reading skill

1.  PREFACE
• Every academic year a new group of prospective teachers enrolls in courses
that are designed to help them become good English teacher. Before
teacher training these students have had many experiences that are linked
to English and its teaching and learning. These experiences have shaped
their views of English and thus
• influence their receptivity to new knowledge during their studies. In
addition, their views of English affect their teaching at school in the future
and ultimately also their pupil’s views of English teacher are discussed.
• I thank Mrs. Alfino merio madam for helping me toget the up-to-date
information and gave inputs from her where ever necessary for completing
topic
 “Professional growth of English teacher”.

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Introduction
Meaning and definition
of reading skill
The reading skill
pyramid
Characteristics of
reading
Characteristics of
reading
Objectives of teaching
English
Importance of teaching
reading
Types gathering skill
Skimming
Scanning
SQ3R Techniques

4. study skill
 Introduction
Reading is part and parcel of our lives. From the
moment we get up in the morning till we go to bed we
read something or the other. In the modern world, it is
difficult to live without reading anything. Sometimes
we come across an illiterate looking at the picture on a
hoarding on the road and trying to understand what is
conveyed by the picture. Can we say that this illiterate
is reading the picture?

5. Meaning of study skills
Reading is one of the important skills in language
learning. Lord Bacon remarked ‘Reading maketh a full
man, writing an exact man and conference a ready
man’. The education of a child is incomlete if he does
not have the ability to read.
Definition
According to W.S. Gray “Reading is a form of
experience. It brings us in contact with the mind of
great authors, with the written accounts of their
experiences made by them in various field”.

6. Characteristics of reading
The characteristics of reading are as follows
Reading is purposeful.
It is selective.
It is based on text.
It involves complex cognitive skill.
It is based on comprehension.
It can be oral as well as silent.
Its speed varies according to the content and its
objectives.

7. Objectives of teaching English
The objectives of teaching English are as follows:
To enable the students to read with correct
pronunciation.
To enable the students to read with fluency and
accuracy.
To enable the students to interpet the words and
sentences of the passage.
To enable the students to read with proper articulation
stress and intonation pattern.

8. Contd…
To enable the students to read with normal speed.
To enable the students to read with comprehension.
To inculcate the habit of reading.
To enable the students to take pleasure in reading.
To establish the relationship between spoken words
and printed words.
To enable the students to coordinate the functions of
the sensory organs i.e. sight, hearing and speaking.
To side their “eye span”.

9. Importance of teaching reading
 It is a source of recreation.
 It is a source of education.
 It helps us to get all the important information of the
new world.
 It makes a person knowledgeable.
 It is one of the important skills of language learning.
 It enhances vocabulary.
 It helps during the process of speaking.

10. Types gathering skills
Reading can be classified into the following 6 types.
1. Oral reading or reading aloud
2. Silent reading
3. Intensive reading
4. Extensive reading
5. Supplementary reading
6. Library reading.
1. Oral reading (reading aloud)
Reading aloud involves look at a text, understanding it and also
saying it. The main purpose of reading is not just to understand the
text, but also to convey the information. Such reading involves
reading articles from the newspaper to a friend, reading a notice or a
message to the students etc.

11. Oral teaching should be introduced only when enough practice has
been given in oral work. Thus it should be done after two or three
months of oral practice of words which are generally found in readers.
Aims of oral reading
The aims of oral reading
 To enable the students to read with expression.
 To enable the students to read with correct articulation, stress,
intonation and rhythm.
 To test student’s knowledge of pronouncing words, phrases and
sentences.
 To enable the students to comprehend the meaning of the text.
 To give them practice in oral reading.
 To prepare them for silent reading.

12. 2.Silent reading
Silent reading or reading for meaning is the
activity we normally engage in when we read books,
newspapers, articles, posters etc. It involves looking at
sentences in a text and understanding the message
they convey. In silent reading, the teacher should ask
the students to read without making sound, whispers,
murmurs or even moving their legs.
According to Morrison “loud reading students
should be followed by silent reading”.

13. Aims of silent reading
The aims of silent reading are as follows:
To enable the students to read without sounds or
moving lips.
To enable the students to read with fluency and speed.
To enable the students to read with comprehension.
To increase the vocabulary of the student.
According to Rhyburn “the aims of silent reading are it
gives pleasure and profit, to be able to read for interest
and to get information”.

14. 3. Intensive Reading
Intensive study involves the learner to understand and
examine the text in detail. It’s aim is the study of sentence
structure, assimilation of language and getting information.
Students learn to read carefully with concentration to extract the
main ideas.
Aims of intensive reading
 To improve the knowledge of the students and to gain command
over English.
 To develop the habit of thinking in English.
 To increase the active vocabulary of the students.
 To develop a taste for English language.
 To enable them to speak English correctly.

15. 4.Extensive reading
Extensive reading involves reading in quantity without bothering to
check every word or structure. The main purpose is helping the
students to read English fluently without the help of a teacher.
Aims of extensive reading
 To grasp the meaning of the passage as quickly as possible.
 To increase positive vocabulary.
 To develop a taste for reading.
 To inculcate a habit of reading for pleasure and profit.
 To understand the subject matter without any difficulty.
 To develop the power of concentration.
 To develop the habit of silent reading.
 To promote self-study.

16. Skimming
Skimming is an activity in which the readers eyes
run over a text quickly to get a general idea or gist of it.
This is what we do when we go to a library. We pick up
a book, look at its title page, the contents and the back
cover, flip through the pages, have a glance at the
introduction or preface and then decide whether we
want to borrow the book or not. That is, we skim
through the book and try to find out if the book is
worth borrowing or not.

17. Scanning
While skimming is reading for a general idea,
scanning refers to reading for specific information.
While searching for the time of departure of a
particular train, we do not read the timetable in its
entirety. We just run our eyes through the timetable
quickly till we locate the time of departure of the
particular train. That is, we scan a book or a text in
order to find out a particular piece of information.

18. Types gathering skill (SQ3R) Technique
SQ3R stands for the initial of the five steps in studying a text:
 Survey
 Question
 Read
 Recall
 Review
We shall discuss each of these steps in the given order.
 Survey
Survey refers to a quick glance through the title page, preface, chapter heading, etc. of a
text. By surveying a text, a student will be able to gauge the main ideas in a text. Besides
the another’s name, date, and place of publication, the title page can give a student an
idea of the general subject area and the level of focus in that particular text.
The table of contents, a preface or foreword in a book would give the reader an idea of
the themes deal with in the text and how they are organized. A survey of the index or a
survey of the bibliography tells you immediately whether the text contains what you
need.

19.  Question
Your survey of a text wil make you raise some questions regarding the text.
(We are involving you in these activities so that you can design similar activities
for your learners.)
These are general questions. But when you turn to particular chapters or
sections of book you may have more specific questions in your mind.
Sometimes, your questions may coincide with the questions raised by the
author. Here is one example in the form of an activity.
 READ
We need to advocate a critical approach in reading a text. Unless we read with
a critical frame of mind, the questions we formulate can never be answered
satisfactorily. But we should encourage our students to read a text over and over
again, each time for a different purpose. It is not advisable to make notes along
with the first reading. We may have the tendency to take down the author’s
idea and opinion, not comparing them with our own. If we have the habit of
underlining key words while reading, we can concentrate on those parts, which
are relevant and critical for our purpose.

20.  Review
Reviewing is critically examining a book against the backdrop
of current thoughts and ideas. The purpose of reviewing in this
final stage of reading is to check the validity of all the steps.
Whether we have made a proper survey, asked the right
questions, read critically and recalled the most relevant issues.
Therefore, at the review stage, we need to repeat the last four
steps: Survey, question, read and recall. When we are training
our students to read and write on a particular theme of topic, we
may have to guide them to refer to other books and articles on
the same topic. In other words, they have to “review the
literature” on the topic of their interest before expressing their
point of view. Therefore, “review” sharpens the faculty of critical
reading.