Scanning Reading

ScottsEnglish

If you get a question that asks who, what, when, where or how much, you should scan quickly for the answer.

Remember, Scanning means: to ​look through a ​text ​quickly in ​order to ​find a ​piece of ​information that you ​want or to get a ​general ​idea of what the ​text ​contains.

This table will help you to find answers to questions that begin with who, what, when, why, how much, how long

who? where?	when?  how much?  how long?	how? what? why?
Scan for capital letters.   Locate names of people and places	Scan for numbers. dates, length of time, amounts of money	Scan for key words. nouns, adjectives, adverbs

 

ScottsEnglish

Practice.

Scan for capital letters.   Set your stopwatch to 10 seconds.  Read the question. When you're ready to scan for capital letters, click the box below to reveal the passage to scan.

1.  What is the name of the professor who conducted the research?

What motivates a student to learn?  This question was asked by a psychologist at the University of Texas.  Specifically, the question was asked to students learning new material in undergraduate courses. When asked what makes them study and work hard in college, undergraduates typically say that they are trying to get the best grade possible. Grades, in fact, are the primary focus of most students. Only as secondary reasons do students list the desires to become competent, to prove themselves, and to avoid mistakes. Learning about the content of the course for its own sake is the last of the reasons students give. After having asked some 750 students, Professor Paul Dickenson suggests that students’ goals tend to be mismatched with their instructors’ objectives; instructors hope to encourage students to value learning for its own sake, with results as a secondary reflection of that learning. In order to convey this message, however, instructors have significant work to do in changing the culture of the classroom.

ScottsEnglish

Scan for numbers.   Set your stopwatch to 10 seconds.  Read the question. When you're ready to scan for a number, click the box below to reveal the passage to scan.

2. How many students were interviewed in the research?

What motivates a student to learn?  This question was asked by a psychologist at the University of Texas.  Specifically, the question was asked to students learning new material in undergraduate courses. When asked what makes them study and work hard in college, undergraduates typically say that they are trying to get the best grade possible. Grades, in fact, are the primary focus of most students. Only as secondary reasons do students list the desires to become competent, to prove themselves, and to avoid mistakes. Learning about the content of the course for its own sake is the last of the reasons students give. After having asked some 750 students, Professor Paul Dickenson suggests that students’ goals tend to be mismatched with their instructors’ objectives; instructors hope to encourage students to value learning for its own sake, with results as a secondary reflection of that learning. In order to convey this message, however, instructors have significant work to do in changing the culture of the classroom.