Reading Skills

A reading skill or ability is, in simple

terms, the ability for someone to interact
with a text and take in the words.
Reading is the process of looking at
written symbols and letters and
understanding the meaning of them. It's
one of the four main language skills
alongside listening, speaking and writing.
Reading is usually the third language skill
that you learn in your language - it comes
after listening and speaking.
When we read, we look at written
symbols (letters, punctuation, spaces) and
use our brains to convert them into words
and sentences that have meaning to us.
Things to be remembered
identify the words we see (word
recognition);
understand what they mean
(comprehension);
connect words and their meaning so that
reading is automatic and accurate
(fluency).
Steps
1. Decoding
Decoding in reading refers to the process
of converting written words into spoken
words. It is a crucial skill for learning to
read, as readers use decoding to “sound
out” words they don’t
recognize . Decoding involves taking
apart the sounds in words (segmenting)
and blending sounds together
Decoding strategies for reading include
identifying spelling patterns, word
families, root words, prefixes, and
affixes.
Decoding strategies also include phoneme
(sound) blending and segmentation
Encode
Encoding is the process of spelling
words It involves breaking a word down
into its smallest sounds
(phonemes). Encoding is the opposite
process of decoding, which is the process
of sounding out words
Encoding enables people to take apart
spoken words into individual sounds or
phoneme , which is essential to improving
automatic word recognition and the ability
to read without spelling out each letter
Techniques
Skimming is a reading
technique that involves quickly going
through text to get a general
understanding without focusing on every
word or detail . It is a strategic, selective
reading method in which you focus on the
main ideas of a text. When skimming,
deliberately skip text that provides details,
stories, data, or other elaboration
It is a strategic, selective reading method
in which you focus on the main ideas of a
text. When skimming, deliberately skip
text that provides details, stories, data, or
other elaboration
. Instead of closely reading every word,
focus on the introduction, chapter
summaries, first and last sentences of
paragraphs, bold words, and text features.
 Skimming is extracting the essence of the
author’s main messages rather than the
finer points
Here are some tips for effective
skimming:
Beginnings & endings:
Read first and last sentences of
paragraphs, first and last paragraphs of
major sections, and introductions and
summaries of chapters.
Things to focus on while skimming:
Introduction
Conclusion
 Chapter
section summaries
Scanning is a reading technique that
involves quickly going through text to
find specific information, such as figures
or names, without focusing on every word
or detail
When scanning, you deliberately skip text
that provides details, stories, data, or other
elaboration. Instead of closely reading
every word, focus on the parts of the text
that contain the information you need.
. Scanning is useful when you need to
find specific information quickly in a
text. It is often used in combination with
other reading techniques such as
skimming and intensive reading
Here are some tips for effective
scanning:
Identify keywords:
Identify the keywords or phrases that are
most relevant to your search.
Things to focus on while scanning:
 Titles and headings, bolded or italicized
words, charts and graphs, and summaries.
Reading
Vocabulary
Comprehension power
Retention power
Coherence
Coherent
Grammatical information