Business and technology qualifications, Levels 3-6, in Brussels. Explore qualifications
Portal login
Diploma in Higher Education Studies

Reading for gist and detail

HES 104 · Developing English Language Skills — Week 5 of 16

CourseHES 104
Week5 of 16
SemesterI
TutorOnline in the course chat

This week’s topics

Reading for gist and detail

  1. Skimming and scanning
  2. Guessing new words from context

What you will be able to do

  • 2.1 Apply reading strategies (skimming, scanning, guessing meaning from context).

Activity

Read a short article and answer gist and detail questions.

Study materials

Further resources

  • College Success, ch. 5.2: Effective reading strategies · PDF · OpenStax (2020), skimming and scanning; pp. 141–151 · for registered students
  • Writing for Success, ch. 4.6: Using context clues · PDF · Saylor (2012), guessing new words; pp. 163–165 · for registered students
  • BBC 6 Minute English: Why read books, not screens? (transcript) · PDF · BBC Learning English transcript – a short text to read for gist and detail · for registered students
  • Lexical Threshold Revisited: Lexical Text Coverage, Vocabulary Size and Reading · Open-access article · Laufer & Ravenhorst-Kalovski (2010), Reading in a Foreign Language. How many words you need to know to read a text comfortably, and when guessing from context works. · for registered students
  • The Effects of Context on Incidental Vocabulary Learning · Open-access article · Webb (2008), Reading in a Foreign Language. Experiment showing how much richer context helps readers guess and remember new words. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
Week 4Week 6
Course chat

Admitted students ask questions on this week’s page in the student portal: an AI assistant trained on the course answers first, and during the course’s timetabled classes Connect to your tutor brings your tutor into the chat, who may start a call if needed.

Open this week in the portal
Course plan
  • Week 1: Talking about yourself: the present simple
  • Week 2: What is happening now: the present continuous
  • Week 3: Telling a story: the past simple
  • Week 4: Building vocabulary: word families and collocations
  • Week 5: Reading for gist and detail
  • Week 6: Listening for key information
  • Week 7: Speaking clearly: sounds and word stress
  • Midterm: Midterm evaluation
  • Week 9: Talking about the future: will and going to
  • Week 10: Giving advice and rules: should, must, have to
  • Week 11: Writing good sentences
  • Week 12: Writing a paragraph
  • Week 13: Comparing things: comparatives and superlatives
  • Week 14: Writing an email
  • Week 15: Review and coursework completion
  • Final: Final assessment and submission
Back to the course
Scroll