STUDY SKILLS

READING SKILL

                Reading helps one to keep oneself abreast of the ever increasing knowledge. Francis Bacon says ‘Reading make a full man’. It develops self-confidence in the learner. A person who has acquired the skill of reading is complete in learning the specific language. After acquiring the former two skills, viz., listening and speaking, the learner moves to mastering the reading skill. So, it is the foundation laid by the former two skills which helps a person to read properly.

          Reading involves recognition of sounds and written symbols.  Reading is a reaction to the graphic symbols, may it be reading aloud or silent reading. Reading aloud with meaningful sense groups, good pronunciation, proper pauses, and modulation of voice can be only understood by the reader and the listener. Reading is often coupled with listening skill and is described as passive or receptive skill.

          Reading involves complex skills as that of thinking. It includes learning, reflection, judgement, analysis, synthesis, problem-solving behavior, selection, inference, organization, comparison of data, determination of relationships and critical evaluation of what is being read. Reading is not a mechanical skill. It is a complex skill involving physical and psychological factors. Reading may be defined as the act of receiving meaning from the written word. The intensity if reading should vary depending on the purpose of reading, the skills to be developed. Reading plays an important role in the school curriculum. Hence, the ability to read and comprehend the printed page is a prerequisite to academic success.

Reading is

v An active and receptive skill.

v Decoding a message.

v Extracting information from a text.

v Getting specific questions answered. Making sense of the text.

v  An interactive process.

v  Constant making and remaking of hypothesis.

v Predicting and interpreting.

v Referring to and inferring information from text.

v A constant process of guessing.

AIMS OF TEACHING READING

People generally feel that the ability to read fluently is the primary aim of learning English. Before 1900, the major aim in teaching reading was just word recognition. But in due course of time, the concept underwent a change. In the modern times, there have been many social changes and so the purposes of teaching reading have increased. So much so is the change that even the methods of teaching reading have been modified accordingly. At present, reading is taught so that a person is able:-

                              I.            To recognize words.

                           II.            To comprehend (understand) the meaning of words, phrases and sentences.

                       III.            To react to what has been read.

                       IV.            To change ideas and behavior of the students.

                           V.            To infer the mood of the author/writer.

                       VI.            To read at a normal speed.

                    VII.            To use proper stress, intonation and pauses in reading suitable to the context.

The readers face lot problems while reading a foreign language like English. In school, practice in listening or speaking is given. The learners have less practice in aural-oral aspect of the language. English is not a phonetic language. Its spelling system creates problems in reading. So it is very essential that reading should be started after giving practice in listening and speaking.

THE SUB SKILLS OF READING

Ø Recognize and read words and phrases.

Ø Develop desirable silent reading habits.

Ø Acquire reasonable speed in reading.

Ø Grasp meanings of words and sentences.

Ø Locate central idea of passage.

Ø Read aloud with correct pronunciation and proper intonation.

Ø Read with comprehension.

Thus, we can conclude the important reading skills are,

 

PROCESS INVOLVED IN READING

                Reading is a process of looking at a written or printed symbol and translating it into an appropriate sound. This spoken symbol is further associated with an object for which it stands. Thus reading consists of three elements such as the symbol (Written or printed), the sound and the sense. For example, the child reads the ‘cat’ in his reader. First of all, he looks at the symbol, translates it into a specific sound which stands for some animal called ‘cat’ and at the same time he visualizes the concrete object or idea for which the said symbol stands.

         

The three elements of reading can be represented by the three vertices of a triangle.

                                                                                        Symbol

                                      

                                                        

                                                          Sound                                                     Sense

                Reading, in fact, is the ability which enables the pupils to read with the purpose of extracting from the printed, the thoughts, facts and information that it has to give him.

Mechanics of Reading

          Reading is recognition of printed symbol. The eyes are the gateways to enter into the ‘realm of reading’ which is a golden door through which one can reach the world of knowledge. When a person reads anything, his eyes go on moving along with the printed or written symbols. If we watch carefully, we notice that the eyes do not move from letter by letter. The eyes jump from one meaningful group of words to another. The group of words read in one complete movement of the eye is called the Eye-Span.  After each jump he pauses for a short while and then he proceeds to next group. This pause is called fixation.

          While reading, we do not look at the various letters of a word. We rather look at the word as a whole e.g. (chair not c-h-a-i-r). The eye   span can help to develop the art of reading. The larger the eye span the greater the speed in reading. It is due to the eye span that we can find out difference among the children in a class with regards to reading ability. So, it is biological in character. Some children take less time to read a particular content whereas others take more to read the same.

          While reading, some children put their fore fingers under every word. It is a bad habit because it has adverse effect on the speed of reading. So it is rather advisable that the teacher should check this bad habit at the initial stages.