Reading and listening

skills
Let's start with
reading..
• Discuss the following questions in small
groups:
1. Do you like reading?
2. Do you read books, magazines or
newspapers?
3. What kind is your favourite?
4. Do you read every day?
5. Where do you usually read?
6. What have you read today?
Reading is a big part of modern life
Here are some examples of what people read:
• Newspapers – paper and online
• Books
• Religious texts
• Sign-posts
• Advertisements
• Magazines
• Maps
• Food labels
• Subtitles
• Menus
Reading style depends on
what we are reading..

For example:
1. With newspapers and magazines, you flick
through to find something interesting (skimming
to get the gist).
2. To identify specific information like a name in a
phone book or a flight departure time you look
over the information quickly to identify relevant
key words (scanning to find specific information).
3. For a book you read from start to finish in detail
(reading in detail).
• More about these later!
Let's think about
reading for university..

• Do you need to do regular

reading for university?
• What kind of material will you
need to read for university?
• Why is reading important
for your course?
Answers
• Do you need to do regular reading for university?
Yes!
• What kind of material will you need to read for
university? Here are some examples! We call these
sources.
a) Academic texts
b) Journals, websites
c) Newspapers
d) Encyclopaedias
e) Lecture slides
f) Internet articles
g) Research reports
h) Literature reviews
i) Case studies
Answers
continued
Why is reading important for you?
1. To prepare for lectures and tutorials
2. To revise for exams
3. To learn more about the subject
4. To find theories and information
related to assignments
5. To find sources to support your
ideas
Reading for
university requires
specific skills

• Here are some of the

challenges:
1. Limited time
2. Regular deadlines
3. Extensive reading list
4. Difficult academic texts
5. Large quantities of new
information to process
 1. Relevant material
2. Clear purpose

Tips to be a 3. Skimming
4. Scanning

more 5. Detailed reading

6. Note taking
effective 7. Be kind to yourself
8. Vocabulary
reader 9. Study partner
10. Critical thinking
1. Find relevant
material
Prioritise the most useful texts.

Here are some tips to check if the text is

relevant to your reading goals:
• Check the date published – sometimes
you will be asked to use only sources from
a certain period e.g. the last ten years.
• Check the description on the back and the
contents page to get a quick overview.
2.1 Academic reading
needs a purpose

• Decide on your reading purpose

• Purpose = what you want to achieve
• For example, your purpose could be:
1. to understand a new theory
2. to find sources for your assignment
3. to revise for an exam

What other purposes can you think of?

2.2 Purpose affects
reading style
• For example, if you are reading to find
information for an assignment....
• Focus on the key words or question. If your
question is 'Why is time management
important for students?'
• Your focus should be on 'Time
management' and 'its importance to
students'.
• Read actively and stay focused on your goals.
• Only read material that is relevant to your
purpose.
More about reading
technique
Once you have identified your purpose you must chose an appropriate reading
technique...
 3.1 Skimming

Also called reading for 'gist'

Reading quickly to get a general idea of the text

Covers a lot of text in a short time

Helps decide if material is relevant to your purpose

For example, you skim read a newspaper article looking

for main ideas
3.2 How to skim

You are looking for main details

Don't read every word

Why should you not read every word?

3.3 Not all words have equal value

Nouns and verbs are the

Skim for information
key words you need to
words
focus on for meaning
3.4 How to skim
• Do read:
1. Abstract
2. Content pages
3. Introduction and conclusion
4. First and last sentences of paragraphs and chapters
5. Titles
6. Headings
7. Text that is bold or underlined
8. Visuals – diagrams and images

• What do these all have in common?

 The first sentence of the paragraph - The topic sentence
allows you to decide if the paragraph is relevant

The last sentence – sums up the paragraph and gives the

3.5 Locating author's concluding argument

the main ideas The introductory paragraph gives the main idea or
in a text.. objective and allows you to decide if the book/ article/
journal etc. is relevant
Don't read full sentences and skip sentences which seem
irrelevant. Search for the useful information only!
3.6 A tip for skimming...

• Read vertically
AND horizontally
• Your eyes move from side to
side and up and down!
• This is called peripheral vision.
• This sounds complicated but it
gets easier with practice.
3.7 Let's recap

Why is skimming important for academic texts?

• There is a large quantity of material

• There is limited time
• You need to find information quickly
• You need to be strategic...
4.1 Scanning

• Reading a text quickly for specific

information
• For example, key words, names or dates
• Something you do on a daily basic –
checking for a certain food on a menu
or a train time
• What would you scan for on this menu?
4.2 How to scan

• Keep your purpose in mind.

• Identify appropriate material to read.
• Search for information that relates to
your purpose.
• Move your eyes quickly to identify the
key information, use your peripheral
vision – ignore the rest.
• If you are looking for information about
technology scan the text until you see
the word "technology".
4.3 • Similar rules to skimming – check the abstract,
contents page, introduction and conclusion,
first and last sentences of paragraphs and

How to scan
chapters, titles, headings, text that is bold or
underlined and visuals

• Do you remember why these are important?

 4.4 A tip for scanning

• Use your finger to focus your

attention and keep your place
in the text.
• Otherwise, it's easy to get lost.
4.5 Why is scanning important for academic reading?

To identify
There is a
relevant
large
information
quantity of
and key
material
words

You need to There is

be strategic limited time
5.1 Detailed reading
• Reading for detailed understanding
• Reading for a full and accurate understanding
• Time consuming and requires effort
 5.2 How to
read in detail
• Read every word slowly.
• Think carefully about the
information.
• Take notes of the main
ideas.
 Be selective – focus on what is relevant to assignments and
Selective exams.

Summarize
Summarize and paraphrase main ideas and theories and note
and important details.
paraphrase
6. Note taking
tips Relevant Include the relevant information of each source - author,
title, date, publisher, place of publication, URL and page
information numbers for future references.

Abbreviations Use abbreviations of words to save time (for example = e.g.).

7. Be kind to yourself

• You need to be able to concentrate.

• Take short regular breaks.
• Set short-term goals for example to read 2
chapters per day.
8. Vocabulary

• Do you think it is important to understand

every word?
• It is an important skill to guess the meaning
using the context (surrounding words and
meaning).
• You can use a vocabulary notebook for new
words you think are important for example
jargon specific to your topic.
9. A study partner
• Sharing and discussing your ideas
can help you understand and
remember the information better
• And it can make the information
seem more relevant and
interesting
• Do you have a study buddy?
10. Critical thinking

Don't believe
everything you read
Ask questions and
evaluate
We have looked at tips to improve reading skills

Reading will also improve your Discuss with a partner.

writing.
 Reading helps your writing
in the following ways:

1. Expands vocabulary – nouns, verbs

and conjunctions
2. Builds understanding of sentence
structure and cohesion
3. Facilitates coherence – the ability to
connect ideas
Let's recap reading skills

1 2 3 4 5 6
Have a clear Select an Skim and scan Read in detail Take notes – Always read
purpose. appropriate to identify to reinforce paraphrase critically.
reading relevant understanding. and write
strategy. information. down details
of the source.
Focus on
listening skills
Listening skills
for students

• Do you find it easy to listen to your

teacher?
• Do you have any tips to help you listen?
• For example:
1. Take notes
2. Have a coffee
3. Hide your phone?!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_MLEPKj-
tA

Watch this Answer the following question:

video about
listening tips 1. What tips does the video suggest to improve
your listening?

for Discuss with a partner..

students..
Do you agree?
 1. Set up the environment – have paper and a pen,
direct your body towards the teacher so you can focus
and don’t sit beside your friends!

2. Choose to be interested – have a positive and open

mind.

The
video suggests... 3. Be prepared – do your homework, it is easier to listen
the more you know.

4. Actively listen – make eye contact, take notes, draw

pictures and ask and answer questions.

Do you do any of these things?

 1. Why is listening
important at university?

Listening strategies
2. What are some of the
challenges you will face?
 Possible answers

Information is given verbally in lectures, presentations, Often not your first language, lack of knowledge about
discussion with classmates etc. the vocabulary or subject, speaker talks quickly, lack of
visual clues, background noise etc.
 • 1. Predicting content
• 2. Listening for gist
• 3. Signposting language
• 4. Listening for details
• 5. Inferring meaning

Follow these strategies to

improve your listening
1. Predicting content
• The context (situation) helps to predict the
content, style of language and vocabulary.
• This helps your brain to anticipate upcoming
information and improve understanding.
• What do you expect to hear in these
situations?
1. In a train station
2. In a supermarket
3. In a lecture
 If you focus on
Don't try to
Listen for the every word you
understand every
general idea can miss the
word
overall meaning

2. Listening for gist

• 3. Signposting language

• Directs you in a certain direction

• Helps you to focus on the main ideas of the speaker
• Clarifies and reinforces the structure
• For example "Today's lecture will focus on listening skills. Firstly I
will discuss the important of listening skills, then I will focus on
strategies......"
• Signposting phrases are: Let's look at some examples, we will
now look at, in contrast to this etc.

• Listen and see if you notice your lecturer doing this

@Copyrights All Rights Reserved. The LSC Group. Credits: Mrs. Sarah Gibbons -
Lecturer
4. Listening for
details

• You are listening for something specific.

• For example, you are listening to the radio
to find out the football score.

• Can you think of any other examples?

• 5. Inferring meaning

• Using prior knowledge of a situation to understand

the meaning.
• For example, if you only hear a part of what your
lecturer is saying, you hear the words "deadline",
"assignment" and "26th May". You can infer the
relationship between the words.
• Or if you hear two people talking in a different
language you can infer many things from the tone
and volume without understanding the words..
 • Listening is not always easy but certain
strategies can help
• 1. Predicting content
• 2. Listening for gist

Listening • 3. Signposting language

• 4. Listening for details
• 5. Inferring meaning
recap
• Can you remember what these all mean?
Discuss with a partner..
• Practice them next time you're in a lecture!
Let's recap
today's lesson
Reading skills:
• Purpose
• Skimming
• Scanning
• Detailed reading

Listening skills:
• Predicting content
• Gist
• Signposting
• Details
• Inferring meaning