How to Improve your English Reading Skills

Understanding and Strengthening Your English Reading Skills

Everybody knows the feeling of reading a text and realising it’s harder to understand than anticipated. But how can you improve your reading skills? Before reviewing the tips, let’s review the different reading types and abilities. Once you understand them, developing your reading skills in English will become much more manageable.

Essential skills for reading success

Let’s start with the basics. When you learn to read in your own language as a child, it’s a natural process of acquisition.

1. Decoding

Decoding is the capacity to sound out words that you may have heard before but have yet to see written down. This is an essential reading skill and a vital part of the process since it is the basis for all subsequent reading abilities. Decoding relies heavily on phonemic awareness, the capacity to perceive and transform diverse sounds into words. Phonemic awareness is usually acquired naturally early on in life when learning about syllables, words and sounds. If English is significantly different from your mother tongue – this process can be more challenging, so dedicate as much time and focus as needed.

2. Phonics

The capacity to recognise the relationship between sounds and the letters they produce is called phonics. This technique of mapping sounds in words to written words is a critical reading ability.

3. Vocabulary

Having a varied library of vocabulary in your mind that you can recall effortlessly is an essential component of success when learning a second language. When reading in English, this skill is required to comprehend the meaning of words, their meanings, and their context. So, the more words you know, the more successful you will be at reading and comprehending texts in English.

4. Fluency

The capacity to read aloud with comprehension, precision and speed is called fluency. It’s a necessary ability for excellent reading comprehension. Proficient learners know how to read fluently, at a good pace, with a suitable tone, and with few mistakes.

5. Sentence construction and cohesion

Cohesion is the ability to connect concepts between and within sentences, which is required for reading comprehension. While sentence building and cohesiveness may appear more connected with writing, they are also necessary reading skills.

6. Reading comprehension

The ability to read text, absorb it, and understand its meaning is referred to as reading comprehension. It depends on two interrelated abilities: word reading (decoding the symbols on the page) and language comprehension (understanding the meaning of the words and sentences).

7. Reasoning and background knowledge

This ability enables learners to use prior information to draw inferences. Most readers can link what they have read to what they already know. They may also read between the lines to find information that isn’t explicitly stated in the text but has a more subtle, underlying meaning.

8. Memory and attention

These reading skills are linked to one another and form a part of a category known as executive function. When reading, attention helps absorb information from the text, while working memory allows you to retain the knowledge. Combined, these skills will enable you to understand and gain information from what you are reading.

4 Main Types of Reading Techniques to Improve

In daily life, when we are reading for pleasure or to complete a task, we use various types of reading techniques. Once you know and understand these techniques, you will be better equipped to improve your English reading skills. Here are the different methods, in the order they should follow:

1. Skimming – Skimming, also known as gist reading, refers to going through a text to absorb the main idea. In this case, as a reader, you do not focus on every word of the text but concentrate only on the central theme of the text. Reading newspapers and searching for a name in a telephone directory are examples of skimming.
2. Scanning – When scanning, the reader moves fast between phrases to get to a particular information (like a scanner would). Scanning is the process of dismissing unnecessary information from a text in order to find a specific piece of information.
3. Intensive reading – Intensive reading takes significantly longer than skimming and scanning since it requires total concentration. It entails close reading to achieve comprehension precision. In this case, the reader must grasp the meaning of every word.
4. Extensive reading – Extensive reading focuses on fluency rather than accuracy. It mainly involves leisure reading and is more of a pastime.

Guide to Improving your English reading skills.

1. Start with getting an overview of the text.

Use the four reading techniques in the order provided above to go through the text. That means that the first time you read the text, you can skim it to get a general idea.

That means that you can:

1. Read the text, but take your time with details. There is no need to understand every single word.
2. Summarise every paragraph with one sentence.

In the second reading, you can practice scanning, which includes:

1. Reading the text in detail.
2. If there are questions you have to answer with the text, look for the answers
3. Look up unknown words

This technique will help you get a general idea of the text before you read it in detail. Knowing what you are reading about can make it easier to understand.

2. Summarise the text 

One effective method you can use to avoid forgetting everything you’ve just read is to summarise the content. This helps you focus on the story’s main points and come back to it when needed. Here’s some advice on how to write a summary in English.

3. Use a text you know in your first language

Start with familiar texts – for example, an English translation of your favourite fairy tale from childhood. It will be easy to understand, and the new words can often be understood through context.

4. Choose the right level

When it comes to reading, it is essential to choose the correct text. If you read a too easy text, you will be bored. If you read a text that is too hard, you will get frustrated and might develop a fear or dislike of reading.

5. Take your time

Good things take time – the same applies to reading. Reading something thoroughly multiple times is better than rushing through it and not understanding half of what you just read. It is also important to note that your brain can only focus for 45 minutes before you slowly start to lose it.

That means reading in smaller portions. Take breaks and continue again. A little break can do wonders!

6. Extend your vocabulary

The more words you know, the easier a text will get. If you read a text with 500 words but only know 200, it will be difficult for you to understand. However, if you know 450 words, it will become much easier for you. So, work on learning new words! Our guide on how to improve your English vocabulary can be helpful here.

7. Read out loud 

Ever heard of auditory learning? An auditory learner is someone who learns best by listening. Sometimes, reading a text out loud can help you understand it better. This technique could benefit you mainly if you process information through auditory cues. You either read aloud to yourself or, if possible, listen to the audiobook and read along.

8. Incorporate your interests

Nobody likes to read/watch, or listen to topics they don’t like. It automatically makes us less interested and invested. So, if you want to read more but don’t know what to read, start researching a topic you are interested in. Do you like romance novels? Try to read one. Interested in horses? Look for a story with horses. The more interested we are in the topic, the more likely we will like reading and learning.

9. Answer the ‘Five W’s’

To get some information from the text, try to determine what the text’s central point is. Find the answers to the 5Ws: where, who, what, when, and why. This will give you an overview of the most critical aspects of the text.

10. Practise makes perfect

Last but not least – maybe the most important tip: read as much as possible. That means making it a habit to read daily–even for only 30 minutes. Practice and repetition make it easier to learn new words – if you see them more often, chances are you will know their meaning faster!

Improve your English reading skills with BELS English Schools in Malta and Gozo.

Sometimes, having a professional guide you through your learning is needed to take your reading skills in English to the next level. If this is the case for you, BELS can help in multiple ways. Joining our English courses in Malta and Gozo for an intensive learning experience is the most effective solution. You may mix group lessons at your level with individual training, which will cover all language topics and abilities. You may also have private lessons online with one of our expert tutors to help you improve your English skills at your own pace from the comfort of your home.  Email us to learn more.