Study Session 4

READING SKILLS I:
STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE READING

4.0

INTRODUCTION
This study session focuses on another important communication skill – Reading. You are able to
make sense of this module simply because you can read what has been written down for you.
This shows that reading is a major part of a student‟s study time. Why do we have to devote this
session to discussing reading? It is because many students do not really have any instruction on
reading. As a result of that, they develop and sustain different unhealthy reading habits. Another
reason is that reading is a developmental process which can never be completely mastered. What
then is reading? Reading is the process of translating written or printed symbols and letters into
words and sentences which convey meaning to the individual. It involves both the eyes and the
brain. While the eyes perform the physical task of linking the letters and symbols to know what
the author says, the brain complements this with the mental aspect of interpreting what the author
means. You must therefore pay attention to this study session to learn the techniques of active
reading.

Learning Outcome for Study Session 4

At the end of this study session, you should be able to:
4.1 Identify and correct basic misconceptions about reading (SAQ4.1)
4.2 Discussthe different types of reading and their uses (SAQ4.2)
4.3 Differentiate between bad reading habits and good ones (SAQ4.3)
4.4 Itemise the different strategies for effective reading (SAQ4.4).

4.1 Reading Efficiency

This is the acquisition of proper reading skills which will facilitate the efficient physical and
mental processing of written materials. It is the relationship between the physical aspects of
reading and reading speed which influences comprehension. As a student in the higher
institution, you need to have developed a reading speed of about 600 words per minute by the
end of your programme. Reading efficiency can only be improved through constant reading
practice. In order to read efficiently, you need to dispense with certain misconceptions about
reading.
The first is the misconception that you need to read everything. The truth is that you need not
always read everything. You can sometimes read selectively depending on your purpose, the
nature of the material and your familiarity with it. A second misconception is that everything on
a page is equally important.This is simply anomalous. Each text contains a mixture of important
and not-so-important information. You therefore need to sort through the material and evaluate
what you need to know. A third misconception is thateverything can be read the same way. The
purpose of reading determines what you read, how rapidly or carefully you read it, what you pay
attention to and what you skip. Your familiarity with the material or topic will also determine
how you read it. To be an efficient reader therefore requires you to vary your reading techniques
to suit your purpose of reading and what you are reading.
Another misconception is that everything we read is “true”. The truth is that not everything in
print is “true.” This means that you must read with a critical, questioning eye and sometimes
with a little scepticism. You need to consider the authority of the author and the author‟s purpose
for writing. You should also be able to distinguish facts from opinions, value judgments and
generalizations. You therefore need to improve your ability to read thoroughly and carefully in
order to learn more about what you read. These skills will help you also in examinations and
quizzes that require you to apply, connect and evaluate ideas.

4.2 Types of Reading

In the primary school, emphasis is first on recognition of words and meaning; later, on increasing
fluency and understanding. At this time of elementary education, the type of reading is ‘learning
to read’. By mid-primary and junior secondary school, the emphasis shifts to silent reading for
comprehension and, therefore, it becomes ‘reading to learn’.
In secondary schools and higher institutions, reading is used to learn facts and concepts in
different subjects. Reading is used to acquire new vocabulary, new information, etc. At this
level, there are different types of reading just as there are different purposes for reading. Some of
them are skimming, scanning and study reading.
4.2.1 Skimming:
Skimming involves looking at the content of the material quickly to get the overall idea. When
you skim a reading material, you first look at the title of the text and the name of the author, the
blurb at the back of the text or the abstract, if it is an article. You then go to the table of contents,
the preface and the foreword, then look through the various sections: the subtitles, tables, charts,
the topic sentences of each paragraph without bothering with the details and other explanations.
In skimming, therefore, you are not looking for any specific information or details; you rather
seek to get a general idea of what the reading material is all about.
4.2.2 Scanning:
In scanning, your eyes run quickly through a reading material in search of a particular piece of
information or to see if the material is relevant for your purpose. Unlike in skimming, you ignore
details that are not relevant to what you are searching for. When scanning for a particular aspect
of a topic, it is normal to locate the section/pages where it is treated, either in the table of
contents on index, and then go ahead to read up the details in the indicated pages.
4.2.3 Study Reading:
This is an intensive kind of reading where you engage in a thorough examination of the material
and a critical analysis of the issues raised. To achieve productive study reading, you need to
follow the acronym LEARNER:
L - Lay out the purpose for reading.
E - Examine all parts of the material.
A - Ask questions about each subheading during the study.
R - Read all materials on the topic to find answers to set out questions.
N - Note names, places, dates, events, directions and labels while reading.
E - Ease away from studying one subject before starting another.
R - Review notes and materials before a test or a discussion.

Q: In scanning a reading material, the reader seeks to

a. have a general idea of the topic b. check plagiarism
c. get specific information d. ensure grammatically
 C. get specific information
(In scanning a reading material, the reader seeks to get specific information.

4.3 Reading Deficiencies:

The speed at which a material is read is agreed by scholars to be directly related to the
comprehension of the material. Therefore, bad reading habits are likely to lead to slow reading
with poor comprehension. Among these bad physical reading habits is word-by-word reading,
which emphasizes word recognition and the sounding out of every word. This makes reading
slow and laborious, and hinders efficient reading.
Another reading deficiency is vocalization which emanates from an emphasis on word
recognition. Vocalisation occurs when as a reader you move your lips and/or any other of your
vocal apparatus (e.g. tongue, throat or vocal cords) while reading. In other words, you whisper to
yourselfthough there may or may not be any audible sound. Vocalizing adversely affects reading
rate and, by extension, comprehension.
A further deficiency is when as a reader you pronounce the words in your mind to yourself with
no part of the vocal apparatus moving. This habit, which hinders comprehension, is known as
sub-vocalization. You should remember that written words are symbols that represent both a
sound system and an idea system. To arrive at the idea system is not necessarily via the sound
system. This means that the ideas and thoughts being expressed are not necessarily understood
after their sounds have been pronounced.
Moving the head from side to side inhibits reading efficiency and is therefore a deficiency.
This is because the movement prevents the eyes from totally focusing on what is being read and
the mind follows the movement as well as what is being read. Your attention as a reader is
divided and the movement is both unnecessary and wasteful as it slows down your reading
speed.Reading should not involve any other muscleexcept those of the eyes.
When you point with a finger or any object to the words being read, it slows down reading and
eventually affects comprehension. The eyes take in whole phrases and sentences while reading
and this process is slowed down when they are forced to follow the pace of the pointing which
moves word by word. This further impedes your understanding of ideas and thoughts. You need
to make a concerted effort to stop this habit known as finger-pointing.
When you glance back to re-read words, phrases and sentences,you are said to be regressing.
Regression is usually caused by lack of concentration. Thus, in order to overcome or correct
this deficiency, you need to concentrate while reading. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to
regress in order to really understand what is being read but excessive regression can only hinder
comprehension.
Another deficiency that affects reading efficiency is when you havea short span of recognition.
Your span of recognition refers to the number of words that you can recognize while your eyes
are fixed at one point. This varies with individuals. A poor reader can only recognize one or two
words at one glance while a good reader has a wider span of recognition and can take several
words while his eyes are fixed at one point.
When your eyes make an erratic eye movementrather than a rhythmic one in the course of
reading, it also affects reading speed and comprehension. When you read, your eyes are expected
to move from the middle of one phrase to the middle of the next. By so doing, the eye movement
will be in tune with the syntactic arrangement of the line of print. If you are a poor reader, the
tendency is that your eyes will move across the line of print in a haphazard rather than a
rhythmic manner, taking in only single words at a time and regressing often. This deficiency and
that of narrow eye span require continual practice over a period of time for correction.
Besides doing away with these bad reading habits, there are other strategies that are necessary for
active reading. In the following section, a step-by-step process designed to assist you in your
quest to become a more efficient reader is discussed.

4.4 Strategies for Reading Efficiently

The strategies for efficient reading can be categorized into three major parts as follows:
1. Preview before Reading: Connect to your experience; decide what you need to know.
2. Read with Intent: Search for key elements; highlight key points; annotate your
impressions.
3. Review after Reading: Review and evaluate what has been read.
Let us now examine each of these.

4.4.1 Preview before Reading

You must not just start reading any material without first skimming it. Recall that in skimming
you try to get the overall idea in the work. You need to quickly familiarize yourself with the
material‟s content and organization. Previewing also allows you to connect the material to your
own experience and to decide what you need to know from the material. It also helps you to
develop interest in the material and concentrate more easily on it because you know what to
expect. In addition, it provides you with a mental outline of the material before youread it and
helps yourelate what is read with what you already know.Below are steps on previewing a
material:
(a)Check the title, subtitles, and the author. This will set you thinking about the title and its
content and help you to determine if the author is familiar or not.
(b)Read the introduction and the first paragraph.These are usually where the author gives a
general idea of what the material is all about.
(c)Read each heading and the first sentence following it. This is because when the headings are
taken together, you often have a mini-outline of the whole material and the sentence after each
heading gives further explanation of the section.
(d)Read the first sentence in a few of the paragraphs on each page. This is necessary when the
material has no headings.
(e)Examine all photographs, charts, tables and diagrams in the material.
(f)Read the conclusion or summary.While a conclusion will signal the end of the write-up, a
summary will give a condensed version of the whole material.
(g)Read any end-of-assignment questions.When you are given an assignment at the end of a
reading material, there are usually questions that should be answered. These questions should be
considered at this point in order for you to focus on exactly what is important in the reading and
what you might be expected to knowafterwards. However, other reading materials that are not
for assignments may also have exercises or questions which may help you to focus on certain
important aspects of the reading material.
Connect the Essay to Your Own Experience: In order for you to sustain your interest in a
material and grasp its content more easily, you need to connect the content of the material to
your own experience. This may be done using the following suggestions:
(a) Think of familiar situations that are similar to the one in the material.These can be written
in a journal or jotter for future use.
(b) Ask questions and then answer them. This exercise will probably lead you to remember
similar situations or events that help to illuminate the content of the material. You may also
write this in your journal or jotter for future use.
(c) Allow your mind to jump from one idea to another. As this is done, write in your journal or
jotter, or work with a friend. If you work quickly you might observe a flow in your thoughts that
you will find useful and relevant to the content of the reading material.
Decide What You Need to Know and Remember: If you are asked to remember the detail of a
twenty-naira note, you might probably not be able to remember much about its appearance
despite the uncountable number of twenty-naira notes you have handled. In like manner, if your
attitude about a reading material is „I‟ve been told to read it, that‟s why I‟m reading it,‟ you
probably will not remember much after reading the material. But if you begin reading by first
deciding what you need to know and remember, you would be able to recall a lot about the
material. You can use the suggestions on how to preview a reading material to form questions
which you will find answers to as soon as you start reading. This strengthens comprehension and
recall of the material. For example, you may use the title of the material or headings to form
questions. For some other materials, it may be the introductory paragraph or the first sentence in
each paragraph, or even the sub-titles that will lend themselves for use in this technique.

4.4.2 Read with Intent:

Comprehension is most times gradual and active reading is a process of actively searching for
ideas and separating important ideas from unimportant ones. Therefore, you may have to read a
material more than once in order to get all the ideas you need. The following are suggestions on
how to read with intent:
(a)Search for Key Elements: Reading will be easier and faster if you know what to look for as
you read. There are certain key elements to look out for when reading a material:
i.The meaning of the title and subtitles:The title of a material usually announces the topic and
unveils the author‟s point of view, although in some, the meaning and significance of the title
only become clear after you have read the entire material.
ii.Theintroduction:This is the opening paragraph which provides background information,
announces the focus of the material and captures the reader‟s attention.
iii. The author’s main point:This is often contained in the thesis statement, which is the one big
idea that the whole piece of writing explores. The thesis statement is usually located in the first
or second paragraph of a piece of writing. At times though, the thesis statement may be in other
parts of the piece or it might merely be implied and not categorically stated.
iv. The support and explanation:The body of the material usually gives support to the author‟s
main points. Each paragraph has a topic sentence in which the author states what the paragraph
discusses.Each topic sentence explains an aspect of the thesis statement of the material.
v. The conclusion:The concluding paragraph brings the piece of writing to a close. It may restate
the author‟s main point, offer ideas for further thoughts or suggest ideas for future directions.
(b)Highlight Key Points: When reading a material, you will encounter many new ideas but
some will be more important than others,andyou may agree with some and disagree with others.
As you write about what you have read later, you may need to return to the material to refresh
your memory. In order to locate the main ideas easily and remember where to find certain pieces
of information in the material, you need to read with a highlighter or a pen in hand. You need to
develop a system of highlighting or underlining important ideas or points that might be useful
later for revision or re-reading. You have to do the following:
i. Decide what kinds of information to highlight: The task to be engaged in after reading will
determine what to highlight.
ii. Read first,then highlight: This prevents too much highlighting.
iii. Be selective: This makes the important points stand out.
iv. Highlight key elements, words and phrases;the thesis statement, topic sentences and all
elements that relate to the thesis statement.
(c) Annotate your Impressions: Annotation means jotting down personal ideas about the
reading material. It isyour response to the author‟s ideas. Annotations are written on the margin
of the material and can take several forms. They might be in form of questions, agreement with a
particular point, disagreement or surprise; phrases that summarize important points. When it is
time to write about the reading material, the annotation will help you to focus on major issues
and questions. You would need adequate practice to be efficient in annotation. Below is a list of
suggestions on what you might annotate:
i. Important points such as the thesis statement that initiate personal responses,
ii. Sections about what you need further information on,
iii. Sections in which the author reveals his or her reasons for writing,
iv. Ideas you agree or disagree with or which you question, and
v. Any form of inconsistency on the part of the author that you note.

4.4.3 Review after Reading:

After reading,you should not simply close the book or put away the reading material. It is
appropriate to spend a few minutes to review and evaluate what youhave read, thereby increasing
the amount of information you remember. The same steps used to preview are used to review a
reading material. A review should be done immediately after a material has been read. The goal
is to touch on each main point one more time. As part of the review,you should write a summary
of the material using the highlighted items and the annotations. This summary will help you to
get started if you are required to write an essay on the material you have read. Try and pay
particular attention to the following points when you are reviewing a material:
 (a) The heading,
(b) The highlighted or underlined items that point to the main ideas discussed, and
(c) The annotated items on the margin of the material that help you to focus on the issues.

4.5 Conclusion:
When you experience difficulty with a reading material it might be because youfind the topic
uninteresting, cannot „connect‟ with the author or find his/her writing style confusing.Here,
drawing a graphic organizer could be of help. This is a diagram of the structure of the main
points in the material and it is an active way to connect and review major ideas. It must include
all the key elements in the material. With persistence and practice, you will increase our reading
speed, become more active when reading, increaseyour comprehension capacity and your rate
and depth of recollection.

Summary of Study Session 4

In Study Session 4, you have learnt that:

- Reading involves not just the eyes but also the brain.Assuch, it requires concentration
despite the numerous misconceptions which cause readers to develop unhealthy reading
habits.
- There are different types of reading and the type adopted in most cases depends on the
purpose of the reading and the nature of the reading material. All materials are not read
the same way.
- Effective reading requires that the reader develops and sustains good reading habits. Such
habits as word-by-word reading, vocalization, sub-vocalization, moving the head from
side to side, finger-pointing, regression, a short span of recognition and erratic eye
movement are not only bad for you as a reader but can also impair comprehension.
- A number of strategies ranging from previewing the material to reviewing it after reading
are recommended for effective reading. Reading is a conscious activity which requires
total concentration and intent participation.

Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) for study Session 4

Now that you have completed this study session, you should assess how much you have learnt by
attempting the following questions. You can write your answers in a note book so as to be able to
discuss extensively on it with your tutor at the next interactive session.
4.1 Mentionthree misconceptions about reading and counter them based on what you have been
taught in this session.
4.4 Differentiate between scanning and skimming.
4.3 State why the following reading habits are not recommended for students:
a. word-by-word reading,
b. vocalization
c. sub-vocalization
d. Moving the head from side to side
e. finger-pointing
f. Regression
g. a short span of recognition
h. erratic eye movement

4.4. List at least two components of each of the following strategies:

a. Preview before Reading

b. Read with Intent

c. Review after Reading

References
Commeyras, M. (2001).Promoting a Culture of Reading, 4th Distinguished Lecture Series,
AdeniranOgunsanya College of Education, Lagos, Nigeria.

Emenyonu, P.T. (1983).„Promoting the Reading Habits in Nigeria‟. Literacy and Reading in
Nigeria, Vol. 1, Zaria: Institute of Education, A.B.U.

McWhorter, Kathleen T. (2000) Successful College Writing. Boston: Bedford/St Martin.

Unoh, S. D. (1972). Faster Reading through Practice.Ibadan:University Press Plc.

Suggestion for Further Reading

Craven, M. (2009).Reading Keys: Skills and Strategies for Effective Reading, Volume 3
Macmillan Education: ELT Young Children‟s Courses Series.