1. Reading strategies
Cristina Escala
8/1/14
Montse Irun
Competences, resources and strategies for learning English

2. What is read?
Read is to understand the meaning of something (written or printed) by looking
at and interpreting the written or printed characters.
(Collins Dictionary)

3. How to be a good reader
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Don't stop and look at every word.
Try to guess the meanings of words you don't know, or simply ignore
them if they don't look important for understanding the text.
Read in chunks
Vary your strategy according to why you're reading.
Depend more on yourself than on dictionaries.

4. Strategies
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Skimming: Read the text quickly in order to understand the main
ideas.
Scanning: Having a specific point in mind and looking for it quickly
in a text.
Reading for detail: Reading a whole text very carefully for specific
information.

5. Predicting
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How much language you already know
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How much you know about the topic
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Layout
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Grammar
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Punctuation
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Connectors

6. Guessing unknown words
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Has it got a prefix? e.g: un-, mis-, dis-...
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Has it got a suffix? e.g: -ly, -ive, -able...
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It is a compound word? e.g: swordfish
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Does it look like another word in your own language?
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The context : The topic of the text and the sentence, the position of the
word in the sentence.

7. Suggestions
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Don't choose anything too difficult.
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Read what is personally interesting for you.
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Organise a regular time for reading.
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Form a reading club with friends so you can exchange books and
magazines,etc.
Take out a subscription for an english language magazine or
newspaper.
Read a lot!