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What Is the Purpose of Pre-Reading Activities?

Pre-reading is an activity used by teachers to ensure their students are prepared to read a specific text and understand the reasons they are reading the text. Pre-reading is an activity used prior to reading a passage or specific text. Pre-reading is completed within a series of reading activities that also include while-reading and post-reading activities, according to the National Capital Language Resource Center.

Pre-reading
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The activities involved in pre-reading are completed for a number of reasons, such as the assessment by a teacher of the linguistic skills of a student to ensure she is able to read and comprehend the text about to be read. Pre-reading activities are completed by teachers to ensure each student understands the reasons for which she is reading a text. A successful series of prereading activities allows a group of students to understand the reasons for reading a text, such as to build knowledge and to elicit an emotional response to the text from the student. Pre-reading can also allow a student to make decisions about whether to read more of the text or find other works by the same author.

Identification
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Pre-reading activities are designed to provide a student with information about the text and prepare a student to read a certain text, the University of Iowa reports. By providing information for students the student may be able to identify more closely with the characters and emotions conveyed by a text. An extensively prepared student can bring his own knowledge and experience to a text to allow a deeper understanding of the text. By associating more closely with a text the student can understand the events within a book by comparing them to his own experiences.

Information
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By completing pre-reading activities a student can be provided with a large amount of information to help her understand a text. This information includes any cultural information that may be needed to understand the text. By creating pre-reading activities, a student can be provided with the opportunity to work within a group framework that provides opportunities to discuss and understand the texts with her peers, the National Capital Language Resource Center reports.

Activities
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Pre-reading activities can include the use of maps, pictures, diagrams or graphs to increase the understanding of the subjects of the text. The author of a text can also be a subject for prereading activities by discussing the background, style and common themes of the author, according to the National Capital Language Resource Center. Titles, chapter titles and divisions can be discussed with the reader to estimate what the reader imagines the text to contain.

Scanninginvolves a process of quickly searching reading materials in order to locate specific bits of information. When scanning you don't start from the beginning and read to the end. Skimming is another technique whose purpose is to gain a quick overview in order to identify the main points. When skimming, you will often skip words, sentences, and paragraphs. Skimming and scanning are very important reading techniques. In short, skimming refers to looking through material quickly to gather a general sense of the ideas, information, or topic itself. When you skim, you read through an article three to four times faster than when you read each word. Scanning refers to reading through material to find specific information. When you scan, you run your eyes over text or information to pull out specific words, phrases, or data

http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/studytips/reading_skills.htm

Scanning: for a specific focus The technique you use when you're looking up a name in the phone book: you move your eye quickly over the page to find particular words or phrases that are relevant to the task you're doing. It's useful to scan parts of texts to see if they're going to be useful to you:

the introduction or preface of a book the first or last paragraphs of chapters the concluding chapter of a book.

Skimming: for getting the gist of something The technique you use when you're going through a newspaper or magazine: you read quickly to get the main points, and skip over the detail. It's useful to skim:

to preview a passage before you read it in detail to refresh your understand of a passage after you've read it in detail.

Use skimming when you're trying to decide if a book in the library or bookshop is right for you. http://pioneer.chula.ac.th/~pkanchan/html/skim.htm

Skimming and Scanning

Skimming refers to the process of reading only main ideas within a passage to get an overall impression of the content of a reading selection.

How to Skim:

 Read the title. Read the introduction or the first paragraph. Read the first sentence of every other paragraph. Read any headings and sub-headings. Notice any pictures, charts, or graphs. Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases. Read the summary or last paragraph. Scanning is a reading technique to be used when you want to find specific information quickly. In scanning you have a question in your mind and you read a passage only to find the answer, ignoring unrelated information. How to Scan: State the specific information you are looking for. Try to anticipate how the answer will appear and what clues you might use to help you locate the answer. For example, if you were looking for a certain date, you would quickly read the paragraph looking only for numbers. Use headings and any other aids that will help you identify which sections might contain the information you are looking for. Selectively read and skip through sections of the passage.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6533094_reading-skills_-scanning-vs_-skimming.html

Reading Skills: Scanning Vs. Skimming

By Martin Malcolm

Skimming and scanning are two techniques that can help readers quickly gain information from a book, magazine, newspaper or website without having to read every word. When used well, both skimming and scanning can save readers time and allow them to study more efficiently.

Skimming

Readers skim a text when they look it over quickly to get a general idea of the subject-matter. The reader is not interested in all the detail, getting the gist is enough. Skimmers run their eye down the page or screen

looking for pointers that sum up the contents. Subheadings or bullet points attract their attention, as do the introductory phrases of paragraphs and the concluding ones. In longer texts, skimmers check the contents lists, the opening and closing paragraphs of chapters, and any introductions, conclusions or summaries.

Skimming Advantages

Skimming is useful when you have to decide if a long piece of writing is worth close study. If a student with an hour to do some research is presented with 10 textbooks and, there won't be time to read them all. It makes sense to swiftly appraise them and choose the most relevant one. Skimming can also be an effective way of quickly reviewing something that has been read previously, so that the reader can recall the most significant parts. The Reading and Study Skills Lab at Anne Arundel Community College, Maryland, estimates skimming can be done at approximately 1,000 words a minute.

Skimming Disadvantages

Skimming a book, article or webpage only gives the reader a general idea of its contents. Nuances, vital details and caveats are easily missed. This can produce a confused or misleading impression. Skimming works well when dealing with clear subjects that lend themselves to a general overview, such as a chronological description of an event. Skimming is far less effective in making sense of complex discussions or detailed arguments.

Scanning

Readers scan a piece of writing when they quickly search it for specific information. For example, a reader might scan a biography of Abraham Lincoln, looking out only for significant dates. The reader would skip over descriptions of Lincoln's upbringing, his struggles and his achievements, stopping only to note the years. Scanners will make use of a book's index and contents page. When running their eye over the text, they will look out for keywords relevant to their search.

Scanning Advantages

Scanning allows the reader to efficiently gather information, which may be scattered throughout a long piece of writing. It encourages the reader to research in a purposeful way and avoid distractions. According to Anne Arundel Community College's Reading and Study Skills Lab, scanning can be done at approximately 1,500 words a minute, or even more.

Scanning Disadvantages

Scanning can be monotonous and the technique is not suited for long periods of study, as it is easy to lose concentration. Although scanning is a good way to quickly gather facts, it is not always thorough and a key fact may be overlooked. The context in which a fact appears may affect its meaning. Without reading the surrounding text, it is easy to misinterpret a fact's true significance.

Scanning Vs. Skimming?

It is impossible to say which technique is better, as it depends on the reader's purpose. According to the Advanced Institute of Management Research at Cranfield University, in the United Kingdom, skimming and scanning have their place, but only if you "match your reading strategy to the reading purpose." If you need a general idea of a book's subject-matter, choose skimming. If you need to gather specific information from a newspaper article, choose scanning.

http://riverwrites.hubpages.com/hub/Speed-Reading-Techniques-Skimming-and-Scanning

Speed Reading Techniques: Skimming and Scanning

By riverwrites

A How-to Guide
Skimming and scanning are the two speed reading techniques that everyone needs to possess. This guide will explain the difference in the two skills, when to use each technique, and how to do them. Skimming and scanning are not the same as reading. Skimming should be done as a pre-reading activity and scanning as a post-reading activity. With so much reading required in todays world, you may wonder shy you need to engage an article three times in three different ways. Heres why: skimming allows you to determine if you even need to read the article at all. If you decide after skimming that you do need to read it, then do so at your normal, natural speed. Even so, it is not likely that you will retain all the information included in the article; this is where scanning comes into play. Scanning is used to quickly locate the specific information you need later for a report, discussion, etc. Skimming Why do it: to quickly assess the value of the article and determine if it is worth your time and energy to spend any more time with it. How to do it: 1. Read the title 2. Read the introduction 3. Read all the subheadings and think about how they are related to one another and to the title 4. Read the first sentence in each paragraph. You may also need to read the last sentence in each paragraph depending on the style of writing. 5. Go back through the text looking for clues as to content and importance. Such clues include: words that answer who, what, when where, why and how proper nouns numbers adjectives such as best, worst, most, least, etc. changes in font such as italics, underlining, boldface, etc. 6. Read the last paragraph After skimming you should be able to know the general ideas of what the article is about and be able to determine if it fits your needs or not. If not, let it go. Youre done. Move on to the next article. Scanning Why do it: to find a specific fact or piece of information that you need for something else. How to do it: 1. Remember what it is you are looking for so you will not be distracted by other pieces of information 2. Anticipate how the information looks is it identified by numbers, italics, proper nouns, etc. 3. Run your eyes over several lines at one time 4. When you find the information you are looking for, focus your eyes and attention there and read the entire sentence. You may also need to read the sentence before and after as well.

When you understand what skimming and scanning are and how to use these techniques, you can manage a large amount of text in a relatively short amount of time. Skimming and scanning skills allow you to use your time both efficiently and effectively.

http://esl.about.com/od/englishreadingskills/a/readingskills.htm
Skimming Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or 'gist'. Run your eyes over the text, noting important information. Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a current business situation. It's not essential to understand each word when skimming. Examples of Skimming:

The Newspaper (quickly to get the general news of the day) Magazines (quickly to discover which articles you would like to read in more detail) Business and Travel Brochures (quickly to get informed)

Scanning Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. Run your eyes over the text looking for the specific piece of information you need. Use scanning on schedules, meeting plans, etc. in order to find the specific details you require. If you see words or phrases that you don't understand, don't worry when scanning.

It might be a telephone number, a particular quotation in a book, or supporting facts to use in a discussion youre having.
Examples of Scanning

The "What's on TV" section of your newspaper. A train / airplane schedule A conference guide

What are the advantages and disadvantages of skimming and scanning?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of skimming and scanning? skimming and scanning advantages: save time, search only for specific information, get a very basic idea what the reading is about, and then you can decide whether or not you need to read it more carefully, it provides a general overview of the reading, it may get you more interested in the subject disadvantages: superficial, not specific enough to be able to tell all the details, to pass an exam about it. You often have to go back and re read the entire passage again to understand it

Advantages: you can get more information very quickly as you read more in a short space of time. Disadvantages: you might not read ALL of the information as you're just scanning it to get the basic information.

What are they? They are like a fourth gear or overdrive in reading, in which you read only enough of the material to give you the ideas or information you want or need.
What is the difference between skimming and scanning? Theyre alike in that you dont read all of the material. Theyre different in the way you go about each.

In scanning, you usually have a question to, or something specific to look for. It might be a telephone number, a particular quotation in a book, or supporting facts to use in a discussion youre having. When you scan, your goal is to find just the information you want. When youve found it, youre finished reading. In skimming, your purpose is quite different. You may be interested in the gist of an article, or you may want to sample a book in the library before deciding to take it out. When you skim, you alternate read and glance, and your goal is to obtain an impression of the whole.