Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in

IELTS

View all entries from IELTS >

missdale

United States

July 15, 2017

To create the most complete instruction on learning English independently https://mythesismaster.com/ writes this article.

English texts for reading

Development of reading skills in English

Reading is a skill, which means it can be "pumped", trained, improved. This is a skill that can be developed constantly, without the "ceiling", increasing the complexity of the texts.

This is how the practice of reading skills in the application Lingualeo. The user simply changes the complexity of the material for training. The base of texts is constantly increasing, so that it could be practiced. With the help of our training you can fully form a reading skill.

While training from Leo is available only in the mobile application on the iOS platform, let's find other exercises that are suitable for independent work. In many respects they rely on the way we were taught to read in our native language in childhood.

Choose "dumbbells by weight"

Before talking about exercises, it is important to focus on what to read.

Very, very (and once again very) important to train the reading skills strictly on the texts of your level, where it is clear ≈ 80% of the words.

Because our task is to improve the technique of reading. This includes reading speed (faster) and reading comprehension (at fast speed do not lose the meaning of the text), and you can do this only if you do not stumble every second about unfamiliar words.

Correctly selected "weight" of materials for reading - the key to success

In addition, during the reading we say the lyrics to ourselves, and if you do not know how most of the words are read, then you can train your brain to mispronounce.

To determine the level of reading, pass the test. Choose any of the 6 levels and complete the task on it. If you pass 80%, this is your level. If less than 80% - take the level below. If above 95%, then try to pass the test to the next level.

When you're finished, find yourself a book on Lingualeo, sorting out the materials according to the difficulty level. Or choose a book from our collections: for beginners and upper intermediate - advanced.

Now go to the exercises. As already mentioned, you need to develop 2 podnyvaka: understanding of reading and speed of reading.

RECOMMEND: for reading, take only texts / books / articles, etc., suitable for you in terms of level. If at the time of reading you notice that you often stumble on unfamiliar words and constructions, then postpone this reading "until better times". And go on to an easier one.

First: we train understanding of what is read in English

It happened that you reread one English sentence several times in a row, but could not understand its meaning? Already translated every single word, but the general meaning was not given? Because the meaning of the text is not equal to the sum of the meanings of all words, and to read does not mean translating!

Learn to read the text in phrases, not words. Get away from the idea that sentences are made of words. Do not try to understand the meaning of each word.

In order to do this it is necessary, first, to learn stable phrases, and secondly, to train the semantic guess - when you understand the meaning of the general without knowing one element.

How to do it? Let's borrow ideas in the method of teaching children to read in their native language.

1. When children are taught to read, they play games: insert the missed letter into the word, assemble the word from the scattered letters, insert the missed word into the text, etc. Such trainings make it possible to develop semantic forecasting.

Do the same: go through training Word constructor, perform tasks in the textbooks for arranging missed words, etc.

2. Another method taken from children's methods is skimming or fluent reading. Before you start reading a book, a story or an article, scroll through the text with your eyes.

Read the headline and imagine what the text hides behind it. Read the subtitles, look at the pictures and try to compose in your head a "trailer" of this book. But do not spend more than 5 minutes on this.

3. While reading, do not translate all unfamiliar words (context to help). Get behind the translation of only those words, without which you can not go any further. The rest - skip, if you have guessed about the meaning.

If you want to learn the translation and add this new word to the study in Lingualeo, then still try to guess the meaning yourself, but only then poke a word to see the translation.

After reading, select a couple of minutes to think about what this text was about. Speak for yourself, preferably in English, the main idea. Tell someone the content.

RECOMMEND: during the reading do not focus on the meaning of individual words, but read the text in whole phrases, sentences. To do this, teach yourself to guess words about the context and train your own semantic forecasting.

Second: increase the speed of reading in English

Understanding the meaning of the text should not suffer for the sake of speed, but you can and should work on it. If you read the text in whole phrases, you do not get to translate every word, then the reading speed will increase. However, there are additional ways to accelerate:

1. If possible, read along with the audiobook. So you'll read with the speed of the announcer, and she's probably faster than you comfortable speed. So, you will develop.

For beginners texts with voice acting can be found here. For other levels, look for books in Lingualeo Materials - enter the title of the book and choose the "audio" format.

2. Learn SightWords is a list of words that are often found in texts. As a result, the view will simply glide over them, and you will greatly accelerate. List of words by reference.

Periodically measure your progress. For this zaseki, how many words do you read in a minute, then to compare the result. Conduct speed training and "pass standards" on the same types of literature: art / popular science / news notes or others, to avoid inaccuracy due to more complex, for example, scientific text.

You can also re-read the same text, but set the goal to do it faster each time.

One more thing: no matter how fast you read, in the end you must understand most of the content of the text. Not the meanings of words, but the meaning of the passage read.

RECOMMEND: Work at reading speed. To do this, learn the top most common words in the texts so as not to waste time reading them, practice reading along with the audio version of the book and constantly measure the results to motivate yourself and adjust the workouts.

The main thing is a constant practice. Above we talked about training and exercises, but no one canceled the reading of the book for the soul and pleasure. So get yourself a rule of reading books on the road through the Lingualeo app. I will say from my own experience: click on the button "I understood the whole text" and translate the whole book into the studied - an incredible tide of motivation!

Let's summarize: how to develop reading skills in English

Reading, like the rest of the language skills, can be purposefully trained. And the skill can be developed constantly, simply by complicating the texts.

For training, choose only the material of your level, where about 80% of the vocabulary is known. The rest will be a dictionary increase.

To develop the reading skill, learn to read the text in whole phrases, rather than in separate words. To do this, train your semantic guess, learn to rely on the context and do not translate the text. To understand the meaning is not to translate.

Try to read faster and faster with each approach. To keep track of progress, "take the standards" and measure your speed. And learn SightWords - they will speed you up.

Be sure to read the English texts just like that, for the soul. Get a habit of reading at least a couple of pages a day - for sure there will be time.

The conclusion. Learning to read in English

There are still a few steps, and the most complete instruction on learning English will be at your disposal. Subscribe to our mailing list so that you do not miss out on it, and also receive expert advice every 2 weeks.

More entries: Exercises for forming reading skills

View all entries from IELTS >