Language Learning Skills

I'm a pretty good reader in my own language, which is Japanese. Yes, I am pretty sure that I'm good at reading because I got always great scores for my reading class when I was a student. Because I can read and understand well, I can write well, too! Sorry for being too much confident...but it's only for in Japanese. Because English and Japanese have very different styles of writing, writing and reading in English are not as easy as in Japanese. If I wrote in English like I do in Japanese, it would be a little weird; actually many tutors asked me what I was trying to say in my essay many times last semester, so my skills in my native language weren't really helpful. However, since I am getting used to English writing structures gradually, I'm a little bit comfortable with writing in English now. So if I had to write an essay in Japanese, I would use the same strategies, like how to organize my essays. For me, English writing is clearer and easier to understand than Japanese writing, so I won't use my Japanese writing strategies in 5 -paragraph-essays, but the strategies I've learned since I came here.
Oh, I almost forgot, but for reading, I sometimes use the same strategies as in Japanese when I read in English and answer questions. I skim the passage first, then I start to answer the questions. I don't read the whole passage deliberately, but only the important information to answer the questions. As I use this strategy, sometimes I make mistakes, but mostly I get correct answers. I think it is a good skill for reading.