Reading skills

Prepared by: Naseer Ahamd Fazli

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 Nothing is more essential to your success than perseverance

What is reading?
Reading is multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehensive, fluency, and
motivation.

Types of reading
 Skimming
 Scanning
 Extensive reading
 Intensive reading
Skimming: We skim a text to get a general idea about the text.
Scanning: Scanning means looking quickly over a text to find specific information, such as
a name, date, or fact.
Extensive reading: this is kind if reading emphasis less on accuracy and more on gaining
fluency. It is done out of the classroom and meant for read’s own pleasure.
Intensive reading: intensive reading is the close reading of a short text. It is a kind of reading
that aims at accuracy of comprehension.

Importance of Reading
 Improve your communication skills
 Educates you
 Keep your brain healthy
 Reduces stress and anxiety
 Motive and inspire you
 Stimulates your creativity
 Strengths your writing ability

Reading skills

What is scanning?
Scanning means looking quickly over a text to find specific information, such as
a name, date, or fact.
Why should you scan a text?
Scanning a text saves time. You can quickly find a specific fact by scanning a text.

Prepared by: Naseer Ahmad Fazli

 Nothing is more essential to your success than perseverance

How do you scan a text?

Think about the information you need. Then move your eyes quickly over the text looking for
important words or numbers.

Skimming?
We skim a text to get a general idea about the text.
Purpose:
• To get a general idea about the text
• To find out what the text is about
• To identify the main ideas in the text
How to do it:
• Don't read every word. Let your eyes “skim" quickly over the text.
• Read the title and subheadings.
• Read the introduction or first paragraph.
• Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
• Read the last paragraph.

Why should you take notes?

Taking notes as you read helps you organize and remember important ideas and information.
How do you take notes?
When you take notes, you write only the most important words and ideas.
It's not necessary to write complete sentences.
• Sometimes you want to take notes on the main topics and details in a text.

What is previewing?
The word preview means to look before. When you preview a reading, you look it over before
you start to read.
Why should you preview a reading?
Previewing prepares you to read a text. When you are prepared, a text is easier to

Prepared by: Naseer Ahmad Fazli

 Nothing is more essential to your success than perseverance

Understand. Previewing allows you to:

• set a purpose for reading
• think about what you already know about the topic
• decide how you want to read the text
How do you preview a reading?
You can preview a reading in different ways. Here are some things you can do:
• Read the title of the article. Ask yourself questions about the title and guess the answers.

What are context clues?

Sometimes you can guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word by looking at the
Context-the other words in the sentence or nearby sentences. The context gives you clues, or
helpful information about the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
How do you use context clues?
Below are three types of context clues. Notice how the underlined context clues help you guess
the meaning of the boldfaced words.

What are main ideas and details?

Main ideas are the most important ideas in a piece of writing.
The details support and make clear the main ideas.
One sentence in a paragraph usually states the main idea. The other sentences give details or
supporting ideas. In the example below, the first sentence states the main idea. The other
sentences support and explain the main idea.

Why should you identify main ideas and details?

Identifying the main ideas and details helps you understand the writer's meaning.
What is the writer trying to say?

Prepared by: Naseer Ahmad Fazli

 Nothing is more essential to your success than perseverance

What is an inference?

An inference is an educated guess. When you make an inference, you look at the evidence and
draw a conclusion.
Evidence Inference
Your friend is crying. --------- She is unhappy.
Why should you make inferences as you read?
Writers don’t always state an opinion or an important idea directly. Instead, readers must infer,
or guess, the writer’s idea from the details.

What is predicting?
Predicting means saying what you think will happen.
Examples
I think it’s going to rain this afternoon.

I think I’m going to be late to school today.

Why should you make predictions as you read?

Making predictions helps you read actively. You make a prediction, and then you read to check your
prediction.

Reading Words in Groups

We don't usually read a sentence word by word. Instead, we read words in small groups, or
"chunks:' Reading words in groupings like this makes it
Easier to understand the ideas in a sentence.
Here are some common chunks of words:
• Article + adjective + noun
The morning markets
• Dependent clauses
Where people shop for food; that everybody likes
• Infinitive + noun
To cook food; to make a mistake
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 Nothing is more essential to your success than perseverance

• Prepositional phrases
In a restaurant
• Verb + adverb
Walked quickly; left quietly

Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing means saying the same thing with different words.
Paraphrasing helps you to understand and remember what you have read.
When you paraphrase a sentence, you use different words and different grammatical structures,
but you don't change the meaning of the original sentence.
Original sentence: Creativity is not the same as intelligence.
Good paraphrase: Being creative and being intelligent are different things.
Bad paraphrase: Creativity is different from intelligence. (Too similar)
Bad paraphrase: It’s difficult to be intelligent and creative.
(Different meaning)

Recognizing Scenarios
Scenario describes an imaginary sequence of events. Writers sometimes use scenarios as a
dramatic way of presenting what might happen.
Scenarios are usually written in the simple present tense. This makes readers feel as if they are
actually there, observing the action. As in a real story, time and place connectors link ideas and
events to each other in order to construct a clear picture in the reader’s mind.

Prepared by: Naseer Ahmad Fazli