Ans: Reading :Reading is an essential process in the use as well as developing the language skills on the part of the students. In the language skills list, reading comes at number 3. Reading is considered as a passive skill like the listening. Reading ability or skill leads the reader toward a sound basis of writing skill and eventually leads to the creative writing.
Reading skill is an individual’s standing on some reading assessment. Skilled readers are those who score above some standard on this assessment; readers of low skill are those who score below some standard. The substantive question is this: What are the processes of reading that produce variation in assessed reading skill? This question is the focus here: given that two individuals differ in some global assessment of their reading, what differences in reading processes are candidates to explain this difference?
Reading skill is a very beneficial skill for the students. Although the reading habit is going to be vanished and minimized from the language learning process, still is significance can not be minimized. All the bookish knowledge is hidden in the reading skill which is exposed in the form of better scholastic abilities in the individuals as well as a potential writing power and comprehension of language structures and patterns.
Hence, reading skill is an important skill in the process of learning and mastery of a language.
Significance of Reading
The benefits of this active, information seeking approach to reading can be clearly seen from the results of research that was carried out on efficient (expert) learners. The results showed that they all followed certain patterns in their reading behaviour.
1. They looked for information that was directly related to their goals (They had a clear purpose before they started reading, and that purpose helped them to identity what they were looking for).
2. They searched forwards and backwards when looking for a particular piece of information, and tried to guess ahead about information in the text.
3. They summarized important or central points often, often by making notes or writing in the margin.
4. They re-read any sentences/parts that they found difficult or unclear.
5. They had questions already prepared so that they were searching for specific information as opposed to reading blankly, hoping to somehow absorb all the information.
6. They evaluated new information from the text in light of what they already knew.
7. They checked their progress and understanding in light of what they already knew. This is a very good template for the apprentice reader, or indeed for any reader who wishes to improve his or her reading capabilities. Practise the techniques suggested above. You will find it very helpful if you have a lot of reading to do, particularly if you have not read much to date, or you are finding the content and style of your reading material somewhat difficult.
Purposes of Reading
There can be a multiple different purposes and aims of reading; You are reading to widen your knowledge on a given topic, to develop your thinking, or to weave new information or ideas into your existing store of knowledge and understanding any of these is usually the purpose of your reading as a reader when you adopt something to study. Reading for a specific purpose or intention has a very powerful effect on memory. Be selective in your reading, as you cannot expect to read everything on a given subject. You remember more easily when you are actively looking for answers to specific questions or topics, and when you are interested in the material. Always use an active approach to your reading.
The four types of effective reading techniques are the following: Skimming Scanning Intensive Extensive Types of Reading
There are many kinds of reading that depend on the purpose and aim for which it is undertaken. There are generally the following types of reading:
1. Reading for Meaning
Everywhere you go you are presented with images that require you to make sense of them. You “read” these stimuli, even though you might not be aware of it, or indeed you might not really consider it reading. For example, when you make sense of pictures, advertisements directions or traffic signs, you are in effect “reading” their message. In a more specific sense, however, reading is an active process where you make meaning of written symbols on a page (or computer screen). All readers do this. Even young children (emergent readers) will try to make sense of words they don’t actually know, for example they will read “home” for house because they understand the context.
2. Reading for Enjoyment or Interest
It is important to be aware that this activity of taking in information, processing it, and making sense of it, is a normal everyday activity of your everyday life. You read for a variety of reasons: for enjoyment, interest, or information. For instance, you might be an avid reader of fact, fiction, sports magazines, or current affairs, and so on. However, much of the time, you will not bother to retain what you have read. You may have a general if somewhat vague idea of the content, unless of course you found it extremely interesting. This is often the case when you really “get into” a good book, where you are likely to remember it in great detail, as you feel a personal involvement with the characters, events, or ideas put forward.
3. Reading for Study Purposes
When it comes to following a course of study, you most likely have other concerns about reading. These can include the amount or volume of reading required, and whether you do have enough time to read it all and take it in. Then there may be issues around the level of difficulty of the reading material. This may be with style or syntax, that is, the way it is written. Or indeed it may be with content, the issues under discussion, and the level of difficulty in both understanding and remembering the material. You may also find technical language or “jargon” off-putting and incomprehensible.
Reading, then, is much more than just decoding signs on a page. When you read, you actively try to make sense of what you read, and you remember more easily if you are interested or feel involved in the process. You can build on these natural advantages when you are studying. For all the same, you see that this is something you can capitalize on when and whatever you are reading for a purpose.
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