Methodology Course Teacher: h.

Chenane
Spring Semester 2022

Course: Reading Skills

Reading Fluently: Reading fluently is reading easily. In this task your brain recognizes each
word so you can read without skipping or tripping over words. If you are a fluent reader, you
can concentrate on the ideas in your reading because you don’t have to worry about what
each word means or how to utter it.
To develop reading fluency, you should:
- Read often . The more, the better. Reading often will help you develop a good sight
vocabulary, that is, the ability to quickly recognize words.
- Practice reading aloud. I n fact, reading aloud does help become a better silent reader:
 Begin by reading aloud a short, interesting passage that is easy to you.
 Reread the same passage aloud at least three times or until your reading sounds
smooth. Make your reading sound like you are speaking to a friend.
 Then move on to a longer passage or a slightly more difficult one.

Reading for a reason: The reason you are reading something helps you decide on the reading
strategies you use with a text. Decide if you are reading for a high level of comprehension,
trying to get a general idea about what you are reading, or looking for specific information.
Then use the reading style that is more appropriate for your reading purpose.
To be really an effective reader you need to be able to vary your style depending on
your material and it is likely that you already do this critically to some extent.
Ask yourself how you would read a blockbuster novel, a newspaper, a poem, and an
instruction manual. When reading for pleasure you may read quickly, with few breaks and
without worrying about having to recall details later. On the other hand, when consulting an
instruction manual you may read only one or two paragraphs, but you read them very
carefully, making sure you understand all the details.
 To became a flexible reader, you need to know how to select and use a reading
style that is consistent with your purpose for reading. There are four important
reading styles you should learn to use and each one has its purpose – speed
reading, skim reading, scanning, and careful reading.

Speed Reading: If you find it difficult to concentrate and your mind wanders when you are
studying, you could consider reading faster. If you read too slowly your thoughts can wander
off on a digression. You can easily train yourself to read more quickly, although it takes time.
To improve your reading you should practice:
- Not reading every word.
- Not reading ‘a load’ in your head.
So how fast you read or how carefully you should read a text depends on your purpose for
reading it. Think about your purpose and choose a strategy that works best. Try out these
strategies:
Skim Reading: A skimming style is most useful when you have to read a large amount of
material in a short amount of time. When using the skimming style, you should identify the
main ideas in each paragraph and ignore the supporting details. Because you are looking only
for the main idea in each paragraph you read, a lower level of comprehension is to be
expected than if you were using a more in-depth strategy.
 The aim of skim reading is to get the general idea, gist or overview of a text’s content.
The aim of this method is not to have a detailed understanding of the text. So in this context
you:
- Get an overview of the text through the content’s page.
- Read the first and last sentence of each chapter, section or paragraph to see where the
text is going and what it is covering.

Scanning Reading: It is what you do when you read very quickly for a specific piece of
information within a larger amount of material. This means running your eyes quickly
over the material, looking for key words or phrases that point to the information you are
searching for. Scan when you need to find a particular piece of information. For example,
you might scan a book-chapter for facts to include in a class-research.

Careful Reading: This method involves reading slowly and paying attention with a
purpose in mind. Read carefully when you are learning new concepts, following
complicated instructions, or preparing to explain information to someone else. You
definitely should read vigilantly when you are studying a text book to prepare for class-
courses. But you might also use this method when you are reading an attention-grabbing
story and don’t want to overlook any details. Below are some tips you can use to help you
read more thoughtfully:
- Take breaks when you need them. There is no point in reading when you are sleepy.
And if you reading on the computer, give your eyes a break about every fifteen
minutes by focusing your sight on something more distant than your monitor screen.
- Take notes as you read. Write in your book if it’s ok or use a note book. Your notes
may be just words or phrases that will train your memory when you need to review. If
you use a note book, write page numbers from the book in the margin of your notes.
That way you can quickly find the original material later if you need it.
- Make graphic organizers. This would help you organize the information from your
reading to sort out ideas, clear up difficult passages, and help you remember important
points. For example, webs can show a main idea and supporting ideas. A flow-chart
can help you keep follow of events in a sequence. A Venn diagram, made up of
overlapping circles, can help you organize how two characters, ideas, or events are a-
like and different.
- Review material before stopping. Even a short review will help you remember what
you have read. Try rereading difficult passages. They will be much easier to
understand the second time. In addition to these methods, the academic learner would
use constantly other varied methods as:
- Extensive Reading: that’s reading longer texts, usually for research tasks. This is a
fluency activity, mainly involving thorough and global comprehension.
- Intensive Reading: as reading shorter texts, to extract specific information. This is
more an accuracy activity involving reading for detail.
These different ways of reading are not mutually exclusive. For instance, one often
skims through a passage to see what it is about before deciding whether it is worth
scanning a particular section for the information one is looking for.

Other aspects of Reading skills are as follows:

Becoming Engaged: In reading, engagement means relating to what you are reading in a way
that makes it meaningful to you. It means finding links between the text and your own
individual experiences. As you begin to read something, be ready to become engaged with
the text. That is, react to the text and relate it to your own experience. Your reading will be
much more appealing and easy to remember.

Understanding what you read: skilled readers adopt a number of strategies before, during
and after reading to make sure they comprehend what they read. You need to consider the
subsequent guidelines:

 Previewing: when you preview, you are trying to get an idea about that piece of
writing. If you know what to expect before reading, you will have an easier time
understanding ideas and relationships. Follow these steps to preview your reading
assignments:
1- Look at the title and any illustrations that are included.
2- Read the headings, sub-headings, and anything in bold letters.
3- Skim over the passage to see how it is organized. Is it divided into many sections?
Is it a long text? Consider all the incorporated graphics, maps, diagrams.
4- Set up a purpose for your reading. Are you reading to learn new information? Are
you reading to find something specific?

Activating Prior Knowledge: Drawing on your general and own background concerning a
given pattern of information is called activating prior knowledge, and it can help you create
meaning in what you read. Ask yourself, what do I already know about this issue?

Determine the Main Idea: when you look for the main idea of a given text, you look for the
most important idea. The examples, arguments, or details that further explain the main idea
are called supporting details. Some main ideas are implicitly stated within a passage – often
in the first sentence of a paragraph, or sometimes in the last sentence of a passage. Other
times, an author doesn’t directly state the main idea but provides details that help the
reader to figure out what the main idea is.

Clarifying: Clear up, or clarify confusing passages as you read. When you realize you don’t
understand something, try these tips to help you clarify the ideas.

- Reread the intricate and convoluted parts slowly and carefully.

Interpreting: This is more than just understanding the facts or story line you read. It’s
asking yourself, what’s the writer really saying here? When you interpret as you read,
you come to a much better understanding of the work.
Inferring: In fact writers don’t always directly state what they want you to understand.
By providing clues and interesting details, they suggest certain information. Whenever
you combine those clues with your own knowledge, you are making inference.

Drawing Conclusions: Skillful readers are always drawing conclusions, or figuring out
much more than an author states directly. You combine information and evidence that
the author provides to come up with a statement about a topic, about a character, or
about anything else in the work. Drawing conclusions helps you find connections
between ideas and events and helps you have a better understanding of what you are
reading.

For further information, you can consult the “books” available on the library.