TEACHING READING LITERACY

Skimming and scanning

Shano A.Ahmed
WHAT IS SKIMMING?

Skimming is a reading technique that can help you to:

read more quickly

decide if the text is interesting and whether you

should read it in more detail

Skimming is a fast reading technique. Use it to obtain

the gist of a piece of text (i.e. to quickly identify the
main ideas in the text).
HOW IS 'SKIMMING' DIFFERENT FROM 'SCANNING'?

The term skimming is often confused with scanning.

Remember:
Skimming is used, for example, to get the gist of a
page of a textbook to decide whether it is useful and
should therefore be read more slowly and in more
detail.
Scanning is used to obtain specific information from
a piece of text and can be used, for example, to find a
particular number in a telephone directory.
 Sometimes you can use both reading methods.
After you have skimmed a piece of text to decide
whether the text is of interest, you may wish to use
scanning techniques to locate specific information.
HOW TO SKIM:
Read the title, subtitles and subheadings to find out
what the text is about.
Look at the illustrations to give you further

information about the topic.

Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
Don't read every word or every sentence.
WHAT IS SCANNING?

Scanning is a fast reading technique. It's a way of

reading to look for specific information in a text.
Scanning can be used to read through the ads in a
newspaper, or for browsing TV schedules, timetables,
lists, catalogues or web pages for information. For these
tasks you don't need to read or understand every word.
Scanning is also useful when studying or looking to find
specific information from a book or article quickly as
there is not always time to read every word.
HOW TO SCAN:
Don't try to read every word. Instead let your eyes move
quickly across the page until you find what you are
looking for.
 Use clues on the page, such as headings and titles, to

help you.
 If you are reading for study, start by thinking up or

writing down some questions that you want to answer.

Doing this can focus your mind and help you find the
facts or information that you need more easily.
PHASES OF TEACHING READING
1- PRE-READING

 What is pre-reading?
 What the learner brings to the reading will affect
 how she or he understands what they read. Many
people argue that it can be very important in
helping the learner understand what they read. In
other words, pre-reading activities can help
learners prepare for the reading activity.
What are the benefits of pre-reading?
There are several benefits to doing pre-reading
activities.
Pre-reading activities can help the learner to be
more prepared for what they are about to read. It
can help them anticipate the topic of the reading. In
doing this, they can also prepare themselves for the
kind of language, vocabulary, and even grammar
that might be used in the text. In addition, if done
in the right way, it can encourage the learners to
 Here are 10 pre-reading activities to use in class.
 1- Speed chatting
Prepare one or two simple questions related to the
topic of the reading. Ask the class to make two
rows facing each other. Then, encourage your
learners to ask each other the questions, but warn
them that they only have 60 seconds to do so.
Once the 60 seconds are up, one of the rows
rotates so each learner has a new partner. Repeat
the process several times.
 2- Discussion
Encourage the learners to have a discussion about the topic of the reading.
Prepare four or five sentences with various opinions relating to the reading.
Read them out to the class and then place them around the room. Encourage
the learners to go and stand near the opinion that they agree with the most.
Then encourage that group to prepare reasons for agreeing with that particular
sentence. Once they have done this, the learners can then interact with people
from other groups to share their opinions and reasons.
 3- Brainstorming
Give the class five minutes to brainstorm ideas relating to the topic of the
reading. Then give them a further five minutes to organize their ideas and to
form sentences. Once they have completed this, encourage them to get up and
move around the room and share their ideas with other learners.
4- Pictures
Select three or four pictures that relate to the topic of the reading. Ask the students
to make small groups and give each group a copy of the pictures. The learners
should work together to connect the pictures and to try to guess what the reading
will be about. Each group takes it in turns presenting their ideas.
5- The title
Ask the students to make small groups and tell the groups the title of the reading.
The learners should work together to pool their knowledge of this topic. Again,
once the group has finished, each group can share their ideas with the other groups.
6- Story telling
Prepare a short personalized narrative about something related to the topic of the
reading. Be creative with the story. It doesn’t have to be 100% accurate to
something that actually happened to you, but it should be personal, and be told
enthusiastically. It will help if there is a little suspense and humour in the story too.
7- Short conversations
This time give the students a sentence from the reading. The
students then have a conversation with a partner about the sentence.
However, tell them there is one rule. They cannot use more than
three words each time it is their turn to speak.
8- Pictionary
Select some of the key words from the text. Put the class into two or
three groups. In turn, a learner from each group (at the same time)
comes to the whiteboard. They are told the word and they have to
draw that word. They are not allowed to use letters or numbers in
their drawing. The other students try to guess the word and earn
points for their team. This can get very lively indeed!
9- Purpose
Give the students a purpose for completing the reading. This can be in the
form of some discussion questions about the content prepared by the
teacher. Give the questions to the students before they read the text. Ask
them to read them and then while they are reading the text, they should
prepare answers to these discussion questions. When they have read the
text, they then discuss the questions with a partner.
10 - Videos
There is so much good free content available these days. First, find a short
video relating to the topic of the reading. I would suggest something
around three minutes long. After watching the video yourself, prepare
some simple discussion questions. Play the video and then ask the students
to talk with a partner about what they saw.