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The process of reading actively, with a reading order and pace that suits the reader’s purpose.
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The process of reading actively, with a reading order and pace that suits the reader’s purpose.
Most people read a story or novel from beginning to end in a straight line, but almost no one reads a dictionary in that way. Reading for problem-solving requires us to be selective and strategic rather passively follow a linear path.1
It has been shown that active readers (who vary their pace, and reading order in response to an awareness of their purpose) are more effective than passive readers who just read at an even pace.2
Strategic reading includes
It relies on metacognition:3 we adapt our reading style as we become aware that we need to pay more attention, skip ahead or whatever.
In many schools and in adult literacy classes, readers are taught active reading strategies: the use of access structures such as contents lists and headings, the use of multiple sources, and ways to approach different document genres.
1. Wright P, (1988) ‘Functional Literacy: Reading and Writing at Work’, Ergonomics 31:265.
2. Pugh, A. (1979). Styles and strategies in adult silent reading. In P. Kolers, M. Wrolstad, & H. Bouma (Eds.), Processing of visible language. Vol. 1. New York: Plenum Press.
Thomas, L. (1976). The self-organised learner and the printed word. Uxbridge: Brunel University Centre of the Study of Human Learning.
3. Britton. B.K., Glynn, S. (eds.) (1987) Executive Control Processes in Reading. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.