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Welcome Everyone

This is your English Class

Teacher:
Cs. Daniel B. Sepúlveda Torres
This is an example of….
Reading is one of the four language skills: reading, writing, listening and
speaking. It is a receptive skill, like listening. This means it involves
responding to text, rather than producing it. Very simply we can say that
reading involves making sense of written text. To do this we need to
understand the language of the text at word level, sentence level or
whole-text level. We also need to connect the message of the text to our
knowledge of the world.
Who can define what are subkills
… of Reading that you know.
Reading for specific information Deducing meaning
scanning from context

Reading for Deatil

 Understanding Text
Inferring
Structure

Reading for Gist

skimming

Predicting

…Also called
Reading subskills
If we read a text just to find a specific piece or pieces of information in it, we usually
use a subskill called reading for specific information or scanning. When we scan, we
don’t read the whole text. We glance over most of it until we find the information we are
interested in, e.g. when we look for a number in a telephone directory.

A third reading subskill is reading for detail. It involves getting the meaning out of every
word and out of the links or relationships between words and between sentences. If
you read a letter from someone you love who you haven’t heard from for a long time,
you probably read like this.
There are other skills the reader can use. Deducing meaning from context involves
reading the words around an unknown word or thinking about the situation the
unknown word is used in to try and work out its meaning. For example, imagine you
see a text in Portuguese which you know gives facts about Portugal. You see this
sentence: Lisboa é a capital de Portugal. You can probably deduce the meaning
of Lisboa. To do this, you use what you have been told about this text and you deduce
from your knowledge of English that capital means ‘capital’ and Portugal means
‘Portugal’! From your general knowledge you know that Lisbon is the capital of
Portugal, so you work out that Lisboa means ‘Lisbon’.

Understanding text structure involves understanding how certain types of text generally
develop. For example, if we read a problem-solution essay, we expect that it will first
discuss the problem, then suggest a solution, then draw a conclusion. If we read a
letter of complaint in English, we generally expect the first paragraph will say why the
writer is writing, the second will give the details of the complaint and the third what the
writer wants in answer to his complaint. Readers expect certain information to come in
certain sequences.
Another reading subskill is reading for gist or skimming. This is sometimes also
called reading for global understanding. It involves glancing through a text to get a
general idea of what it is about. For example, you skim when you look quickly through a
book in a bookshop to decide if you want to buy it, or when you go quickly through a
reference book to decide which part will help you write an essay, or glance at a
newspaper article to see if it is worth reading in detail.

Inferring is another skill readers sometimes use to get meaning from a text. When they
read, they work out what the writer’s opinion on a topic is or what his/her feeling is.
To infer these things we notice what words, register, grammar or style the writer has
used to refer to something.
Predicting means using clues before we begin reading, to guess what a text may be
about. We might, for example, look at a newspaper’s headlines or photos, the title of a
chapter or unit, the name of a writer or even the stamp and address on an envelope to
make an informed guess about the general contents of the text. Prediction helps us
decide if we wish to read the text (if the stamp and address on the envelope suggest the
text is probably a bill, we may not be so keen), and to make sense of it when we start
reading it, because it gives us the opportunity to link the topic of the text to our
knowledge of the world, and more especially to our knowledge of the topic of the text.
As we read through a text, we continue predicting, using what we are reading to sense
what will come next.
For questions 1–7, match the readers’ statements with the ways of reading.
For each question, cover on the correct answer (A, B, C or D).
You will need to use some of the options more than once.

Ways of reading
A. reading for detail B. intensive reading
C . deducing meaning from context D. predicting

1. Sometimes I know from just looking at the photo beside a text whether it’s worth
reading.

A B C D
2. Looking at words around a word you don’t understand can help you guess its
meaning.

A B C D
3. I always read the headline of an article to help me decide whether to read it
further or not.
A B C D
4. When I’m studying, I need to make sense of every bit of the writer’s arguments,
so I have to read very carefully.
A B C D
5. Thinking about your knowledge of a subject can sometimes help you understand
words.
A B C D
6. Sometimes I underline all the conjunctions in texts I read – it helps me follow
the writer’s argument.
A B C D
7. I had to sign a contract last week so, before I read it, I made sure I understood
completely every sentence in it.
A B C D
Let your eyes float means using clues
rapidly down the before we begin Deducing
reading the words
Give 2 names Give 2 names
21
pageScanning
until you find
the word or phrase
22
Predicting
reading, to guess
what a text may be
23
13/14 24
6/8
around
unknown 25
meaning from
context
an

you want. about.

we don’t read the Deducing Read the Socrates is a man, and

whole text. We It had been raining entire introductory all men are mortal.
Give a name
glance
16
SCANNING
over most
of it until we find
meaning
hard
17
through
nightContext
from
so the ground
the
18
22 the 19
paragraph and then
Skimming
first and
sentence only of each
last 20
Inferring
–>Therefore, we
can infer that Socrates
the information was sodden.
Sodden: wet-saturated following paragraph. is mortal

When your eye 1.Description

catches one of your It involves getting 2.Sequence
Give a name Reading for Understanding Give a name
11
20 12
Scanning
keywords, read the
surrounding material
13
the meaning out of
every Detail
word
14
3.Compare and
textcontrast
Structure 15
21
carefully 4.Problem/ solution

It involves
This is sometimes
I think ________ will understanding
Give 2 names Give a name Understanding
also called reading
6
skimming
for global 7
16/17
happen 8
Predicting
_________
because
19 9 text 10
how certain types
Structure
of text generally
understanding
develop

…they work out Read the table of

what the writer’s contents or chapter
Give a name Give 2 names Give 2 names
251 2
Inferring
opinion on a topic
is or what his/her 4/123 overview 4
Skimming
to learn
the main divisions 2/10 5
feeling is of ideas