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UNIT5: READING SKILLS


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UNIT 5 : SKIMMING, SCANNING and COMPREHENSION SKILLS


General Objectives:

To read and be able to skim and scan texts, understand


texts, make /take notes, write summaries and response to texts.

Specific Objective:
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
1. scan text to locate specific information
2. skim texts to get overall meaning
3. comprehend academic and occupationally-related texts
4. identify the main points and supporting details in the text
5. understand the relationships between different parts of the texts in terms
of the idea presented
6. understand information presented in non-textual forms.
7. understand textual organizers.
8. deduce the meanings of unfamiliar lexical items through the use of
contextual clues.
9. understand the meanings signaled by cohesive devices and connectors.
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INTRODUCTION

Many students think that they should comprehend or understand a text while reading it.
But you should understand that good comprehension is usually a process. You will understand
gradually as you read a simple text and move on to a more complex one.
After you have gone through this topic you should be able to read and understand various
types of texts. You should be able to scan and skim, make or take notes, response to texts and
write summaries.

5.1 Scanning

INPUT

Scanning is a selective reading process. When you scan, you will try to locate facts
quickly and also find answers to specific questions. To scan, you should know what
information you are searching for even before you start to read. To scan quickly, you must
only look for words or information which you need. In this way you will save a lot of time.
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For example, find out the uses of mild steel from the following table.

No. Material Uses


1 Cast iron Machine beds
Machine frames
2 Wrought iron Crane hooks
Railway couplings
3 Mild steel Rivets
Bolts
4 Medium carbon steel Axles
Hammer heads

When you read the contents in the table, you are only concern with locating the uses of mild
steel and not other types of materials. Hence you only focus on finding the information you need.
This is what we call scanning.

Now that you have been given a brief explanation of scanning, try the following task.

Task 1

Read the table carefully and find the answers

Pest that could enter faulty premises


Areas Faults Pests
Brickwork Cracked , faulty points Rats, mice, ants
Grease traps and drains Broken grid Rats
Coal hole or shed Broken doorway Rats, cats, dogs, foxes,
wasps
Refuse bins Unclean bins Birds, flies, wasps
Windows Broken glass Birds, mice, rats, bats
Roofs Missing tiles Birds, mice, rats, bats
Plasterwork Cracked Wet rot cockroaches, ants
Wallpaper Damp, peeling Woodlice, silverfish
Sinks Damp surrounding area Silverfish, spiders
Woodwork Damp Dry rot, woodlice
Wooden furniture Old and uncared for Woodworm
Carpet Dirty , dusty Fleas, carpet beetle
Beds Dirty Bed bugs, fleas
Soft Furnishing Dusty Moths, fleas
Ceramic tiled walls Cracked Mould, silverfish
Houseplants Neglected Ants, earwigs
Dry food stores Unclean Cockroaches, flies
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Vegetable stores Unclean ,damp Silverfish, flies, wasps, ants

a. Name two pests that can destroy woodwork.

……………………………………………………………
b. Name two areas that can be destroyed by cockroaches.

………………………………………………………….
c. Where can you find moths?

…………………………………………………………
d. What pest can destroy ceramic tiled walls?

……………………………………………………..

e. Name a pest that can be found at vegetable stores and plasterwork.


……………………………………………………
f. What happens when wooden furniture is old and uncared for?

.……………………………………………………..

5.2 SKIMMING

INPUT

Read the following text quickly.

Don’t worry too much about viruses. You may never


see one. There are just a few ways to become
infected. The common sources seem to be pirate
games and putting floppies in PCs for public use.

What is the article about? (It is about computer viruses.)


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You have just read the text quickly to get its general idea. This is called skimming. Skimming is
the ability to identify the general ideas by moving your eyes rapidly over a text. You only need to
read selected portions to get the gist of the text. Later you can decide which parts are worth
reading in more detail.

Activity 2

Match the titles in the box with the following texts.

1. Danger at Workplace
2. Powerful Source
3. Safety Rules
4. Structures
5. Factor of Safety

a) Anything built is a structure. A structure is the part of a building that carries its weight.
A building is a structure with roof. Much of civil engineering structural design is the
design of building structures.

b) To safeguard structures, designers have to consider the permitted working stress of


materials they use. They must accurately calculate the stresses they expect the materials
to bear. Even with today’s testing equipment, errors are sometimes made in calculating
the safe loads a structure can carry.

c) Keep yourself safe in the workshop by wearing the right clothes. Use dark goggles or a
handsheild to prevent damage to your eyes. Wear ear protectors if there is a lot of noise.
Always wear gloves when handling glass of sheets of metal.

d) Spray painting is suitable for robots because they do not need to breathe. Unlike human
painters, they are unaffected by the poisonous fumes. Robots are better at this task
because they work in a place where humans cannot.

e) Virtual reality systems are being developed throughout the world. It enables
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people to walk ‘inside’ nuclear power stations while controlling a robot that
actually goes into an area in which no human could live. It also enables architects
to ‘go through’ a computer-generated building before it is constructed.

Activity 2b

Scan the text below quickly to find out which of these mechanisms are mentioned.
Mechanisms
Mechanisms are an important part of everyday life. They allow us
1. cam 2. tap 3. pendulum
to do simple things like switch on lights, turn taps, and open
doors. They also make it possible to use escalators and lifts,
5. foot pump 6. escalator 7. gear
travel in cars, and fly from continent to continent.
8. piston 9. valves 10. crankshaft
Mechanisms play a vital role in industry. While many industrial
processes have electronic control systems, it is still mechanisms
that deliver the power to do work. They provide the forces to
press steel into car panels, to lift large components from place to
place, to force plastic through dies to make pipes.

All mechanisms involve some kind motion. The four basic kinds of
motions are:

Rotary: Wheels, gears, and rollers involve rotary movement.

Oscillating: The pendulum of a clock oscillates – it swings


backwards and forwards.

Linear: The linear movement of a paper trimmer is used to cut


the edge of the paper.

Reciprocating: The piston in a combustion engine reciprocates.

Many mechanisms involve changing one kind of motion into


another type. For example, the reciprocating motion of a piston is
changed into rotary motion by the crankshaft, while a cam
converts the rotary motion of the engine into the reciprocating
motion required to operate the valves.

Source : Glendinning E. H. et. al. (1995) Oxford English for


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5.3 : Comprehension skills.

Input

There are several strategies to help students read effectively. If you follow these strategies,
you should be able to read text materials confidently. The strategies are to:
1. learn to recognize the question type, because if you know what the question is asking
you to do, it will be easy to answer it.
2. pay attention to what you are reading. Skill-Building exercises like skimming,
scanning, reading for specific information will help you to focus on the passage.
3. pay attention to the first sentence. It usually gives the main idea of the passage
4. read the questions first, when you read, you can look for the answers.
5. make an intelligent Guess if you are not sure of the answers

READING EXERCISE 1

Pre Reading Activity


For each word, find two other words with related meanings.
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globe 1. machine device robot


device
robot 2. tiny ____________ ___________
industry
minute 3. planet ____________ ____________
world
operation 4. medicine _____________ ____________
heart
factories 5. manufacturing _____________ ____________
injection
microscopic 6. bloodstream ______________ ____________
arteries

The World Is Getting Smaller

A. Imagine this: a television screen the size and thickness of a piece of paper. You carry it around in
your pocket and take it out when you want to watch a show. Imagine a guitar so tiny you can’t see it
with he human eye, but you can hear sounds when its strings are plucked. Some people say the future is
big, but when it comes to technology, the world is getting smaller.
B. Nanotechnology is the science that deals with doing things in a very small way, and it is being
explored and developed all over the globe. Micromachines too small to be seen by the human eye are
being designed to do many things that larger machines do today. And these machines, no larger in
diameter than a human hair, are extremely powerful. Many scientists say nanotechnology will produce the
next industrial revolution.
C. How small are these machines, exactly? Nano comes from the Greek word for dwarf. A
nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The period at the end of this sentence can contain about 100
micrometers, which is equal to 100,000 nanometers. To understand this new technology, we have to get
rid of our normal ideas of size and strength.
D. Minute robots, called “nanobots,” are being developed that will revolutionize manufacturing.
Instead of cars being produced on assembly lines, for example, scientists predict that cars can be built in a
giant container into which raw materials and microscopic machines have been placed. Thousands of
nanobots will direct the process and tell the microscopic machines what to do.
E. Micromachines can also be used to make our environment safer. Today, poisonous chemicals are
stored in containers or transported by trucks or trains. This sometimes results in dangerous spills. But with
nanotechnology, manufacturers could have their own tiny chemical factories. These factories would be no
bigger than a sugar cube and would manufacture exactly the amount of chemicals needed at the moment.
No chemicals would need to be stored or transported. The workplace would be safer, and the environment
would be cleaner.
F. Maybe the area where nanotechnology will have the biggest impact is medical science. Imagine
nanobots in medicine. Thousands or even millions of tiny machines can be sent into the human body with
specific missions. For example, they can be designed to find and destroy cancer cells or viruses. Other
machines may stay in the human body permanently to help organs that are not functioning properly.
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G. Think of the possibilities in using such tiny machines in surgery. Imagine machines so small you
can swallow them in a capsule or inject them into your bloodstream through a needle. After you’ve had
too many years of junk food, these tiny robots could be sent into your arteries to clean them. An
intelligent machine in your heart would look around to find the problem and then repair it. If you needed
an operation, it would be almost like swallowing the surgeon.
H. When could all of this happen? Scientists predict that much of this is possible in the next 30
years. After all, when your grandparents were young, they would have laughed if someone told them a
person could walk on the moon. Thousands of scientists around the world are working on these
micromachines. Nanotechnology is just around the corner.

Task 1

Skim for the main ideas.


Skim the story. Find the paragraph that tells about each of the following topics. Paragraph
A is the introduction; omit that paragraph.

1. how small nanomachines are C


2. new developments in manufacturing _______
3. a definition of nanotechnology __________
4. general uses in medicine _________
5. when to expect nanotechnology to be used ___________
6. nanobots and the environment __________
7. uses in surgery __________

Task 2
Understand cause and effect
The words because, so, that, in order to, and since show the cause of an action or a
situation. Match the causes in List A with the effects in List B.

List A

1. Nanotechnology is so powerful that g


2. A TV screen is like a piece of paper so
3. We have to change our ideas of size and strength in order to
4. Tiny machines will be sent into the human body in order to
5. Mini devices may stay in the human body in order to
6. Chemicals could be manufactured as needed, so
7. You have eaten too much junk food, so
8. Medical instruments will be so tiny that
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List B

a. you can swallow them in a capsule.


b. help organs that aren’t functioning.
c. find and destroy cancer cells.
d. your arteries could be blocked.
e. you can carry it in your pocket.
f. no chemicals would have to be stored or transported.
g. scientists say it will produce the next industrial revolution.
h. understand this new technology.

Task 3

Find these expressions in the story. Then use the context to help you choose the expression
that has the same meaning.

1. in diameter refers to (paragraph B )


a. length b. thickness

2. Nano describes (paragraph C)


a. strength b. size

3. To get rid of means (paragraph C)


a. to get something new b. to throw something away.

4. Minute means (paragraph D)


a. tiny b. big

5. Nanobots are (paragraph D)


a. big robots b. small robots

6. An assembly line is used to (paragraph D)


a. manufacture products b. sell products

7. Microscopic means (paragraph D)


a. very small b. very big

8. To store something means to (paragraph E)


a. keep something b. sell something

9. To have a big impact means to (paragraph F)


a. make a difference b. stay the same

10. A mission is (paragraph F)


a. something you intend to do b. something you don’t want to do
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11. To swallow means (paragraph G)


a. to inject b. to eat

12. Just around the corner means (paragraph H)


a. later b. soon

Task 4

Sequence connectors.

Words like first, next, then, finally, before or subsequently are used to describe a process.
They are called sequence connectors. Complete the following passage using suitable
connectors.

If you want to fix a leaking tap, the _____________ thing you have to do is to turn off the
main water tap. This is to prevent water from gushing out when you open up the tap.
_______________ you have to turn on the leaking tap fully. This is to drain away any water left
in the pipe.
Then you must dig out the plastic cover on the handle. ________________ unscrew and
remove the handle. The ________________thing to do is to remove the spindle. You do this by
first loosening the spindle nut with a spanner. _____________________________ pull out the
spindle. At the base you can see the washer. Remove the worn out washer and replace it with a
new one. ______________________ screw the tap on.
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SELF ASSESSMENT

Laser cutting
Engineers have to read sales literature describing the products and services of companies.
Read the following sales literature to answer these questions:
DESIGN ENGINEERS – DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERS – BUYERS – STOCK CONTROLLERS
1. Who is this text for? FRUSTRATED?
2. What service doesBy the company
having to restrictprovide?
designs to suit manufacturing processes?
3. What are the design
By thebenefits
difficulty of
andlaser cutting?
high cost of producing accurate prototypes?
4. Can lasers cutBy the high cost and lengthy lead times associated with press tools?
non-metals?
5. What limitationsByare
thethere
high stock
on thelevels necessitated
service by minimum batch sizes?
they provide?
If your answer to any of the above is yes….
6. How does the service cut lead time?
WE HAVE THE SOLUTION!
OUR NEW 1500 WATT CNC-CONTROLLED LASER CUTTER IS AT YOUR DISPOSAL
The Process DEDEDDDDDDDDdd
* The Materials
Laser technology is not new, but The laser is suitable for cutting:
it is only recently that the full - All types of steel including stainless and spring steel.
benefits have become available to - Most non-ferrous metals.
manufacturers. - Plastics, wood, fiberglass, and almost any other material you
Taking light and passing it through care to mention !
a series of lenses makes the light
source so great that its power * The Capacity
density is several million times Carbon Steel – up to 13 mm
that of the sun – this laser energy is Stainless Steel – up to 10 mm
then used to cut almost any Plastics – up to 40 mm
material. Wood – up to 40 mm
The light is directed down towards Rubber – up to 40 mm
a CNC – controlled table making it
very easy to produce accurate Table movement 1650 mm x 1250 mm
complicated shapes without
distortion, giving burr-free, smooth, * The Advantages
and perfectly square edges. Short lead time No tooling costs Low set-up costs
Extremely accurate Highest quality Design flexibility
Minimal heat affected zones
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SELF ASSESSMENT

Laser cutting
Engineers have to read sales literature describing the products and services of companies.
Read the following sales literature to answer these questions:

1. Who is this text for?


It is for design engineers, development engineers, buyers and stock controllers

2. What service does the company provide?


They sell Laser Cutter.

3. What are the design benefits of laser cutting?


It can produce accurate complicated shapes without distortion, giving burr-free, smooth,
and perfectly square edges.

4. Can lasers cut non-metals?


Yes, they can.

5. What limitations are there on the service they provide?


There are no limitations.

6. How does the service cut lead time?


It cuts the lead time by using laser technology that can move very fast.
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