READING SKILLS

Institut Teknologi Del

Jl. Sisingamangaraja, Sitoluama-Laguboti
Toba Samosir, 22381 Sumatera Utara
 WHAT IS READING?

• Reading refers to the ability to

comprehend or make
meaning from written text.
• Comprehension refers to the
ability to know or grasp ideas
with mind.
READING SKILL 1: READING A TEXT
VERY QUICKLY

Speed reading/fast reading

A.Previewing
B.Skimming
C.Scanning
 PREVIEW

• Previewing is especially useful for getting

a general idea of heavy reading like long
magazine or newspaper articles, business
reports, and non-fiction books.
• How to preview: read the entire first two
paragraphs of whatever you’ve chosen.
Next, read only the first sentence of each
successive paragraph. Then read the
entire last two paragraphs.
 SKIMMING

• Skimming is a way to get a general idea

of light reading-like popular magazines or
sports sections of the paper.
• How to skim: think of your eyes as
magnets. Force them to move fast.
Sweep them across each and every line
of type. Pick up only a few key words in
each line.
• You may circle the words you picked out
when skimming.
 CLUSTERING
(CIRCLE THE WORDS YOU PICKED OUT WHEN
SKIMMING)

• Clustering trains you to look at

groups of words instead of one at
a time – it is to increase your
speed enormously.
• How to cluster: train your eyes to
see all the words in clusters up to 3
or 4 words at a glance.
 STEPS IN SKIMMING
1. Read the title – it is the shortest possible summary of the
content.
2. Read the introduction or the lead-in paragraph.
3. Read the first paragraph completely.
4. If there are sub-headings, read each one, looking for
relationships among them.
5. Read the first sentence of each remaining paragraph.
6. Dip into the text looking for:
a. Clue words that answer who, what, when, why, how
b. Proper nouns
c. Unusual words, especially if capitalized
d. Enumerations
e. Qualifying adjectives (best, worst, most, etc.)
f. Typographical clues- italics, boldface, underlining,
asterisks, etc.
7. Read the final paragraph completely.
 SCANNING

• To scan is to read quickly in order to

locate specific information. Practice in
scanning will help you learn to skip
over unimportant words that you can
read faster.
 STEPS IN SCANNING:

1. Decide exactly what information you are

looking for, and think about the form it may
take. For example: if you want to know when
something happened, you would look for a
date.
2. Next, decide where you need to look to find
the information you want.
3. Move your eyes quickly as possible down the
page until you find the information you need.
Read it carefully.
4. When you find what you need, do not read
further.
NOW PRACTICE THE SPEED READING
WITH SOME READING PASSAGES
GIVEN BY YOUR LECTURER