Interesting view of reading skills

Reading is an important part of learning English. This guide to how to improve your reading skills will help you improve reading by using skills you use in your own language. In other words, one of the best tips on improving reading is to think about how you read in your own language. Start by thinking about how you read different documents. How do you read the newspaper? How do you read novels? How do you read train schedules? and so on. Taking time to think about this will help give you clues on how to read in English - even if you don't understand every single word. Ask yourself this question: Do I read every word in your own language when I am reading a schedule, summary, or other outlining document?The answer is most definitely: No! Reading in English is like reading in your native language. This means that it is not always necessary to read and understand each and every word in English. Remember that reading skills in your native language and English are basically the same. Here is a quick overview of the four types of reading skills used in every language:Skimming - used to understand the "gist" or main idea. Scanning - used to find a particular piece of information. Extensive reading - used for pleasure and general understanding. Intensive reading - accurate reading for detailed understanding. You can use these reading skills in a number of ways to improve other areas of English learning such as pronunciation, grammar and increasing vocabulary.
From : Reading how to improve skill \About.com English as 2^nd language