Tips for English PSLE: 8 Essential Reading Comprehension Skills

Before enrolling their child in our English programme, many parents have shared with us that the open-ended Comprehension component is one of their children's weakest areas. How can parents help their children to improve on their areas of weaknesses and to optimise his or her learning?

To help the kiddos improve on reading comprehension, parents should be aware there are 8 essential reading comprehension skills that the kiddos need to develop. Kiddos need to be able to:

1) skim through the text to get the main idea
2) scan the text for details
3) sequence details
4) use contextual clues
5) make predictions
6) make inferences
7) make connections between text and personal experiences
8) draw conclusions

I'll explain the first two  reading comprehension skills in the following paragraphs.
1) Skimming
It is a rapid reading method in which you have a quick glance at the passage to get an overall idea of the text.

Here are some examples of texts that we skim in our daily lives:
- the newspaper: to quickly get the general news of the day
- magazines: to discover quickly which articles we would like to read in more detail
- brochures: to be informed quickly

How do we skim a text?
- Read the title if there is one.
- Read the introduction or the first paragraph if there is one?
- Read the first sentence of every other paragraph.
- Notice any pictures, charts or graphs.
- Read the summary or last paragraph if there is one.

Skimming  is often the first type of reading that should be done when we read a Comprehension passage. Skimming the Comprehension passage requires the pupils to read through the paragraphs quickly. At the end of this, pupils should be able to make a quick summary of the passage, that is, he should be able to say what the passage is about.

2) Scanning
It is a reading technique used to find specific information quickly. You have a question in mind and you scan a passage to find the answer quickly.

How do we scan a text?
- Know the specific information you are looking for.
- Anticipate how the answer will appear and the clues you may use to help you locate the answer. For example, if you are looking for the year in which a character was born in, you will scan the passage quickly to look for numbers.

We hope you have a better understanding of the first two reading comprehension skills that your child needs to be equipped with. We'll cover the rest of the comprehension skills in the next few posts.