How to Improve Your Reading Comprehension
Improving Comprehension
Reading comprehension requires motivation, mental frameworks for holding ideas, concentration and good study techniques.
Develop a broad background
Broaden your background knowledge by reading newspapers, magazines and books. Become interested in world events.
Know the structure of paragraphs
Good writers construct paragraphs that have a beginning, middle and end.
Often, the first sentence will give an overview that helps provide a framework for adding details. Also, look for transitional words, phrases or paragraphs that change the topic.
Create motivation and interest
Preview material, ask questions, discuss ideas with classmates. The stronger your interest is, the greater your comprehension will be.
Highlight, summarize and review
To develop a deeper understanding, you have to highlight, summarize and review important ideas.
Build a good vocabulary
For most educated people, this is a lifetime project .The best way to improve your vocabulary is to use a dictionary regularly. You might carry around a pocket dictionary and use it to look up new words.
Monitor effectiveness
Good readers monitor their attention, concentration and effectiveness. They quickly recognize if they've missed an idea and backup to reread it.