READING
READING
COMPREHENSION
STRATEGIES
BASED ON CRITICAL
READING STRATEGIES
Critical reading of a text means to read from your own perspective,
apart from what the writer has painted it for you. So, this rational
way of reading can be considered as the beginning of true learning
and personal development. Here are a few effective critical reading
strategies for you:
1. PREVIEWING
It means to attain pre-knowledge about the text, before starting to read it, which
may save you time. It may be done by researching:
Who is the author?
What is the author’s purpose?
Who is the audience?
2. CONTEXTUALIZING
Contextualizing or researching the text involves exploring the historical, cultural
and biographical frame of references of the text.
From a wider perspective, it means that you should try to differentiate between
your own understandings of the text with that of some other person’s, as an
understanding of a text may vary from time to time and place to place.
3.INQUISITION
It is all about questioning the content of the text to understand, comprehend and
clarify what you are reading, which will help you to build interest with the text.
This can be made easier by framing 3 sets of questions:
Subject-Text(represents subject or text undergoing discussion)
Personal reality(represents your own experience)
External reality(represents the concepts of larger society)
4. SYNOPSIZING
This is an effective reading strategy, which is also known by other names like
outlining or summarizing. This method is to identify the central theme of the text
and then to paraphrase it in your own words. The key to synopsizing is the ability
to make out a difference between the main idea, supporting idea and the
examples.
5. CO-RELATING WITH
RELATED READING
This is a mode of reading based on the factor of comparison, by examining the
differences or similarities within the texts to figure it out in a better sense.
6. ASSESSING AN ARGUMENT
This involves testing the logicality along with the credibility and emotional impact
of the text.
You can analyze an argument using these 4 steps:
You should thoroughly go through the instructions and arguments
Then spot out the assumptions and claims of the argument
Now you should think of counter explanations and examples of the arguments.
Finally, ask yourself about the changes that can be made.
7. ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
This is a method of reading a text with some pre-conceived notions in mind. This
will let you get a better understanding of the text.
8. SCANNING
Scanning is a specific reading skill that does not focus on every nook and corner of
the text.
You do scanning while reading a schedule about the screen timings of a movie or a
cricket match or while going through the weather map in the newspaper.
To make the scanning process more helpful, you can use the following strategies:
Find out the keyword from the question itself
You should scan separately for each question
When you re-locate the keyword, go through the surrounding texts too.
9. SKIMMING
This is a technique almost similar to that of scanning, but the aim is to collect the
main points of the text from a wider perspective. It’s just like skimming milk, where
after skimming, we skim the finest part of the milk. Likewise, when you skim a
text, you will learn the main points in the text, thereby; you can save your time.
Good skimmers do not skim everything. You can do it wisely by slowing down your
pace of reading at places like:
Introductory and concluding paragraphs
Topic sentences and Unfamiliar words
10. INTENSIVE READING
When compared to the other two techniques, this is relatively slower and a time
consuming one.
This involves sentence to sentence reading rather than word to word reading.
You should read every sentence in detail from the beginning to the end and
thereby, analyze the complete meaning of the text.
If you put too much pressure on vocabulary, then it would be a burden rather than
a blessing.
11. INFERRING
When compared to the other two techniques, this is relatively slower and a time
consuming one.
This involves sentence to sentence reading rather than word to word reading.
You should read every sentence in detail from the beginning to the end and
thereby, analyze the complete meaning of the text.
If you put too much pressure on vocabulary, then it would be a burden rather than
a blessing.
12. MONITORING OR CLARIFYING
It is a reading comprehension strategy where the reader constantly enquires
whether the text makes any sense to them and enforcing strategic methods to
make the text easier. You can understand it better by using these few methods:
Re-read the paragraph
Search for unfamiliar words
Reconstruct information into an image, concept or map
13. VISUALIZING AND ORGANIZING
It is a method that stimulates the readers to create a vague image in their mind,
about the content they read. It’s like a person making movies or videos in their
minds out of the prior knowledge, imagination and the content of the text. This will
stimulate your imagination and enhance your involvement with the text and thus
improve your mental imagery
14. SEARCHING AND SELECTING
This is a way of searching sources of the text to choose the required piece of
information to answer the questions, solve problems, and clear the wrong
interpretations or to gather information.
15. QUESTIONING
This is a mode of reading which is almost similar to that of the above-mentioned
method-‘Inquisition’, which involves questioning. This will engage you with self-
questioning, by which you will gain an answer with the help of your peers and
teachers. Some questions which will help you read effectively are:
Why did that character behave so?
What led to such an issue?
What next?
16. READING IT ALOUD
This can be done with the help of a peer or a teacher, where, you should read it
aloud, and your peer should correct the mistakes regarding your fluency in
language and correctness in sentences.
17. CHORAL READING
This is a reading strategy that aims at the repetition of sentences. In this, you
should copy what the teacher says, just as we did in smaller classes. This will
sharpen your ability to decode words and increase vocabulary.
18. PARTNER READING
This is a kind of peer learning where strong readers are paired with weaker ones so
that the latter can learn from the former. This will allow you to share your
strengths. This is also known as Peer-assisted learning.
19. CLOZE READING
This is a technique of effective reading where the instructor will read the passage
aloud and will deliberately skip certain words from the passage, and further you
will be asked to read the missing words together. This will improve your analytical
as well as critical thinking ability.
20. SQ3R
Following an SQ3R is a well-known strategy for reading. It can be applied to a
whole range of reading purposes as it is flexible and takes into account the need to
change reading speeds. SQ3R acronym stands for:
Survey
Question
Read
Recall
Review
