Fazeel iftikhar

1019
BS English literature

Different Reading skills And When To Use Them

One of the first things you learn about teaching is that there are
different reading techniques and the students should be aware of
which technique is most suited, depending on the reading task
required by the text or by their teacher.
Training students to know the different reading techniques and when
to use them is indeed important, especially under exam conditions
when time constraints come into play and decisions need to be made
depending on time availability and the importance of the task at hand.
The four main types of reading skills are the following:
 Skimming Scanning Intensive
Extensive
1: 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.
2: Skimming Saves You Time
Skimming will certainly save you a lot of time.
But as stated above, it is not the best way to read because you’re
comprehension will be lowered.
However, skimming is useful when your goal is to preview the text to
get a better idea of what it’s about. It will help prepare you for deeper
learning.
skimming is a terrific idea to get an overview and mental picture in
your mind.
This strategy makes it much easier to recall what you’re about to read.
1. Take a look at the table of contents first.
2. Review the subheadings in each chapter
3. Quickly read the first paragraph in that section
4. Check out anything in your text that is in bold or italics
5. If there is a chapter summary, now is a good time read it over.
This completely prepares your brain to have an overview of what this
chapter is about.
You can then go on to use scanning to find specific important ideas.
3: Scanning:
Picture yourself visiting a historical city, guide book in hand.
You would most probably just scan the guide book to see which site
you might want to visit.
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. Pay special attention to
the introduction and the conclusion.
Intensive Reading
You need to have your aims clear in mind when undertaking
intensive reading.
Remember this is going to be far more time consuming than scanning
or skimming.
If you need to list the chronology of events in a long passage, you will
need to read it intensively.
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.
This is one reason why reading huge amounts of information just
before an exam does not work very well.
Students tend to do this, and they undertake neither type of reading
process effectively, especially neglecting intensive reading.
They may remember the answers in an exam but will likely forget
everything soon afterwards.
Extensive reading
Extensive reading involves reading for pleasure.
Because there is an element of enjoyment in extensive reading it is
unlikely that students will undertake extensive reading of a text they
do not like.
It also requires a fluid decoding and assimilation of the text and
content in front of you.
If the text is difficult and you stop every few minutes to figure out
what is being said or to look up new words in the dictionary, you are
breaking your concentration and diverting your thoughts.
Academic Reading and Writing:

Introduction. Reading is the most important skill in English language from other language. If
you are good in Reading then you must be good in other language Skills like listening, Speaking
& Writing.
KINDS OF READING
1. Extensive Reading:
• Reading for pleasure any topic of interest - main purpose: to relax and enjoy yourself -
comics, humorous stories, tales, novels, short articles in the newspapers and magazines, jokes,
and other forms of light reading materials.
• Reading longer texts, often for pleasure and for an overall understanding.
• Extensive reading involves learners reading text for enjoyment and to develop general
reading skills. You don’t need to understand all the words. You read it for pleasure.
• Examples of extensive reading: • The latest marketing strategy book. • A novel you read
while going to bed. • Magazine articles that interest you.
2: Intensive Reading:
• Careful or in-depth reading - you read for details and extract specific information on
particular topics - the kind of reading you do when you study, prepare a term paper, or an oral
report - has several techniques or sub-types: scanning, skimming, exploratory reading, study
reading, critical reading, and analytical reading .
• Intensive reading is used on shorter texts in order to extract specific information.
• It includes a very close accurate reading for detail. Use intensive reading skills to grasp the
details of specific situation. In this case it is important that you understand each word, number
or fact.
• You need to understand the whole text. • Find Specific Information. • Attention to
Grammatical forms
3. Scanning:
• Rapid reading assisted by key words to locate specific pieces of info - for research, review -
gets info that answer what, who, where, when, how. looking for a word meaning in the
dictionary, getting a document from the filing cabinet, looking through the yellow pages •
Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. Run your eyes over the specific piece
of information u need. • Using scanning on schedules, meeting plans etc.in order to find the
specific details you require. If you see words or phrases that you don’t understand, don’t worry
when scanning. • Scanning is reading a text quickly in order to find specific information. It’s like
you know what to eat.
Examples of scanning:
• The what’s on TV section of your newspaper. • A train or airplane schedule. • A conference
guide. • Scanning is reading a text quickly in order to find specific information, • Its like you
know what to eat.
4. Skimming:
• Rapid reading focusing on the TITLE, HEADINGS, TOPIC SENTENCE, SIGN POSTS to get the
main idea - effective preliminary step to reading thoroughly because after skimming, you can
quickly go back to details you need to read entirely.
• Skimming is reading a text quickly to get a general idea of meaning. It is like you don’t know
what to eat.
• Skimming is used to quickly gather the most information or gist. Run your eyes over the text,
noting important information.
• Use skimming to quickly getup to speed on a current business situation. It is not essential to
understand when skimming Examples of skimming:
• The newspaper, magazines, business and travel brochures.
Skimming Steps 1. Preview the text by reading the title and the introduction. (Usually, the intro
has the thesis statement).
2. Check if there are headings and subheadings.
3. Read the 1st paragraph and the 1st sentences of the succeeding paragraphs.
4. Quickly check keywords in the paragraphs. (sometimes highlighted, italicized, underlined)
5. Read the last paragraph. (Usually it summarizes the main points.
6. If you feel that a paragraph contains important information that answers what, why, when,
how, and who, read it fully.
Examples: • Surveying a chapter/article • Reviewing something you’ve read • • Choosing a
magazine/book to buy in the bookstore
5.Exploratory Reading: • Aims to get a fairly accurate picture of a whole presentation of ideas;
how the whole selection is presented • Allots more time for reading
• Examples: • Long articles in mags. , short stories, descriptive texts
6.Study Reading: The reader must get a maximum understanding of the main ideas and their
relationships - examples: SQ3R, SQ4R (survey, question, read, record, recite, review) SQ4R:
STEPS 1. SURVEYING: (preparing for reading) Take note of the titles, headings & subheadings;
words in italics or bold print; intro & summaries; pictures & captions; questions at the end of
the chapter or section (do this in few minutes only)
2. QUESTIONING: (focusing your reading) Turn headings & subheadings into questions by
asking who, what, when, where, why, and how abt. them.
3. READING: (focusing your reading) Take time to read with maximum comprehension. Try to
answer the questions you posed in the previous step. Try to develop the main ideas and major
details of the text
4. RECORDING: (focusing your reading) Take note so you can remember what you have read.
5. RECITING: (recalling step) Recite aloud or mentally, pair up with a partner for a Q&A session.
6. REVIEWING: (recalling step) Repeat some of the previous steps and review on a regular basis.
7. Critical Reading: Question, analyze and evaluate the text - use critical-thinking skills to
differentiate bet. fact & opinion; recognize author’s purpose in writing; make inferences abt.
purposes and characters; recognize the author’s tone in writing; recognize persuasive
techniques or propaganda designed to sway you to believe . - reader stops to consider the facts
carefully, “take time to read in order to the get facts straight” Examples: Reading done in
periodicals, books, ads which are loaded with propaganda devices designed to sway opinions.
8. Analytical Reading: careful attention to each word and its importance in relation to other
words in the sentence or the paragraph. - Examples: Reading mathematical problems, scientific
formulas, and certain definitive statements of key ideas that require a questioning/inquisitive
mind 9. Developmental Reading: When a reader is under a comprehensive reading program
that lets him go through stages & monitors him closely Examples: • SRA • ARC
Reading Strategies
• Predict. • Visualize. • Questions. • Connect • Identify • Evaluate • Predict • Determine
what you think will happen in the text, Use the title. • Visualize: Create mental images of
the characters and events in the text. • Questions: Stop and ask yourself questions to see if
the text makes sense. Reread the text if you need more information. • Connect: Think about
what you already know about the text. Identify: Determine the author purpose. Find the
important details, the main idea and the theme of the text. • Evaluate: Think About the text
as a whole and form opinions about what you read.
Slow Readers. • They read 100 words/ min. • More physical effort: Eyes get tired. • More
mental effort: Get bored. • Difficulties in understanding everything.
How to Improve Your Reading? • Don’t read word by word. • Reduce the time of each stop. •
Don’t point with the finger, it slows your mind