Overview

Reading Strategies

How do we read texts?
We use different approaches to read different texts. We can read quickly or slowly, skimming for the general ideas or scanning for a specific point. How we read depends on the text - its length, its type - and our purpose in reading it - for information, for the general idea, etc.

In the BEC Higher Reading paper, candidates need to identify the text type and the purpose of the task and to apply the appropriate approach.

Our relative success as readers is shown in the outcome of our reading. Do we find the information we want, or understand the general idea? Succeeding depends on applying different reading strategies to different types of text.

The range of tasks and text types in the BEC Higher Reading paper requires candidates to apply these different strategies effectively.

Here are some situations in which you would apply different approaches to reading:

• When you look through your in-tray to decide how to prioritise your work, you read for gist.
  
  
• When you look at the front page of the newspaper on the bus but you only have a few minutes before your stop, you read for the main points.
  
  
• When you read an instruction manual on how to mend the photocopier, you read for detailed understanding.
  
  
• When you look at two product brochures to decide on a particular supplier, you read for specific information.
  
  
• When you look at a sign in a language you don't know, you have to deduce the meaning.
  
  
• When you check a piece of business correspondence or a report you have written, you edit your work.