Developing Reading Skills

Alauyah Johari
Bawani Selvaraj

This book is tailored for Academic Reading courses at institutions of higher learning and it provides succinct coverage of essential reading and critical thinking skills in eight chapters. This includes how to skim and scan a reading text; the strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words; how to identify topics, stated main ideas and implied main ideas; supporting details; how to make inferences and draw conclusions; deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning and assumptions in arguments; purpose, tone, audience and bias; and argument analysis. These fundamentals focus on building and enhancing students’ ability to interpret content and analyse the organisation of ideas in reading texts, besides developing their critical reading and thinking abilities.

     This book is designed to be accessible to learners. Adhering closely to the requirements of academic reading courses, the topics within each chapter are presented systematically. The discussions use examples from a variety of genres to engage students. Each chapter has a self-check section and concludes with tests that cover each topic in the chapter. In addition, answers are provided at the end of the book to help students monitor and check their understanding of the topics.

Key Features

• Presents systematic and concise notes to assist students in acquiring reading and critical thinking skills

• Contains various examples that are current, relevant and engaging to complement the discussions and illustrate the skills taught

• Provides ample tests within the chapters to reinforce students’ mastery of topics and skills covered

• Includes suggested answers at the end of the book to help students monitor and check their understanding of the topics