EXPERIENCE: How I Improve My Reading Skills?

Hi everyone. Welcome back to another entry for Experience series. Finally, I'm back with English entry. Today I'm going to share with you how I improve my reading skills. 

As you know, I love to read books especially novel and science-related books. I started to read since kindergarten and still reading until now because the more we read, the better our reading skills. 

Before we proceed, you need to know what is reading skill first. Reading skill is a skill that we can get through reading. It includes decoding, fluency, comprehension, summarization and many more.

One of the ways that I used to improve my reading skills is to make reading as my hobby. Since I have interest towards reading, I will find time to read no matter how busy I am. For me, choosing reading as my hobby encourages me to consistently read the reading materials that I have.

Besides, I love to find the meaning of words that I do not know. By knowing the meaning of the words, I will get better understanding about the content of the reading materials. At the same time, it helps me to improve my vocabulary. During my secondary school, I even have a vocabulary book😂.

Other than that, I will search for the pronunciation of the words that I am not familiar with. Nowadays, there are many ways to do it such as through websites and YouTube. If you do not have access to Internet, you can try to ask people around you.

One of the reading skills that is useful for me is summarization. The way I practise for it is by writing book synopsis and book reviews. I joined NILAM during school and had summarized different type of books. When I started blogging, I practise by writing novel reviews.

Apart from that, I try to explore new type of reading materials as time flies. Of course it is hard to finish reading a book that we are not familiar with. However, I will try my best to finish reading although it might take longer time than usual. Previously, I focused more on story books and novels (fiction). In recent years, I have tried to read more scientific reading materials (non fiction) because of my study in university.

Last but not least, I spend some time to do reading comprehension exercises. This is because it is one of the best ways to improve our reading skills. I just practise using SPM English books and MUET books.

Obtaining a good reading skill is not something that we can achieve in one day. It is something that take years and we need to continue reading to improve our skill. 

Although, we have a good reading skill, it might fade and less relevant if we do not practise it. This is because books and the way of writing also evolve as time passes.