Selective Reading: Characteristics and Types

The selective reading Pre-reading is the first phase of reading (along with reading and post-reading) and consists of activities that prepare the student for the reading that will be done next. Through these activities we seek to improve the understanding of the text through the activation of the reader's prior knowledge.

It also seeks to encourage the formation of a general idea of ​​the text and the planning of ways to deal with reading activity. In addition to improving comprehension, the selective reading phase and activities within it improve the speed and accuracy of reading, reducing time and effort.

Selective reading

Selective reading also clarifies the student's goal of reading. The type of activity chosen for this phase will depend on the teacher's criteria, the characteristics of the students and the type of text to be read. Some may be to browse the text, identify features (title, author, photos, subtitles) or predict what will be read, among others.

Index

  • 1 characteristics
    • 1.1 Parts of a selective reading activity
  • 2 Types
    • 2.1 Graphic organizers
    • 2.2 Anticipation guides
    • 2.3 Impressions of history
    • 2.4 Semantic mapping
    • 2.5 Identification of structure and relevant information
    • 2.6 Analysis of visual material
    • 2.7 Identification of main ideas
    • 2.8 Presentation of the text
  • 3 References

characteristics

Selective reading activities are a kind of"warm up"prior to reading, and can be very different from each other. These activities can be differentiated by the duration and level of involvement they require from the student.

For example, showing photos to students requires less involvement on their part than asking them to relate their experiences to what they think they are going to read. The use of selective reading activities is useful because:

-It stimulates students' interest in the text, using the motivational factor to improve reading comprehension. This can be done through showing sensory stimuli related to the text (music, images, etc.) or talking about their own experiences related to that text.

-Gives a reason to read, since it is normal that students do not have an intrinsic motivation to do so. Through selective reading activities readers can discover that the text can be read for pleasure, to search for specific information or to discover something.

-Prepare the student for the language you will find in the text, because it is normal that not everyone can understand the text completely, and this can make the reading slower and requires more effort. For this reason, selective reading activities can present key vocabulary, talk about the context of reading or other resources.

Parts of a selective reading activity

The selective reading activities are divided into two parts: the part corresponding to the teacher and the part corresponding to the students.

For example, in a pre-reading activity the part that corresponds to the teacher may be to ask the students about information they have read before; and the part that corresponds to the student may be to remember something that he has recently seen and identify some characteristics of that particular text.

Types

Graphic organizers

The graphic organizers are a type of selective reading activities that show a"map"of the text to be followed, which allows the readers to frame the text. Through the graphic organizers you can teach complex vocabulary and demonstrate how the different ideas of the text relate to each other.

There are many types of organizers, but in general they present the most important concepts in a scheme, and identify the main terms to show readers relevant information before reading, and thus improve their reading comprehension.

Anticipation guides

The advance guides consist of a series of statements that the student must respond to. In this way, the student is expected to respond to the statements independently to be able to compare if their previous beliefs about the text are correct.

Through this, it helps to give a sense or an objective to reading and students are allowed to interact beforehand with the text. In this way, advance guides improve understanding by actively engaging readers in learning and by focusing on relevant concepts in the text.

Advance guidelines do not have to be used only in written format and can also be used orally, or with the necessary adaptations according to the age or capacity of the readers.

Impressions of history

The impressions of the story are selective reading activities in which students use key words or phrases in the story to write paragraphs that summarize their impressions. After this, the students read the story and write another summary; then a comparison is made.

Through the impressions of the story you can predict what the reading will be about, which will improve reading comprehension. In addition, they can begin to process the text even before reading it, since they make connections before reading.

Semantic mapping

It consists of a graphic representation that shows the previous knowledge of the readers and is used to create categories for the concepts. This activity helps readers to look for prior knowledge that will be useful for reading.

Identification of structure and relevant information

Every text has a certain structure with relevant information, such as the author's biographical note, information about the publication and the index. In addition, each text can have titles and subtitles that give relevant information.

Analysis of visual material

With this they will focus on the visual or schematic part that the text can have to illustrate key concepts, main ideas, support information, among other elements.

It is common for textbooks to have different categories of visual support that allow easier access to text content.

Identification of main ideas

You can read the first and the last paragraph or some intermediate phrase, as well as use the information of the structure to predict what the main idea of ​​the text is and plan how long it will take to read it.

Presentation of the text

The teacher makes a quick presentation of the text or the topic to introduce the students to its reading.

References

  1. Cunningham, D. and Shablak, S. (1975). Selective Reading Guide-O-Rama: The Content Teacher's Best Friend. Journal of Reading , 18 (5), pp. 380-382.
  2. Haque, M. (2010). Do pre-reading activities help learners comprehend a text better? BRAC University.
  3. Ontario School Board (2004). Think Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches, Grades 7-12 .
  4. Reynolds, J.A. (nineteen ninety six) College Success: Study Strategies and Skills. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
  5. Williams, A.D. (2006). Using a Previewing Strategy to Enhance Reading Comprehension of Secondary Students. University of Tennessee.


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