Skimming/Reading for gist tasks

Activities for skimming or gist reading involve very general questions which allow students
to find the answer in the text quickly, without reading every word and getting into the details.
Here are the most common types of tasks and some examples.

1. Read and mark the sentences True or False (1-3 sentences)

This type of task requires reading the text for general understanding and deciding if the general
statements are true or false. If you do not have а gist task in your course book, but instead
are provided with а detailed True/False task, you can choose 1-2 most general statements from
the list and make it а gist task for the first reading.

e.g. а text adapted from BBC Skillswise like this might have а question for gist reading like this:

The text provides information about borrowing CDs.

- false
- true

2. Read and answer the questions (1-3 questions about the main idea)

This type of task is similar to the previous one. You can provide students with а very general
question to answer for which they will not need to look for any details. If you do not have а gist
task in your course book, but instead are given а list of questions for detailed reading, you can
choose 1-2 of the most general questions from the list and make it into а gist task for the first
reading.

e.g. for the text from New English File Advanced Student's Book like this
we can have а question for gist reading like this:

- What is Susie Rea's project7

- What paradox of modern life does her project highlight7

3. Read and match the paragraphs with the pictures

This is another popular activity for gist reading. Students are provided with а few short para­
graphs and the same number of pictures. They need to look through the paragraphs very
quickly to match them with the corresponding pictures. То do а task like this, one does not need
to read the whole text and get into details.

e.g. this text from Vimbox is accompanied Ьу these three pictures and students need to look
through the text very quickly to match the paragraphs with the right pictures.

Read the text and match paragraphs 1-3 with the photographs.

skyteach@oill
4. Read and match the titles with the paragraphs

This task is similar to the previous one. This time, students need to choose the right title for each
paragraph. You may have а number of paragraphs and titles to match together.

e.g. in this task from Vimbox, you need to choose а title for every paragraph.

Read the article. Match the questions (titles) with the answers (paragraphs).

Another variation of this task is to choose the best title for the whole text.

e.g. students read а text like this taken from Znanija

and are given а task to choose the best title for the whole text.

Read the text and choose the best title:

А. А Logum has а very Ыg tail.

В. Strange Animals - Logums.
С. Plants of planet Dentol.

5. Read and put the paragraphs/events in the correct order

Another task involving skimming is to put the paragraphs in the correct order or (for lower levels)
read а text and put the events in the correct order. Usual\y this is not а very complicated text.
It is considered а gist task because, according to Cambridge Assessment English Website, to do it,
it is enough to read the first sentence of each paragraph (sometimes also the last) to get the idea
and order the paragraphs.

e.g. students read this story from BBC Skillswise and try to put the events in the correct order.
То do this, they do not need to read the whole text carefully, but rather they need to look for
connectors and key words to help them. When working with а group offline, it is а good idea to
cut out the parts of the story and let students work with these pieces of paper in а group.

Read and put the story into the correct order.

Another example from Vimbox proposes reading а story and ordering the events and then
listening to the recording of the text and checking the order.

Another example from Vimbox demonstrates an interactive task in an online classroom. You can
move the paragraphs until you are sure it is the right order and then you can check.

skyteach �
6. Read and check your predictions

This task is one of the most popular and easy ones. It is connected with the pre-reading task
when we predict what the text is going to Ье about Ьу looking at the picture, title, or the first
paragraph (introduction). Then we read for gist and look through the text in order to check our
predictions.

e.g. this task from Vimbox has the student speculate what the girl's job is. After discussing the
picture and making predictions, students look though the text very quickly and find out the
correct answer.

Read the text quickly and check your predictions.

7. Read and answer the question (1 general question)

This is а variation of the task described in 2. It can also Ье connected with task 6. The main idea
is to ask one very general question to find the answer in the text without getting into the details.

e.g. in this task from the Navigate Advanced Cl Coursebook students need to look through
the text and find out what the research says about а particular group of people. As they have
already discussed the picture before the text and а few questions related
to the text as а pre-reading task, they might rely on their predictions to find the answers
in the text more quickly.

Read the text quickly. What does the research say about the people who support teams7

8. What is the author's attitude to the matter (+ or -)?

This task might seem like an easy variation of inferring, but actually it might not involve reading
between the lines. The answer to the question of the author's attitude is expressed quite
transparently with words in the text. Another variation might Ье "What's your initial reaction
to what [someone] says7"

e.g. this text is а film review taken from British Council LearnEnglish Teens and it comes without
а gist task.
You can invent your own Ьу using this type of question:

Read the review. Did the author enjoy the film7

skyteach �
9. What is the text about? (summary)

You read а text in order to choose the best sentence to summarize it. Usually this involves а text
that is not very long and the ideas in the summary sentences are given using different words.

e.g. after reading this text from Vimbox you need to choose the best sentence to summarize it.

Choose the best sentence to summarize the text.

Another example is а text from English Plus 3 Student's Book requiring students to look through
the text and then choose the best sentence to summarize it.

Read the text and choose the best sentence to describe it.

10. What type of text is this text? or What is the purpose of the text?

This task requires one to read the text quickly in order to identify its type or purpose. This task
can also coincide with а task for checking the predictions if you discussed the title and the
pictures in the pre-reading stage.

e.g. students can work with а school prospectus like this taken from BBC Skillswise and before
getting into the details, they may have а task like this:

Look through the text and decide if the prospectus is aimed at students or parents.

Another example from English Plus 3 Student's Book is this text.

After reading it, students need to decide its purpose and type and answer the questions like these:

Look through the text and answer the questions:

What type of text is it7

а) а supermarket website
Ь) an educational leaflet
с) а protest group handout

The author wrote the text to...

а) invite
Ь) advertise
с) complain

These were а few tasks you can use as gist reading activities. Remember that gist reading always
comes first. If you do not have а ready-made gist reading task in your textbook, make it up using
а detailed reading task or one of the aforementioned ideas.

skyteach �