabulary by deducing the meaning of words in context. It moreover, helps with retention of information for long periods of time and knowledge resulting from intensive reading persists in your long term memory.

PREDICTING CONTENT

To familiarise yourself with a text, it is a good idea to make predictions by looking at pictures and headings before you start to read. Think about the following questions before you read a text:  

• What do the pictures show?
• What do the headings and subheadings tell you? What topic might the article be   about?
•  What do you already know about this topic?

 VIDEO CLASS - SKIMMING AND SCANNING

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRlRk_9Zg9Y

PRACTICE -  READING STRATEGIES

http://www.42explore.com/skim.htm