Good readers ask questions about what they are reading. They look for clues to answer those questions and help them to make sense of the text. They use the information that they can find in the text and the knowledge that they already have about the world to come to some sort of conclusion about what the text means.
We do this every day, in both oral and written communication. Often this is so automatic that we don't even realise that the information wasn't included in the conversation or text. For example, read the following sentences:
My wife and I tried to pack light, but we made sure that we didn’t forget our sleeping bags and special walking shoes. The last time I travelled, I had motion sickness so I also made sure that I packed some medicine to prevent vomiting.
The reader can gather a great deal of information from these sentences:
This information was not clearly stated in the sentences, but a reader can use what was written – along with their knowledge of the world – to understand much more than what was said. When you read a text, you automatically come to conclusions about what you are reading, even when the writer has not said it. You come to conclusions as to why things have happened, why characters have behaved in a certain way, and how they feel.
Of course, people’s knowledge of the world is different, depending on where they live or their experiences. This means that people may come to different conclusions about what they read.
Good readers use what is in the text and their knowledge of the world to make sense of what they are reading. You can help your students to develop this skill by following these steps:
In 1900, at the age of 21, Albert Einstein was a university graduate and unemployed. He worked as a teaching assistant, gave private lessons and finally secured a job in 1902 as a technical expert in the patent office in Bern. While he was supposed to be assessing other people’s inventions, Einstein was actually developing his own ideas in secret. He is said to have jokingly called his desk drawer at work the ‘bureau of theoretical physics’.
What I understand about Einstein from the paragraph (but is not directly stated) | How I understand this |
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What I understand from the paragraph (but is not directly stated) | How I understand this |
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Perhaps he wasn’t very rich | He had to work – he worked as a teaching assistant and gave private lessons |
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![]() Pause for thought Here are some questions for you to think about after trying this activity. If possible, discuss these questions with a colleague.
This activity helps students to understand more about the skills they use when they read a text, and will help them to understand and remember texts more. It could be difficult for students, but they will get better with practice. Try the technique again with another text, and see if your students are able to understand more. |
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