Edexcel ESL reading techniques

This guide gives you skim, scan and close-read routines, with an original example and the mistakes to avoid.

What the paper asks

Pearson’s 4ES1 specification set Paper 1 as a two-hour Reading and Writing paper. Reading and writing are tested in separate exercises, and accuracy in writing is assessed.

Pearson has since moved to a newer ESL specification, so confirm your own code with your teacher. The techniques below work on any ESL reading paper. You can compare them with the approach on Cambridge’s 0510 page.

Three ways to read

• Skim. Read the title, first lines and last lines to learn the topic. This takes under a minute.
• Scan. Look for a name, number, date or key word that the question names. Move your eyes, not your lips.
• Close read. Read the exact sentences around your answer slowly, and check every word of the question against them.

Use all three on the same text. Skim first, scan for each question, then close read to confirm.

Answering from the text

1. Read the question twice. Note the question word: who, why, how many.
2. Find the section. Questions usually follow the order of the text.
3. Close read that part. Look for the exact detail, not a similar one.
4. Answer briefly. Write only what the question needs, in correct English.

Here is a short example of our own. A text says that a library “opens at nine on weekdays but at ten at the weekend, when it also closes earlier”.

The question asks, “When does the library open on Saturday?” The answer is ten. The nine is a trap, because it belongs to weekdays.

Errors to avoid

• Answering from general knowledge instead of the text.
• Copying a long section when a few words answer the question.
• Choosing the first number or name you see.
• Ignoring words like “but”, “however” and “only”.
• Leaving gaps. Always attempt an answer.

Practise it

Take a short article and write three questions yourself: one for a fact, one for a reason and one for an opinion. Swap with a friend, or answer them from scratch the next day. Our guides to explicit meaning and implicit meaning show the difference between what a text says and what it only suggests.

How our teachers help in 1-to-1 lessons

Most ESL students get stuck by choosing the first matching number or name, or by copying a long section. In 1-to-1 lessons, our teachers watch how your child moves through a text, then train the skim, scan and close-read routine on real passages.

See our English as a Second Language tuition for how lessons work. To get feedback on your own reading answers, book a paid one-hour trial lesson.

Next, visit our original practice tasks to try the skill on a task of your own. Our English as a Second Language tuition page explains how lessons run. When you are ready, the paid one-hour trial is the first step.