How to Teach Skimming and Scanning: Practical Reading Strategies for English Teachers

 

How to Teach Skimming and Scanning: Practical Reading Strategies for English Teachers

Reading is one of the most important skills in learning English, yet many students struggle to understand long texts efficiently. Teachers often notice that learners either read too slowly, trying to understand every single word, or read too quickly and miss key information. To help students become more effective readers, teachers must explicitly teach skimming and scanning—two essential reading strategies that improve comprehension, speed, and confidence.

This post will guide you through what these skills are, why they matter, and how to teach them effectively in your English classroom.

 

1. Understanding Skimming and Scanning

Before teaching these skills, it’s important to understand the difference between them.

Skimming

Skimming means reading quickly to get the main idea or general meaning of a text. When skimming, readers don’t focus on every word but instead look for key points, headings, and topic sentences.
Example: When a student reads a news article just to understand what it’s about, not every detail.

Purpose:

• To get the gist of a text
• To preview material before reading in depth
• To decide whether the text is relevant to their purpose

Useful in: Reading newspapers, reports, or exam passages where time is limited.

Scanning

Scanning, on the other hand, means looking for specific information within a text. The reader moves their eyes quickly down the page to find dates, names, numbers, or particular facts.

Example: Finding a phone number in a directory or the price of an item in an advertisement.

Purpose:

• To locate specific details without reading everything
• To answer factual questions
• To extract data efficiently

Useful in: Reading schedules, articles, forms, or any task that requires quick information retrieval.

 

2. Why Teach Skimming and Scanning?

Both skills are crucial for academic and real-world reading tasks. Here are some reasons why English teachers should prioritize them:

• Improves reading speed: Learners who master these skills can handle longer texts without getting overwhelmed.
• Builds confidence: Students realize they don’t need to understand every word to comprehend meaning.
• Prepares for exams: Many standardized tests (like IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge exams) require quick reading to find answers efficiently.
• Develops critical thinking: These strategies help learners recognize structure, organization, and key points in a text.
• Encourages independent reading: Students who can skim and scan are more likely to explore authentic materials outside the classroom.

 

3. How to Teach Skimming

Teaching skimming requires clear modeling and guided practice. Students need to see how it’s done before they can apply it themselves.

Step 1: Explain the Purpose

Start by explaining that skimming is not about reading every word—it’s about understanding the overall meaning. Use examples like how we browse social media posts or quickly look through news headlines.

Step 2: Use Short Texts

Choose a short, engaging text such as a news story, a magazine article, or a paragraph from a graded reader.

Ask students:

• What is the text about?
• What do you think the main idea is?
• How can you tell?

Emphasize reading for the big picture, not the small details.

Step 3: Model the Process

Project a text on the board and demonstrate how to skim.

• Look at the title and subtitles
• Read the first and last paragraphs
• Focus on topic sentences (often the first sentence in each paragraph)
• Pay attention to keywords and repeated ideas

Read aloud quickly and show how to ignore unnecessary details.

Step 4: Practice Activities

Here are some classroom ideas to develop skimming skills:

• “30-Second Headlines”: Give students a short text and 30 seconds to read. Then ask them to summarize the main idea in one sentence.
• “Main Idea Race”: Divide the class into groups. Give each group a short text. The first team to correctly identify the main idea wins.
• Prediction Task: Before reading, ask students to predict what the text will be about based on the title and visuals, then skim to check their predictions.

Step 5: Reflect

After each activity, discuss what strategies helped them find the main idea faster. Reflection encourages metacognitive awareness—students learn to think about how they read.

 

4. How to Teach Scanning

Once students are comfortable skimming, introduce scanning. This skill is often easier to grasp because it focuses on finding specific details.

Step 1: Introduce the Concept

Explain that scanning is like “searching with your eyes.” You don’t read everything—you move quickly to find what you need.

Give real-life examples:

• Looking for a bus departure time
• Checking exam dates on a schedule
• Finding a specific word in a dictionary

Step 2: Demonstrate Scanning

Project a text and ask students to find a piece of information:

• “Find the year when the company was founded.”
• “Find the name of the main character.”
  Show how your eyes move quickly across the text until you locate the keyword.

Step 3: Guided Practice

Use exercises that require scanning for details:

• Information Hunt: Give students a worksheet with questions about a text. They must find answers as quickly as possible.
• Find the Word: Ask them to find how many times a specific word appears.
• Text Treasure Hunt: Hide small pieces of information (dates, prices, names) in a longer text and have students “hunt” for them.

Step 4: Time Challenges

To build speed, add a time limit. For example, “Find the three countries mentioned in the article in under 60 seconds.” This keeps students focused and motivated.

Step 5: Pair or Group Work

Let students work together. Pair one student to ask questions (“What’s the date of the event?”) while the other scans the text for the answer. This builds collaboration and reinforces the skill.

 

5. Combining Skimming and Scanning

In real reading situations, skilled readers often combine both strategies. They skim first to get an overview and scan later to locate details.

Here’s how to teach this integrated approach:

1. Preview the Text (Skim):
   Ask students to read the title, subheadings, and first sentences of each paragraph.
   → Discuss what the text might be about.
2. Set Specific Questions (Scan):
   Provide comprehension questions that require scanning for information.
   → “When did the event happen?” “Who was involved?” “Where did it take place?”
3. Compare and Discuss:
   After reading, have students discuss what strategies helped them find answers quickly. Encourage reflection on when to use each technique.

 

6. Useful Materials for Teaching Skimming and Scanning

To make lessons more engaging, use authentic materials that reflect real-world reading:

• Newspapers and magazines (for articles and ads)
• Travel brochures and schedules
• Web pages or social media posts
• Short academic texts for exam preparation
• Infographics and tables for scanning practice

You can also use online tools like BBC Learning English or Breaking News English, which offer graded texts for learners of all levels.

 

7. Tips for Successful Teaching

• Start with short texts and gradually increase the length.
• Don’t test—teach! Make sure students understand that these activities are about developing strategies, not just getting correct answers.
• Model every step. Demonstration is key before independent practice.
• Use visuals. Charts, tables, and highlighted examples make concepts clearer.
• Encourage autonomy. Ask learners to apply these skills in their daily lives (e.g., when reading online news or class materials).

 

8. Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Problem 1: Students try to read every word.
Solution: Use time limits and easy texts to force faster reading. Remind them that perfection isn’t the goal—understanding the gist is.

Problem 2: Learners confuse skimming and scanning.
Solution: Use a comparison chart to highlight differences and practice both skills separately before combining them.

Problem 3: Weak vocabulary slows down comprehension.
Solution: Encourage using context clues and focusing on key nouns and verbs rather than every word.

 

9. Conclusion

Teaching skimming and scanning is more than just helping students read quickly—it’s about making them strategic readers who can approach any text with purpose and confidence. With clear explanations, engaging activities, and consistent practice, your learners will develop the ability to read efficiently, extract key information, and enjoy reading in English.

In today’s information-rich world, where time is limited and texts are abundant, mastering skimming and scanning is not just an exam skill—it’s a life skill.