Improve Reading Skills and Understanding
A Key to Learning From Written Material is So Obvious It's Ignored
Dec 13, 2008
The key to really understanding written materials thoroughly is within the building blocks of language – words. If you wish to truly understand any subject that requires reading, you must make the dictionaries and glossaries your friends.
Oh it’s so obvious, isn’t it? But how often are words not fully understood glossed over and ignored? How often does understanding get twisted because a few words are incorrectly understood?
Words Not Understood
First, an obvious point: If you really don’t know what a word means within the context of your reading, look it up! Don’t be lazy or vain. Admit there are some words that you need to learn, and don’t hold back from looking them up.
This is easy enough to concede if you’re dealing with a new or specialized subject. That’s what glossaries are for, unusual or specialized words. You can find them on the internet. Many books have a glossary in the back of the book for unusual words within.
Then of course, there are those words that are not part of normal conversation or use. They’re words you don’t know too. So look them up before you continue reading!
There are many dictionary choices available. Choose one that doesn’t bog you down. What is important is that you understand each different definition listed for that word. Pick one that is appropriate in context. Play around with it by making up realistic sentences until you own the word.
But there is a possibility you will have problems understanding the definitions themselves! Common English words that you think you know will impede understanding if incorrectly or partially understood. Remember, many words have multiple meanings.
Signs for Passing Uknown or Incorrectly Understood Words
As you read, be aware of how you are taking in the material. There are two warning signs of going by incorrectly or not fully understood words. The first is easy. You become hazy, foggy, or dopey, disinterested and restless. You may be tempted to give up
The second sign is a bit deceptive. You may just be clipping along and, if you are honest and aware, eventually realize you are reading on automatic. You are just not there as much anymore. The text, though you read on, is irrelevant or meaningless. It’s simply not a part of you.
Finding the Word that Makes the Rest of the Text Clear
With either of the two warning signs, the technique is the same. Go back to when you were doing well before the warning sign occurred, not when or after it occurred.
Somewhere in that immediate area, you should see a word that arouses your curiosity or perplexes you. You can begin to develop intuition with this practice. Accepting that there may be a misunderstanding or only partial understanding of a word is paramount.
Look up and understand which of the definitions is applicable to your reading. Use it in sentences that are realistic to the way you speak or write. Once you have it down, continue reading from that point on.
There should now be a relaxed increase of clarity. You should feel less foggy or hazy. If you were clipping along on automatic, you should feel more that the material is now becoming a part of you. If not, go back a little further and dig more.
Benefits
Use the techniques for finding incorrectly or parially understood words. Take the time to look up words you know you don't know. The reward will be clarity and confidence with whatever you’re reading. In time you will find you have to look up less words because your vocabulary has increased.
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