Speedwell.
How to be a better
reader
Paul Shoebottom
The importance of
reading
Reading is an extremely
important skill. It is by reading that you learn much of what you need
to know for your different
school subjects. Reading is also
an excellent way to improve
your general English. You can
only learn from reading, however, if what you read is not too difficult. For
this reason, it is important to know what makes texts difficult and how you can
improve
your chances of understanding
them.
What makes texts
difficult to understand
Most of your reading
difficulties will be caused by a problem on the list below.
Of course, when two or more of
these problems happen together,
your chances of understanding
will be even smaller.
the text has many unknown words
the text has long, complicated
sentences
the text is about a topic you
know nothing about
the text is about a topic you
find boring
the text has small print, long
paragraphs, no pictures
the text has been badly written
you are feeling tired
you are distracted
you don't know the important cohesion markers
you don't know why you have
been asked to read the text
How to understand more of what you read
You can do nothing about some
of the reading difficulties: for example, you can’t change the print
in a book or make poor writing
better. But there are many things you can do that will give you
a better chance of
understanding what you read. Here are some suggestions:
1. Know your reading purpose - The way you read a book or a text depends very
much
on your reasons for reading it. This is why it is so
important to know your reading purpose.
You should read a question in
your math exam differently from an entry in an encyclopaedia
which you are looking at quickly to find out
the date of an event. The kind of reading you do in class or for your homework
is different from how you read a novel for pleasure in the summer vacation.
If you know your reading
purpose - perhaps by looking first at the questions you must answer
after reading - you can choose
the best reading method.
If your teacher gives you
something to read and doesn't tell you what you need to find out
from the text or what you will
do after the reading, ask her (or him)!
2. Choose the
appropriate reading speed - ESL
students often take a long time to do their work because they read everything
slowly and carefully.
Often, however, one of the
following speedreading methods will be the best choice:
Skimming - this is reading a text quickly to find out what
information it contains.
You should skim when, for
example, you want to check if a text has the information you need
to answer some questions or
write a project.
It is often enough to look at
the first (and last) sentences in each paragraph.
Scanning - this is reading quickly to find a specific piece of
information. You should scan when,
for example, you are looking
for the answer to a question which you know is in the text.
In general, students should be
trying to increase their reading speed.
3. Get background
information - Find
something out about the topic you have to read.
The more background information
you have, the easier it will be to understand the text.
You can get this background
information background in your own language.
For example, if you are
studying the Italian Renaissance, you could read an encyclopaedia
or textbook in your own
language to find out the most important details about this historical period.
Your parents may also be able to give you useful background information.
Talk to them in your language.
You can sometimes get
background information from the text itself. Many writers include
a conclusion or summary; if you
read this first, it may give you a good start.
4. Use all the
information in the book - Good
textbooks are well-organised,
with titles, sub-titles,
introductions, summaries or conclusions.
Many books also have pictures
with captions. Look at all these first before starting to read.
Another aspect of good writing
is that each paragraph has a topic sentence. A topic sentence
is a sentence, usually the
first one in a paragraph, that contains the main idea of the paragraph.
If you concentrate on
understanding the topic sentence,
this may help you to understand
what comes next.
5. Increase your
vocabulary - Of course,
reading itself is an excellent way to improve your vocabulary, but there are
many other things you can do.
The better your vocabulary, the
easier you will find your reading.
6. Use your
dictionary sensibly - A common
mistake of ESL students is to look up
each unknown word in the texts
they are given to read. Occasionally this is necessary - for example, when
reading examination questions. But it takes a long time and can be very boring.
It can even make understanding
more difficult because by the time you reach the end
of the paragraph you have
forgotten what you read at the beginning!
7. Learn the
important words that organise text - When you read texts in your science
or history books, you will find
that most good writers organise their writing with cohesion markers (also
called transition words).
These are words that connect different parts of the writing
and help writers structure
their thoughts. If you learn the important cohesion markers,
you will find it easier to
understand the text.
Here are some important cohesion markers:
also, therefore, except, unless,however, instead, (al)though, furthermore, moreover, nevertheless,
on the other hand, as a
result, despite, in conclusion.
8. Choose the
right place to read - You can’t
really expect to understand a difficult book
if you are trying to read in
the same room with the television on and your little brother
is distracting you. The same
goes for reading in the bus on the way to school. You also can’t expect to read
a textbook and listen to music at the same time. Try to find a quiet and
comfortable place with good light, and your dictionaries and other materials
nearby.
9. Choose the
right time to read –
If you have a difficult text to
read for homework, it’s probably best to do this first.
If you leave it until last when
you are tired, you will find it even more difficult.
Important: If you have tried the advice above and you still cannot
understand a text,
then it is simply too hard for
you. Stop reading and ask someone to help you (your ESL teacher,
for example!). Nobody likes to
give up, but you will just be wasting your time
if you continue to work at a
text that is beyond you.
What to read
Most of the time you have to
read what your teachers tell you to read.
But as you know, reading is an
excellent way to improve your English, and so you should try
to do some extra reading each
week. Here is some advice on how to choose what to read:
Try not to read
something too difficult - There
should be no more than about 6-10 new words
per page; reading for pleasure
should not be hard work!
Reading easy
books is good for you -You will
improve your reading skills even if you read
simple books, as long as you
read lots
of them. (But you may
find you don't really enjoy stories written in English that has been
over-simplified.)
Try to read some
non-fiction - Reading
non-fiction books or magazines will help you learn
some of the words you need to
do well in your subject classes.
There are millions of pages of
non-fiction on the world wide web!
Choose something
that is interesting to you - This is
clear. In fact, if you are really interested
in a topic, you will probably
be able to understand texts that would normally be too difficult for you.
Surf the internet - You can learn a lot of English just by surfing around on
the websites that interest you. This is particularly true if the webpages contain
pictures that help you understand the writing.
http://esl.fis.edu/learners/advice/read.htm
You can TCR specialist and language dictionaries
that are spontaneously
accessed.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20
times faster and remember what I’ve
read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com which takes
advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
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