Ways to Ensure Reading Comprehension

Reading is probably the #1 thinking skill, yet it has become a lost art.  The ability to read and comprehend is so important for getting ahead in the business world, yet we never receive any formal training in it. If you can read – and comprehend – you pretty much have the key to success.

BUT reading has to be done correctly. Print materials are best. There is a significant difference in comprehension and retention between reading on screen (poor) and reading in print (best). It has to do with neuroscience and the ability to make references and associations between paragraphs, pages, etc.

Here are 5 Tactics for Reading Comprehension

(We will assume you are reading a professional piece such as in a trade journal, newspaper, or text.)

• Read the headings first, to get the main points – think of them as a road map for the readin

• Look at pictures and figures and their explanatory text – they are there to illustrate the points of the text and help you to better comprehend

• There are two benefits to highlighting 1) it means that you were able to separate out the important stuff from the filler and 2) when you need to review and summarize, you’ll be able to skim for the highlighted parts

• Use the margins to give yourself clues to the context, such as: stars for key points, question marks for things you don’t understand or want to look up elsewhere, exclamation points for things that resonate with you (think of it as giving a virtual high-five to the author)

• Write a summary. If you have comprehended what you read, you should be able to write a 3 – 5 sentence summary of the text or explain it to a friend

When you get REALLY good at comprehension, you’ll be able to evaluate and synthesize what you’ve read and integrate it with your own opinions, experiences, or research.  (Hello Adult Learning and Bloom's Taxonomy) Try these tips this week and see if you don’t feel smarter immediately.

Reading for Fun - and Comprehension

reading on tablet

Do you prefer reading from a printed page or a digital screen? Do you comprehend more when reading from paper than from a screen (or vice versa)? Does your age play a role in your preference? What about your attitude? These are all questions which have been studied in the last 20 years or so - in other words - in the "digital age." While definitive results elude us, here are some of the more common findings:

• People approach computers and tablets with a state of mind less conducive to learning than they approach reading from paper

• E-readers prevent people from navigating long texts in an intuitive and satisfying way

• People report that when they are trying to locate a particular piece of information, they can recall where it appears in a text - not so with digital displays of the same content

• These navigation difficulties subtly inhibit reading comprehension

• Reading digitally leads to more difficulty in comprehension because it is more physically and mentally taxing

• When reading from a screen, people spend more time browsing, scanning and hunting for key words

• When people really like an e-book they go out and buy the paper version! According to research by Microsoft, people see e-books as something to use, but not own

Makes you re-think the delivery modality of your training materials, no? Learn more about the research in this area by reading this Scientific American article (on line, of course).