Reading strategies helps students to monitor their understanding of the text by making
predictions and asking questions about the book to deepen their knowledge. Students need
reading strategies because they require different ways to approach obstacles in reading and
become better readers. With practice, these strategies lead to skills that become automatic and
quick over time. Educators refer to reading strategies as scaffolding techniques because they help
students who struggle with learning to improve their reading abilities. This essay aims to figure
out three strategies that could be used to promote reading.
There are many strategies that students can use to improve reading, and they include the
following: Reading Annotating and highlighting text, also referred to as close reading. In this
strategy, the students stress and underline important information in the process of translation.
Besides, students can also note down questions as they receive an explanation of a new concept.
Annotation helps the reader to improve reading through formulating questions in response to
what is being read and drawing conclusions based on explicit and implicit meaning. Strategies
like annotation give the reader useful concrete tools to interact with texts. Students that struggle
with reading can get benefit from highlighting because it helps them to concentrate on the main
ideas of a document. In the highlighting process, the students can also write down unfamiliar
vocabulary and identify figurative languages.
Personalize the text. This strategy allows the students to connect the material with their personal
life. Comparing their own experience with what is being read in the book gives the reader a
deeper understanding of what is being read. It also offers readers a sense of belonging by making
personal connections with the text through writing it down on a page. In this strategy, teachers
can even comprehend the book by helping the students to see an association with current events;
hence their reading ability can get improved with time. Readers pay attention to personal
READING STRATEGIES 3
thoughts and emotional reactions when personalizing a text that surfaces when reading the
detailed information. When the reader personalizes a version, they record the individual parts of
the literacy piece; hence their reading abilities are improved.
In identifying the main themes, one must read and analyze the work by noting the plot of the
work, identifying the subject of the work, identify the main character and assess the author’s
point of view. A deeper understanding of themes during reading increases engagement in
readers. It also gives the reader the insight into how the story characters live to pursue
something good, the outcomes of conflicts, and how all these choices come to pass in their lives.
For students to understand issues, they first need to build fundamental knowledge of text
summaries, main ideas, and topics. Finding topics of the text and learning the moral of a lesson
helps the students to be keener when reading; hence their reading ability automatically gets
improved. For students to understand themes during reading, the teacher needs to use mentor
text.
In conclusion, there are three strategies that students can use to improve their reading, and they
include; personalizing the text, identifying the main themes, annotating, and highlighting text.
When highlighting passages, the students underline relevant text and questions when reading.
These give them the necessary concrete tools to interact with books; hence their reading skills
are improved. Reading is an essential part of the learning process; students need to develop
practical reading skills for a successful education.
READING STRATEGIES 4
Chen, I. J., & Chen, W. C. (2016). Perceived usefulness of a strategy-based peer annotation
system for improving academic reading comprehension. Journal of Interactive Learning
Research, 27(1), 27-51.
Meyer, B. J., & Wijekumar, K. K. (2016). Intelligent tutoring of the structure strategy: A reading
strategy tutor. In Adaptive educational technologies for literacy instruction (pp. 82-103).
Routledge.
Maguire, M., & Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a thematic analysis: A practical, step-
by-step guide for learning and teaching scholars. AISHE-J: The All Ireland Journal
of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 9(3).
Ryan, G. W., & Bernard, H. R. (2003). Techniques to identify themes. Field
methods, 15(1), 85-109.