reading skill essay

Reading these problematic passages aloud can often help circumvent that block and help you to form a visual of what the text is trying to convey.

Tip 3: Re-read (or Skim) Previous Sections of the Text

For the most part, reading is a personal activity that happens entirely in your head. So don't feel you have to read just like anyone else if "typical" methods don't work for you. Sometimes it can make the most sense to read (or re-read) a text out of order.

It is often helpful to glance backwards through a piece of text (or even re-read large sections) to remind yourself of any information you need and have forgotten—what happened previously, what a particular word means, who a person was...the list is endless.

Previous sentences, sections, or even whole chapters can provide helpful context clues. Re-reading these passages will help to refresh your memory so that you can better understand and interpret later sections of the text.

Tip 4: Skim or Read Upcoming Sections of the Text

Just like with the previous step, don't feel that the only way to read and understand a text is to work through it completely linearly. Allow yourself the freedom to take apart the text and put it back together again in whichever way makes the most sense to you.

Sometimes a current confusion in a work will be explained later on in the text, and it can help you to know that explanations are upcoming or even just to read them ahead of time.

So skip forward or backwards, re-read or read ahead as you need to, take the piece in whatever order you need to in order to make sense of the text. Not everyone thinks linearly, and not everyone best understands texts linearly either.

Tip 5: Discuss the Text With a Friend (Even an Imaginary Friend)

Sometimes discussing what you know so far about a text can help clear up any confusion. If you have a friend who hasn't read the text in question, then explain it to them in your own words, and discuss where you feel your comprehension is lacking. You'll find that you've probably understood more than you think once you've been forced to explain it to someone who's completely unfamiliar with the piece.

Even if no one else is in the room, trying to teach or discuss what a passage says or means with "someone else" can be extremely beneficial. In fact, software engineers call this technique "rubber duck debugging," wherein they explain a coding problem to a rubber duck. This forces them to work through a problem aloud, which has proven time and time again to help people solve problems. So if a piece of text has your head spinning from trying to work through it by yourself, start chatting with your nearest friend/pet/rubber duck. You'll be surprised with how much easier it is to understand a text once you've talked it through with someone.

Even if that someone is a duck.

The Take-Aways

Improving reading comprehension takes time and effort, but it can be done. Be patient with yourself, work through your reading comprehension steps, and try not to get frustrated with yourself if you feel your progress is slow or if you feel you're "falling behind." You will utilize your reading skills throughout your life, so go at a pace that works for you, and take care to maintain that balance between reading for pure pleasure and reading for dedicated improvement.

As you begin to incorporate more and more reading into your daily life, you'll find that comprehension will become easier, and reading will become more fun. In every piece of text, there are worlds of meaning to explore, and learning how to uncover them can be the ultimate rewarding journey.

What's Next?

Can't get enough reading? Whether as part of your reading practice or just for fun, check out our picks for the 31 best books to read in high school.

Problems with procrastination? Whether you're studying for the SAT's or studying your reading comprehension vocabulary check out how to beat procrastination and get your studies back on track.

Want to earn better grades? Our guide will help you get that 4.0 you're striving for .

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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The Importance Of Reading

Reading is an exercise for the mind. It helps kids calm down and relax, opening doors of new knowledge to enlighten their minds. Kids who read grow up to have better cognitive skills. Reading is good for everyone, not only children or young adults. On the internet you will find many lists with up to 30 reasons why reading is important. Here I limit myself to 15 thoroughly substantiated reasons.

Reading improves vocabulary

Even as adults, when we read, we come across many new words we never really heard of. And we learn from this. As you read, you come across new words, phrases and writing styles. This is even more so for young people. Children sometimes stumble over their words, do not know how to pronounce them or what they mean. By reading, young people encounter new words more frequently and sometimes repetitively and therefore can see them better in their context. If you then pay attention to the pronunciation as a parent, these children will be better prepared for school.

Better comprehension

Kids who are encouraged to read at an early age have better comprehension of things around them. They develop smart thinking abilities and are more receptive to creativity and ideas that other kids their age lack. As a result, they grow up to be a good deal more intelligent and aware of their surroundings than kids who don’t read. The more you read, the more imaginative you become. Whenever you read a fiction book, it takes you another world. In the new world, your imagination works at its best as you try to see things in your own mind.

Develops critical thinking skills

One of the primary benefits of reading books is its ability to develop critical thinking skills. For example, reading a mystery novel sharpens your mind. What elements are there in a story to make this or that conclusion. Or if a book is non-fiction you will sometimes ask yourself if the author is right. Critical thinking skills are crucial when it comes to making important day to day decisions. Reading requires an individual to think and process information in a way that watching television can’t. The more you read, the deeper your understanding becomes about what you’re reading and its application.

Improves memory

Every time you read a book, you have to remember the setting of the book, the characters, their backgrounds, their history, their personalities, the sub-plots and so much more. As your brain learns to remember all this, your memory becomes better. What’s more, with every new memory you create, you create new pathways and this strengthens the existing ones.

Improves results at school

Kids who indulge in reading book and learning new things do better at school. They are more creative, open to new ideas, and develop empathy for others. For instance, kids who read about heroes idolize them, kids who love reading anatomy books dream of becoming a doctor, etc. They learn to empathize with characters in the books and want to be like them. Not only that, they learn valuable life lessons such as helping others and being kind. Moral codes such as goods things will be appreciated and evils punished take root in their minds too, as a result of which they learn to stay away from trouble.

Improves analytical skills

Figuring out how the story was going to end before finishing the book means you utilized your analytical skills. Reading allows your thinking skills to become more developed in the sense that you consider all aspects.

Builds confidence

In a world where competition in every walk of life prevails, we need to build a child’s personality as to have considerable confidence in themselves. Kids who lack confidence in their early stages often grow up to be shy, and at times suicidal, since they develop a victim mentality owing to the lack of confidence in their own self. They find it hard to face even the smallest of challenges life throws at them, instead simply giving up. Reading books sharpens many skills and all together they’ll build confidence.

Helps you socialize

We can always share whatever we have read with our family, friends and colleagues. All this increases our ability to socialize. Humans are social beings and in the world of smartphones, we are losing our ability to socialize. However, reading had led to the formation of book clubs and other forums where we get a chance to share and interact with others.

Broadens horizons

By reading books, you get a glimpse of other cultures and places. Books expand your horizons, letting you see other countries, other people and so many other things you have never seen or imagined. It’s the perfect way to visit a strange country in your mind. When we open a book while sitting in the comfort of our rooms, like time travelling, we transport our imaginations to a world purely based on the imaginations of the author. We learn about everything they wants u to know, see the world through their eyes and their perspective, learn about new people, discover their traditions, cultures and all that makes them unique and unforgettable.

Improves writing skills

Reading a well-written book affects your ability to become a better writer. Just like artists influence others, so do writers. Many successful authors gained their expertise by reading the works of others. Kids who learn to read also tend to develop better writing skills. The reason: they have been introduced to a world where words are their main weapon and they are free to shoot out. Literally! Parents must try to develop an interest for writing. Kids with good writing skills don’t fall victim to cramming and can express themselves more candidly through their words.

Improves focus and concentration

In our internet-crazed world, attention is drawn in a million different directions at once as we multi-task through every day. In a single 5-minute span, the average person will divide their time between working on a task, checking email, chatting with a couple of people (via gchat, skype, etc.), keeping an eye on twitter, monitoring their smartphone, and interacting with co-workers. This type of ADD-like behavior causes stress levels to rise, and lowers our productivity. When you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the rest of the world just falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every fine detail you’re absorbing. Try reading for 15-20 minutes before work (i.e. on your morning commute, if you take public transit), and you’ll be surprised at how much more focused you are once you get to the office or school.

Makes you more empathetic

According to studies, losing yourself in books, especially fiction, might increase your empathy. In a study conducted in the Netherlands, researchers showed that people who were “emotionally transported” by a work of fiction experienced a boost in empathy. By reading a book, you become part of the story and feel the pain and other emotions of the characters. This in turn allows your mind to become more aware of how different things affect other people. Eventually, this improves your ability to emphasize with other people.

It develops emotions

When you read a book, you are on the receiving end of knowledge. The sender, the writer is delivering a message, imparting something of value, a fact, an opinion, a view or at the very least an emotion. They are inviting you into their own psyche and hoping that you will care enough to listen and respond to it. So it won’t be wrong to say that reading actually flexes emotions. It builds a connection between the reader and the writer you have never met or known before. Even if you disagree with what they are delivering, you get to know them, and you connect to them on an emotional level.

Readers are leaders

Although not definitively proved, but almost all great leaders were readers. One reason they are respected and known for their wisdom is because they develop a healthy reading habit. For centuries, reading has been the source of inspiration, growth and new ideas. It is a valuable investment in one’s own personality with uncountable and long-lasting benefits. If you want your child to become one, you need to encourage him to read. It will keep his mind healthy and productive. Only then they will be able to impact the world in a better way.

Learn at your own pace

Another benefit of reading a book is that you learn at your own pace. Since you have the book all the time, you can always go back to a section you feel you don’t understand. You can re-read a chapter as many times as you wish, without worry that you will miss out a section. If it’s a self-help book, you can tackle one issue at a time. Once you handle one problem, then you can move to the next issue whenever you feel you’re ready. Everything is done at your own pace and most importantly, your mind is free to interpret things the way you feel.

Reading books also reduces stress, helps you sleep better, improves health, develops your imagination and above all: it is just fun to do. Reading has a tremendous effect in fueling all aspects of our personality and enhancing our linguistic prowess. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the entirety of human life depends on it. Whatever we grow up to become in our lives, no matter where we stand, reading has somehow shaped it.

source listings: 23 Reasons Why You Need To Encourage Kids To Read by Serious Reading https://seriousreading.com/blog/1001-23-reasons-why-you-need-to-encourage-kids-to-read.html 30 Reasons to Read Books by Serious Reading https://seriousreading.com/blog/283-30-reasons-to-read-books.html 12 Reasons Why You Should Read More Books by Georgette Rivera https://www.theodysseyonline.com/12-reasons-should-read 10 Benefits of Reading: Why You Should Read Every Day by Lana Winter-Hébert https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html

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• Categories: Engaging with Courses , Strategies for Learning

Reading is one of the most important components of college learning, and yet it’s one we often take for granted. Of course, students who come to Harvard know how to read, but many are unaware that there are different ways to read and that the strategies they use while reading can greatly impact memory and comprehension. Furthermore, students may find themselves encountering kinds of texts they haven’t worked with before, like academic articles and books, archival material, and theoretical texts.  

So how should you approach reading in this new environment? And how do you manage the quantity of reading you’re asked to cover in college? 

Start by asking “Why am I reading this?”

To read effectively, it helps to read with a goal . This means understanding before you begin reading what you need to get out of that reading. Having a goal is useful because it helps you focus on relevant information and know when you’re done reading, whether your eyes have seen every word or not. 

Some sample reading goals:

• To find a paper topic or write a paper; 
• To have a comment for discussion; 
• To supplement ideas from lecture; 
• To understand a particular concept; 
• To memorize material for an exam; 
• To research for an assignment; 
• To enjoy the process (i.e., reading for pleasure!). 

Your goals for reading are often developed in relation to your instructor’s goals in assigning the reading, but sometimes they will diverge. The point is to know what you want to get out of your reading and to make sure you’re approaching the text with that goal in mind. Write down your goal and use it to guide your reading process. 

Next, ask yourself “How should I read this?”  

Not every text you’re assigned in college should be read the same way.  Depending on the type of reading you’re doing and your reading goal, you may find that different reading strategies are most supportive of your learning. Do you need to understand the main idea of your text? Or do you need to pay special attention to its language? Is there data you need to extract? Or are you reading to develop your own unique ideas?  

The key is to choose a reading strategy that will help you achieve your reading goal. Factors to consider might be: 

• The timing of your reading (e.g., before vs. after class) 
• What type of text you are reading (e.g., an academic article vs. a novel) 
• How dense or unfamiliar a text is 
• How extensively you will be using the text 
• What type of critical thinking (if any) you are expected to bring to the reading 

Based on your consideration of these factors, you may decide to skim the text or focus your attention on a particular portion of it. You also might choose to find resources that can assist you in understanding the text if it is particularly dense or unfamiliar. For textbooks, you might even use a reading strategy like SQ3R .

Finally, ask yourself “How long will I give this reading?”  

Often, we decide how long we will read a text by estimating our reading speed and calculating an appropriate length of time based on it. But this can lead to long stretches of engaging ineffectually with texts and losing sight of our reading goals. These calculations can also be quite inaccurate, since our reading speed is often determined by the density and familiarity of texts, which varies across assignments. 

For each text you are reading, ask yourself “based on my reading goal, how long does this reading deserve ?” Sometimes, your answer will be “This is a super important reading. So, it takes as long as it takes.” In that case, create a time estimate using your best guess for your reading speed. Add some extra time to your estimate as a buffer in case your calculation is a little off. You won’t be sad to finish your reading early, but you’ll struggle if you haven’t given yourself enough time. 

For other readings, once we ask how long the text deserves, we will realize based on our other academic commitments and a text’s importance in the course that we can only afford to give a certain amount of time to it. In that case, you want to create a time limit for your reading. Try to come up with a time limit that is appropriate for your reading goal. For instance, let’s say I am working with an academic article. I need to discuss it in class, but I can only afford to give it thirty minutes of time because we’re reading several articles for that class. In this case, I will set an alarm for thirty minutes and spend that time understanding the thesis/hypothesis and looking through the research to look for something I’d like to discuss in class. In this case, I might not read every word of the article, but I will spend my time focusing on the most important parts of the text based on how I need to use it. 

If you need additional guidance or support, reach out to the course instructor and the ARC.  

If you find yourself struggling through the readings for a course, you can ask the course instructor for guidance. Some ways to ask for help are: “How would you recommend I go about approaching the reading for this course?” or “Is there a way for me to check whether I am getting what I should be out of the readings?” 

If you are looking for more tips on how to read effectively and efficiently, book an appointment with an academic coach at the ARC to discuss your specific assignments and how you can best approach them! 

Seeing Textbooks in a New Light

Textbooks can be a fantastic supportive resource for your learning. They supplement the learning you’ll do in the classroom and can provide critical context for the material you cover there. In some courses, the textbook may even have been written by the professor to work in harmony with lectures.  

There are a variety of ways in which professors use textbooks, so you need to assess critically how and when to read the textbook in each course you take.  

Textbooks can provide: 

• A fresh voice through which to absorb material. For challenging concepts, they can offer new language and details that might fill in gaps in your understanding. 
• The chance to “preview” lecture material, priming your mind for the big ideas you’ll be exposed to in class. 
• The chance to review material, making sense of the finer points after class. 
• A resource that is accessible any time, whether it’s while you are studying for an exam, writing a paper, or completing a homework assignment.

Textbook reading is similar to and different from other kinds of reading . Some things to keep in mind as you experiment with its use: 

The answer is “both” and “it depends.” In general, reading or at least previewing the assigned textbook material before lecture will help you pay attention in class and pull out the more important information from lecture, which also tends to make note-taking easier. If you read the textbook before class, then a quick review after lecture is useful for solidifying the information in memory, filling in details that you missed, and addressing gaps in your understanding. In addition, reading before and/or after class also depends on the material, your experience level with it, and the style of the text. It’s a good idea to experiment with when works best for you!

 Just like other kinds of course reading, it is still important to read with a goal . Focus your reading goals on the particular section of the textbook that you are reading: Why is it important to the course I’m taking? What are the big takeaways? Also take note of any questions you may have that are still unresolved.

Reading linearly (left to right and top to bottom) does not always make the most sense. Try to gain a sense of the big ideas within the reading before you start: Survey for structure, ask Questions, and then Read – go back to flesh out the finer points within the most important and detail-rich sections.

Summarizing pushes you to identify the main points of the reading and articulate them succinctly in your own words, making it more likely that you will be able to retrieve this information later. To further strengthen your retrieval abilities, quiz yourself when you are done reading and summarizing. Quizzing yourself allows what you’ve read to enter your memory with more lasting potential, so you’ll be able to recall the information for exams or papers. 

Marking Text

Marking text, which often involves making marginal notes, helps with reading comprehension by keeping you focused. It also helps you find important information when reviewing for an exam or preparing to write an essay. The next time you’re reading, write notes in the margins as you go or, if you prefer, make notes on a separate document. 

Your marginal notes will vary depending on the type of reading. Some possible areas of focus: 

• What themes do you see in the reading that relate to class discussions? 
• What themes do you see in the reading that you have seen in other readings? 
• What questions does the reading raise in your mind? 
• What does the reading make you want to research more? 
• Where do you see contradictions within the reading or in relation to other readings for the course? 
• Can you connect themes or events to your own experiences? 

Your notes don’t have to be long. You can just write two or three words to jog your memory. For example, if you notice that a book has a theme relating to friendship, you can just write, “pp. 52-53 Theme: Friendship.” If you need to remind yourself of the details later in the semester, you can re-read that part of the text more closely.

Reading Workshops

If you are looking for help with developing best practices and using strategies for some of the tips listed above, come to an ARC workshop on reading!

Academic Reading Strategies

Completing reading assignments is one of the biggest challenges in academia. However, are you managing your reading efficiently? Consider this cooking analogy, noting the differences in process:

Taylor’s process was more efficient because his purpose was clear. Establishing why you are reading something will help you decide how to read it, which saves time and improves comprehension. This guide lists some purposes for reading as well as different strategies to try at different stages of the reading process.

Purposes for reading

People read different kinds of text (e.g., scholarly articles, textbooks, reviews) for different reasons. Some purposes for reading might be

• to scan for specific information
• to skim to get an overview of the text
• to relate new content to existing knowledge
• to write something (often depends on a prompt)
• to critique an argument
• to learn something
• for general comprehension

Strategies differ from reader to reader. The same reader may use different strategies for different contexts because their purpose for reading changes. Ask yourself “why am I reading?” and “what am I reading?” when deciding which strategies to try.

Before reading

• Establish your purpose for reading
• Speculate about the author’s purpose for writing
• Review what you already know and want to learn about the topic (see the guides below)
• Preview the text to get an overview of its structure, looking at headings, figures, tables, glossary, etc.
• Predict the contents of the text and pose questions about it. If the authors have provided discussion questions, read them and write them on a note-taking sheet.
• Note any discussion questions that have been provided (sometimes at the end of the text)
• Sample pre-reading guides – K-W-L guide
• Critical reading questionnaire

During reading

• Annotate and mark (sparingly) sections of the text to easily recall important or interesting ideas
• Check your predictions and find answers to posed questions
• Use headings and transition words to identify relationships in the text
• Create a vocabulary list of other unfamiliar words to define later
• Try to infer unfamiliar words’ meanings by identifying their relationship to the main idea
• Connect the text to what you already know about the topic
• Take breaks (split the text into segments if necessary)
• Sample annotated texts – Journal article · Book chapter excerpt

After reading

• Summarize the text in your own words (note what you learned, impressions, and reactions) in an outline, concept map, or matrix (for several texts)
• Talk to someone about the author’s ideas to check your comprehension
• Identify and reread difficult parts of the text
• Define words on your vocabulary list (try a learner’s dictionary ) and practice using them
• Sample graphic organizers – Concept map · Literature review matrix

Works consulted

Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2002). Teaching and researching reading. Harlow: Longman.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (just click print) and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

If you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of acknowledgement.

Teach the Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers

To improve students’ reading comprehension, teachers should introduce the seven cognitive strategies of effective readers: activating, inferring, monitoring-clarifying, questioning, searching-selecting, summarizing, and visualizing-organizing. This article includes definitions of the seven strategies and a lesson-plan template for teaching each one.

To assume that one can simply have students memorize and routinely execute a set of strategies is to misconceive the nature of strategic processing or executive control. Such rote applications of these procedures represents, in essence, a true oxymoron-non-strategic strategic processing. — Alexander and Murphy (1998, p. 33)

If the struggling readers in your content classroom routinely miss the point when “reading” content text, consider teaching them one or more of the seven cognitive strategies of highly effective readers. Cognitive strategies are the mental processes used by skilled readers to extract and construct meaning from text and to create knowledge structures in long-term memory. When these strategies are directly taught to and modeled for struggling readers, their comprehension and retention improve.

Struggling students often mistakenly believe they are reading when they are actually engaged in what researchers call mindless reading (Schooler, Reichle, & Halpern, 2004), zoning out while staring at the printed page. The opposite of mindless reading is the processing of text by highly effective readers using cognitive strategies. These strategies are described in a fascinating qualitative study that asked expert readers to think aloud regarding what was happening in their minds while they were reading. The lengthy scripts recording these spoken thoughts (i.e., think-alouds) are called verbal protocols (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995). These protocols were categorized and analyzed by researchers to answer specific questions, such as, What is the influence of prior knowledge on expert readers’ strategies as they determine the main idea of a text? (Afflerbach, 1990b).

The protocols provide accurate “snapshots” and even “videos” of the ever-changing mental landscape that expert readers construct during reading. Researchers have concluded that reading is “constructively responsive-that is, good readers are always changing their processing in response to the text they are reading” (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995, p. 2). Instructional Aid 1.1 defines the seven cognitive strategies of highly effective readers, and Instructional Aid 1.2 provides a lesson plan template for teaching a cognitive strategy.

Instructional aids

Liked it? Share it!

McEwan, 2004. 7 Strategies of Highly Effective Readers: Using Cognitive Research to Boost K-8 Achievement. Wood, Woloshyn, & Willoughby, 1995. Cognitive Strategy Instruction for Middle and High Schools.

McEwan, E.K., 40 Ways to Support Struggling Readers in Content Classrooms. Grades 6-12, pp.1-6, copyright 2007 by Corwin Press. Reprinted by permission of Corwin Press, Inc.

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Get an insight into the minds of our academics and team of educational creatives here at Oxbridge Essays. From expert guidance and practical advice on essay and dissertation writing, to commentary on current academic affairs, our blog covers all things student-related, with the goal of helping you do better during your time at university.

Essay preparation: Reading Skills

As you prepare to write essays you will be faced with more reading than you are probably used to.  How can you improve your reading skills so that you read with greater speed and efficiency than before?  You may be reading books or essay examples, but if your reading is holding you may miss vital details.

Essay Reading Skills

You don’t have to read the whole book or article.  If a title has been recommended for an essay, you can skim through it and read the important points .  See the table of contents and flick through the chapters to see which sections are relevant to your essay question.  Captions for images and photographs can be useful too.

If you’re really stuck for time , just look at the abstract (if there is one) and the Introduction and Conclusion.  You may not get the subtleties of every point in the argument, but much of the writer’s opinion will be set out in the introduction or summed up in the conclusion.

Make sure you have a comfortable place to do your reading .  Consider the light available, temperature, noise levels and the comfort of your chair.  Don’t make it harder on yourself by trying to read in dark, noisy or otherwise intolerable physical conditions.

Read with purpose. Academic study demands that you read material critically.  You don’t have to agree with a source – in fact, often your tutor will be impressed that you have come up with a fresh point of view.

Essay Reading Difficulties

It can be difficult to admit as an adult that you have a problem with reading .

If you’re suffering from blurred vision or migraines when reading or after working on the computer for a while, visit the opticians.  Reading for long hours in badly lit places may mean that your eyesight is changing.

There are a number of reading problems related to health , from dyslexia through to less well known health problems.  If you are concerned that you have a health issue you may want to see a doctor to investigate the causes.

If it’s purely a case of motivation , make sure you read for pleasure as well as for your studies.  You’ll be surprised at how often a book you read purely ‘for fun’ months ago becomes something you can usefully footnote in your essay writing.

Have a look at these:-

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McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning

Active reading strategies: remember and analyze what you read.

Choose the strategies that work best for you or that best suit your purpose.

• Ask yourself pre-reading questions. For example: What is the topic, and what do you already know about it? Why has the instructor assigned this reading at this point in the semester?
• Identify and define any unfamiliar terms.
• Bracket the main idea or thesis of the reading, and put an asterisk next to it. Pay particular attention to the introduction or opening paragraphs to locate this information.
• Put down your highlighter. Make marginal notes or comments instead. Every time you feel the urge to highlight something, write instead. You can summarize the text, ask questions, give assent, protest vehemently. You can also write down key words to help you recall where important points are discussed. Above all, strive to enter into a dialogue with the author.
• Write questions in the margins, and then answer the questions in a reading journal or on a separate piece of paper. If you’re reading a textbook, try changing all the titles, subtitles, sections and paragraph headings into questions. For example, the section heading “The Gas Laws of Boyle, Charles, and Avogadro” might become “What are the gas laws of Boyle, Charles, and Avogadro?”
• Make outlines, flow charts, or diagrams that help you to map and to understand ideas visually. See the reverse side for examples.
• Read each paragraph carefully and then determine “what it says” and “what it does.” Answer “what it says” in only one sentence. Represent the main idea of the paragraph in your own words. To answer “what it does,” describe the paragraph’s purpose within the text, such as “provides evidence for the author’s first main reason” or “introduces an opposing view.”
• Write a summary of an essay or chapter in your own words. Do this in less than a page. Capture the essential ideas and perhaps one or two key examples. This approach offers a great way to be sure that you know what the reading really says or is about.
• Write your own exam question based on the reading.
• Teach what you have learned to someone else! Research clearly shows that teaching is one of the most effective ways to learn. If you try to explain aloud what you have been studying, (1) you’ll transfer the information from short-term to long-term memory, and (2) you’ll quickly discover what you understand — and what you don’t.

Sample diagrams:

6 essential skills for reading comprehension

By Andrew M.I. Lee, JD

Expert reviewed by Margie Gillis, EdD

At a glance

Reading comprehension can be challenging for kids.

Kids must master a number of key skills, like decoding, to fully understand what they’re reading.

There are ways to help struggling readers build these skills at home and at school.

Some people think of the act of reading as a straightforward task that’s easy to master. In reality, reading is a complex process that draws on many different skills. Together, these skills lead to the ultimate goal of reading: reading comprehension, or understanding what’s been read.

Reading comprehension can be challenging for lots of reasons. Whatever the cause, knowing the skills involved, and which ones your child struggles with, can help you get the right support.

Here are six essential skills needed for reading comprehension , and tips on what can help kids improve this skill.

1. Decoding

Decoding is a vital step in the reading process. Kids use this skill to sound out words they’ve heard before but haven’t seen written out. The ability to do that is the foundation for other reading skills.

Decoding relies on an early language skill called phonemic awareness . (This skill is part of an even broader skill called phonological awareness .) Phonemic awareness lets kids hear individual sounds in words (known as phonemes ). It also allows them to “play” with sounds at the word and syllable level.

Decoding also relies on connecting individual sounds to letters. For instance, to read the word sun , kids must know that the letter s makes the /s/ sound. Grasping the connection between a letter (or group of letters) and the sounds they typically make is an important step toward “sounding out” words.

What can help: Most kids pick up the broad skill of phonological awareness naturally, by being exposed to books, songs, and rhymes . But some kids don’t. In fact, one of the early signs of reading difficulties is trouble with rhyming, counting syllables, or identifying the first sound in a word.

The best way to help kids with these skills is through specific instruction and practice. Kids have to be taught how to identify and work with sounds. You can also build phonological awareness at home through activities like word games and reading to your child.

To read fluently, kids need to instantly recognize words, including words they can’t sound out . Fluency speeds up the rate at which they can read and understand text. It’s also important when kids encounter irregular words, like of and the , which can’t be sounded out.

Sounding out or decoding every word can take a lot of effort. Word recognition is the ability to recognize whole words instantly by sight, without sounding them out.

When kids can read quickly and without making too many errors, they are “fluent” readers.

Fluent readers read smoothly at a good pace. They group words together to help with meaning, and they use the proper tone in their voice when reading aloud. Reading fluency is essential for good reading comprehension.

What can help: Word recognition can be a big obstacle for struggling readers. Average readers need to see a word four to 14 times before it becomes a “ sight word ” they automatically recognize. Kids with dyslexia, for instance, may need to see it up to 40 times.

Lots of kids struggle with reading fluency. As with other reading skills, kids need lots of specific instruction and practice to improve word recognition.

The main way to help build fluency is through practice reading books. It’s important to pick out books that are at the right level of difficulty for kids.

3. Vocabulary

To understand what you’re reading, you need to understand most of the words in the text. Having a strong vocabulary is a key component of reading comprehension. Students can learn vocabulary through instruction. But they typically learn the meaning of words through everyday experience and also by reading.

What can help: The more words kids are exposed to, the richer their vocabulary becomes. You can help build your child’s vocabulary by having frequent conversations on a variety of topics. Try to include new words and ideas. Telling jokes and playing word games is a fun way to build this skill.

Reading together every day also helps improve vocabulary. When reading aloud, stop at new words and define them. But also encourage your child to read alone. Even without hearing a definition of a new word, your child can use context to help figure it out.

Teachers can help, too. They can carefully choose interesting words to teach and then give explicit instruction (instruction that is specialized and direct). They can engage students in conversation. And they can make learning vocabulary fun by playing word games in class.

For more ideas, watch as an expert explains how to help struggling readers build their vocabulary .

4. Sentence construction and cohesion

Understanding how sentences are built might seem like a writing skill . So might connecting ideas within and between sentences, which is called cohesion . But these skills are important for reading comprehension as well.

Knowing how ideas link up at the sentence level helps kids get meaning from passages and entire texts. It also leads to something called coherence , or the ability to connect ideas to other ideas in an overall piece of writing.

What can help: Explicit instruction can teach kids the basics of sentence construction. For example, teachers can work with students on connecting two or more thoughts, through both writing and reading.

5. Reasoning and background knowledge

Most readers relate what they’ve read to what they know. So it’s important for kids to have background or prior knowledge about the world when they read. They also need to be able to “read between the lines” and pull out meaning even when it’s not literally spelled out.

Take this example: A child is reading a story about a poor family in the 1930s. Having knowledge about the Great Depression can provide insight into what’s happening in the story. The child can use that background knowledge to make inferences and draw conclusions.

What can help: Your child can build knowledge through reading, conversations, movies and TV shows, and art. Life experience and hands-on activities also build knowledge .

Expose your child to as much as possible, and talk about what you’ve learned from experiences you’ve had together and separately. Help your child make connections between new knowledge and existing knowledge. And ask open-ended questions that require thinking and explanations.

You can also read a teacher tip on using animated videos to help your child make inferences .

6. Working memory and attention

These two skills are both part of a group of abilities known as executive function . They’re different but closely related .

When kids read, attention allows them to take in information from the text. Working memory allows them to hold on to that information and use it to gain meaning and build knowledge from what they’re reading.

The ability to self-monitor while reading is also tied to that. Kids need to be able to recognize when they don’t understand something. Then they need to stop, go back, and re-read to clear up any confusion they may have.

What can help: There are many ways you can help improve your child’s working memory. Skillbuilders don’t have to feel like work, either. There are a number of games and everyday activities that can build working memory without kids even knowing it.

To help increase your child’s attention, look for reading material that’s interesting or motivating. For example, some kids may like graphic novels . Encourage your child to stop and re-read when something isn’t clear. And demonstrate how you “think aloud” when you read to make sure what you’re reading makes sense.

More ways to help with reading comprehension

When kids struggle with one or more of these skills, they can have trouble fully understanding what they read. Find out how to tell if your child has difficulty with reading comprehension .

Learn about what can cause trouble with reading in kids . Keep in mind that having reading difficulties doesn’t mean a child isn’t smart. But some kids need extra support and encouragement to make progress.

Key takeaways

Decoding, fluency, and vocabulary skills are key to reading comprehension.

Being able to connect ideas within and between sentences helps kids understand the whole text.

Reading aloud and talking about experiences can help kids build reading skills.

Explore related topics

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Reading Books — A Reflection on the Improvement in My Reading, Writing, and Learning

A Reflection on The Improvement in My Reading, Writing, and Learning

• Categories: Reading Books

About this sample

Words: 649 |

Published: Dec 11, 2018

Words: 649 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Anderson, P. (2017). Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach. Cengage Learning.
• Bussmann, H., & A. Jansen, E. (2018). How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper. Cambridge University Press.
• Graff, G., & Birkenstein, C. (2018). They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Hacker, D. (2019). A Writer's Reference. Bedford/St. Martin's.
• Lunsford, A. A., & Ruszkiewicz, J. J. (2020). Everything's an Argument with Readings. Bedford/St. Martin's.
• McWhorter, K. T. (2018). Reading and Writing About Contemporary Issues. Bedford/St. Martin's.
• Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (2018). Writing Academic English. Pearson Education.
• Rosen, L. D., & Lim, A. F. (2018). Writing for the Information Age: Elements of Style for the 21st Century. Cengage Learning.
• Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2017). The Elements of Style. Penguin.
• Williams, J. M., & Colomb, G. G. (2020). Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Pearson Education.

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Benefits of Reading: Positive Impacts for All Ages Everyday

• May 26, 2023

From apps to social media to Netflix to video games, there are so many ways to fill your free time that it can be hard to decide what to do. It’s also easy to overlook one of the most fulfilling and beneficial pastimes ever created. Let’s look at the main benefits of reading and how you can highlight them to your child.

What are the main benefits of reading books?

Benefits of reading before bed.

• Benefits of reading to children

Benefits of reading out loud

Why is reading important.

• Does listening to audiobooks have the same benefits?

What are the benefits of reading fiction?

What are the benefits of reading poetry, it’s a gym for your brain.

The act of reading is a remarkable mental feat and reading comprehension uses a lot of your brain power. When you’re thumbing through a novel you’re building a whole world of people, places and events in your mind and remembering it all as you follow the story. This gives your imagination and memory a thorough workout and strengthens networks in various other parts of your brain too. 💪

If you’re reading a non-fiction book you’re also getting an in-depth experience of a subject full of facts and details that you need to hold in your mind to follow the arguments of the writer. 

It’s well known that your memory improves with use as new memories are created and connected to older ones, making them stronger and easier to recall. Scientists have even found that the other parts of the brain activated by reading can continue to improve days after you’ve stopped reading, meaning even just a little bit of reading can go a long way. 

It improves your focus

From Insta stories to tweets to TikTok videos, information is being packaged into ever smaller chunks and researchers believe our attention spans are getting shorter. However, being able to concentrate on one thing for long periods and ignore distractions is essential for school and for work. Reading is an excellent way to improve your concentration skills and the more you read, the better you’ll be able to focus. 🔍

It expands your vocabulary

Reading expands your vocabulary more than any other activity. A rich vocabulary allows you to understand the world in a more sophisticated way. Reading is also great for your grammar skills and lets you communicate your thoughts and ideas more accurately in all areas of your life. 

It’s an education

Reading is the key to knowledge. Reading non-fiction books means you can learn about any subject you choose in as much detail as you want. Fiction allows you to learn about how other people all over the world live their lives and to put yourself in their shoes. This is a great way to improve your empathy and learn to approach other people with an open mind. 

It helps your problem-solving skills

Reading fiction is also fantastic preparation to learn how to solve various types of problems you may not yet have encountered in your own life. You get the chance to follow the characters through all kinds of situations and find out how they deal with challenges big and small. 

Maybe they make the right choices or maybe they don’t, either way, the writer has put a lot of thought and consideration into their story and you can always learn something from a character’s experiences. 🧩

It’s good therapy

Reading about difficult situations characters or real people experience can be hugely beneficial as well. It can be useful to read both fiction and non-fiction books about something you’re going through. Books can act as a type of therapy and help you to feel less alone in your situation. 

This bibliotherapy has proven effective in helping people deal with issues such as depression or other mood disorders. The NHS even prescribes books to help people through its Reading Well programme! 

Books offer the best value-for-money entertainment anywhere! There’s no expensive equipment to buy, no tickets to pay for and no monthly subscription fee. All you need is a library card for your local branch and you’re good to go! 

Your nearest library probably has tens of thousands of different books available, so you’re sure to find a title to hook you. If they don’t have something in particular you're looking for, you can even ask the librarian to order it from another library. 

Some libraries even offer ebooks on loan which you can add to your ereader or tablet 🏛️

It’ll inspire your child

If your children regularly see you reading you’ll be setting a good example. Children tend to copy what they see their parents do and they’ll soon be joining you storybook in hand for some quiet time you can enjoy together. 

It’s great for stress

It’s not most people’s first idea of a relaxation technique, but reading does an awesome job of helping you manage stress. According to research, reading can lead to a lower heart rate and blood pressure and a calmer mind and just six minutes of reading can bring your stress levels down by more than 66%. 

It helps you live longer!

If you still need another reason to commit yourself to read more, how about this: reading can actually help you live longer! Researchers discovered that those who read for half an hour a day had a 23% chance of living longer than people who didn’t read very much. In fact, readers lived around two years longer than non-readers! 🌳

So, if we’ve convinced you that you and your family need more reading in your lives, when is the best time to do it? Well, reading at bedtime allows you to kill two birds with one stone. 

It helps you get a good night’s sleep

Despite its importance, many of us don’t follow good sleep hygiene and spend the hours before bedtime staring at screens big and small, leading to difficulty falling asleep and affecting the quality of our slumber. The NHS found that one in three of us experience poor sleep. 

Choose to read an actual book before bedtime instead of checking your social media or watching Netflix and you can look forward to a better night’s rest. Reading fiction is a good way of relaxing the body and calming your mind and preparing for bed and has been shown to be as relaxing as meditation. 💤

It calms your child

If you treat your child to story time and read to them just before they go to bed you’ll discover that it’s perfect for calming them down and getting them in the right mood for sleep. As a bonus, they’ll get used to sitting still and concentrating on one thing for a long time.

  Benefits of reading to children

  Children can eventually enjoy all the benefits of reading mentioned above but whether they are too small to read much themselves or they just enjoy listening to you tell them a story, they can get some extra value out of the experience if you read to them regularly yourself. 

It gives them a love of learning

If you start by reading to your child you can get them hooked on books and start a habit that will last them throughout their lives and repay your investment over and over again. Children who learn to read for pleasure will go on to enjoy greater academic success throughout their education according to research. 👩🏽‍🎓

It gives them a head-start

Even if your little one is a toddler who isn’t ready to start reading storybooks by themselves, you can give their literacy skills an early boost and teach them to read by reading to them yourself. They might not understand everything but they’ll pick up enough to get the idea. Let them see the words on the page as you read and encourage them to turn the page when you get to the last word. 

By reading to them you’ll be helping them follow the natural rhythms of language, practise their listening skills and expose them to vocabulary they might not get to hear in their day-to-day lives.  

It brings you together

Time spent reading to your child is a wonderful chance to create some beautiful, cosy, loving memories together and strengthen your bond. It will become something like a regular adventure you and your child can look forward to doing together and will remember all your lives. 👩‍👦

It also gives you lots to talk about later and you can have enjoyable discussions about the characters, plots, dilemmas and mysteries you discover during your reading time. 

Even when your child starts to read for themselves, you don’t need to stop your shared storytime. You can swap it up, with them taking on the role of the reader as you listen or you can take turns reading to each other. 

  You’ve probably been taught that the best method of reading is in silence. However, research has found that quiet reading isn’t actually always the better option and that there are in fact some benefits of reading out loud. 📢

It helps you understand

It turns out that speaking as you read can help you understand texts better. You probably read aloud more than you realise. If you’ve ever received a slightly convoluted message or email or you’ve tried to read confusing legal jargon, you’ve probably found yourself repeating the words out loud to more clearly understand what was meant. ✅

It helps you remember

Or perhaps you’ve tried to memorise a phone number or the lines of a speech and you automatically started to say the information aloud to help you remember. 

Psychologists call this the “production effect” and have discovered that these tactics do actually help people remember things more easily, especially children. 📚

Research from Australia showed that children who were told to read out loud recognized 17% more words compared to children who were asked to read silently. In another study, adults were able to identify 20% more words they had read aloud. 

The theory is that because reading aloud is an active process it makes words more distinctive, and so easier to remember. 🧠

Why read? 

Reading is the most effective way to get information about almost everything and is the key ingredient in learning for school, work and pleasure. On top of this, reading boosts imagination, communication, memory, concentration, and empathy. It also lowers stress levels and leads to a longer life. 

Does listening to audiobooks have the same benefits as reading books?

It can be hard to concentrate for a long time and the experience of reading. With a real book you can quickly scan your eyes back over the page to reread what you’ve missed, this isn’t so easy with an audiobook. A psychology study showed that students who read material did 28% better on a test than those who heard the same material as a podcast. 

Reading fiction is a useful way to develop your empathy, social skills and emotional intelligence. Fictional stories allow you to put yourself in other people's shoes and see things from various perspectives. In fact, brain scans show that many of the parts of the brain you use to interact with other people are also activated when you’re reading fiction. 

Poetry is the home of the most creative, imaginative and beautiful examples of language and allows you to connect those powerful lines to real emotions all of us feel. Poetry is also efficient and a good poet can reveal deep ideas with a simple phrase. Reading poetry can also inspire your creativity and write some expressive verse of your own! 

Reading is something most of us have been doing all our lives and as a result, we can easily take it for granted, but it’s a great all-around experience for your mind and spirit. So, it's really worth digging out your library card and finding books you and your child can read together. 

If your child is having problems with reading, here at GoStudent we have education experts on standby to give you and them a helping hand in improving their literacy skills or any other learning challenges they need support with. Schedule a free trial lesson with GoStudent today!

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Importance of Reading

• Updated on  
• Mar 28, 2023

Book coaches one’s imagination to think big. A constant fuel is required by our mind to develop knowledge and enrich our perspective, here the importance of reading comes into play. Reading is not just a leisure activity but can also be beneficial when it comes to clearing some of the globally recognized competitive examinations . Developing a reading habit can help you go a long way both personally as well as in acing many examinations. Let us explore the importance and benefits of reading a little further in this blog. 

Also, Read the Difference Between an Author and a Writer!

This Blog Includes:

Concept of reading, why reading is important, importance of reading in polishing your mind, importance of reading in strengthening your writing ability, importance of reading in lowering stress, importance of reading in reducing depression , importance of reading in increasing your vocabulary , importance of reading in enhancing one’s imagination , importance of reading in providing entertainment and peace of mind, importance of reading in promoting positive sleeping, importance of reading: when preparing for universal competitive exams, benefits of reading, importance of reading essay, importance of reading books, importance of reading quotes, the power and importance of reading for students.

Reading is not just about picking an article and going through it. It is a cognitive, multifaceted process wherein you recognise the word and comprehend it to understand its meaning. 

Our brain needs to be stimulated to function properly and foster ideas. One of the easiest ways to sharpen your mind is through reading with concentration. Almost all notable personalities read every day as they recognize that knowledge is the key to success. Therefore, it is time to mark their advice if you desire to be closer to your dream. 

Must Read: Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime Thrillers

While going through an article, you might have come across some words which confuse you or certain words that you hardly even recognize. Finding out their meaning and regularly reading can be the best solution for you to enhance your vocabulary and expand your knowledge. 

Also Read: 50 Difficult Words with Meanings for GMAT and GRE Preparation

Reading requires you to have the patience to build a cognitive perspective. This is considered to be a prime brain-stimulating activity to sharpen your mind. Individuals engaged in reading have a slower memory decline than those who avoid reading. It also improves memory and builds focus. 

Having a strong vocabulary can readily benefit you to strengthen your writing ability both personally and professionally. It inspires writers to stay positive and express their thoughts more clearly. Reading helps us in developing a knack for understanding the perspective of different authors that helps in writing about things by ourselves. It is very crucial to comprehend the subject matter and allow our memory to retain it.

Reading leads you on a journey to another world. People reading  literature or novels require a lot of concentration which allows them to stay away from the distraction in their lives which in turn promotes inner calmness and enhances overall health. 

Reading is an essential aspect of learning and has multiple benefits attached to the exercise. Reading is important because it makes you more empathetic, and knowledgeable and stimulates your imagination. A study conducted by the University of Sussex showed that reading reduces stress by 68%. It helps in reducing tension and relax muscles which in turn helps people sleep better and stay healthy.

Medicinal therapies to combat depression can be reduced by incorporating reading habits. This is exactly what self-help books, novels, blogs, articles, and non-fiction books contribute. Reading is found to lower heart rate, reduce stress and decrease blood pressure. 

Reading is just like a spider web, linking things you know to things you just learn and creating innovative solutions. You work on your dreams when you start imagining them. Imagination also allows an individual to be empathetic toward people and their struggles. 

Reading is one of the simplest entertainment entities for humans. Human beings tend to be fascinated by the world of stories and books open up alternate worlds to explore. This not just transcends us to another reality but also helps us in distancing from our daily problems for a while.

Books are perfect company at night before you doze off because it allows your body muscles to relax and your mind to destress. It is known that one can have a sound sleep when one’s brain is happy and one is comfortable in their own space. However, it is preferable to grab a printed book than any gadget before you settle in for some dreams. 

• The Reading Comprehension (RC) section in GMAT includes 350-word passages which can be easily mastered by practising active reading and by interacting with the text. Some examples can be reading The Economist, The New York Times, Scientific American, The Washington Post, and Businessweek for acing the RC section.
• Reading allows one to develop a better understanding of the subject and gain conceptual clarity when preparing for CAT and especially Reading Comprehension .
• A common success thread in all the students who secure well on the verbal section of the GRE is skilled reading ability. The faster you can scan through the passage while still holding on to the information, the more time you’ll have to answer the question. 
• The perfect strategy to cover a long passage in the allotted time in IELTS is through increasing your vocabulary by continuous reading.
• To get a high score on the reading section of the TOEFL test, the only key is to read and understand various books and articles.

Also, Read English for Competitive Exams – All You Need to Know!

Here are some benefits of reading that everyone should take advantage of to make their lives better:

• It improves your language skills
• It improves comprehension
• It makes you more empathetic
• It challenges stereotypes and social mores in society
• It reduces stress and anxiety
• It helps in building a vocabulary
• It stimulates imagination
• It builds confidence
• It lowers the heart rate and relaxes muscles
• It prevents cognitive decline in older people
• It improves your sleeping habits

Here is a list of readings items that are a part of the benefits of reading. These are great for budding readers to kickstart their journey:

• Encyclopedias
• Children’s novels
• Fiction books
• Non-fiction books

Reading is a good habit that everyone needs to develop, especially students. Reading requires you to have the patience to build a cognitive perspective and brain-stimulating activity to sharpen your mind.  Reading is important because it makes you more empathetic, and knowledgeable and stimulates your imagination. Reading allows one to develop a better understanding of the subject and gain conceptual clarity. It is one of the simplest entertainment entities for humans. it also helps to battle depression and can be reduced by incorporating reading habits. This is exactly what self-help books, novels, blogs, articles, and non-fiction books contribute.

There are multiple benefits of reading books. From building your vocabulary to reducing stress and depression. Here are some of the importance of reading books:

A book is a gift you can open again and again. —Garrison Keillor

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. —Kofi Annan

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. —Frederick Douglass

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his needs, is good for him. —Maya Angelou

There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book. —Frank Serafini

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. —Emilie Buchwald

One of the greatest gifts adults can give—to their offspring and their society—is to read to children. —Carl Sagan

Reading serves as the building block for learning. Reading helps a person in their daily life. For example, it is useful in reading signs on the street, and reading prescriptions.

The five main benefits of reading are: it is an exercise for the brain, it is free entertainment, improves literacy, general knowledge, and concentration skills

Reading affects the brain in a significant way. It improves memory, strengthens brain connections, and helps a person to live longer.

We recognize the importance of reading and the positive impact that it can have on your life. Reading is also instrumental when it comes to your performance in the entrance examinations. You don’t need to be stressed about how to tackle this section in your examination, the experts at  Leverage Edu can guide you so that you are well-prepared to ace the examination.

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It captivated me the most when you discussed that reading books will help to improve your vocabulary and can also relieve stress and depression. My daughter loves reading books, she even asked me to buy her historical nonfiction books about women. Knowing now the benefits of reading for her, I’ll make sure to purchase the books she requested.

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Importance Of Reading Skills Essay

Show More Reading – A Self Sufficient Skill The skill of reading is an integral part of all types of learning particularly language learning. It precedes and strongly determines the quality of all important skill, the skill of writing. Proper development of reading skill ensures a sound base for writing . Besides the words of motivation uttered by the teacher, environmental factors play a vital part in inculcating the habit of reading . A child has to be surrounded by a lot of stimulating reading material. This has to be done from the earliest stages of learning . In addition to the role of colorful, attractive and well illustrated books, a reading corner should be maintained in all the classes where simple story books, magazines and illustrated dictionaries …show more content… It is the key to self study. It assists a child in understanding all important concepts of different subjects at his own pace. This is not to underestimate the role of instruction in subjects like mathematics and science. In language learning, particularly English language learning at present, I witness a serious neglect in the inculcation of reading habit. Students never have the patience to read their books thoroughly. They read it superficially and that too just for the sake of passing examinations. They never read for the sheer pleasure of reading. Books remain unfamiliar to them. They never have the feeling that books can be those friends who give us all important guidance, solutions and sustaining ideas without asking anything in return. They fear the monotony of printed words never realizing that it is just because of good reading habits, how, many great personalities could become great in the real sense of the word. And we call them wise, prudent, scholar, guru sage, saint and what not, forgetting the efforts made by them in comprehending the established treasure of knowledge and enriching it by making their own generous …show more content… In this simple approach a student has to just read the language material in any form according to his level of understanding. This has to become a consistent and regular habit not just a half hearted, erratic and casual effort. With the passage of time a stage comes when he is not only able to write with ample vocabulary at his command but also feels a natural inclination to speak the language at a satisfactory level. Only the beginning is difficult. And only for this rightful beginning we need the support of school, teachers, parents and society with all their available resources. Once this ideal start is made, the learner will be unstoppable. He would himself he able to steer his ship to the unfathomable depths of wisdom and

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Essay On Reading Skills

Readings skills refer to a set of tools that the reader possesses ranging from recognition of letters, words, comprehension, etc. The play an important role in a child 's educational development. There a number of conservative studies which have linked reading to overall competency. There is a combination of three main methods which are best used to to teach reading skills. The first being Auditory training. Auditory training here refers to learning through listening. This method is heavily relies on in the Early Emergent Readers stage of reading development. At this stage the letters need to be sounded out, this is in order for the child to make the mental connection between the letter and how it is pronounced. This is clearly seen in the …show more content…

Additionally, songs and singing can be important auditory means of teaching reading skills. That being music, songs and singing are motivating and engaging. It enables them to hear the sounds of the letters that make up the words. (4) However, music and singing are not solely used for basic reading skills. Both these methods can be used with more advance readers. They can be used to teach story themes ( in order to get the children into the spirit of the book ), character traits, morals, etc. The second main method used in teaching reading skills is Phonics. Phonics here refers to a method of teaching people to read and pronounce words by learning the sounds of letters, letter groups, and syllables.(5) This method builds upon the previous method in terms of auditory training by making the sense of the sound 's of the letters by equating those sounds to their corresponding letters. As well as it helps the pupil to deduce spelling patterns. Under phonics there are a number of sub-methods which can be used to teach reading skills. From them is what is known as lexical reading. The lexical approach relies upon memorisation of meanings, words and phrases. As well as how they are

Dr. Louise Spear-Swerlings: Article Analysis

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Nt1310 Unit 1 Course

The reading strategies we discussed in class and in the courses content made me a better reader by showing me many different ways to read and write and understand it very well. It uses all these methods such as the KWL charts, writing a memo and reading the novel I selected helping me improve my skills greatly to become a better reader. Putting together the reading, writing oral communication and examining media all connected in helping me become a good reader and helped me to comprehend the understanding of making a personal connection to the world around you. That 's what help 's you in the future to make the the best choices possible so that later on when you make a mistake in reading you can look at the experience you had and learn how to properly correct yourself because at the end of the day they all deal with different skill set 's but all help you to become better in everything you

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(Diane M Barone/Marla H. Mallette, 2013). They need to have a regular routine and a place in the house where children can do their work. (Diane M Barone/Marla H. Mallette, 2013). A parent that reads and listen to their child read-aloud can help in early decoding, and fluency skills. The parents can use explicit instruction, paired and repeated readings and giving the child corrective feedback.

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They also appear to enjoy learning the content due to their involvement. The goal of this activity was to build students reading skills by working them through the subject and allowing them to discuss amongst each other any information that relates to the subject of the reading. It is also intended to help the students think as they read. This helped enable the students understand the subject of the reading, offer their own insight, and identify words more easily. This will also allow students to identify new words and will increase their ability with word identification and reading skills.

Under The Never Sky Analysis

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5 strategies that a teaching assistant might use to support literacy development: 1.Improving language which means building children’s vocabulary. Vocabulary is very important. It is needed to communicate, to understand others and to express own ideas. Building and improving vocabulary will improve reading and writing skills. In order to improve children’s vocabulary teaching assistant could make sure to provide children with a language-rich environment.

Summary Of The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Readers

In “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Readers” by Kavitha Rao, she express her opinion on the topic that the current generation is not reading for fun. She mentions several experience she had with other people, that don 't see the benefit in reading for fun. She says that since people aren 't reading more leisure anymore they 're becoming less creative, inarticulate, have poor communication skills and low confidence, which is caused by parents forcing their kids to read, and the education system need to have students memorize textbooks and nothing else. After reading this article I find myself disagreeing with Rao on several points she made, I don’t believe the modern attitude towards reading is causing people to be self absorbed and unimaginative, she also claims that book clubs don 't encourage reading for fun, parents are forcing their children to read boring books which turned them away from reading and that the educational system is to blame for college students for being inarticulate.

Constrained Skills In Early Childhood

Constrained skills are the quickest to develop and master, such as decoding, fluency, and word recognition (Kintsch, 2004; Paris & Hamilton, 2009). As children acquire and become automatic in these reading skills, these constrained skills aid the child in a smooth transition to the later stages of reading development where there is a heavy focus on unconstrained skills. Unconstrained skills such as comprehension, vocabulary, and composition, continually develop over time making them much more complex with uncertainties of when or how they become automatic (Kamhi, 2009;

Oral Language: The Six Components Of Reading

With that in mind, children first begin to identify the sound of words with an object. For example, if someone says the word lamp, a child will be able to point to the

My Literacy Essay

For me, literacy has always been a problem to this day I am still learning how to speak, and write using proper literacy. Literacy is not just reading and writing, anyone can do that but the ability to understand such things, to comprehend them that is, true literacy. My development for literacy has always been a struggle as I have spoken about before. I had a speak impediment when I was younger which used me to go into different classes which took me away from formal English classes.

Decoding In Early Reading

Share (1999) convincingly describes how decoding skills are supported by vocabulary, syntactic and semantic understandings. Speece and Cooper (2002) report a connection between early semantic skills and reading comprehension in their study of the connection between oral language and early reading. Decoding is vital because it is the basis on which all other reading instruction builds. If children are unable to decode words their reading will lack fluency, their vocabulary will be restricted, and their reading comprehension will suffer. Explicit, systematic and multi-sensory phonics instruction produces effective decoding skills.

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Children develop their speech and language skills. Speech is developed through the use of songs and nursery rhymes. Language skills are developed when children are listening to a wide range of songs which all have new words for the child to expand their language. Listening skills are also developed, music can encourage children to pay attention and listen to what is going on around them. Children’s long and short term memory skills are also developed as the child will try and remember the words of the song or nursery rhymes or the beat to clap along to.

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First one is that activities should be appropriate children`s age level. Second one is that instruction should be purposeful and third one is that activities and materials should be integrated with other components of a balanced literacy programs. A teacher can teach identifying words, categorizing words, substituting sounds, blending sounds, and segmenting sounds by doing age appropriate activities with children. Teachers assess children by using screening test to determine the level of their knowledge about phonemic awareness and they use instruction assessment cycle are planning, monitoring, evaluation, and reflection. Phonemic awareness is important to learn how to read and it is prerequisite.

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More about Essay On Reading Skills

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• Reading to Engage and Evaluate
• Effective Critical Reading

Audience and Purpose

Analysis Checklist

• Reading for Evaluation

As an effective critical reader you must be able to identify the important elements of a text and their function.

To analyze means to break a text down into its parts to better understand it. When analyzing you notice both what the author is saying and how they are saying it. Looking deeply into a text beyond the explicit information can tell you the intended audience, the author's agenda or purpose, and the argument. Clues about these areas are often found in the language the author uses such as the word choice, phrasing, and tone. 

Look at this excerpt. Click each number button to learn more about evaluating this text:

How Is Asthma Treated? 

Take your medicine exactly as your doctor tells you and stay away from things that can trigger an attack to control your asthma.

Everyone with asthma does not take the same medicine. 

You can breathe in some medicines and take other medicines as a pill. Asthma medicines come in two types-quick-relief and long-term control. Quick-relief medicines control the symptoms of an asthma attack. If you need to use your quick-relief medicines more and more, visit your doctor to see if you need a different medicine. Long-term control medicines help you have fewer and milder attacks, but they don't help you while you are having an asthma attack. 

Asthma medicines can have side effects, but most side effects are mild and soon go away.  Ask your doctor about the side effects of your medicines. 

Remember -you can control your asthma. With your doctor's help, make your own asthma action plan. Decide who should have a copy of your plan and where he or she should keep it. Take your long-term control medicine even when you don't have symptoms. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC), 2018).

Use of Second Person

The author uses the second person point of view, the "you" pronoun to address the reader. The use of second person point of view is informal and not often seen as scholarly writing.

Scholarly Voice

The author uses contractions like don't and avoids medical terminology and difficult vocabulary.

Talking Directly to Readers

The author seems to be talking directly to readers who are not in the medical profession, giving them advice on how to treat asthma and prevent attacks.

From this analysis we can interpret that the intended audience is individuals with asthma.

The tone, while informal, it is also authoritative and direct. Note and gentle, emotional, or anecdotal information that is included. The author does not highlight statistics about the high rate of asthma or the implications of leaving it untreated. In order to persuade, the writing is presented in an objective manner that supports awareness. From this analysis, we understand that the author's purpose is to inform in a very practical way.

Why does analyzing for audience and purpose matter?

The audience and purpose can tell you whether a source might be appropriate to use in your own research and writing.

For example, because this excerpt was written to inform the general public about asthma, it does not have the level of detail and evidence necessary for scholarly research. 

It is also helpful to know from what point of view the author is writing so you can consider that when evaluating for potential bias. Another benefit of analyzing in this way is that you can apply what you learn to your own writing. For example, when reading an academic essay you may identify that word choice and tone are really effective in communicating with the academic community. You can then try a similar voice and tone in your own writing.

If you find it helpful to follow checklists, consider using this one to practice your analysis skills as you are reading. 

Who is the intended audience?

What is the author's purpose?

How do the audience and purpose influence your reading?

Argument and Evidence

What is the thesis?

What are the main points that support that thesis, and how do those main points connect?

What evidence is used?

Language and Tone

What is the tone the author uses?

How does the author's use of language and tone support the audience, purpose, and argument?

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Teachers Say Older Kids Need Help With Basic Reading Skills, Too

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Helping students learn to read is usually the job of early elementary educators. But teachers of older children—who report that nearly half of their students have difficulty reading—say they need more training in this area, too, concludes a new survey.

The nationally representative survey from the RAND Corporation includes 1,483 teachers in grades 3-8. On average, teachers in these grades reported that 44 percent of their students always or nearly always faced challenges reading the content in their classes. Ninety-seven percent of teachers said they modified their instruction to support struggling readers at least once or twice a week.

The results come on the heels of a previous RAND survey that found many secondary teachers still work with students on foundational reading skills like sounding out words and spelling.

As states have pushed school districts to adopt evidence-based practices in early elementary reading instruction, a movement known as the “science of reading,” these two reports suggest they might also have to fill in knowledge gaps for teachers of older students.

“K-3 is when we expect that most students learn these skills,” said Anna Shapiro, an associate policy researcher at RAND, and the lead author of the report. “But we’re at a point where we have older kids in some grades that are still developing these skills.”

Why reading struggles can be more complex for older kids

Reading problems for older students can have disastrous ripple effects across the school day. In these older grades, it’s not only English/language arts classes that require strong reading skills, but social studies, science, and even math. In the RAND survey, teachers of subjects other than ELA said their students spent about half of class time reading and writing.

But teachers of older students usually don’t receive training on addressing the kinds of foundational reading difficulties that can bar students’ access to more complex text. And there often isn’t time to remediate basic skills when teachers are working with their students toward higher-level goals, like writing argumentative essays or analyzing poetry.

The reasons why older students struggle with reading can also be more complex and layered than they are for younger children.

“There’s no ceiling to learning to read,” Shapiro said. “As soon as a child has mastered the foundational skills that they need to look at a word and decode it, the higher-order reading skills that students continue to develop just get more and more complex as students get older, and they also vary by discipline.

“For a student who has gotten to 4th, 5th, 6th grade and is still struggling with those foundational skills, it is making it harder for them to access that higher-order literacy skill development that we hope students are achieving,” she said.

There’s evidence that older students do have some of these foundational gaps. Nearly half of upper elementary teachers, and almost 1 in 5 middle school teachers, reported that they are teaching word-reading skills like phonics and spelling three or more times a week.

Most states have passed legislation requiring schools to use evidence-based methods to support younger struggling readers. But few have extended these mandates to middle grades.

“We feel like the national literacy discussion has still almost exclusively focused on young readers,” said Christina Cover, a special education teacher and literacy coordinator in the Bronx borough of New York City. Cover is also the project lead of the Project for Adolescent Literacy, a new, educator-led group created to support middle and high school students with reading difficulties.

“We know that shift to reading to learn—that doesn’t happen for kids who are still struggling,” she said.

Older students need different supports than beginning readers

To help students make that shift, teachers say they need more resources.

More one-on-one help for students was particularly popular: 48 percent of middle school teachers said they had a moderate or major need for reading specialists, while 45 percent identified a moderate or major need for tutors.

“It might be that teachers are thinking, ‘I need somebody else’s help, I don’t have the training or the expertise that I need to do this,’” Shapiro said.

Teachers also wanted more training:

Two in 5 teachers surveyed held at least one misconception about how children learn to read, such as agreeing with the statement that “most students will learn to read on their own if given the proper books and time to read them.”

Shapiro stressed that training and resources for teachers in older grades should be age-appropriate for their students.

“When we’re thinking about policy changes, … we’re not suggesting that you should throw all the 3-8 teachers in the reading class that the K-2 teachers take in their teacher preparation,” she said.

For example, research shows that interventions targeting multiple skills at once —such as fluency and comprehension—can have higher positive effects for older students than single-skill practice.

Cover’s group, the Project for Adolescent Literacy, has fielded a survey to identify practices middle and high school teachers employ to support struggling readers and plans to build a bank of resources that these teachers can use.

She also hopes that teachers attend to the social-emotional issues that often accompany reading difficulties in teenagers.

Students who have gone from grade to grade without seeing much progress tend to develop “avoidance strategies” for reading, she said.

“They’ve seen it all before, and they feel like it won’t help them,” Cover said. “I think students are rightfully a bit skeptical when they’re in high school, and they’re still struggling with some of those foundational skills.”

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• The Do’s and Don’ts of Essay Writing
• How to Write a Report
• Academic Referencing
• Assignment Finishing Touches
• Reflecting on Marked Work
• 6 Skills You Learn in School That You Use in Real Life
• Top 10 Tips on How to Study While Working
• Exam Skills

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This page continues from our page: Planning an Essay , the essential first step to successful essay writing.

This page assumes that you have already planned your essay, you have taken time to understand the essay question, gathered information that you intend to use, and have produced a skeleton plan of you essay – taking into account your word limit.

This page is concerned with the actual writing of your essay, it provides some guidelines for good practice as well as some common mistakes you'll want to avoid.

Structuring Your Essay

An essay should be written in a flowing manner with each sentence following on logically from the previous one and with appropriate signposts to guide the reader.

An essay usually takes the following structured format:

• The introduction
• The main body: a development of the issues
• A conclusion
• A list of references of the sources of information you have used

The Introduction

The function of the introduction is simply to introduce the subject, to explain how you understand the question, and describe briefly how you intend to deal with it.

You could begin by defining essential terms, providing a brief historical or personal context if appropriate, and/or by explaining why you think the subject is significant or interesting.

Some people are far too ambitious in writing their introductions. Writing a lengthy introduction limits the number of words available for the main body of the assignment.

Keep the introduction short, preferably to one or two paragraphs and keep it, succinct, to the point.

Some students find it best to write a provisional introduction, when starting to write an essay, and then to rewrite this when they have finished the first draft of their essay. To write a provisional introduction, ask yourself what the reader needs to know in order to follow your subsequent discussion.

Other students write the introduction after they have written the main body of the essay – do whatever feels right for you and the piece of work you are writing.

The Main Body: A Development of the Issues

Essays are generally a blend of researched evidence (e.g. from additional reading) and comment.

Some students' essays amount to catalogues of factual material or summaries of other people's thoughts, attitudes, philosophies or viewpoints.

At the opposite extreme, other students express only personal opinions with little or no researched evidence or examples taken from other writers to support their views.  What is needed is a balance.

The balance between other researchers’ and writers’ analysis of the subject and your own comment will vary with the subject and the nature of the question.   Generally, it is important to back up the points you wish to make from your experience with the findings of other published researchers and writers.

You will have likely been given a reading list or some core text books to read. Use these as your research base but try to expand on what is said and read around the subject as fully as you can. Always keep a note of your sources as you go along.

You will be encouraged and expected to cite other authors or to quote or paraphrase from books that you have read. The most important requirement is that the material you cite or use should illustrate, or provide evidence of, the point you are making. How much evidence you use depends on the type of essay you are writing.

If you want a weight of evidence on some factual point, bring in two or three examples but no more.

Quotations should not be used as a substitute for your own words. A quote should always have an explanation in your own words to show its significance to your argument.

When you are citing another author's text you should always indicate exactly where the evidence comes from with a reference, i.e. give the author's name, date of publication and the page number in your work.  A full reference should also be provided in the reference list at the end.

See our page: Academic Referencing for more information.

A Conclusion

At the end of an essay you should include a short conclusion, the purpose of which is to sum up or draw a conclusion from your argument or comparison of viewpoints.

In other words, indicate what has been learned or accomplished. The conclusion is also a good place to mention questions that are left open or further issues which you recognise, but which do not come within the scope of your essay.

Neither the conclusion, nor the introduction, should totally summarise your whole argument: if you try this, you are in danger of writing another assignment that simply repeats the whole case over again.

You must include a reference list or bibliography at the end of your work.

One common downfall is to not reference adequately and be accused of plagiarism. If you have directly quoted any other author's text you should always indicate exactly where the evidence comes from in a reference. If you have read other documents in order to contrast your argument then these should also be referenced.

See our page: Academic Referencing for a more comprehensive look at the importance of referencing and how to reference properly.

Signposting or Guiding your Reader

When writing an essay it is good practice to consider your reader.

To guide the reader through your work you will need to inform them where you are starting from (in the introduction), where you are going (as the essay progresses), and where you have been (in the conclusion).

It is helpful to keep the reader informed as to the development of the argument. You can do this by using simple statements or questions that serve to introduce, summarise or link the different aspects of your subject.

Here are a few examples:

There are two reasons for this:  first,... second,...

Moreover, it should not be forgotten that...

With regard to the question of...

Another important factor to be considered is...

How can these facts be interpreted? The first point...

There are several views on this question. The first is...

Finally, it is important to consider...

Constructing Paragraphs

One important way of guiding the reader through your essay is by using paragraphs.

Paragraphs show when you have come to the end of one main point and the beginning of the next.  A paragraph is a group of sentences related to aspects of the same point.  Within each individual paragraph an idea is introduced and developed through the subsequent sentences within that paragraph.

Everyone finds it easier to read a text that is broken into short paragraphs.

Without paragraphs, and the spaces between them, the page will appear like an indigestible mass of words.

You should construct your essay as a sequence of distinct points set out in a rational order.

Each sentence and paragraph should follow logically from the one before and it is important that you do not force your reader to make the connections. Always make these connections clear signposting where the argument or discussion is going next.

Although the points you are making may seem obvious to you, can they be more clearly and simply stated?

It is also worth bearing in mind that the marker of your work may have a lot of other, similar pieces of work to mark and assess. Try to make yours easy to read and follow – make it stand out, for the right reasons!

Essay Style

There are two general misconceptions about essay style:

• One is that a good essay should be written in a formal, impersonal way with a good scattering of long words and long, complicated sentences.
• The other misconception is to write as we talk. Such a style is fine for personal letters or notes, but not in an essay. You can be personal, but a certain degree of formality and objectivity is expected in an academic essay.

The important requirement of style is clarity and precision of expression.

Where appropriate use simple and logical language and write in full or complete sentences.  You should avoid jargon, especially jargon that is not directly connected to your subject area. You can be personal by offering your own viewpoint on an issue, or by using that view to interpret other authors' work and conclusions.

Drafts and Rewriting

Most essays can be improved by a thorough edit.

You can cross out one word and substitute another, change the shape or emphasis of a sentence, remove inconsistencies of thought or terminology, remove repetitions and ensure there is adequate referencing.

In short, you are your first reader, edit and criticise your own work to make it better. Sometimes it is useful to read your essay out loud.

Another useful exercise is to ask someone else to read the essay through. A person proofreading the essay for the first time will have a different perspective from your own and will therefore be better placed to point out any incoherence, lack of structure, grammatical errors, etc.

Ideally find somebody to proofread who has a good grasp of spelling and grammar and at least a casual interest in your subject area.

One or two edits should be sufficient. It is best not to become involved in an unproductive multiplicity of drafts. The remedy is to analyse the question again and write another, simple, plan based on how to organise the material you are not happy with in the draft of your essay. Rewrite the essay according to that revised plan and resist the tendency to panic in the middle, tear it up and start all over again. It is important to get to the end and then revise again. Otherwise you will have a perfect opening couple of paragraphs and potentially the rest of the essay in disarray.

You will learn and improve much more through criticising and correcting your work than by simply starting again.

Don't Panic!

A few students can get so anxious about an assignment that they find themselves unable to write anything at all.

There are several reasons why this can happen. The primary reason is usually that such students set themselves too high a standard and then panic because they cannot attain it. This may also be due to factors such as the fear of the expectations of others or placing too high an expectation on themselves.

Whatever the reason, if you cannot write an assignment, you have to find a way out of your panic.  If you find yourself in this position, do not allow the situation to drift; try to act swiftly.  Discussing your worries with your tutor and/or peers, or simply writing them down, will help you clarify why you might feel stuck.

Another trick is to dash off what you consider to be a 'bad' essay, hand it in and see what happens, or decide to write the assignment in two hours without notes or references and see how that goes. You can always come back to enter the references later.

Students often say that their hurried and most casual essay got a higher mark than one which they struggled with for weeks; in fact this happened because they got down to essentials and made their points quickly.  The experiment might be worth a try.

If, despite study and good intentions, you cannot seem to get your essay written, or even started, you should let your tutor know as soon as possible.

Your tutor will have encountered such problems many times, and it is part of his/her job to help you sort them out.

Continue to: Assignment Finishing Touches Academic Referencing

See also: The Do’s and Don’ts of Essay Writing Effective Reading Note-Taking for Reading

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On-Campus Summer Programs

Being a reader, becoming a writer.

• Language Arts

If you love to read, write, and talk about books, this is the course for you. In this course, we'll form a literary community and develop our vocabulary, close-reading, and critical thinking skills through workshops, where we read short stories or novels, respond to them in our journals, and discuss as a class. Then we’ll learn and practice what professional writers do: decide on topics, gather material, talk about creative choices with peers, and draft, workshop, and revise works of creative fiction. Daily lessons and one-on-one conferences with the instructor will help students learn the art of sentence construction, use of imagery, and more. Cooperative learning and constructive criticism are key elements of the course, and detailed responses from your instructor and peers will play an essential role in your growth as a reader and writer.

Typical Class Size: 12

Learning Objectives:

• Read, analyze, and discuss works of fiction and nonfiction including essays, novels, short stories, and more
• Practice writing reflectively, analytically, and creatively through personal narratives, poetry, original short stories, or in your own writer’s journal
• Utilize the tools introduced and skills learned in the course to compose 3-4 works of creative fiction
• Engage in the writing workshop process, editing and revising work based on feedback from your instructor, program assistant, and peers

This course is

Summer Dates & Locations

After May 31, 2024 , registration is available upon request pending eligibility and seat availability. To request placement, email [email protected] after submitting a program application.

Session One

Session Two

Testing and prerequisites.

Students must achieve qualifying scores on an advanced assessment to be eligible for CTY programs. If you don’t have qualifying scores, you have several different testing options. We’ll help you find the right option for your situation.

Cost and Financial Aid

Application fee.

• Nonrefundable Application Fee - $50 (Waived for financial aid applicants)
• Nonrefundable International Fee - $250 (outside US only)

Financial Aid

We have concluded our financial aid application review process for 2024 On-Campus Programs. We encourage those who may need assistance in the future to apply for aid as early as possible.

Course Materials

Students should bring basic school supplies like pens, notebooks, and folders to their summer program. You will be notified of any additional items needed before the course begins. All other materials will be provided by CTY.  

Sample Reading

These titles have been featured in past sessions of the course, and may be included this summer. CTY provides students with all texts; no purchase is required.

• America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories , by Anne Mazer
• Esperanza Rising , by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor

About Language Arts at CTY

Explore storytelling.

Want to have fun reading popular stories and writing your own tales of adventure? Pen your hero's journey and explore a diverse range of books in Behind the Mask: Superheroes Revealed , or have fun shaping your prose and experimenting with different formats and styles in Fiction and Poetry .

Find your voice

Take your writing to the next level! In Writing and Imagination , you can build your vocabulary and gain the tools to write your own creative fiction. You'll learn to craft compelling narratives about your own experiences in Crafting the Essay , and have fun learning new literary devices and figurative language in Writing Your World .

Meet our instructors and staff

Being in a fast-paced environment where I can be my dorky self and teach and learn from the students I work with, are a couple of reasons why I am drawn to CTY and keep coming back.

Angel Huerta

Resident Assistant

My favorite thing about teaching at CTY is watching the students' curiosity and excitement lead their learning. It's exciting as an instructor to witness their confidence increase and watch as their 'aha' moments manifest into increased knowledge and mastery of the content.

Laya Theberge

Robotics Instructor

This was my fifth summer working at CTY. I love the culture of CTY. For three weeks, students and staff from all over the world create their own special community unlike anywhere else. I love getting to be a part of that.

Amanda Mastronardi

Dean of Residential Life and CTY Alum