Unit 5 Reading

What is reading ?

Reading is one of the four language skills. It is a receptive skill. That means it involves
responding to text, rather than producing it.

Reading skills

 Reading for specific meaning (scanning)

 Reading for gist (skimming)
 Reading for detail
 Inferring
 Deducing meaning from context
 Predicting
 Understanding the text structure

They are sometimes referred to as reading skills and sometimes as reading sub skills.
They help us read in different ways according to our purpose for reading. When we read, we
do not need necessarily need to read everything in a text. How we read depend on what and
why we are reading. We use different reading subs kills in different purposes.

Reading for specific meaning (scanning)

If we read a text just to find a specific piece or pieces of information in it, we usually
use a sub skill called reading for specific information (scanning) When we scan we don’t read
the whole text. We glance over most of it until we find the information we are interested in.
As an example when we look for a number in a telephone directory we use this sub skill.

Reading for gist (skimming)

This is sometimes also called reading for global understanding. It involves glancing
through the text to get a general idea of what it is about. You skim when you look quickly
through a book in a book shop or library to decide if you want to buy it or borrow it, or when
you go quickly through a reference book to decide which part will help you write an essay, or
glance at a newspaper article to see if it is worth reading in details.

Reading for detail

This involves getting the meaning out of every word and out of the links or relationships
between words and between sentences. If you read a letter from someone you love who you
haven’t heard from for a long time, you probably read like this. Sometimes in books on
English language teaching. This is called intensive reading.
Inferring

Inferring is another skill readers sometimes use to get meaning from a text. When
they read, they work out what the writer’s opinion on a topic is or what his/her feeling is. To
infer these things we notice what words, grammar or style the writes has used to refer to
something.

Deducing meaning from context

This involves reading the word s around unknown word thinking about the situation
the unknown word is used in to try and work out its meaning. When we read we don’t always
know the meaning of all the words we meet. This skill helps understand unknown words
without using a dictionary.

Predicting

This means using clues before we begin reading, to guess what a text may be about. As an
example look at a newspaper’s headlines or photos, the title of the chapter or unit to guess
about the general contents of the text. Prediction helps us decide if we wish to read the text
and to make sense of it when we start reading, because it gives us the opportunity to link the
topic of the text to our knowledge of the world.

Understanding the text structure

This sub skill involves understanding how certain types of a text generally develop.
As an example if we read a problem-solution essay, we expect that it will first discuss the
problem. Then suggest a solution, and then draw a conclusion. If we read a letter complaint
in English, we generally expect the first paragraph say why the writes is writing, the second
will give the details of the complaint and the third what the writer wants in answer in
complaint. Readers expect certain information to come in certain sequences. They use the
knowledge to know where they are in the text and find their way through it. Understand the
meaning of conjunction is an important part of this skill as they often signal how an argument
will continue or is about to change.
Ways of Reading

Extensive Reading

This is called reading for pleasure. This involves reading long pieces of text, for example a
story or an article. As you read your attention and interest vary- you may read some parts of
the text in detail while you may skim through others, so you might use a variety of reading
sub skills.

Intensive Reading

Sometimes, especially in language classrooms, we ask learners to read texts so that we can
examine the language they contain. As an example we might ask learners to look for all the
words in a text related to a particular topic, or work out the grammar of a particular sentence.
This involves reading for language study.

Different Reading text types

 Letters
 Articles
 Post cards
 Notices
 Stories information

Discourse, Coherence & Cohesion

Discourse is connected by grammar and vocabulary and / or our knowledge of the world.

The boy was surprised because the girl was much faster at running than he was. But
after he found out that her mother had won a medal for running at the Olympic games, he
understood.
The second sentence gives us a possible reason why the girl was so good at running.
But we can only understand that this is a reason. if we know that Olympic runners are very
good. This means we need to use our knowledge of the world to see the sense connection
between these two sentences (coherence). The grammatical links between the sentences
(cohesion) also help us see the connection between them.
Types of reading activities

1. Introductory activity – activities focusing on the topic of the text, pre-teaching

vocabulary and possibly asking learners to predict the content of the text.

2. Main activities – a series of comprehension activities developing different reading

subs kills, focusing initially on general then more detailed comprehension.

3. Post task activities – activities asking learners to talk about how the topic of the text
relates to their own lives or to give their opinions on something in the text. These
activities require learners to use some of the language they have met in the text.

Key concepts

 Reading is a complex process. It involves understanding letters, words, and sentences,

understanding the connections between sentences, understanding different text types,
making sense of the text through our knowledge of the world and using the
appropriate reading sub skill.

 If learners know how to read in their own language, they can transfer their reading
skills to reading in English. Teachers can check which reading sub skills their learners
are good at. Then focus on practising the sub skills they are not using yet. They can
also help them by pre-teaching vocabulary ( Teaching vocabulary from the text
before the learners read the text). By asking learners to predict text content and with
certain kinds of learner, encouraging them to predict text structure.

 To help learners bring their knowledge of the world to understand a text the teacher
can do lead in activities before the class looks at the text. Lead-in activities generally
involves looking at the picture around a text or at the title and trying to predict what
the text will be about. They can also involve using brainstorming ( thinking of and
listening ideas or vocabulary about a topic)

 Giving learners lots of opportunities for extensive reading, in or out of class, helps
them to develop their fluency in reading. Graded readers ( books with language
made easier for language learners) are a very useful way of giving learners extensive
reading practice, helping them build up their confidence in reading and consolidate
the language they know and gradually extend it to include new language.

 We can choose the right texts for our learners. Texts should be interesting in order to
motivate learners. Texts should also be at the right level of difficulty. A text may be
difficult because it contains complex (complicated) language and / or because it is
about a topic that learners don’t know much about.
Practice task
For questions 1-7, match the readers’ statements with the ways of reading listed A-D. You
will need to use some of the options more than once.

Ways of reading

A reading for detail

B intensive reading
C deducing meaning from context
D predicting

Readers’ statements
1. Sometimes they know from just looking at the photo beside a text whether it’s worth
reading
2. Looking at words around a word you don’t understand can help you guess its meaning.
3. I always read the headline of an article to help me decide whether to read it further or not.
4. When I’m studying, I need to make sense of every bit of the writer’s arguments so I have
to read very carefully.
5. Thinking about your knowledge of a subject can sometimes help you understand words.
6. Sometimes I underline all the conjunctions in texts I read- It helps me follow the writer’s
argument.
7. I had so sign a contract last week so, before I read it, I made sure I understood completely
every sentence in it.

1. …………………
2. …………………
3. …………………
4. …………………
5. …………………
6. …………………
7. …………………