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Teaching
Reading Dr.
Anuradha Sudarshan 1
Introduction As
we know, teachers and students spend a lot of time reading all sorts of things.
It is important that we understand what is involved in this process so that we
become more efficient readers ourselves and also help our students become good
readers. In this unit we will examine the skills that readers employ in reading
and the techniques used to develop reading skills. Before we examine these
issues, let us ponder over the following statements and warm up ourselves for
further discussion. 2
Pause n Ponder Do
you agree with the statements given below? ·
There is not much difference
between reading in one’s own language and reading in a foreign language. ·
When you are reading silently
you are in fact ‘saying’ the words silently to yourself. ·
In order to become a successful
reader you need to ‘hear’ enough of the spoken language before reading a
text in it. ·
People always have a purpose in
reading. 2.1
What is meant by ‘reading’? No
one can deny the pleasures and the benefits one derives from reading. Reading
plays a very important role in our daily lives. We read stories, letters,
newspapers, ads, notices, signs, signboards etc. Written material forms an
important source of information and knowledge. As practicing/prospective
teachers we should spend some time to understand the reading process. What is
involved in reading? Before we attempt to answer this question, it is necessary
to make a distinction between silent reading and reading
aloud. Silent
reading does not normally involve ‘saying’ the words as we read, not even
silently in our mind if we are good readers. It consists in looking
at sentences and understanding the message or the meaning they convey, that
is ‘making sense’ of them.
Reading aloud, on the other hand, is a very different activity. Its purpose is
not just to understand the meaning of a written text, but also to convey the
meaning to another person. Thus an audience is involved in reading aloud.
However, when reading aloud, generally speaking, the reader pays more attention
to the pronunciation, intonation, pauses, etc, losing sight of the meaning. This
is why it is believed that that silent reading facilitates comprehension better
than reading aloud. Nonetheless,
it is important to keep in mind that in silent reading the reader tries to
correlate the sound and letter symbols. This suggests that an awareness of the
pronunciation of words does facilitate the reading process. Since
the focus of this unit is reading comprehension, we will look at the process of
silent reading more closely. But before we do so, we would like you consider the
statements made in the beginning of this unit once again. After reading the
above discussion, have you changed your views? Discuss them with your friends.
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H M Patel Institute of English Training & Research, Vallabh Vidyanagar - 388120, Gujarat, India Phone : 091-2692-230193, 091-2692-230079 |
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