How To Improve English Reading

李 薇

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION

The necessity of reading improving

Reading is a pleasure of your mind, which means that it is like a sport: your eagerness and knowledge and quickness make you a good reader. Reading is fun, not because the writer is telling you something, but because it makes your mind work. Your own imagination works along with the authors or even goes beyond his. Your experience, compared with his,brings you to the same or different conclusions, and your ideas develop as you understand his.

Ⅱ. HOW TO IMPROVE READING

Here is some advice on reading skills:

a. Scanning

You can get good idea about the material by taking a few moments right off to read the title, chapter headlines, section titles and headlines. The purpose of scanning is to get a quick understanding of what to expect from the reading, so that you will know what you are reading as you go along. Maps, charters and pictures are clues that will help reader to cue in on the content and organization of the material. This simple technique of scanning can help you read for ideas because you will know where youre going when you begin to read.

b. Speed reading

c. Some skills on guessing words

When you do reading comprehension, naturally you will meet some new words. At this moment, some students often pick up dictionary immediately. In fact, this way is not scientific. It will not only waste lots of time, but also influence reading speed, and it is bad for the whole article understanding. Therefore, first we can make use of context to infer and judge some new words. Second we can take advantage of word formation, common sense and life experience to guess words. Now I want to introduce some skills about guessing words to you.

(a) According to explanation to guess meaning of the word.

(b) According to the example of ensuing chapters to guess meaning of the word.

(c) According to contrast and transition to guess meaning of the word.

(d) According to prefix to guess meaning of the word.

(e) According to surfix to guess meaning of the word.

Ⅲ. CONCLUSION

All in all, English reading can reflect a persons comprehensive ability. Therefore, as foreign learners, you must try your best to grasp some basic skills about “How to improve English reading”. Reading skills and habits like these can help students and working adults alike to be more successful in the special world of school and the real world of school and in everyday life.