What are reading skills?

Reading skills enable readers to turn writing into meaning and achieve the goals of independence, comprehension, and fluency.

Reading skills are specific abilities which enable a reader

• to read the written form as meaningful language
• to read anything written with independence, comprehension and fluency, and
• to mentally interact with the message.

Here are some kinds of reading skills:

• Word attack skills let the reader figure out new words.
• Comprehension skills help the reader predict the next word, phrase, or sentence quickly enough to speed recognition.
• Fluency skills help the readers see larger segments, phrases, and groups of words as wholes.
• Critical reading skills help the reader see the relationship of ideas and use these in reading with meaning and fluency.

• What are literacy skils?

• Concept module: reading skills
• In overview module: Glossary (Literacy): R
• In modular book: Glossary of literacy terms
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 16 March 1999

© 1999 SIL International