Now we know a lot about the need to study systems in order to fulfill the necessity of having a perfect observation, which is the first step in scientific method.

We are going to continue this in-depth study of the reading test in IELTS exam by understanding how the rest of your reading course goes on in the second term. In your second book you will again look at the systems and will also learn more about the concepts of the scientific method. But before that, in the first unit, you will learn about the most basic skills in reading proficiency. You will ask me what they are, well I have already mentioned them in my previous posts, but here I am going to present them in more depth.

In the first unit of the second reading book you will learn the following:

1-      The need to understand the relation between the grammatical structures and their communicative function. In other words when we learn grammar rules we always need to think about their usage in different contexts. There are many examples you can see, the use of simple present to state timeless facts, state future time tables or certain future events. Another example is the use of the imperative form in different contexts like giving orders, advice, instructions, persuasion, warnings and etc. You can find many other examples if you go through grammar hand outs and give this issue a deeper thought.

2-      The second topic discussed is the importance of mastering scanning and skimming skills which are used in conjunction with all other skills mentioned to make you a better and purpose oriented reader.

3-      Then you get familiar with one of the most important skills in reading and understanding English which is “paraphrasing”, that is conveying the same information in a different way either grammatically or through vocabulary (or both).

4-      And finally we come to know about the most important factors involving in the process of understanding the information conveyed through reading texts. Understanding the organization of information in every text and paragraph is the key to full understanding of a reading text. The three most powerful weapons in the hand of writers to pass on the information they want to their reader which are:

a.       Referencing

b.      Using logical connectors

c.       Understanding paragraph structure

We need to know them and master them in order to be able to fully understand what a writer means to say to us, which is the final aim of reading test.

All these skills you need to have handy when reading. These are the most powerful reading abilities you must have in order to succeed in the reading test, among them the complete understanding of referencing in its different aspects is the hardest yet the most important one.Remember that when reading, you always need to ask yourself what the references of different words or phrases are. Never pass over a word without understanding its reference (if there is one). 

In the next lessons we will cover these topics in more depth and I’ll present you with specific examples of referencing, logical connectors and different paragraph structures.