By Denise Doty
So now that you have decided to read to improve your target language skills, what do you do first? I would first suggest that you decide on your goals. What do you want to get out of reading?
What are your reading goals?
- To increase vocabulary.
- Be specific. How many words per day do you want to learn? Is there a category in which you need to increase your vocabulary, such as medicine, law or engineering?
- To increase slang/colloquialisms/idioms.
- Is your goal to sound more like a native by using more colorful everyday speech?
- To read fluently.
- Is your goal to be able to read a foreign text for your job?
- To prepare for an exam.
- If you are planning to take a written exam to prove your language ability focus on reading only that information that will help you excel at the test.
- To read a specific book.
- Is there a book you would like to read, but your target language reading ability is not quite at that level? Practice makes perfect. Read less-advance books on the same topic to work your way up to the desired book.
Check out my posting on SMART Goals: How to make them
What are your goals?