READING SKILLS

By William Mwinuka

If you have a certain skill, then you have an ability to do something well, that is because you learnt and practiced doing it that way.

Reading as one of the four skills in language learning (others being writing, speaking and listening) has its own skills when it comes to its practice.

Scanning

When you quickly run your eyes in a text looking for particular or specific information then you are scanning.

It is normally used when using menus and telephone directories. Reading the “what’s on TV” section of your favourite newspaper, a conference guide and a plane schedule, are also examples of scanning.

Skimming

This is a process of speed reading to get a gist of a text. If you quickly read the newspaper to get the general news of the day then you are skimming. Therefore this does not require reading in detail.

In real life, people often skim to decide whether on not any of the text is worth reading before they can read it intensively. To some people this comes naturally, and usually may not be acquired by practice.

-Magazines (quickly to discover which articles you would like to read in more detail)

-Business and travel Brochures (quickly to get informed)

Intensive reading

This involves very accurate close reading for information, the aim being getting the fullest possible understanding of a text. In this case it is important that you understand each word, number or fact.

If you read educational books, instructions, directions and prescriptions then you are reading intensively.

With intensive reading, sometimes we go back and recheck what has been read. Dictionaries may also be used to check the meaning of difficult words although guessing meaning using context is encouraged as it is useful reading skill for fast reading.

Extensive reading

This involves reading longer text for pleasure. It is useful as it expands your knowledge or understanding of a subject.

If you read business books and the latest statistical report then you are doing the extensive reading. It also includes reading novels and magazine articles that interest you. In order to have it effective and interesting, it is important that the text is within your competence.

Therefore if you observe, you will find that skimming and scanning are both a quick reading way that helps you to grasp certain specific information in a quick way. That therefore provides a way for the next two reading skills (if you now decide to read the whole text) which will want you to do a sort of a survey to the whole text.