When reading a long text, some learners find it challenging to pick out important details or understand words that they’ve never seen before. This video will give you some active reading strategies that you can use in your classroom.
So, what is active reading?
Active reading simply means that you’re thinking about what you’re reading. When you read passively, you don’t engage with what you’re reading, or think about what the words mean.
You might not remember key details, or understand the text in a meaningful way. If you read actively, you engage with - and take control of your reading!
So, what are the benefits of active reading?
Well, it increases your interest in what you’re reading.
It makes you engage with the text and what the writer is saying.
It improves your understanding,
And, it makes you more observant.
Now, let’s look at how you can practise active reading.
• Before you read, think: What is the genre? What does the title or introduction tell you? What do you already know about this topic?
• While you’re reading, ask yourself questions, make observations, make judgements and annotate the text.
• After you’ve read the text, think about what you have learned. Look at the notes or annotations you’ve made, how can you develop them? What connections can you make with other texts or topics? What questions do you have?
Here are some active reading strategies that you can might like to use to improve your learners’ reading skills.
For example, give your learners a focus or context before they start to read the text. It can be really helpful to ask questions to find out what they already know about the subject.
Perhaps create a word bank of specific vocabulary that learners need to be familiar with before reading the text. You can provide this list or learners can create their own.
Then, ask your learners to make predictions about the text. Give them the title or a small part of the text and encourage them to use inference and deduction.
Or, suggest they ‘skim and scan’ through a text.
• Skimming is when you read quickly through a text to get an overview of the main ideas.
• Scanning, on the other hand, is when you read through a text to find details. For example, names or dates or locations
And, improve your learners’ vocabulary. This can help them to understand the texts they’re reading and has an impact on their ability to use more sophisticated words to write more interesting texts.
Another useful strategy that can help your learners to read actively is to encourage them to make notes about the text as they’re reading. This is called annotating.
When making annotations, use simple symbols and abbreviations that can be added quickly, and you know exactly what they mean.
Here are some suggestions of what you might annotate in a text:
What is the genre of a text? Is it fictional, an article or an opinion piece? As you read, make a note of anything that is intended to have an emotional effect on the reader. Then, analyse and explain the use of literary or rhetorical devices. And finally, make a note of the structure of the text. Look out for discourse markers like however and nevertheless, which help you to follow the main ideas.
So, these are just a few suggestions for how you can really promote active reading in your classroom and develop your learners’ confidence and skills.
Video transcript
