READING STRATEGIES AND SKILLS

1. Predicting
Before read a text in detail, it is possible to predict what information you may find in
it. Making predictions is a strategy in which readers use information from a text (including
titles, headings, pictures, and diagrams) and their own personal experiences to anticipate what
they are about to read (or what comes next). A reader involved in making predictions is
focused on the text at hand, constantly thinking ahead and also refining, revising, and
verifying his or her predictions. This strategy also helps students make connections between
their prior knowledge and the text. After looking at the title, for the example, you can ask
yourself what you know and what you do not know about the subject before read the text. Or
you can formulate questions that you would like to have answered by reading the text.

2. Skimming
Skimming is one of the tools you can use to read more in less time. Skimming refers
to looking only for the general or main ideas, and works best with non-fiction (or factual)
material. With skimming, your overall understanding is reduced because you don’t read
everything. You read only what is important to your purpose. Skimming takes place while
reading and allows you to look for details in addition to the main ideas. Features of the text
that can help you include the following:
a) Title
b) Sub-title
c) Details about the author
d) Abstract
e) Introductory paragraph
f) First, second and last sentences of following paragraph
g) Concluding paragraph

3. Scanning
Scanning is another useful tool for speeding up your reading. Unlike skimming, when
scanning, you look only for a specific fact or piece of information without reading
everything. Scanning involves looking for spesific words, phrases and items of information as
quickly as possible. You scan when you look for your favorite show listed in the cable guide.
For scanning to be successful, you need to understand how your material is structured as well
as comprehend what you read so you can locate the specific information you need. Scanning
also allows you to find details and other information in a hurry.

4. Detailed Reading

Once you have selected useful information, you can begin to read in detail. Note
taking techniques provide a useful aid to reading. Use:

 underlining and highlighting to pick out what seem to you the most central or
important words and phrases. Do this in your own copy of texts or on photocopies -
never on borrowed texts;
  keywords to record the main headings as you read. Use one or two keywords for each
main point. Keywords can be used when you don't want to mark the text;
 questions to encourage you to take an active approach to your reading. Record your
questions as you read. They can also be used as prompts for follow up work;
 summaries to check you have understood what you have read. Pause after a section
of text and put what you have read in your own words. Skim over the text to check the
accuracy of your summary, filling in any significant gaps.

These techniques encourage an active engagement with the text as well as providing you
with a useful record of your reading. Avoid passively reading large amounts of text, it does
not make effective use of your time. Always use a note taking technique to increase your
levels of concentration and understanding.

5. Guessing Unknow Words

Whenever you read extended texts in English, you will come across words which you
do not know. Even native speakers will not know all the words when they are reading. Your
instinct is probably to look up the unfamiliar words in a dictionary. If you do this for each
word, however, it will take you a great deal of time, and you may never reach the end of the
text. You therefore need to develop strategies for dealing with unknown words. Use the
following to help you guess an approximate meaning:

 examine the immediate context of the word (i.e. the sentence in which it appears, and
words which come before and after); pay particular attention to linking words;
 examine the wider context of the word (i.e. other sentences in the paragraph);
 look at the structure of the word (i.e. prefix, suffix, root).

6. Understanding Main Idea

The main idea tells about all the parts of the text in just a few words. What is the main
idea?. 'It tells about all the parts of a text in just a few words.' Three strategies that will help
find the main idea are to:
a) look for general versus specific ideals,
b) use the topic (the general subject of a section) to lead you to the main idea,
c) use key words-verbal clues that lead you to a main idea.
The main idea often appears at the beginning of a paragraph, though it may appear
elsewhere in a paragraph.

7. Inferring

An inference is an idea or conclusion that’s drawn from evidence and reasoning. An

inference is an educated guess. We learn about some things by experiencing them first-hand,
but we gain other knowledge by inference — the process of inferring things based on what is
already known. When you make an inference, you’re reading between the lines or just
looking carefully at the facts and coming to conclusions. You can also make faulty
inferences. If you hear a person’s weight is 250 pounds, you might make the inference that
they’re overweight. But what if they’re seven feet tall? inferring a writer's meaning is
sometimes important in the process of understanding a reading text.
8. Understanding Text Organisation

Every text has a structure. It is not just a random collection of sentences. The parts
that make up the text are related in a meaningful way to each other. Recognising the way in
which a text has been organised will help you to understand it better. The writer may, for
example, be explaining two opposing points of view, or describing why something happens.
Undestanding the text organisation will help you understand what the writer is trying to do.
You will be able to increase both your speed of reading and your comprehension if you can
recognise some of the rhetorical functions that the writer is using. Writers use language, for
example, to analyse, to describe, to report, to define, to instruct, to classify, to compare, to
give examples, to explain, to give reasons, to argue and discuss and to draw conclusions. To
understand the text it is necessary to understand what the writer's purpose is. another feature
related to organization is a writer's use of time. to give an account of events or describe a
process, writers will often use a chronological order, in which events are recounted in the
order in which they have occured. other writers will choose to organize an account of events
in different ways, perhaps with repeated contrast between past and present time.

9. Assessing A Writer’s Purpose

The concept of author’s purpose is a notion that is often discussed in classrooms, and
identifying the author’s purpose is a skill that is frequently evaluated on state reading tests.
Fortunately, this topic is as easy to teach as it is to learn. Watch this video or continue reading
and you’ll understand author’s purpose just about as well as anyone. Author’s purpose: Three
reason for writting:

1. Writing to Entertain

The primary purpose of texts that are written to entertain is to amuse readers. This
does not mean that the text must be happy; the text could be a tragedy, but the main reason
for writing the text is to amuse readers.

2. Writing to Inform

The primary purpose of texts that are written to inform is to enlighten the reader or
provide the reader with information about a topic.

3. Writing to Persuade

In a text that is written to persuade, the author’s primary purpose is to compel readers
to take action, convince them of an idea through argument, or to reaffirm their existing
beliefs.

10. Evaluating A Writer’s Attitude

All writers make assertions that they want you to accept as true. As a critical reader,
you should not accept anything on face value but to recognize every assertion as an argument
that must be carefully evaluated. An argument has two essential parts: a claim and support.
The claim asserts a conclusion -- an idea, an opinion, a judgment, or a point of view -- that
the writer wants you to accept. The support includes reasons (shared beliefs, assumptions,
and values) and evidence (facts, examples, statistics, and authorities) that give readers the
basis for accepting the conclusion. When you assess an argument, you are concerned with the
process of reasoning as well as its truthfulness (these are not the same thing). At the most
basic level, in order for an argument to be acceptable, the support must be appropriate to the
claim and the statements must be consistent with one another. it is important that you
recognize what an author's attitude in in relation to the ideals to the ideas or information
being presented. you will be looking at ways in which a writer's attitude may be identified.
you will also practice evaluating how relatively neutral or biased his or her attitude may be.

Some Sample Text.

TOUCHY TOPICS
In North America when people meet each other for the first time, they talk about
things like family, work, school, or sport. They ask questions like “Do you have any brother
or sister?”, “Where do you work?”, “Where do you come from?”, “Where do you live?”.
These are polite questions. They are not personal or private. But some things are personal or
private, and question about them are not polite. People don’t ask question about a person’s
salery. It is ok to ask children how old they are, but it is not polite to ask older people their
age. People don’t ask unmarried people “Why are you single?”, and they don’t ask a married
couple with no children “Why don’t you have any children?”.

TIME OFF
Soviet people take their pleasures seriously. They like to have an aim, even when
spending the time which is entirely their own. During the summer, people start work very
early in the morning so that they can finish early and enjoy a leisurely afternoon. A feature of
Russian culture which excites admiration is the enjoyment of the arts. All the parks are
beautifully kept and are for the use and enjoyment of the people. People in the Soviet Union
now have far more leisure time, and more money then ever before. Many people now have
over twenty days’ holiday a year. This gives an opportunity for holidays in the country or at
the seaside.

JURY DUTY
When a person is accused of a crime in the United States, a jury usually decides if he
or she is innocent or quilty. A jury is made up or ordinary people from many different
occupations. During a trial, the jury listens to the evidence or facts that are presented. Then
the jury, decides if the person is quilty or not quilty. Lawyers for the prosecution present the
government’s evidence against the defendant. Lawyers for defense try to show that the
defendant is innocent, and that the prosecution’s arguments are not strong. There is a judge in
the courtroom. He or she decides what evidence is allowed. If the jury decides that the
defendant is quilty, the judge gives the punishment. Lawyers and judges have years of
training and experiene in the courtroom. In one trial, after the lawyers presented their
edidence, this is what the judge said to the jury: “You are not experts in law or crime. That is
not necessary. Use this knowledge to decide who you will believe and what you will decide is
the truth”.

RESUME READING 1
READING STRATEGIES AND SKILLS

A
R
R
A
N
G
E
D
BY:
 DESNITA
ENGLISH EDUCATION