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Reading Strategies
The reading strategies offered on this page will help you become a better
reader. These strategies will work both in and out of the classroom, but are
particularly useful in the classroom. If you learn and use the reading
strategies on this page you will improve both your reading comprehension
and test scores.

Strategy 1: Ignore words that are unimportant.

When reading, you may often come upon a word or phrase that you don't
understand. Your first impulse may be to look up the word in your dictionary.
Before resorting to a dictionary, though, you should first determine whether
the word you don't know is important. If it isn't, then ignore it. Consider the
following sentence.
The farvenugen truck was parked in front of the house.
What does the word farvennugen mean? You probably don't know. Right?
Now ask yourself, Is the word farvennugen important in understanding the
sentence? No, not really. We can tell that farvennugen is being used as an
adjective, but it isn't important to the meaning of the sentence. The point of
the sentence is where the truck was parked, not what kind of truck it is, so,
we can ignore that word and still understand the sentence.

Strategy 2: Use the context to guess the meaning.

If you follow Strategy 1, and you determine that the word you don't know IS
important, then before using a dictionary, try to guess the meaning of the
word from the context. Context refers to the words and phrases surrounding
the word that you don't understand. Once you think you have guessed the
correct meaning, then look up the word in your dictionary to insure you have
made a correct guess. Then practice using the word in different contexts.
This will help you increase your understanding of the word, which in turn will
help you increase your vocabulary.
Being able to guess the meaning of words from their context is a skill that is
particularly helpful when you come across idioms. For example, in the
sentence
Jimmy lost track of time and was late for class,
the phrase lost track of time is an idiom that means to forget about the time.
If you didn't know the meaning of this idiom and you looked up each word in
the dictionary, you still would not understand the sentence.

Strategy 3: Scan for specific information.

Scanning is a skill that requires that you read quickly while looking for
specific information. To scan a reading text, you should start at the top of the
page and then move your eyes quickly toward the bottom. Generally,
scanning is a technique that is helpful when you are looking for the answer
to a known question. This is especially helpful when taking a test.
 Strategy 4: Skim for general information.
Like scanning, skimming requires you to read quickly. When you skim a text,
though, you are not looking for specific information, but rather, you are trying
to get the main idea or point of the text you are reading. When skimming a
reading selection, start with the title of the text, then read the topic sentence
of each paragraph. Skimming is a skill that is especially suited for doing
research. By skimming a few pages of a reference book or novel, you can
generally tell if the book or novel will be useful for your research.

Strategy 5: Read in units or chunks of words.

When we see sentences written on paper, we see words that are separated
by spaces. What we hear when we speak, though, are not words but
sounds. Words are separated by spaces on paper for convenience. Reading
is similar to speaking because people who are proficient readers read
sentences in units of words rather than one word at a time. This skill takes
practice, but if mastered is well worth the effort.

Taken from: http://www.johnsesl.com/templates/readings/strategies.php

 GENERAL WORKSHOP ON READING STRATEGIES

NAME ______________________________________________________________

Skimming

Read the following four passages very quickly. Do not read every word carefully. Then
answer the question under each passage.
1. So far all attempts to relate the bird's navigational ability to electric forces and
magnetic activity have failed. Magnets and minute radio transmitters attached to the
bird's body, do not interrupt or influence migration. Radar beams bombarding the
bird invisibly have no known effect. Rotation of migrants in covered cages during
transportation by car or plane does not confuse them on release. One look at the
celestial clues, their sky compass and the really expert long-distance birds are away
in the correct direction. It has not been proved that birds carry a magnetic compass.
What is the main topic of the passage?
A. The navigational ability of birds throughout the ages.
B. How electric forces or magnets do not affect a bird's orientation.
C. The bombardment of radar beams.
D. The way birds look at the celestial clues.
2. One of the most widespread uses of survey research today is for rating radio and
television programs. Commercial ratings of network radio programs were first
undertaken by the C.E. Hooper Company in 1935. Then, the A.C Nielsen Company,
founded in the early 1940s, invented its mechanical recording device, the audimeter,
that was attached to radio receivers to monitor the station and the amount of time a
set was tuned in to it. Nielsen bought the Hooper Company in 1950. By the mid-
1970s Nielsen ~ offering an "instantaneous Nielsen" service by connecting some
1,200 sets to a central computer for overnight tabulation of audiences.
What is the passage about?
A. Survey research for radio and television ratings.
B. The relation between the Hooper Company and the Nielson Company
C. The uses of central computers.
D. How radios are monitored by stations.

II. Scanning

Look again at the passages that you skimmed, scan them, and then answer these
questions:
1. What is the effect of magnets on birds?
A. They interrupt the migration of birds. C. They act as a compass.
B. They have no effect at all. D. They act as transmitters.
2. When was the first commercia1 rating of radio programs?
A. In the 1950s. B. In the 1940s. C. In the 1970s. D. In the 1930s.
III. Inference

Using Inference

Sometimes someone will try to tell you something without coming right
out and saying it. He will imply it. When you understand what is
implied, you infer. Sometimes you can infer the truth even when the
speaker or writer isn’t trying to be helpful. That’s called “reading
between the lines.”

See if you can infer an implied or hidden message in each of the following
selections.

____Turner almost wished that he hadn’t listened to the radio. He went to the
closet and grabbed his umbrella. He would feel silly carrying it to the bus stop
on such a sunny morning.

1. Which probably happened?

a. Turner realized that he had an unnatural fear of falling radio parts.

b. Turner had promised himself to do something silly that morning.
c. Turner had heard a weather forecast that predicted rain.
d. Turner planned to trade his umbrella for a bus ride.

_____ “Larry, as your boss, I must say it’s been very interesting working with
you,” Miss Valdez said. “However, it seems that our company’s needs and your
performance style are not well matched. Therefore, it makes me very sad to
have to ask you to resign your position effective today.”

2. What was Miss Valdez telling Larry?

a. She would feel really bad if he decided to quit.

b. He was being fired.
c. He was getting a raise in pay.
d. She really enjoyed having him in the office.

_____ No, Honey, I don’t want you to spend a lot of money on my birthday
present. Just having you for a husband is the only gift I need. In fact, I’ll just
drive my old rusty bucket of bolts down to the mall and buy myself a little
present. And if the poor old car doesn't break down, I’ll be back soon.

3. What is the message?

a. I don’t want a gift.

b. Buy me a new car.
c. The mall is fun.
d. I’ll carry a bucket for you.
_____ Bill and Jessica were almost done taking turns choosing the players for
their teams. It was Jessica’s turn to choose, and only Kurt was left.
Jessica said, “Kurt.”

4. We can infer that ________

a. Kurt is not a very good player.

b. Jessica was pleased to have Kurt on her team.
c. Kurt was the best player on either team.
d. Jessica was inconsiderate of Kurt’s feelings.

IV. Reference

1 Elizabeth F. Lothus reports that she has watched thousands of trial witnesses going
from being unsure to positive through a variety of devices (positiveness of others,
stress, insecurity or self, etc.) and that the opposite is also true – memory can go
from clear to positive to doubt and fuzziness. It appears that new connections are
5 formed between neurons as new learning takes place, and old ones start to diminish.

Neurosurgeon George Ojemann and psychologist Harry Whitaker tested bilingual

surgical patients with electrical stimulation and found that their first and second
languages share some cortical area but also have some separate turf. The second
language occupies more cortex than the first. They speculate that as the new
10 language becomes familiar, the cortical area devoted to it becomes less.
Psychologist Charles Furst, in The Brain, notes: "If the nerve impulses circle their
selected pathways long enough, they leave an indelible memory trace."

I. Who does "she" in line 1 refer to?

A. Elizabeth Loftus. B. Charles Furst. C. George Ojemann. D.Harry Whitaker.

2. What does "ones" in line 5 refer to?

A. Connections. B. Memories. C. Neurons. D. Forms of learning.

3. What does "their" in line 8 refer to?

A. Ojemann and Whitaker. C. Thousands of trial witnesses.
B. Bilingual surgical patients. D. Those with first and second languages.

4. What does "the first" in line 10 refer to?

A. Cortical area. B. Separate turf. C. Language. D. Stimulation.

5. What does "they" in line 10 refer to?

A. Loftus and other scientists. (C) Ojemann and Whitaker.
(B) Different patients. (D) Furst and other psychologists.
 ALONE

People with adventurous attitudes have existed at all times in our history, and they
2 have usually found ways of expressing their spirit of adventure. In the past, there
were unmapped parts of the world for them to explore, new lands for them to
discover, new means of transportation for them to experiment with. Such
5 challenges were often sufficient in themselves because the difficulties and dangers
involved in them were usually tremendous.

In the twentieth century, however, and particularly in its second half, many of the
challenges that previously fired people’s imaginations have already been met. They no
10 longer present the same difficulties and therefore they no longer offer the same sense of
adventure and satisfaction. In view of this situation, one solution which adventurous people
have adopted in this modern world is not to do new things but to do things by themselves
that no one has ever done before.

One of the first and most famous to adopt this approach was Charles Lindberg. He
15 was not the first man to fly the Atlantic (Alcock and Brown had done so in 1919), but
in 1927 in his “Spirit of St. Louis” he became the first person to do so by himself.
Then in 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic by
herself.
Columbus crossed the Atlantic and discovered America in 1942 (some people say Leif
20 Erikson had done so hundreds of years before him) and since then millions of people have
followed in his wake.
Crossing the Atlantic is nothing to an adventurous man or woman today – now he or
she wants to cross it alone, and in the smallest possible boat (one used for such a
trip was about three meters long!)
25 In 1966, an Englishman, Francis Chichester, sailed around the world. Magellan had done
that in 1521, so again it was certainly not anything new, but Magellan had had a crew of
sailors with him and Chihcester sailed his boat by himself. The English were so impressed
that Queen Elizabeth II made him a knight: Sir Francis Chichester.
Perhaps the person whose solo feats most astonish us by their extraordinary versatily is
30 Naomi Uemura, a Japanese adventurer. We are impressed when we hear of a group of
mountaineers conquering the Everest (after all, no one had done so until Sir John Hunt’s
team managed it in June 1953); Uemura climbed not only Everest but also the highest
mountains on four other continents (Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, McKinley, Mont Blanc). We
are impressed when new programs inform us that a group has navigated the 6100
35 kilometers of the Amazon River on balsa rafts; Uemura traveled the entire distance by
himself on his tiny raft. We are impressed when we read of Admiral Robert Peary’s 1909
journey to the North Pole, but they had his crew him. When, on a 57-day trek, Uemura
crossed the freezing Artic (-40 degrees C) with its dangerous ice-fields, as well as its polar
bears, what was so extraordinary was not only that he did it, but that he did it completely
40 alone!
Some of these “loners” lived to a ripe old age. But Amelia Earhart disappeared in New
Guinea in 1937 on a flight around the world and Naomi Uemura vanished on the highest
Mountain in Alaska (and North America) in 1984, after making the first solo winter ascent.
Such risks, of course are part of the adventure.
EXERCISE REFERENCE. WHAT DO THE FOLLOWING WORDS IN THE PASSAGE
“ALONE” REFER TO?

1. THEIR 2
2. THEMSELVES 5
3. ITS 8
4. THEY 9
5. THEMSELVES 12
6. HIS 21
7. HIM 27
8. IT 32
9. ITS 38
10. IT 39