Efficient Reading

EFFICIENT READING

KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT FROM READING

If you are in a hurry to find out how to use a fire extinguisher, speed is at a premium: but there is no advantage in reading the instructions quickly if you still can´t operate the extinguisher at the end. The first requirement for efficient reading is to know what you want, then judge.

The criterion of efficiency is of course not always appropriate. If you are reading for pleasure, there is not much point in defining your purpose. However, if you are reading to learn or for many practical purposes.

So the first thing for student to do is to decide exactly what he wants to get out of his reading.

Try to set tasks that reflect the real needs of the class.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MATERIAL

Once a reader has defined his objective, he must next decide what sources to consult. If students are able to use skimming and scanning, they can shorten the time taken to choose material and also make their selection more reliable.

USING EXTERNAL RESOURCES

A biography of a knowledgeable person is the first resource for choosing material. After that you must rely on biographies from other resources, and on library catalogues and so on.

USING RESOURCES WITHIN THE TEXT

Linear and non-linear text

When we use the word text, we normally have in mind the expression of ideas in sequences of sentences and paragraphs, this is often called linear text, other parts of a text are non-linear, they do not enter into the organization of sentences, paragraphs and so on.

Reference apparatus: all the parts of a text that help the reader to locate information or predict what the text contains.

Figures: we include under this heading all information such as diagrams, tables, maps, graphs and illustrations.

Graphic conventions: layout, punctuation, type face, use of symbols and so on.

TITLES AND HEADINGS

Titles are not always reliable indicators of content, but they are a reasonable starting point in choosing relevant texts.you can take them from several angles:

1. Get students to predict from the title the likely content of the book, article, etc.

2. Get students to choose, from titles alone, they could consult first on a given topic.

3. Present students with an article or chapter that has headings at various levels.

THE BLURB

There is usually a blurb on the back cover of a book, or on the inside fold of the dust jacket, blurbs may include press comment. Blubs are useful for selecting the right book: yet students seem unaware of them. Use some activities to draw attention to them.

1. Supply a list of titles

2. Supply a selection of blurbs

3. Supply a selection of blurbs + titles

4. Supply some blurbs

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE WRITER.

THE SUMMARY, RUNNING TITLES, TABLE OF CONTENTS, LIST OF FIGURES.

1. Supply several books that provide summaries in different forms.

2. Supply a table of contents and a set of questions.

3. Supply a table of contents of a book where topic x is likely to be mentioned in several chapters.

PRELIMINARY MATERIAL: FOREWARD, PREFACE, INTRODUCTION

The usefulness of these sections depends on what use the writer makes them, they often include statements of purpose and sometimes outline the writer´s qualifications for writing the book.

INDEX

Skimming through an index is another short cut in deciding whether a book suits your purpose.

Students should be able to:

Explain the kind of material likely to be found in an appendix.

Locate notes indicated in the text.

Give the full details of an abbreviated bibliographical reference by referring to the bibliography

Use a bibliography to choose potentially suitable texts for further reading for a given purpose.

Look up the meaning of any symbol, abbreviation, or technical term and interpret accurately the passage of text in which it occurs.

GRAPHIC CONVENTIONS

Writers and printers use a variety of conventions to help readers find the way through a text, print size and style, layout, even punctuation.

In English, the conventions that are useful but likely to be unrecognized by some learners include the following.

LAYOUT, SPACING, IDENTATION

LAYOUT: in general is used to indicate which parts of the text go together, to signal the start of a new topic.

SPACING BETWEEN LETTERS AND WORDS: is seldom significant, but spacing between lines.

IDENTATION: often signals the start of a new paragraph or section.

TYPE FACE

It is safe to say that a change in type is usually significant, but less easy to say how, since publishing houses have different styles. Type can vary in four ways:

1. Type design.

2. Standard, italic or bold

3. Type size

4. Upper or lower case.

Functions just outlined are not difficult to interpret, once you are aware of them more tricky.

The main functions are as follows:

1. To make words easy to locate:

Proper names in some styles of journalism

Technical terms at the point where they are defined

Phrases of linear text that serve as summaries or subtitles.

2. To mark the use of a foreign word or phrase.

3. To cite the title of a book, film, etc.

4. To distinguish a cited word/phrase.

5. To indicate emphasis.

PUNCTUATION

Yet punctuation reflects meaning.

SYMBOLS

Symbols referring to notes such as asterisk.

Symbols relating to text continuity such as the arrow or similar pointing.

FIGURES

The figures accompanying text are the final resource to be discussed again, the are often

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