Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders, SPUAJ001
Unit 2: Working with Texts
Working with texts, strategies for reading, Internet resources
1) Which elements influence how difficult a text is for you?
a) size, type and style of the printed text and frequency of changes
within the text, spaces between lines
___________________________________________________________
Many college students discover that there is significantly more to read
in college than there was in high school.
Students frequently remark that they don't have enough time to read
through all of their assignments during the week. However, many
students have bad habits and subscribe to reading myths. Some of the
common reading myths:
• Read every word.
• One reading is sufficient.
• Don't skip passages.
• Machines improve speed.
• A faster rate means less comprehension.
(taken from ‘Reading Your Textbooks Effectively and Efficiently‘,
převzato z http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/reading.html)
___________________________________________________________
b) colour of the text and background
c) keywords highlighted in the text (e.g. in bold or colour)
___________________________________________________________
Many college students discover that there is significantly more to read in
college than there was in high school. Students frequently remark that
they don't have enough time to read through all of their assignments
during the week. However, many students have bad habits and subscribe
to reading myths. Some of the common reading myths:
• Read every word.
• One reading is sufficient.
• Don't skip passages.
• Machines improve speed.
• A faster rate means less comprehension.
(taken from ‘Reading Your Textbooks Effectively and Efficiently‘,
převzato z http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/reading.html)
_______________________________________________________________________
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders Unit 2: Working with texts. Teiresiás MU 2017.
Supported by Fond rozvoje MU 2016. Intended solely for classroom use and self-study.
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders, SPUAJ001
d) information from the text organized visually (e.g. in a chart,
graph, mind map etc.)
(adapted from ‘Reading Your Textbooks Effectively and Efficiently‘)
e) making and using notes from the text
2) Decide which type of reading these statements refer to. Write I
(intensive) or E (extensive).
______ reading involves reading in detail.
______ reading involves reading to develop general reading skills.
______ reading is mostly reading for pleasure.
______ reading has specific learning aims and tasks.
______ reading means reading longer texts.
______ reading is focused on teaching particular reading strategies.
______ reading is reading for general understanding.
3) Skimming is useful when you want to quickly gain an overview or
familiarise yourself with a text to understand its structure. You should look
for the main idea (= gist) that the message, the sentence or paragraph
wants to convey.
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders Unit 2: Working with texts. Teiresiás MU 2017.
Supported by Fond rozvoje MU 2016. Intended solely for classroom use and self-study.
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders, SPUAJ001
a) Skim each sentence about reading strategies and find the gist (=
main message).
___________________________________________________________
• Previewing enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about
and how it is organized before reading it closely.
• When you need to understand and use new information, though, it
is most beneficial if you write the questions, as you read the text for
the first time.
• As you read a text for the first time, mark an X in the margin at
each point where you feel a personal challenge to your attitudes,
beliefs, or status.
• Summarizing begins with outlining, but instead of merely listing the
main ideas, a summary recomposes them to form a new text.
(taken from “Reading a Textbook.“, převzato z
https://www.salisbury.edu/counseling/New/7_critical_reading_strategies.html)
_______________________________________________________________________
b) Skim the text to get the gist of the paragraphs.
___________________________________________________________
Reading Strategies
Reading is a foundational learning activity for university courses. Assigned
readings prepare you for taking notes during lectures and provide you
with additional examples and detail that might not be covered in class.
Also, according to research, readings are the second most frequent source
of exam questions (Cuseo, Fecas & Thompson, 2007).
Reading study materials for university courses effectively takes practice
and should be approached differently than reading a novel, comic book,
magazine, or website. Becoming an effective reader goes further than
completing the reading in full or highlighting text. There are a variety of
strategies you can use to read effectively and remember the information
you read.
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders Unit 2: Working with texts. Teiresiás MU 2017.
Supported by Fond rozvoje MU 2016. Intended solely for classroom use and self-study.
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders, SPUAJ001
TIPS
• Schedule time to read. Reading is an easy thing to put off because
there is often no exact deadline. By scheduling a time each week to
do your reading for each class, you are more likely to complete the
reading as if it were an assignment. Producing a study guide or set
of notes from the reading can help to direct your thinking as you
read.
• Set yourself up for success. Pick a location that is conducive to
reading. Establish a reasonable goal for the reading, and a time
limit for how long you’ll be working. These techniques make reading
feel manageable and make it easier to get started and finish
reading.
• Monitor your comprehension. When you finish a section, ask
yourself, "What is the main idea in this section? Could I answer an
exam question about this topic?" Questions at the end of chapters
are particularly good for focusing your attention and for assessing
your comprehension. If you are having difficulty recalling
information or answering questions about the text, search back
through the text and look for key points and answers.
• Take notes as you read. Whether they’re annotations in the margins
of the book, or notes on a separate piece of paper. Read through
your notes – ask questions, answer questions, make connections,
and think about how these ideas integrate with other information
sources (like lecture, lab, other readings, etc.).
(adapted from “Reading Strategies”, převzato z
http://success.oregonstate.edu/learning/reading-strategies-tips)
___________________________________________________________
4) Scanning is what you do when you are searching for particular
information, or relevant key words to see whether a whole passage is
relevant for you.
Scan the previous text and find answers to these questions:
• What is the second most frequent source of exam questions?
• Should reading study materials be approached differently than
reading a novel, comic book, magazíne or website?
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders Unit 2: Working with texts. Teiresiás MU 2017.
Supported by Fond rozvoje MU 2016. Intended solely for classroom use and self-study.
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders, SPUAJ001
• Is completing the reading in full enough to become an effective
reader?
• Why is reading an easy thing to put off?
• Which questions should you ask yourself when you finish a section?
• What is recommended to do with your notes?
5) Some Internet and software resources:
• Robobraille – an online tool for converting documents into editable
formats http://robobraille.org/
• Text to speech, for example:
o http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php?si
tepal
o SpeakIt! for Chrome, Text to Voice for Mozilla
o http://www.naturalreaders.com/onlinetts.php
o A program with similar but wider functions, ClaroRead
(http://www.spektra.eu/cs/komunikace/dyslexie/claroread) is
free to try within Teiresias Centre but is licensed for further
use
• Prezi – a presentation tool based on mind maps using creative templates
for presentations https://prezi.com/
Academic Reading for Students with Learning Disorders Unit 2: Working with texts. Teiresiás MU 2017.
Supported by Fond rozvoje MU 2016. Intended solely for classroom use and self-study.