Academic Reading: Reading Electronic Text.

 

Academic reading is an essential skill that students need to master very well. Nowadays, electronic text is fast becoming ubiquitous. Many colleges, universities, training centres and schools are delivering learning content via electronic means. In principle, these documents are in the form of web pages, pdf, doc and PowerPoint documents. Web pages in particular require certain strategies that must be followed in order to read them which are:

1. Awareness of purpose
2. Discover meaning
3. Navigation of the text
4. Interpreting the text

       Firstly, there must be awareness of the purpose for reading. this must be firmly borne in the mind of the students. Electronic documents or texts in the form of web pages come with flashing links and other distractions such as links to other , often irrelevant,websites. The student or learner should be focused and mindful of why he or she is reading the text and engaging with the learning content. 

      Secondly, navigation of the text should be made with the built in "search tool" in electronic documents. Navigating an electronic document is unlike navigating a book. Navigating an electronic document requires scrolling up and down endlessly when searching for the correct passage. It is also hard to map or visualise the correct location of a text in the mind when it comes to electronic documents. Hence search tools help the learner to locate, highlight and make annotations on electronic documents. The student/learner should navigate using the tools to read and re-read the screens several times over for better comprehension.

        Thirdly,  the learner should discover or find the meaning of any unfamiliar word by either, clicking on the hyperlink to find the meaning or by using a search engine. The learner can copy the the term and place it in the search box of a search engine. 

          Fourthly, when the learner is unsure of the meaning of text, then the learner can contact the author of the electronic document by email or by asking fellow students and/or the author on an on-line forum. A skilled student/learner should always bear in mind the following regardless of whether the document is printed or electronic:

• the text must be read with its purpose in mind. Why and what is the knowledge that the student wants to learn from the text. 
• the text is previewed by skimming through it in order to get an overview of the content.
• previous knowledge is activated and connections are made with the new knowledge.
• various strategies are used in order to get the meaning of the text.
• the student self-monitors his/her understanding active learning. By active learning, the student answers questions, asking questions, and or working on the exercises.

          In conclusion, reading electronic and also printed documents require the four strategies to be used.