INTENSIVE ENGLISH READING

Reading words in groups, often referred to as “chunking,” is a technique used to improve reading fluency and comprehension. Instead of reading word by word, readers group words together into phrases or chunks that convey a single idea or meaning. This approach helps the reader process information more quickly and understand the text more naturally, as it mimics the way we speak. Benefits of Reading Words in Groups: 1. Improved Fluency: Chunking helps readers maintain a smoother pace, reducing the time spent on decoding individual words. 2. Enhanced Comprehension: By focusing on phrases, readers can grasp the meaning of sentences more effectively and understand the overall context. 3. Better Retention: Grouping words helps in remembering the information since it organizes related ideas together. Examples of Reading Words in Groups 1. Single Words: • Reading: The dog ran quickly to the park. • Chunked: The dog ran quickly to the park. 2. Grouping Phrases: • Readin...

Summarizing is the process of condensing a larger text into a shorter version by focusing on the main points and key ideas. It involves restating the most important information in your own words, while leaving out unnecessary details, examples, or elaborations. The purpose of summarizing is to capture the essence of the text, allowing readers or listeners to quickly understand the core message without needing to go through the entire original content. Steps to Summarize: 1. Identify the Main Idea: Focus on the main topic or purpose of the text. 2. Highlight Key Points: Pick out the most important facts, arguments, or events that support the main idea. 3. Use Your Own Words: Rewrite the information in a simpler and more concise way without copying the text verbatim. 4. Avoid Minor Details: Leave out examples, illustrations, and less important details that don’t contribute to the overall understanding. 5. Keep it Brief: A summary should be significantly shorter than t...

Using context clues means figuring out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by examining the words and sentences around it. Context clues help you make an educated guess about the word’s meaning based on how it is used within the text. This is a valuable skill because it allows you to understand new words without always having to look them up in a dictionary. There are several types of context clues you can use: 1. Definition or Explanation Clues Sometimes the meaning of the word is directly explained in the sentence or the following sentence. Example: “The city was placed under quarantine, which means that no one could enter or leave until the virus was contained.” • The phrase “which means that no one could enter or leave” explains the meaning of “quarantine.” 2. Synonym Clues The text may use a synonym, a word with a similar meaning, to help clarify the unfamiliar word. Example: “She was known for her benevolence, or kindness, toward the poor in her community.” • The word “kind...

Dealing with unfamiliar words is a common challenge, especially when reading in a second language, but it’s also a great opportunity to expand vocabulary and improve comprehension. Here are a few strategies to handle unfamiliar words effectively: 1. Using Context Clues Context clues are hints found within the surrounding sentences that help you infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word. The context may provide examples, explanations, or contrasting ideas that can guide your understanding. Example: “The arid landscape stretched for miles, with no signs of water or vegetation. It was a harsh, dry environment.” • Unfamiliar word: Arid • Context clue: “No signs of water or vegetation” and “dry” suggest that arid means extremely dry or lacking in moisture. 2. Breaking the Word Down You can often figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words by breaking them down into their parts (prefix, root, and suffix). Understanding the components of a word can provide insight into its meaning. Examp...

  Distinguishing facts from opinions is a key skill in critical reading and communication, especially in contexts like intensive English reading. It helps readers and listeners better evaluate the reliability and intent of the information they receive. Here’s why this skill is important: 1. Critical Thinking and Evaluation: Being able to differentiate between facts and opinions allows you to critically assess the validity of a statement. Facts are objective and can be verified, while opinions are subjective and reflect personal beliefs or interpretations. This distinction is vital for making informed decisions and forming logical conclusions. 2. Identifying Bias and Persuasion: Many texts, especially in media, advertisements, or political writing, contain both facts and opinions. Understanding the difference helps you recognize bias or persuasive language. Writers and speakers often present opinions as facts to influence audiences, so distinguishing the two prevents being m...

Making predictions is an effective strategy in intensive English reading because it actively engages the reader with the text and improves comprehension. Here are a few reasons why prediction is valuable in this context: 1. Engagement with the Text: When readers make predictions, they are encouraged to think critically about the material. This keeps them actively involved in the reading process, rather than passively absorbing information. 2. Improved Comprehension: By predicting what might happen next in a text, readers are more likely to pay close attention to details, such as plot clues or thematic hints. This deepens understanding as they compare their predictions to the actual outcomes. 3. Enhanced Vocabulary and Context Skills: Predicting outcomes based on context helps readers better understand unfamiliar words or complex sentence structures. They can infer meanings and connect new vocabulary to what they know about the subject. 4. Development of Analytical Skill...

Understanding headings is crucial because they provide a clear structure to any piece of writing, whether it’s an article, report, or essay. Headings help both writers and readers by organizing content into logical sections, making it easier to follow the flow of ideas. Here’s why they are important: 1. Clarity and Organization: Headings break up long sections of text and make the content more digestible. They act as signposts, guiding the reader through the main points and subtopics. 2. Highlighting Key Information: By using different levels of headings (like main headings and subheadings), writers can emphasize the most important ideas. This allows readers to quickly locate the information they are most interested in. 3. Enhancing Readability: Well-placed headings improve the overall readability of a document. They help prevent readers from feeling overwhelmed by large blocks of text and allow for easier skimming, especially in longer documents. 4. Supporting Visual A...

  An author’s purpose is his reason for or intent in writing. An author’s purpose may be to amuse the reader, to persuade the reader, to inform the reader, or to satirize a condition. An author writes with one of four general purposes in mind: To relate a story or to recount events, an author uses narrative writing. To tell what something looks like, sounds like, or feels like, the author uses descriptive writing To convince a reader to believe an idea or to take a course of action, the author uses persuasive writing. To inform or teach the reader, the author uses expository writing. An author’s purpose is reflected in the way he writes about a topic. For instance, if his purpose is to amuse, he will use jokes or anecdotes in his writing. Clues to an author’s purpose may be found in titles, prefaces, and the author’s background.  An author always has an overall reason or purpose for writing a passage.   Some passages explicitly state their purposes.  O...

Making an inference is often referred to as reading between the lines. It is the process of making a guess about something you don’t know for sure, based on the information available. For example, you see Aidan bite into a piece of fruit and give a delighted smile. From this observation, we can infer that Aidan is enjoying the taste of the fruit.  When we read something, we also make inferences. We use previous knowledge acquired, along with information from the text to draw conclusions, make judgements and interpret the text.Much of the information we obtain from reading comes from what is implied as opposed to a direct statement of the information. By making inferences, we are tapping into what we already know from the world around us or from earlier in the text. We then combine this previous knowledge with what we are reading, and the two work in harmony to support us in having a deeper understanding of the text. We are able to infer that which is not outrightly stated. Acco...

  A paragraph consists mostly of three components The topic The main idea The supporting details The supporting details are examples, explanation, proofs, statistics, etc. that support and illustrate thpoint being made by the main idea of a paragraph. They are supporting because they lift up the main idea and help to make it clearer through providing a deeper explanation of the author’s main point. Supporting Details, a paragraph contains facts, statements, examples-specifics which guide us to a full understanding of the main idea. They clarify, illuminate, explain, describe, expand and illustrate the main idea and are supporting details. Determining Supporting Details 1. Decide which details help to further the story line. 2. Decide which details help you to understand the main idea. 3. Answer question raised by the main idea (who, what when, why or how).   Types of Supporting Materials 1.       COMPARISONS in which one thing i...

The main idea of a paragraph is the primary point or concept that the author wants to communicate to the readers about the topic. In a paragraph, when the main idea is stated directly, it is expressed in what is called the topic sentence. It gives the overarching idea of what the paragraph is about and is supported by the details in subsequent sentences in the paragraph. In a multi-paragraph article, the main idea is expressed in the thesis statement, which is then supported by individual smaller points. Think of the main idea as a brief but all-encompassing summary. It covers everything the paragraph talks about in a general way, but does not include the specifics. Those details will come in later sentences or paragraphs and add nuance and context; the main idea will need those details to support its argument. For example, imagine a paper discussing The Causes of Wolrd War I. One paragraph might be dedicated to the role that imperialism played in the conflict. T...

  Skimming is a strategic, selective reading method in which you focus on the main ideas of a text. When skimming, deliberately skip text that provides details, stories, data, or other elaboration. Instead of closely reading every word, focus on the introduction, chapter summaries, first and last sentences of paragraphs, bold words, and text features. Skimming is extracting the essence of the author’s main messages rather than the finer points. Skimming is the other technique of fast reading. Skimming is the act of glancing through a text for gathering a basic idea about that text. For instance, if you want to read an interesting article on the newspaper and you do not have enough time to read more than one article, you will skim through most of the article to decide exactly which article you want to read. Skimming will also save a great amount of your valuable time if you know how to skim a text efficiently.  Purposes of Skimming To see what is in the news on a website o...

Scanning is reading rapidly in order to find specific facts. Scanning is a reading technique in which a reader scans the page with their eyes in order to find specific information. To scan implies to search for something. Scanning is a selective reading approach performed by the reader when he or she is looking for certain information or text contained in the section without entirely reading the text. As a result, when you scan some material, you already know what you’re searching for; all you have to do is spot and swoop it down. Here’s an illustration of a scanning technique: When looking for a phone number in a directory, a person scans the page for the name of the exact person they are looking for. To effectively scan, the reader must first comprehend how the content is organized and decipher what is read in order to easily discover the required information. Purposes of Scanning To search for a word in a dictionary or index To find a phone number or an address in a dire...

      Previewing   Previewing is a reading technique that involves understanding what is in a particular work without reading the contents of the text. Previewing simply means looking over your reading material in order to become familiar with its content before you actually begin reading it. In this way, you begin thinking about any experiences you may have had with the subject. By previewing you can provide a general overview and find parts that need to be read, as well as parts that don't. Previewing a text as a reading strategy has the goal of providing you with a quick overview, a rough idea of what you should expect from the book or text at hand, and a foundation for the upcoming learning curve. By previewing a text as a reading strategy, you familiarize yourself with the content, roughly analyzing what you already know about the subject. Previewing a text is similar to watching a movie preview. Think of previewing a text as similar to...