from an early age, we were introduced to basic reading skills. This is a skill that we often don't think much of, especially around the topic of adult understanding strategies. You might think that this is at first rather strange. Adults around the world are fully capable of reading anything. We have been doing this for decades. But there is a huge difference between reading comprehension among children and adults that you see. This is something that has not been explored in science. You can tell by the number of studies, the discussion of the reading ability of a child, not adults. This lack of research, however, is a good enough reason to look into what strategies exist for adults. As I said, It takes an adult to understand the reading is different. It's not so much how to learn to read, but how to use the information we have, process it effectively and use it.
What's Understanding Strategy?
Because adults are information-processing and oriented, our thinking strategies tend to be more localized rather than inland. That being said, there are some strategies that focus on how we value too. I go further in this article, but here are a few external perception strategies to try:
Place Yourself in a Quiet Environment
A lot of noise is going on around us these days. With TV, phone, music, and other distractions. The key with this strategy is to create a reading and learning environment that is right for you. For most people, this is one thing, no distractions. But what if you can't remove all distractions? Simple. Some options are somewhere else. Consider going to the library, office, or even the bathroom. You can also listen to classical or music. This muffles sounds and music without words can help you focus more.
Having Someone Smarter Read With You
Let's face it, we're not all-knowing. There are people who are smarter than us. Maybe not in the field of reading, but a person can read a book or further in life, with experience and understanding. This is what I mean by reading comprehension with adults. It's not so much that we don't know how to read, but rather, it can be more difficult for us to take concepts from articles or books and apply them. If you have someone like a mentor, teacher, friend or parent who has experience in this area, feel free to lean on them. As we understand, information varies from person to person. No matter what is true, keep the following in mind. You should use this strategy:
- If you are there to support in any way, be sure to give them questions. If you ask, you can always ask them to do it. Comprehension is not only reading, but also using information.
- If you support it pays to be able to briefly explain. If you can summarize chapters or entire books into key lessons, that's good.
Reading Aloud
Reading aloud slows you down when reading. We focus more on pronouncing the word. We also process what we read more when we do this. Reading aloud activates the part of our brain that learns visually and through sound. He does this because we see the words plus hear them speak aloud. If you find yourself benefiting from this, I would suggest looking into audiobooks. As long as there is no visual side to them, audio can help. You can also take a look at the book's narrated, audio and visual aspects of learning.
rereading
Sometimes, we don't always process everything in one sitting. Or maybe there was something that came later that you don't understand and you have to go back to the previous line to understand it. In some other cases, we've read through a page or paragraph and can't even understand what was being said. Regardless, don't be afraid to go back and re-read. Perhaps read it aloud. That or slow down reading. Keep reading until you understand what's going on. As you can tell, reading comprehension is inherently simple, but not everyone can use them right away.
How Can I Use Comprehension Strategies?
Knowing these strategies is one thing, but using them is something else. Regardless, because reading is a skill, we can improve it through various methods.
1. Dedicate Yourself to Reading
This is given that one would have to spend some time reading. It is recommended to start to dedicate two to three hours of reading per week. Not only that, but you want this watch to be part of a good read. Wat means that your reading is guided and relaxed. Guided in the sense that there is structure and close attention. You want to expand your vocabulary and train yourself on what you read. Relaxed, being in a state where you can enjoy what you are reading. Remember the calming environment I mentioned above.
2. Understand and re-evaluate how you read right now
If it's been a long time since you picked up the book, it might be more difficult. Again, you have to start somewhere. That this strategy aims to encourage you to read different texts. In particular, texts that you are not familiar with. The information is presented in various formats. What you read in a newspaper will be written differently on a separate website or blog. The same applies also to textbooks. This does not mean that some mediums are of high content, but rather that they require different levels of understanding. The key to this strategy is to go into unfamiliar terrain and read in that way. Challenge existing concepts and reading preferences and mix everything up. But do this only for a short period of time. Start by reading for 20 minutes, and then gradually increase the time. Maybe next time dedicate 22 minutes a few hours to read from it.
3. Expand Your Vocabulary
While the previous strategy can help with this, you don't need to use different readers to expand your vocabulary. After all, reading comprehension stems from context, the interaction of words and vocabulary. Through these three things, we understand that we are being read. Expanding your vocabulary is very easy. You can specifically pick up a word from the dictionary and learn and apply it every day. Or if what you're reading is a word you don't understand, write it down. The goal is to have a list of words that you don't immediately recognize. From there, you can make flashcards to help you remember them.
4. Read for joy
While many of us read for work or growth, there is also merit in reading for pleasure. This is a good strategy because sometimes we get so caught up in reading for growth that we can start to see the value, how daunting. Remember, reading should always be for fun. With that in mind, here are some things you can do to help:
- Reading a book that's below your level. For sure you won't learn much, but the key here is to relax and enjoy the book.
- Pick from fiction. Authors in these genres focus on entertaining written content as opposed to content where you study.
5. Stay Curious
The last strategy I will name is curiosity. Learning comes from us wanting to know what we don't know. Whenever we Google something or read an article, it's because we don't know that information. While people are quick to do this, I would suggest stretching your curiosity further. Not only focusing on new words, but new portions of information. Curiosity is more like a worldview than anything else, but it doesn't lead us to seek answers and thus read and learn. Here's how to create a continuous learning habit for you.
Bonus: Reading speed for better comprehension
One other strategy that I want to be talking about is speed reading. This is one strategy of understanding that some may have heard over the years. These are the strategies behind how some people can read books a day or read 50 books in a year. Although it may not be your goal to read as much, being aware of all the techniques and using them can help you in mining and learning faster than before. Open Colleges explains this strategy in detail in the article ((open colleges: adult literacy: improving reading comprehension, like reading speed, and some life-changing literature to improve your life)) here is a simple option:
- Don't subvocalize. We were taught at school to read each word one at a time. Instead, focus on letting your eyes skim over the words. How can you do this through humming or counting in your head.
- Read words in clusters. The next step is getting your eyes to focus on three or four words at a time. The idea of grouping is all important. What it boils down to is getting rid of parasitic words like and, A, etc.
- Not powdered. I said above that repeated reading helps. It is, but it helps for those who want to read slowly. For speed readers, this is more time lost.
- Focus on skimming. With so much content out there, we've become skimming masters. Some of us cannot understand it all. Either way, make sure you're skimming, which focuses on the parts that matter to you.
- Read a lot. It's a given, but it's worth educating.
You can check out this article to learn how to read faster. How to Read Faster: 10 Ways to Increase Your Reading Speed
Final Thoughts
Reading may not be at the forefront of everyone's mind, but the key to growth lies through the information put there today. The better and faster we can take information, extract, study and apply it, the more we will grow. As such, adopting these strategies of understanding and using them can help us tremendously. Even taking into account reading speed can help you. Grab a book and start reading!
More Tips for Learning Rapid
- 10 effective ways to make you a fast learner
- 12 Powerful Learning Strategies to Help You Retain Information Fast
- How to learn quickly and remember more: 5 effective methods