Reading Skills

3.3 Reading SkillsBarnett （1988 ）Barnett, M. A. (L988). " Reading through context: How real and perceived strategies use affects L2 comprehension". Modern Language Journal, 72, 150-162.explains the reading skills for “ mental operation” . Read ing skills include a few aspects:“ guessing word meanings from context” ,“ scanning” , “ skimming” ,“ prediction” ,“ activating general knowledge”“ identifying referents” . He divides the reading skills into two types: text-level skills and word-level s kills.3.3.1 T ext-level skillsHow to read a text:1) SkimmingStudents need to be able to skim a text -as if they were casting their eyes over its surface -to get a general idea of what it is about. Just as with scanning, if they try to gather all the detail s at this stage, they will get bogged down and may not be able to get the general idea because they are concentrating too hard on specifics.2) ScanningStudents need to be able to do a number of things with a reading text. They need to be able to scan the text for particular bits of information they are searching for. This skill means that they do not have to read every word and line; on the contrary, such an approach would stop them scanning successfully. Whether readers scan or skim depends on what kind of text they are reading and what they want to get out of it. They may scan a computer manual to find the one piece of information they need to use their machine, and they may skim a newspaper article to get a general idea of what's been happening. But we would expect them to be less utilitarian with a literary work where reading for pleasure will be a slower, closer kind of activity.3) Reading for detailed comprehension .Reading for the main idea.What is the most important element in any paragraph or passage? Without a doubt, it is the main idea or the central idea, which gives the paragraph or passage a purpose and direction. When you are reading paragraphs for the main idea, try to force yourself to real a bit faster than usual. By doing so, you will find it easier to concentrate on ideas and the relationships between ideas. The slow reader usually cares too much about individual words and thus may actually comprehend less than the quick reader. In reading paragraphs, you will inevitably come across some words you don't understand. Don't waste too much time worrying about them. Just continue your reading. The most important thing is to understand the material as a whole and one or two unknown words won't make much difference.Looking for the topic sentenceMore often than not, one sentence in a paragraph tells the reader exactly what the subject of the paragraph is and thus gives the main idea. This main idea sentence is called a topic sentence or topic statement. The topic sentence states briefly an idea whose full meaning and significance are developed by the supporting details. It may appear at the beginning, or in the middle, or at the end of a paragraph.Recognizing important facts or detailsHere are some ways to help you recognize important facts or details:a. Read for the main idea. If you have identified the main idea , you can more easily recognize the important facts that support it.b. Keep it in mind that not all facts or details are equally important. Look only for the facts related to the main idea.c. To check on your understanding of the material you have read, review the facts or details which you have decided are the most important. Then consider if they support what you have identified as the main idea. If adding up the facts or details does not lead logically to the main idea, you have failed either to identify the main idea or to recognize the important supporting details. So, It is advisable to read a comprehension passage at least twice: the first time, to obtain a general impression of the text, and then a second time to concentrate on the important details. Sometimes a third reading is necessary —to check items that caused difficulty.3.3.2 Word -level skillsHow to guess the word’ s meaning:1)Using context clues farword meanings When you read a comprehension text, youwill inevitably find some words you don't know.Sometimes you take time out to look up a new word in the dictionary, but doing that too many times slows down your reading. In fact, you can often figure out meanings for new words or expressions without using the dictionary. Look at the context of each word or expression — the sentence that the word or expression is in and the sentences that come before and after. It is usually possible to find hints or clues about its definition from the context.Definition .üRestatement .üGeneral knowledgeüRelated informationüExamplesüComparisonüContrast2) Using Word Part Clues for Word MeaningsDividing Compound WordsüRecognizing PrefixesüRecognizing Suffixes3.3.3 Increase reading speed skills1) Reading in thought groupsComprehension —understanding what you are reading —is important; but the speed with which you read is important, too. While making constant efforts to improve your reading comprehension, you should try consciously to increase your reading speed. And to read in thought groups is an easy, yet effective way of picking up speed and fluency. For example:“The little boy, Johnnie, had been up with a packet of mints, and s aid he wouldn't go out to play until the post had come.”How to read it?A poor reader moves his eyes from word toword while an efficient reader will move his eyes front wards to words — that is, from thought group: The lit tie boy Johnnie had been up — with a packet of mints —and said he wouldn't go out to play —untilthe post had come.2)Broadening Eye SpanReading is composed of a series of fixations which the eye makes while viewing a printed line. During these fixation pauses, the material viewed is translated into meanings by the brain. A good reader will make three to four fixations for an or -dinary line of print; the poor reader eight to twelve or more. Obviously, the efficient reader can save much time by covering a wider part of the line at one fixation. The inefficient reader, however, moves slowly along the line and he is actually a word -by-word reader. The meaning of the page comes to him in a disconnected way, and thinking is made difficult, for normal thought does not occur by words, but by phrases and images. An image is far more quickly presented in the mind by several combined words than by individual ones. So the efficient reader can not only read more quickly, but understand better. One can increase the eye span by consciously controlling his fixations. But, merely knowing the fact is not enough. You can say to yourself, "Now I understand how to u se wide fixations," but you will have as little success as the person who has memorized the principles of swimming and then jumps into the water for a race. To be an efficient reader, one has to practice continuously until the coordination between eye and mind becomes habitual and automatic.。