Comprehension Skills: Scanning for Key Words

Reading is probably the most important skill you will need

for success in your college studies. You will have to ready
lengthy assignments in different subjects with varying
degrees of detail and difficulty. If you read inaccurately,
you will fail to understand some of the information and
ideas that you read. If you read slowly, you will have to
spend too much time reading for your assignments so that
your other work may suffer.
Poor reading may be a problem for you, but it is not a
hopeless one. Like other skills, your ability to read English
rapidly and accurately depends upon careful instruction
and purposeful practice. Unit Two of Basic Reading Power
will introduce you to the ways in which you can improve
your reading skill. But this will be only an introduction. You
must continue to practice on your won.

1
True or False:

To scan a text you need to:

1- Look at every word on the line. [ T /F ]
2- Find only the words you searching for. [ T /F ]
3- Slowly look for specific words in the text. [ T /F ]
4- We cannot change our slow reading habits. [ T /F ]
5- By careful instruction and purposeful practice you can
improve you reading speed. [ T /F ]
6- The purpose of scanning exercises is to train your eyes to
look just for the key words in the sentence. [ T /F ]

7- Reading is the most xxxxxxxxx skill for success in your study.

8- When you spend xxx xxxx time reading a text you will not have
enough time for other assignments.

Reading speed is determined in part by how many

words your eyes can see at a single glance. Compare
these three different readers and how many stops their
eyes make.

2
Being able to read by phrases instead of by single words
results from practice.

Being able to read by phrases instead of by single words results

from practice.

Being able to by phrases instead of by words results

practice.

How many times do the slow, average, and fast reader’s eyes
must stop?

. They focus
at the of a phrase and see three or four words, then
move rapidly to the next phrase.

The ability to see words on either side of the point at which

your eyes focus is called .
. It is difficult even
for native speakers, but it can be done – and must be done if
you are to read as rapidly as you should. You can
your peripheral vision by eye exercise.
3
Being able to read by phrases requires understanding of what
words go together grammatically. For example, if you can recognize
modification patterns, prepositional or participial phrases, or
dependent clauses, you can recognize which words are grouped
together meaningfully. With practice, you will begin to see them
together.

Modification Patterns

The economic policy (he spoke) quickly and clearly

An unnecessary expenses (the fluid) in the test tube

Three important reasons (the man) who signed the treaty

Prepositional, Participial, and Infinitive Phrases

Under these conditions to tell the truth

Against the wall to express all possibility

On the other hand considering the last point

While examining the residue preparing carefully

Dependent Clauses

When the war ended just as they agreed

Because it was raining if potassium is added

4
 Just as important as increasing your is the
importance of moving your eyes from point to point in a uniform
rhythm. Slow reading also results from , the number of
times your eyes have to go back to a word or phrase that did not see
accurately the first time. As you practice increasing your peripheral
vision and moving your eyes faster, you may occasionally have to go
back to reread certain words or phrases. Do not get discouraged. A
smooth, forward rhythm comes with practice. Eventually you will
adjust your speed to the point where your eyes move comfortably
forward without the need to .

A final cause for slow reading is , that is, forming the

sounds of each word, even though they may not be spoken aloud. The
normal rate of speaking English is 180 to 200 words a minute. If you
vocalize each word, you cannot read faster than this.

5
 Reading speed and reading comprehension are
correlated. In the first place, it is of course useless to read
rapidly but without adequate comprehension. It is
equally inefficient to read with complete comprehension
but at a very slow speed. You should aim at a comfortable
balance between the two. In the second place, although
you may think so at first, reading comprehension does not
necessarily suffer from a rapid reading speed. As you push
yourself to read faster, you may find that you comprehend
less. Continued practice, however, will improve your
comprehension as well as your speed. Instead of
responding to individual words, you will be responding to
meaningful units of ideas. In the third place, there is no
single best reading speed. The good reader adjusts her
speed to the material she is reading and the kind of
comprehension she desires. Generally, you can read a
novel faster than you can read a textbook. Even in a
textbook, there is some material that can be read faster
than other material. Adjust your speed to the difficulty of
the reading material and the degree of comprehension
speed.