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Reading for Different Purposes

Strategies for Reading Different Kinds of Materials

Jan 27, 2009 DeLene Sholes

Teach your students to read for different purposes. Sometimes it's OK to skip over an unknown word, and sometimes they need to read with a dictionary at their fingertips.

If students can get the general sense of a sentence or paragraph without knowing every word, there’s no need to interrupt their reading by using a dictionary to find the word’s meaning. Sometimes they will want to read through material quickly, but they will need to read more carefully when they are reading to learn.

Some Purposes for Reading

for pleasure or for personal reasons
to find general information such as what a book is mostly about
to find a specific topic in a book or article
to learn subject matter that is required for a class

Once students have mastered the basic decoding skills, they will begin to read for a variety of purposes.

If they are reading a book or article for fun or if they simply want to know about a particular subject such as frogs, they may want to read fast. It isn’t necessary for them to read every word or even know the meaning of every word in the text. They will probably get the sense of the unknown word from the context.

Skimming for General Information

Students who want to find general information about a subject such as frogs will want to skim through a book or several books to determine how the books are organized and what they cover. When they skim, they flip through the pages of the book or article quickly to find out whether it might cover the information they need.

Scanning for Specific Information

When a student wants to know how tadpoles become frogs, he will need to scan a book or article about amphibians or frogs to find out whether the material covers tadpoles. When he scans, he will look at the title, the table of contents, the headings, and the index to find out if the material gives information about tadpoles.

Reading to Learn

Another purpose for reading calls for reading carefully and slowly. When a student studies for a test, he will want to skim the book or chapter first to see what it covers. Then he will read the headings and subheadings to discover how the book is organized. He should try to make connections between the material and what he already knows.

Once the student has a general idea about the material he wants to learn, he will read the sections carefully. It’s a time to read with a dictionary close by and to check the glossary for words he doesn’t know. After reading the chapter or section carefully, the student will go back and review the material to see if he can answer questions about the text.

A reading strategy called SQ3R gives more information about a method for studying, asking and answering questions, and reviewing material.

Efficient readers have learned to use different strategies for different kinds of reading. They know when it’s OK to read quickly – skipping over some of the words, how to skim for general information, scan for specific information, and how to study for tests.

The copyright of the article Reading for Different Purposes in Curricula/Lesson Plans is owned by DeLene Sholes. Permission to republish Reading for Different Purposes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.