Reading Skills for Success

A Guide to Academic Texts

2nd Edition

Subjects: English Language Teaching (ELT), Reading, Education, Higher Education
Paperback : 9780472040100, 200 pages, 50 Illustrations and 10 tables, 8.25 x 11, November 2026
Ebook : 9780472222469, 200 pages, 37 Illustrations and 10 tables, 8.25 x 11, November 2026
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Preparing students for the demands of academic reading

Table of contents

Contents

List of Figures: ix

List of Tables: xi

Preface: xiii

Part 1. Word-Level Clues to Meaning: 1

1. Vocabulary Development Strategies—Using Context Clues: 3

2. Vocabulary Development Strategies—Using Word Parts: 13

3. Recognizing Technical Terms Defined in Context: 23

4. Pronouns and Restatements—Identifying Continuing Ideas: 31

Part 2. Understanding Expository Text Structures: 39

5. Logical Connectors—Recognizing Development of Ideas: 41

6. Determining Main Ideas: 51

7. Enumeration and Classification Organization: 59

8. Comparison-Contrast Organization: 67

9. Time Order and Cause-and-Effect Organization: 75

Part 3. Reading to Study: 85

10. Improving Study Skills—Introduction to Reading Strategies: 87

11. Textbook Reading Strategies—SQ3R: 97

12. Taking Notes—The Cornell Method: 103

Appendix 1: Sample Textbook Chapter: “The Greek World from the Bronze Age to the Roman Conquest”: 109

Appendix 2: Sample Textbook Chapter: “Dynamics: Force and Newton’s Laws of Motion”: 117

Appendix 3: Sample Textbook Chapter: “Ecosystems and the Biosphere”: 125

Supplement A: Reading for Pleasure: 149

Supplement B: Additional List of Common Academic Vocabulary: 153

Notes: 157

References: 159

Answer Key: 163

Description

In this new edition, Reading Skills for Success continues to help students develop the reading skills and strategies they need to transition to reading material in mainstream academic settings. Designed for precollege readers and non-native speakers of English alike, the fully revised book focuses on the text-based, linguistic preparedness necessary to quickly spot key information and organizational structure in texts and avoid miscomprehension.

Written by academic experts who are practicing teachers in ESL intensive English, the book is grounded in sound pedagogical methods. Teachers will work through specific reading strategies with students; use the general activities and sample academic chapters in the book to practice the strategies being taught; and then have the students turn to outside readings, like their academic textbooks, to practice the strategies they are learning. Accessible for teachers and students, Reading Skills for Success provides a guide for developing text-based processing skills to improve reading confidence.

In Reading Skills for Success, 2nd Edition, students will:

  • Learn to use word-level clues to increase reading comprehension.
  • Recognize different types of expository text structures.
  • Develop study skills for intensive analytical reading of academic prose.
  • Practice reading strategies for in-depth, long-term understanding of complex academic texts.
  • Apply skills to excerpts from actual textbooks used in first-year college courses representing a wide variety of fields in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

CEFR level: A1-B1
 

Thomas A. Upton is Professor of English/TESOL at Indiana University Indianapolis.

Katherine W. Brinkmeyer is Director of the Program for Intensive English at Indiana University Indianapolis.

“Reading Skills for Success provides the principles of active and strategic reading while covering essentials such as vocabulary, expository text structures, and reading study-skills in clear, comprehensible, beautifully scaffolded chapters. This is an extremely easy, user-friendly instructional guide for both students and teachers that features challenging, yet accessible reading texts.”

- Aviva Katzenell, Florida Atlantic University