Reading Skills

Readability simply means how easy it is for you to read through a text. Everyone has a different 'reading age', which doesn't always match your chronological age - it might be higher or lower depending on your reading ability and vocabulary knowledge. If you're struggling to read a text, it may be that it is above your readability level.

One way to test a text's readability is right for you is by using the Five-Finger Technique:

• Start reading a text or a page in the book - choose a page with lots of words and no pictures.
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• Each time you come to a word you do not understand or recognise, place a finger on the page, or hold a finger in the air.
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• If you reach five fingers before the end of the page, the text is probably too difficult for you.

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So, if you have used up all five fingers, does this mean you should give up on the book or text and find something simpler?

Of course not! When you were learning to read as a child, you didn't give up on a simple word book and go back to picture books just because you didn't know what 'xylophone' or 'umbrella' meant; you found out what the words meant and added them to your memory banks. That's how you improved your reading skills. You should only give up on the book if it isn't relevant for your needs (see the previous chapter). At college, a lot of books will initially seem difficult to read, but as you increase your vocabulary knowledge and subject understanding, your readability level will also improve.

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Here are a few tips to help you to read and understand a difficult text:

• Consider the metacognitive approach before you begin, to encourage you to engage with the text.
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• Have a dictionary to hand so that you can look up any words you don't know or aren't sure about. It may be a good idea to skim through a page or section of the book/text before you start reading it properly to find these words.
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• Create a 'key words' or 'new vocabulary' list as you work, using either:
  • a notebook to handwrite the words in (one with about 100 pages should do it, split into 26 sections - you can use fewer pages for X and Z unless what you're studying has a lot of unusual words!),

or

• • a Word table or Excel spreadsheet, with one column for the key word and one for the definition. Using a table or spreadsheet format in this way means that you can filter the words and meanings into alphabetical order later.

Try to write the definitions out in your own words, rather than just reciting the dictionary, and use an example or image if you need to as well. 
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• Once you have a better idea of what the words mean, properly re-read the text.

Although this may initially slow down your reading speed, it will improve your reading skills in the long term, as you will learn new vocabulary and have a useful list of key words to use for revision, saving you a lot of time later in the year and making the next book you read on the subject a lot easier to understand.

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Quick Activity

Complete the following worksheet to analyse your own readability level and how you will work to improve your reading. This is an essential activity, so you can upload your answers if you wish.

Try out the Five-Finger Technique on one of your college textbooks or recommended reading books and note how well you did on the worksheet.

You can also check an online text's readability score at this website: Readability Score. Paste in the text and click return to see the feedback scores. This page, for instance, came out at F-K Grade Level 7.6, meaning it is about right for general public reading abilities. Have a go at pasting a webpage - perhaps choose something from a Google Scholar search - and note the results on the worksheet.