Ten Steps to Building College Reading Skills

by John Langan

Offers tips on improving college reading skills, including advice on mastering tests and considering vocabulary in context.

594 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 1998

Reviews

[Kay]

The Langan series of textbooks is a solid approach for developmental students in need of improving their college-level reading skills. I used this text in an ESL reading class I taught a number of times over the past decade. The formula is simple: in order to improve, students need targeted work on ten key skills such as learning vocabulary from context or making inferences. Each chapter provides guided readings and copious exercises so that students can learn while reading.

The main criticism I have of this series is it's too neat -- a "training wheels" approach to reading. Many of the exercises are rather formulaic, reducing a complex task to a misleadingly simple multiple-choice format. However, I can also admit that this approach gives developmental students a feeling of accomplishment. Another problem, though, is that students weary of the endless procession of guided exercise, then practice tests, and then mastery tests. Many begin to simply skim for the answer rather than read, which, I suppose, might also be working on a valuable reading skill, but it is not really the point of some of the exercises at all.