READING SKILLSREADING SKILLSREADING SKILLSREADING SKILLS

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO READ?DO YOU KNOW HOW TO READ?

Reading and Understanding Texts

• Get the big picture first, so the details will have a structure and categories to fit into.

• Find out what you don't remember (by reviewing from memory) to focus future learning.

• Figure out what's important. This will include material that is emphasized by size or other graphical techniques (boldface, italics) or position (beginning or end of a section). Sometimes the introduction or concluding paragraph will highlight the key points. Texts might even include objectives, study questions, terms, etc. Ask yourself about the level of detail needed for mastery, keeping in mind that you probably only need to know the main ideas and supporting points.

• Read what's important. Get the big picture first: don't try to learn detailed information yet.

• Review from memory. Using a concept map, write down everything you can remember, without looking back at the text. If you can't remember at least 80% of the key points you have covered, you read too much before reviewing. (Don't think that the material that you forgot will magically reappear on the exam when you really need it -- it won't!)

• Repeat the above steps as many times as necessary, going for greater detail each time. Stop when you can recall the key points

Reading Comprehension: The REDW Strategy for

Finding Main Ideas  

REDW is a good strategy to use to find the main idea in each paragraph of a reading assignment. Using this strategy will help you comprehend the information contained in your assignment. Each of the letters in REDW stands for a step in the strategy.

REDW Strategy• Read

Read the entire paragraph to get an idea of what the paragraph is about. You may find it helpful to whisper the words as you read or to form a picture in your mind of what you are reading. Once you have a general idea of what the paragraph is about, go on to the next step.

• Examine Examine each sentence in the paragraph to identify the important words that tell what the sentence is about. Ignore the words that are not needed to tell what the sentence is about. If you are allowed to, draw a line through the words to be ignored. For each sentence, write on a sheet of paper the words that tell what the sentence is about.

• Decide Reread the words you wrote for each sentence in the paragraph. Decide which sentence contains the words you wrote that best describe the main idea of the paragraph. These words are the main idea of the paragraph. The sentence that contains these words is the topic sentence. The other words you wrote are the supporting details for the main idea.

• Write Write the main idea for each paragraph in your notebook. This will provide you with a written record of the most important ideas you learned. This written record will be helpful if you have to take a test that covers the reading assignment.

Reading Clues

• Deduction - What does the sentence concern? Which words does the unknown word seem to relate to?

• Part of Speech - Which part of speech is the unknown word? Is it a verb, noun, preposition, adjective, time expression or something else?

• Chunking - What do the words around the unknown word(s) mean? How could the unknown word(s) relate to those words? - This is basically deduction on a more local level.

Reading Clues• Vocabulary Activation - When

quickly skimming through the text, what does the text seem to concern? Does the layout (design) of the text give any clues? Does the publication or type of book give any clues to what the text might be about? Which words can you think of that belong to this vocabulary category?

Make logical guesses about the meaning of the unknown words in the following

paragraph. Jack quickly entered the didot and cleaned the various misturaes he had been using to repair the wuipit. He had often thought that this job was extremely yullning. However, he had to admit that this time things seemed to be a bit easier. When he finished, he put on his redick and went back to the study to relax. He took out his favourite pipe and settled into the beautiful new pogtry. What a fantastic schnappy he had made when he had bought the pogtry. Only 300 yagmas!

Reading Styles • Skimming - Reading rapidly for the main

points• Scanning - Reading rapidly through a text

to find specific information required• Extensive - Reading longer texts, often for

pleasure and for an overall understanding• Intensive - Reading shorter texts for

detailed information with an emphasis on precise understanding

Identify the reading skills required in the following

reading situations: • The TV guide for Friday evening • An English grammar book • An article in National Geographic magazine

about the Roman Empire • A good friend's homepage on the Internet • The opinion page in your local newspaper • The weather report in your local newspaper • A novel • A poem • A bus timetable • A fax at the office • An advertising email - so called "spam" • An email or letter from your best friend • A recipe • A short story by your favourite author

Have fun reading!