Answer to Question #299095 in English for Nthabi

Question

Assignment 1

This assignment focuses on Critical Reading. Before attempting the assignment, read Unit 1 of

your TUT letter 501 and the relevant chapters on critical reading in your prescribed texts.

This assignment consists of TWO parts. Read both questions before writing the responses.

a) In your own words, discuss three different critical reading techniques you have read about

in this course. In your discussion, show how these resonate with your experience of critical

reading and/or the teaching of critical reading skills.

Your response must be between 150-200 words long.

(10 marks: 6 = content 4 = language)

Answer 1

Critical reading involves using logical and rhetorical skills. Identifying the author's thesis is a good place to start, but to grasp how the author intends to support it is a difficult task. The best reading techniques are the SQ3R technique, skimming, scanning, active reading, detailed reading, and structure-proposition-evaluation. The SQ3R reading technique involves five different steps, each one with the goal to get you closer to full comprehension of the text. They include;

Survey: First survey the piece to get a quick idea of the content and structure of the reading. By doing this, you are preparing your mind.

Question: Prepare questions for yourself to go over as you read the material. One trick on how to create questions is to turn paragraph titles into questions. For example, a title such as “Women in the Civil War,” could turn into the question: “Who were the women in the civil war, what did they do, and when?”

Read: Read with your questions in mind. In this step, you can combine other reading techniques that may work for you such as scanning or active reading.

Recite: Now it is time to go back and answer those questions you created. Make sure what you read makes sense, and that you understand how it answers your questions.

Review: Make mental notes or say aloud what you have learned. Try doing so without looking at your notes or the text to check what you have or have not retained.

Skimming is a reading technique where you can glance over the material to find what you are looking for. This is best used when you already know the general idea of the text. You can also skim material before going for further reading.

Scanning is a reading method used when simply running your eyes over a text, usually to find what you are looking for, or to find anything that ‘pops’ out at you.

 Active reading gives you a much more in-depth understanding of the text in front of you. This reading method should be used when you are reading something complex or something that you need to think critically about.

Detailed reading is the most labour-intensive and time-consuming reading technique. Readers carefully read, consume, and analyse each word for meaning. Piecing together the meanings of words in a sentence to provide a deeper understanding can take time and patience, but in some cases, this is the best technique to use.