Thursday, September 26, 2013
Blank words, blank mind!
Probably the techniques I use most are pre-reading, skimming, and scanning. For me, using the visual cues such as pictures, charts, and graphs is extremely helpful but so are the sub-headings - the major sub-headline and the sub-headings inside the text, which helps to understand the overall gist of the article. What is also very useful is combining background knowledge and experience into the current text (although this isn't as useful when given a text "out of left field" as is often the case on a test but almost never happens at post). The major issue I have is focusing on key words I don't know. I found the discussion on "blank words" very interesting since I usually do the opposite, and it can really affect reading confidence. The authors discuss this in conjunction with being an effective reader in my native language but I suspect that their notion of "effective" reader is at odds with my notion and this is clearly tripping me up in improving my German reading performance. This concept of "blank words" as well as techniques for guessing difficult words is an area of reading techniques I will need to focus on and improve if I'm going to improve my reading of German texts.
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You are trying various approaches and still looking for other strategies. You recognize what is important to do. What is an important step while using different techniques?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important to try new techniques to understand the meaning of "unknown" words. In fact, I've found that I tend to use the "blank words" approach in English without ever really realizing it.
ReplyDeleteStill, I do think it is important to take the time to look up the meaning of unknown words. I had a Chinese literature class while in university taught by a non-native professor who stressed that he never consulted a dictionary while reading a Chinese text. I think that approach borders on the extreme, particularly because one can fall into the trap of assuming a meaning that is incorrect, or never understanding the precise meaning of a difficult word. Basically, I think good readers find a balance between "blank words," using context to guess and looking things up.
I totally agree that looking up the meaning of unknown words is important. What I find happenst to me is that I focus too much on words I don't know and then things spiral downwards and I lose confidence in reading the text. I have a really difficult time skipping words, it it seems to be hurting my ability to make educated guesses.
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