Text:

"In many language classrooms, reading is still treated as a silent, individual activity whose main goal is to check vocabulary knowledge. However, contemporary views of reading emphasize that it is a social and strategic process. When learners skim a text, they look for its overall message rather than every unknown word. When they scan, they focus on locating specific pieces of information, such as dates or names. Effective teachers design tasks that make these strategies visible: they ask students to predict content from titles and visuals, to discuss their expectations in pairs, and then to compare what they anticipated with what they actually understood. In this way, reading becomes not only a test of comprehension, but also a context for interaction, negotiation of meaning and the development of critical awareness."