Why is reading challenging? wayne

It is very challenging, sometimes painful, experience for EFL students to read English newspapers, magazines, or books. Various reasons lie behind this: the high level of vocabulary and structure, a lack of background knowledge on the topic, an d reading skills.

Become an expert reader with Reading insight! Reading Insight is a 4-level reading course that is intended to improve your reading abilities gradually. T here are 4 areas of reading strategies you need to focus on to improve your reading abilities.

1. Vocabulary skill When you run into an unfamiliar word, try to continue reading. A couple of unfamiliar words w ill not often prevent general understanding of a p assage. If you think they are still a barrier to furth er reading, use context clues. If they also do not provide enough information, it will be necessary to use your Word Book or look up the "problem word" in the dictionary.

2. Paragraph approach A passage is a collection of paragraphs: The main point of each paragraph is organized into the main idea of the passage. When you read a p assage, try not to just focus on the meaning of e ach sentence: Keep asking yourself "What is the main point of this paragraph?" Questions on the main point of a paragraph and summary exercises will help you stay focused.

3. Understanding Longer Passages Young EFL readers have often not been exposed to a long passage (more that 200 words), and they find such passages very challenging to understand. Reading skills will be needed to understand a passage: scanning, skimming, understanding the structure of the passage, etc. Reading comprehension questions and summary excises cover these reading skills.

4. Knowledge of the topic Similar to reading in your native language, a lack of background knowledge prevents you from understanding the topic. The Reading insight course covers a variety of topics, including academic subjects, social issues, worl d culture, etc. If you are not familiar with the topi c in question, try to search for relevant information in books or on the Internet.