Improving Reading Skills “Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader” Margaret Fuller

Have you ever thought……? What is most likely to influence your success at university or workplace? Declining literacy rate is the major concern for our educators but still it isn't getting better. Why?

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Joseph Addison

Strategies for Reading Improvement

1. Read About Things That Interest You If you are interested in what you are reading about, the words will come alive, and you will be motivated to understand.

2. Read Material That is of Your Level or a Little Difficult for You Looking up many unknown words in a conventional dictionary is tedious and difficult to retain. Initially stay in your comfort zone and keep reading.

3. Learn to Read In-depth, Stay on the Same Subject for a while If you are familiar with the subject, you will read more. Read at least one complete book of one author. If the subject is new to you, try to read few more books about the same subject. This will make you come across the same ideas and vocabulary. Going deeper into subject improves reading confidence.

4. Listen First If You have Trouble in Reading Listen to audio files of the material that you are reading. Hearing the rhythm of someone reading a text will help your own reading. This practice makes difficult content seem more familiar.

5. Let Your Imagination Get Involved Good readers get engrossed in their reading and let it trigger their imagination. Enjoy the reading experience and look forward to absorb the information, ideas and thoughts expressed by the writer.

6. Don’t Worry About What You don’t Understand While reading, you may even understand something in your own personal way but you can still enjoy reading without understanding all of what you read.

7. Recognize That the Key is to Read a lot You may develop a system for keeping track of new words that you encounter in your reading. However, the main growth in your vocabulary and reading skill will come just from reading as much as you can. Keep reading, and you will become a better reader.

“I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot.” Bill gates “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” Jane Austen