Skimming & Scanning

Reading Comprehension Strategies: Skimming & Scanning

How do we extract key information from a text? When we have a reading or a video, we may need to obtain specific information in a simple, quick manner. Sometimes we need to analyze a long portion of a text or its entirety. Howeverver, let's start by the beginning: the cases when we need specific information contained in the text. Two of the most popular techniques are skimming & scanning, and they are also highly effective in standarized English-language testing.
Firstly, why is it important to have a comprehensive reading?

Reading Comprehension Strategies

In brief, people can learn from texts if they know how to analyze. At the same time, they need to organize in their heads the abstract information contained in the explicit and implicit text.

Moreover, there are general tips we can apply to start. After we become experienced, we can decide which one works best for each comprehension task.

   

After we digest a little of these principles, we can dive into the techniques we have for today.

  

 

These simple tips apply to a lot of situations so keep them in mind.

Let's practice 1. Play these games to test if you got the general concepts.

https://wordwall.net/resource/14912140/decide-whether-you-would-use-skimming-or-scanning-for-each

https://wordwall.net/resource/16944237/skimming-scanning

 

Let's practice 2. Here you have some texts and questions to answer. In a lot of cases, the text and questions include synonyms or some different word order. That is a way to increase a little the difficulty of the exercise, so take into account that you don't always have to look for an exact word or phrase from the question.

  

https://www.liveworksheets.com/pz2218655oh
https://www.liveworksheets.com/us1297859jr
https://www.liveworksheets.com/rp1663846gn

Additional resources

12 Infographics that will help improve your reading skills https://ebookfriendly.com/improve-reading-skills-infographics/

Reading Comprehension Skills and Learn 4 Key Strategies https://youtu.be/NqpbTN3diUc
Professional uses http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/readingstrategies/skimming_scanning.html