Skimming and scanning are two techniques that many people use. To understanding more the differences between two, just check the explanation below:
|
SKIMMING |
SCANNING |
| Skimming is reading a text quickly to find out the general theme, topic or meaning | Scanning is reading a text quickly in order to find specific information. For instance: figures or names |
| It is useful for pre-reading tasks or texts that don’t need a lot of detailed attention | It is useful for answering exam type questions which ask for True/False or to discover facts, etc |
| There is no need to read every word | The aim is to search out relevant words, collocations, etc |
| The focus is on improving speed of reading | The focus is more on lexis than general meaning and to ignore irrelevant information |