Reading Skills? Its Goals and different techniques of teaching reading, other techniques its purpose, Importance of effective Reading Skills

Reading Skills? Its Goals and different techniques of teaching reading, other techniques its purpose, Importance of effective Reading Skills

Prakash S Chauhan

Saurashtra University Department Of English and Comparative Literature and Translation Studies Gujarat (Rajkot), India

Keywords: Teaching reading, Techniques, Skills

Introduction

What do we mean by Reading Skills and purpose of reading?

Francis Bacon says that “Reading makes man perfecto”.

There is no defecto and dejure comprehensive definition of reading. It is very difficult in spite of all the research on reading to arrive at a comprehensive definition. But we can say that it is mainly a decoding process. Listening to read is the process of the skills which is necessary for reading. This means the ability to acquire meaning from print. Listening to read is paradoxical in some ways. For an adult who is a fairly good reader for him/her reading seems to be like a simple, effortless and automatic skills but, the process builds on cognitive, linguistic and social skills developed in the years before reading typically begin.

Reading particularly known as Decoding Process which we will understand as under path process.

Encoder   (Writer)………………>Message…………………<

Decoder (Reader)

After all we get the idea about Decoding process; Reading is also known as active process. A reader can understand a text only when he/she actively puts to use his/her mental faculties for that they should have to focus on following points

1.       The knowledge of the writing system (Graphemes)

2.       The knowledge of the language (Morphology, Phonology, Syntax, Semantics)

3.       The ability to interpret

4.       The knowledge of the world

5.       A reason for reading and a reading style appropriate for it

So, above all these contribute to his/her understanding- the way in which he/she interprets the text and the meaning he/she constructs out of the text. This many what the writer have to focus with also he/she brings to the text.

Some quotes about Reading Skills what we mean about it

·      “Beginning is a creature of society.” People simultaneously created the necessity for interpreting written symbols through a reading process.

·         “If the first button of a man’s coat is wrong put, are bound to be crooked.” Is that first push button in the garment of education?

·         “Listening nations are the Reading Nations.”

·         “People who can be free because reading banished ignorance and superstition.”

·         Reading skills are specific abilities which empower a reader.

·         To read the written from as meaningful language

·         To read anything written with independence, comprehension and fluency and to mentally interacts with the message.

·         Reading as an aid to learning.

·         People who have acquired reasonable fluency for them reading becomes more effective method of learning

The Purposes for Reading

There is plenty of purpose which is enough to understand Reading following are they……

1.       To laugh

2.       To re-live common in everyday experiences

3.       To escape from real life

4.       To enjoy the emotional life of others

5.       To satisfy curiosity

6.       To enjoy dramatic situation vicariously

7.       To gain and fulfill out information about worldwide live in

8.       To enjoy people and places we have never seen before

9.       To see how smart we are to outguess the author, solve a puzzle

10.   To gain meaning and to find values

11.   For social motives and to find values

12.   To organize and to solve problems and to remember

13.   Strong and weak forms

We read many things in our day to day lives; names of few in the purpose of reading

1.       Textbooks, novels, short stories

2.       Letters, telegrams

3.       Articles, reports, and legal documents

4.       Dictionaries, telephone directories, maps, statistical diagrams

5.       Newspapers and magazine, cartoons and comic strips

6.       Recipes books, puzzles and menus, travel catalogs, atlas,

Different Goals and techniques of teaching reading; different kinds of reading skills

Teacher like to produce those students who even if they do not have complete control of the grammar as well as extensive lexicon can find themselves in communication situations. In the case of reading is concerned this means producing students who can use reading strategies to maximize their comprehension of text, identify relevant and non- relevant information and put up with less than word-by-word comprehension.

Concentration of the Reading Process

To accomplish this goal teachers focus on the process of reading rather than on its production.

1.       They develop student’s concentration as well as consciousness of the reading process and reading strategies by asking students to talk about how they read in their native language.

2.       They should allow students to practice the full collection of reading strategies by using authentic reading tasks. They encourage students to read to learn and have an authentic purpose for reading by giving a student’s some choice of reading materials.

3.       They should have students practice reading strategies in class and ask them to practice outside of the class in their reading assignments. A teacher encourages students to be conscious of what they are doing while they complete reading assignments.

4.       A Teacher motivate for the development of reading skills and the use of reading strategies by using the target (Second Language) language to convey instruction and course-related information in written form: office hours, home work assignment and test content.

5.       When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading experience and they gain confidence in their abilities to read the language.

6.       Reading is essential part of any world language instruction at every level since it supports learning in multiple ways.

Effective Reading Techniques

There are numbers of techniques to improve reading skills

which are as follows…...

1.       Choose a paragraph and read aloud.

2.       Choose a paragraph and mark each sentence with a sound script which will be helpful for pronunciation mark-up. It can give us in result correct and natural pronunciations.

3.       Choose a few of the sentences form your reading materials and highlight content words.

4.       Once you become comfortable, read a single paragraph aloud, read an entire page by reading a paragraph aloud and then reading one silently.

5.       Read any short paragraph of story book or any newspaper to a friend who is also studying English subject. Compare the differences and discuss what might be the reasons for difficulties.

6.       Use other online production sources and Babylon dictionaries or other online dictionaries for correct pronunciation of difficult words

Kinds of Reading Skills

Reading includes a combination of skills used simultaneously. Children begin with basic Alphabetic method, Phonetic Method, Word Method, The Phrase Method, at last The Sentence Method. Sooner or later he/she get fluency and comprehension skills to make their reading experiences meaningful. The main goal of reading understands. If students can pronounce words but do not understand what they are reading, they are merely reciting words.

I. Decoding: - Decoding is an early reading skill. Students learn in kindergarten and in the first grade. Decoding means sounding out words is the foundation of reading instruction. Phonics is the method teachers use to instruct students. Letter-naming and recognition is taught along with initial sounds. Children must understand that each letter is represented by a corresponding sound before they can read text. Once children know sounds, they learn to blend them into their own words. This phoneme segmentation skill should be practiced daily along with alphabets and sound fluency until decoding becomes an automatic procedure.

II.  Fluency: - Fluency is the capability to read accurately and expressively while maintaining a rate of speed that facilities comprehension. Students learn fluency in a variety of ways. Teachers model fluent reading in the classroom and students listen to books on CD. Students receive direct instruction in fluency through guided practice using methods like choral and repeated reading. Teachers evaluate fluency with timed readings that give a score in words read per minute. Students who fall below the average score for their grade level receive additional, individual help.

III.     Comprehension: - Comprehension is the ability to understand what has been read. Comprehending involves strategies that students learn to use when reading independently. Teachers’ emphasizes on several key comprehension skills. These are inferring, predicting, comparing and contrasting, sequencing and summarizing. Students generally learn how to use these strategies in small group guided by the teacher who demonstrates their use. Students then practice comprehension techniques with a partner by discussing what they read, making connection with prior knowledge and identifying the main ideas in the story.

Reading is a receptive written skill of language. There are several ways of reading. Which are as follows -

Skimming reading is running the eyes over quickly to get the idea. Skimming reading is used to understand the “Hint” or main idea. Scanning reading is used to find a particular piece of information. Extensive reading is used for pleasure and general understanding. Intensive reading is accurate reading for detailed understanding.

A). Skimming

Skimming is used to gather the most important information or ‘idea’ quickly. Run your eyes is most important information. Use skimming is to get up to speed on a current business

scenario quickly. It is not essential to understand each word

when we are skimming.

For Example: -

^Ø   The newspaper (to get the general news of the day quickly)

^Ø   Magazine (to discover which articles you would like to read in more detail quickly)

^Ø   Business and Travel Broachers (to get informed quickly)

B). Scanning

Scanning  is  looking  for  a  particular  piece  of  information.

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. Run

your eyes over the text looking for the specific piece of your

eyes over the text looking for the specific of information you

need. Use scanning on schedules, meeting plans etc. in order

to  find  the  specific  details  you need.  If  you see  words  or

phrases   that   you   don’t   understand,   don’t   worry    when

scanning.

For Example

^Ø   The “what’s on T.V” section of the newspaper.

^Ø    A train/ airplane schedule (Arrival or Departure)

^Ø    A conference guide

^Ø    T.V schedules (Program List)

C). Extensive Reading

Extensive reading is longer texts for pleasure and need global understanding. Extensive reading is used to acquire a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure as well as business books. Use extensive reading skills to improve your general knowledge. For Example

1.       The latest marking strategy book

2.       A novel you read before going to the bed.
3. Magazine articles that interest you the most

D). Intensive Reading

Intensive Reading is shorter texts, extracting specific information and accurate reading for detail. Intensive reading is used on the shorter texts in order to extract specific information. It includes very close accurate reading for detail. Use intensive reading skills to grasp the details of a specific situation. In this case, we come to know that it is essential that you understand each word, number or fact. For Example

^Ø   A bookkeeping report

^Ø    An insurance claim

^Ø    A contract

E). Rapid Reading

Rapid reading is the process of reading the entire text as fast as possible and comprehending it with details but, without going into the critical aspects and minute details contained in the text. Information elicited through this process enables the learner/reader to derive the overall summary/get with major details.

F). Critical reading

Critical reading, it calls as other name “in-depth or careful reading” is a relatively slow process in comparison to rapid reading. It involves a careful examination of all the major as well as minor ideas, facts etc. looked at from the point of view of the author of the material, other possible points of view

which might be parallel or contradictory and the reader’s own point of view

Critical reading is not very relevant for the high school levels. It might be found for meaningful and necessary in the context of studying literature etc.

Types of Reading

Broadly speaking has two types of reading could be thought of They are as follow.

a)  Silent Reading

b)  Loud Reading A) Silent Reading

Silent reading is a process of reading wholly within without oral utterances. This kind of reading is preferred to as silent reading is normally much faster for the reason that the eye movements are much faster compared to speech and lip movements. There are two main distracters possible in silent reading.

1.       Vocalization: - Vocalization is the process of orally uttering the printed word through not very loudly. It is believed that oral utterances are much slower compared to the eye movements and these factors contribute to the speed of reading. If both the processes take place simultaneously, the slower pace of vocalization will limit affect or adversely the eye movements.

2.       Sub(-Vocalization:- Sub-Vocalization is the process of moving the lips, movement of head horizontally or vertically while reading. these process are also much slower compared to the movement of eyes.

B) Loud Reading

Loud reading involves clear and fairly loud utterances of the material read. This kind of reading, thought relatively very slow in comparison with silent reading, helps the learners to understand and appreciate their lacunae/deficiencies in their utterances at the levels of pronunciation, stress, tone, pitch, intonation and all such segmental and supra-segmental elements. Loud reading is generally recommended at the primary as well as secondary levels of schooling and may be, to some extent, at the high school levels particularly in the context of poetry reading etc.

How to Read

We know that reading skill, like any other skills, can be acquired only when they are practiced. It is the learners who have to practice and the teacher has to give them practice. The listeners will be willing to practice only if they are motivated to acquire these skills.

We can divide a reading class into three phrases:

1.       Pre- Reading

2.       While- Reading

3.       Post- Reading

Pre- Reading

In the pre-reading phrase, the teacher should aim to arouse the learners’ interest in the subject of the reading text by making them draw on their knowledge of the world and by making they give their views on the subject.

While- Reading

The learners will now be ready for reading. The teacher then should ask them to quickly go through the text and answer one or two guiding questions such as, “what is the theme of the passage?”

Post- Reading Stage

In real life, reading is most of the time followed by some activity. After reading, the learners either reflect upon what they read or they relate the text to their background knowledge, interest or views.

Depending on the nature of text teacher can ask them following bullets

^Ø   To think of a similar situation to that presented in the text

^Ø    To say whether they agree with the view of the author

^Ø    To suggest solution to the problems raised in the text

There are basically three kinds of activities to how to read

1.       Reading of Newspaper

2.       Reading of Prose

3.       Reading of Poem

Importance of effective Reading Skills

Reading skills serves as a foundation for writing. Developed and mastered, effective reading skills give people the opportunity to learn new information about the world, people, events, and places, enrich their vocabularies, and improve their writing skills.

Important effective reading skills are as follow

1.       Reading enriched the inner world of a person, improves grammar and spelling.

2.       Through reading people learn to understand different ways of thinking and feeling of other people, become more flexible and open-minded.

3.       A reader has better skills for comprehending, analyzing, understanding, responding and finally learning from what he/she reads.

4.       Avoid reader not only read and write well than those who read less, but also process information faster. The research presented by the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology proves that poor readers have poorer short-memory functions.

Summing Up

This research paper tried to give information regarding Reading Skills and how reading skill can be fruitfully developed. Furthermore it has also suggested some points which are appropriate for students, learners, and teachers how to use teaching effective techniques of reading for students and beginner learner.

References

1.       Halliday MAK, Strevence PD, McIntosh A. The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching, Longman, 1964.

2.       O’Donnel WR. applied Linguistics and the Teaching of English Longman.

3.       Lado R. Language Testing: The Construction and Use of Foreign Language Tests Longman, 1957.

4.       Berg Paul C. Effective Reading. Central Institute Of Indian Languges, Mysore.

5.       Developing Better reading Intrests. Teaching Education. NCERT, New Delhi

6.       Doff  Adrian.  Teach  English.  A  Training  Course  for

Teachers.  Teacher’s  Handbook.  Cambridge:  Cambridge

University Press, 1988.

7.       Grellet Francoise. Developing Reading Skills. Cambridge University Press, 1981.

8.       William Eddie. Reading in the Language Classroom. Hongkong. Modern English Publication, 1984.

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