{"id":1901,"date":"2015-06-09T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=1901"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:45:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:45:48","slug":"toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"TOEFL Tuesday: Improving English Reading Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GL_bbtwUDhs\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Reading native English can be a scary, demotivating experience. But even if it\u2019s not easy, it\u2019s one of the best forms of English practice. Reading real English, at an advanced level, helps improve both your grammar and your <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/how-to-improve-english-vocabulary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vocabulary<\/a>, and it teaches you the actual <em>usage<\/em> of the language. If you learn only by translating, the usage will often be lost. You need to know how a word is used, not just what it means, to correctly include it in your writing or conversation. Here are some tips to improve your English reading skills.<\/p>\n<h2>Use an English-only Dictionary<\/h2>\n<p>Translation is your enemy. In order to communicate in English well, you need to use only English. If you are reading this now, you probably understand this! Otherwise, you would be reading a TOEFL blog in your own language, not English.<\/p>\n<p>Use a learner\u2019s dictionary\u2014created specifically for students studying English as a foreign language\u2014to explain advanced English vocabulary with more common words and phrases, instead of using translation into another language.<\/p>\n<p>None of the English learner\u2019s dictionaries online are personal favorites of mine, but the big names are all pretty good, including Longman (I mention this in the video above). Here are some links to free online learner\u2019s dictionaries:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ldoceonline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Longman<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.learnersdictionary.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Merriam-Webster<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com\/us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oxford<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Read at the right English level<\/h2>\n<p>My <a href=\"http:\/\/idioms.thefreedictionary.com\/rule+of+thumb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rule of thumb<\/a> is that you should feel you understand about 75% of what you read. Now, I don\u2019t mean 75% of the words, but 75% of the ideas. This percentage is <em>without<\/em> a dictionary. Then, by using a dictionary and researching the 25% of the ideas or sentences you had trouble with, you should be able to reach 90%-100% understanding. If you are reading something that, without a dictionary or other research, you would understand less than 25% of, then it is probably too difficult to stay interested in. You can still learn a lot like that, but it helps to be interested in what you read!<\/p>\n<h2>Active reading<\/h2>\n<p>Staying interested is important because if you\u2019re not interested, you won\u2019t really remember anything. In order to learn the most possible from your reading, you want to be thinking about it, so you remember what you read later. The less you think about it, the less you will learn.<\/p>\n<p>Active reading means staying interested and engaged with the text. If you have trouble with this, try a few strategies to increase your engagement:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Take notes as you read. Only note the main ideas.<\/li>\n<li>After each paragraph, summarize what it said. Speak out loud, or take notes.<\/li>\n<li>Ask questions for the author after each paragraph.<\/li>\n<li>Predict what will be in the next paragraph after finishing one.<\/li>\n<li>Summarize how paragraphs are connected. How is paragraph two related to paragraph one? Is it an example? Is it a cause-and-effect relationship? Etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The more you ask questions and involve your own thoughts and ideas, the better!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Reading native English can be a scary, demotivating experience. But even if it\u2019s not easy, it\u2019s one of the best forms of English practice. Reading real English, at an advanced level, helps improve both your grammar and your vocabulary, and it teaches you the actual usage of the language. If you learn only by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13617],"tags":[13621],"ppma_author":[13628],"class_list":["post-1901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","tag-video"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Improve English Reading Skills<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reading is one of the best forms of English practice. Here&#039;s how to improve your English reading skills!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TOEFL Tuesday: Improving English Reading Skills\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reading is one of the best forms of English practice. Here&#039;s how to improve your English reading skills!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-09T16:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-10T21:45:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucas Fink\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucas Fink\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/\",\"name\":\"How to Improve English Reading Skills\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-09T16:00:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/c06e6a007d0b81117c00610ed88b6c7d\"},\"description\":\"Reading is one of the best forms of English practice. Here's how to improve your English reading skills!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TOEFL Tuesday: Improving English Reading Skills\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"description\":\"Online TOEFL Preparation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/c06e6a007d0b81117c00610ed88b6c7d\",\"name\":\"Lucas Fink\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/23cc892a81aad0b2904e4f690b7e865a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f798c830d96fa5dd3ad9b315d568569879bff638b794899ecd3c8ce9f5fa932b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f798c830d96fa5dd3ad9b315d568569879bff638b794899ecd3c8ce9f5fa932b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lucas Fink\"},\"description\":\"Lucas is the teacher behind Magoosh TOEFL. He\u2019s been teaching TOEFL preparation and more general English since 2009, and the SAT since 2008. Between his time at Bard College and teaching abroad, he has studied Japanese, Czech, and Korean. None of them come in handy, nowadays.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"TOEFL\",\"SAT\",\"ACT\",\"Data science\"],\"knowsLanguage\":[\"English\",\"Japanese\",\"Czech\",\"Korean\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/lucasvf\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<meta property=\"og:video\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GL_bbtwUDhs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:type\" content=\"text\/html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:duration\" content=\"338\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:adult\" content=\"false\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:upload_date\" content=\"2015-06-09T16:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:allow_embed\" content=\"true\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Improve English Reading Skills","description":"Reading is one of the best forms of English practice. Here's how to improve your English reading skills!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TOEFL Tuesday: Improving English Reading Skills","og_description":"Reading is one of the best forms of English practice. Here's how to improve your English reading skills!","og_url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/","og_site_name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL","article_published_time":"2015-06-09T16:00:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-10T21:45:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Lucas Fink","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_site":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lucas Fink","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/","name":"How to Improve English Reading Skills","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-09T16:00:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/c06e6a007d0b81117c00610ed88b6c7d"},"description":"Reading is one of the best forms of English practice. Here's how to improve your English reading skills!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-improving-english-reading-skills\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TOEFL Tuesday: Improving English Reading Skills"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/","name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","description":"Online TOEFL Preparation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/c06e6a007d0b81117c00610ed88b6c7d","name":"Lucas Fink","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/23cc892a81aad0b2904e4f690b7e865a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f798c830d96fa5dd3ad9b315d568569879bff638b794899ecd3c8ce9f5fa932b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f798c830d96fa5dd3ad9b315d568569879bff638b794899ecd3c8ce9f5fa932b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lucas Fink"},"description":"Lucas is the teacher behind Magoosh TOEFL. He\u2019s been teaching TOEFL preparation and more general English since 2009, and the SAT since 2008. Between his time at Bard College and teaching abroad, he has studied Japanese, Czech, and Korean. None of them come in handy, nowadays.","knowsAbout":["TOEFL","SAT","ACT","Data science"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Japanese","Czech","Korean"],"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/lucasvf\/"}]},"og_video":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GL_bbtwUDhs","og_video_type":"text\/html","og_video_duration":"338","og_video_width":"480","og_video_height":"270","ya_ovs_adult":"false","ya_ovs_upload_date":"2015-06-09T16:00:42+00:00","ya_ovs_allow_embed":"true"},"authors":[{"term_id":13628,"user_id":42,"is_guest":0,"slug":"lucasvf","display_name":"Lucas Fink","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f798c830d96fa5dd3ad9b315d568569879bff638b794899ecd3c8ce9f5fa932b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Fink","first_name":"Lucas","description":"Lucas is the teacher behind Magoosh TOEFL. He\u2019s been teaching TOEFL preparation and more general English since 2009, and the SAT since 2008. Between his time at Bard College and teaching abroad, he has studied Japanese, Czech, and Korean. None of them come in handy, nowadays."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1901"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}