The key difference between reading skills and reading strategies lies in their nature: strategies are conscious processes used to solve reading problems, while skills are more like automatic actions resulting from consistently applying those strategies.
Understanding Reading Strategies
- Strategies as Tools: Think of reading strategies as tools in a reader's toolbox. These are deliberate, planned actions a reader takes to understand a text.
- Problem-Solving Approach: Strategies are employed when the reader encounters a challenge, such as unfamiliar vocabulary or complex sentence structures.
- Examples of Reading Strategies:
- Skimming: Quickly reading to get the main idea.
- Scanning: Looking for specific information.
- Making Inferences: Drawing conclusions based on what is implied.
- Summarizing: Briefly stating the main points.
- Questioning: Asking yourself about the text.
- Predicting: Guessing what will happen next.
- Re-reading: Going over a section that is difficult to understand.
Understanding Reading Skills
- Automatic Actions: Reading skills are what happen automatically and subconsciously as a reader interacts with text. They develop over time through practice and consistent use of reading strategies.
- Efficiency and Fluency: Strong reading skills result in efficient and fluent reading, where comprehension occurs with minimal conscious effort.
- Examples of Reading Skills:
- Decoding: Automatically recognizing words and understanding their meaning.
- Fluency: Reading smoothly and effortlessly.
- Comprehension: Understanding the meaning of the text.
- Vocabulary Knowledge: Recognizing and knowing the meanings of words.
- Critical Thinking: Analyzing and evaluating the text.
Key Differences in a Table
| Feature | Reading Strategies | Reading Skills |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Conscious, deliberate processes | Automatic, subconscious actions |
| Purpose | To solve problems and improve comprehension | To enable efficient and fluent reading |
| Development | Learned and applied intentionally | Developed through practice and strategy use |
| Execution | Requires active thought and planning | Occurs automatically with minimal effort |
| Analogy | Tools in a reader’s toolbox | The result of using the tools over time |
The Interplay
According to the provided reference: "a strategy is a process to solve a problem and a skill is more of an automatic action." The relationship between reading skills and strategies is dynamic. Learners develop reading skills by automatically and successfully employing strategies while they are reading. The consistent and deliberate use of reading strategies ultimately results in the development of automatic reading skills. A learner who frequently uses the summarization strategy might eventually develop the skill of summarizing effortlessly while reading.
In short, reading strategies are the 'how' of reading, while reading skills are the 'what' that results from using the strategies effectively.
