Subskills

Reading Sub-skills

Recognising words and phrase in English script.

Using one’s own knowledge of the outside world to make predictions about and interpret a text.

Retrieving information stated in the passage.

Distinguishing the main ideas from subsidiary information.

Deducing the meaning and use of unknown words; ignoring unknown words/phrases that are redundant, i.e.; that contribute nothing to interpretation

Understanding the meaning and implications of grammatical structures, e.g. cause, result, purpose, reference in time (e.g. verb tenses; compare: “He could swim well” past, “He could come at 10 a.m.” future).

Recognising discourse markers: e.g. therefore + conclusions, however + contrast, that is + paraphrase, e.g. + example.

Recognising the function of sentences even when not introduced by discourse markers: e.g. example, definition, paraphrase, conclusion, warning.

Understanding relations within the sentences and the text (words that refer back to a thing or a person mentioned earlier in the sentence or the text, e.g. which, who, it).

Extracting specific information for summary or note taking.

Skimming to obtain the gist, and recognise the organisation of ideas within the text.

Understanding implied information and attitudes.

Knowing how to use an index, a table of contents, etc.

Understanding layout, use of heading, etc.