Reading in English: B2

About this course

A course in reading English properly, pitched at CEFR B2, and built on the observation that reading every word at the same speed is the slowest possible way to read. There is no single skill called reading. There are four, and the first section covers all of them: skimming for shape, scanning for a fact, intensive reading for a contract, and extensive reading for the fluency that only quantity builds. It also gives the order that actually works for an exam question, which is not the order most people use. Then unknown words, and how to keep going instead of stopping. Stopping for each unfamiliar word breaks the thread, and by the time you return you have lost the argument. Five kinds of context clue, in order of usefulness, plus the false friends that look familiar and mean something else. The second half is about argument. English texts signal their own structure, and reading the signals is faster than reading everything: when you see "admittedly", the writer's real position is coming next. Then inference, tone, loaded language, and hedging, which is where B2 reading really lives, because most of a writer's position is in words they chose when a neutral one was available. It closes with a full passage worked through using everything in the course, including the question that separates a careful reader from a quick one. Read the first lesson before anything else. It says exactly what the certificate means, and what it does not.

What you will learn

• Choose the right reading speed for the job instead of reading everything the same way
• Work out unknown words from context, and know the few times to look one up
• Follow an argument across paragraphs using signal words and reference words
• Tell fact from opinion, and notice loaded language and hedging
• Draw inferences that the text actually supports, which is what exams test
• Read an argumentative text sceptically, including what it leaves out

Before you begin

• Roughly B1, meaning you can read general English with occasional difficulty
• Everything is text, so no microphone, headphones, or audio needed
• No prior qualification, and no external test booking required