What is Close Reading?

Throughout your English studies you will be asked to close read texts. The skill we are teaching you with these activities is usually called close reading, as we will be helping you to read between the lines.

Often the texts that you will close read are unfamiliar (in other words, you have not seen them before). In unfamiliar text answers you are demonstrating that you understand how language is used to deliver a message to a specific audience.

To be even clearer, according to Timothy Shanahan, “Close reading is an intensive analysis of a text in order to come to terms with what it says, how it says it, and what it means.”

The close reading of texts is an important part of your English studies. This blog aims to help you succeed in English by providing accessible examples of language terms that you and your teacher can refer to when preparing for and revising unfamiliar texts.