Reading comprehension is more than just reading and understanding a text. It’s also about how well you can understand the context of your reading, what motivates your opinion on the topic and how much information will be useful to you in future endeavours.
If you want to improve your reading comprehension skills, there are several ways you can approach this task. Here are some tips that may help:
Practice
One of the most effective ways to improve reading comprehension is by practising. Reading is a skill that can be improved with practice, and the more you do it, the better your skills will become.
- Read often and in different formats: Reading is an activity that requires time and attention—both of which are in short supply for many learners! Try reading for 15 minutes daily (or even 10 minutes). Set aside a few minutes during your commute to read something interesting or funny; try audiobooks if you’re stuck at home on a rainy day. If there isn’t much time during your day for reading, break up long stretches into smaller chunks of time and make sure they’re evenly spaced throughout each day so that you don’t get behind on what needs doing later on down the line—and then forget everything else because there wasn’t enough time anyway!
- Practice reading aloud: In order for words work well together so we need not just hear ourselves but also understand what we say when others listen too.”
Know your vocabulary
- Know your vocabulary. To improve reading comprehension, you need to know important words in a text. The best way to do this is by using a dictionary or other reference book.
- Memorize vocabulary lists and review them often. Vocabulary lists are key for improving your reading comprehension because they help you understand what’s going on in the story and ensure you don’t miss any important information about characters or events that happen later in the story (for example: if a character uses an unusual word).
- Find games and exercises that will increase your vocabulary knowledge over time through repetition!
Understand the big picture
The first step to improving reading comprehension is to understand the big picture.
- Understand the main idea: What is the author’s main point? Why does she write this particular section of her book, and how does it relate to all of her other sections?
- Understand structure: What parts of text do we need to read for us to fully grasp what’s going on in that piece of writing? How are those parts related (or not), and why should we care about them anyway?
- Understand purpose: Why did the author write this piece? What did she hope or expect would happen as a result of publishing it—and how did she feel after completing its creation process so far into its production cycle (if applicable)?
Use mental imagery
Mental imagery is a technique that helps you understand the text. When you use mental imagery, you imagine what it would be like to be at the place or time described in your reading. You can use this technique to help you remember what you have read and how to apply it in your daily life.
The following steps will show how to use mental imagery:
- Pick a place that is different from where you are now (e.g., home or school).
- Imagine yourself there right now!
- Visualize details about this place as if they were real—for example, smell smells from food items and sounds sound effects from people talking nearby…etc…
Summarize
Summarizing is a great way to improve your reading comprehension. It involves taking the main points of what you just read and putting them into your own words so that you know exactly what was said in the book. Summarizing can be done in several ways:
- Write down all of the major points on one piece of paper (or an index card), then put those points into paragraphs.
- Outline each section of text by writing down what happens during these sections and where they lead up to or down from other parts of the storyline.
- Write out entire chapters instead of just summing up their content individually
Improve your reading skills with these tips
- Practice
- Know your vocabulary
- Understand the big picture
- Use mental imagery
- Summarize and support with examples when you can’t find a word (e.g., using boldface or italics)
- Read with a purpose in mind—make sure you’re reading for something specific, not just to avoid homework or boredom;
- Read with a pen in hand—this will keep your eyes focused on what’s being read instead of wandering off into other things around you
- Highlight essential passages so they stand out from everything else around them
- Please keep track of where you’re up to by marking pages as they go down
- Remember that while reading is essential for improving comprehension skills, it’s also important not to get overwhelmed by all the information presented, so don’t try too hard!
Conclusion
Reading comprehension is a skill that everyone should develop, especially if you want to be a more well-rounded person. The tips we’ve provided here will help you improve your reading skills and make it easier to understand what you just read in the future.