Developing Reading

Developing Reading Skills

Objectives

This chapter aims at
v Understanding the skills of reading
v Developing the skills of reading
v Activities for use in the classroom

Introduction

There are two types of comprehension skills: listening and reading. Between the two, reading involves more complex set of sub-skills. To comprehend something is ‘to grasp it with the mind, to understand, or to be able to follow the working, logic, meaning’ etc of it all. It is in this context that when you read a piece of prose, you cannot claim to have comprehended it unless you are able to understand the meaning that the writer meant to convey, or logic involved in the structure of his/her prose composition. This implies that one has to concentrate on what one is reading, focusing complete attention on the important ideas in the passage.

Reading is an individual act. Hence it requires efforts by the individual learner to develop skills of reading. There are numerous sub-skills of reading. Oral reading, for instance, is a set of sub-skills useful in developing oral skills such as intelligibility in pronunciation. During initial years, however, reading aloud is also associated with understanding the link between the symbol and the script. Hence it proves to be helpful. In case of English it is even more so because it provides an opportunity to the learners to listen to the language in a relatively natural and fluent manner.

However, as the learner advances in her/his competence of English, s/he must be taught to read silently. There are two main reasons for this.

In real life situations, one is normally required to read silently, to oneself. Only on a few occasions, such as reading aloud a newspaper or a story, we are called upon to read aloud.
Reading aloud is an aspect of speech development, not reading itself. Since silent reading is difficult to measure, it is not seen to be ‘happening’. Therefore, reading aloud, which is an overt activity is followed or resorted to. When a passage, a story or a poem is being read aloud, the focus is mainly on the oral production, and in making the listeners understand the text through the oral production. Therefore, there is no guarantee that what is read aloud would be remembered.

In the act of reading silently, it is difficult to see much happening. Only when some response is generated, or discussion takes place, it is possible to make out whether someone was reading or not. Everything is a covert event. For this reason, reading, like listening, is said to be a ‘passive’ skill.

Reading essentially implies interacting with the text. This happens at the individual level. Hence meanings that different individuals derive vary. Every individual reading the text derives one’s own personal meaning depending on one’s own experience in the past, intellectual abilities, emotional state at the time of reading, aspirations, expectations from life etc. Therefore, initially all the responses, howsoever varied they may be, should be accepted in the classroom. Then the students may be asked to explain the individual viewpoint.

Reading is a process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning. That is, while reading the reader tries to find out what the words and expressions mean, and, at the same time s/he tries to construct the meaning in the light of one’s own experience. The process of extracting meaning is called ‘decoding’, whereas the process of expressing what one has read is called ‘encoding’. For example, the description of a city with sky scrappers may be given in the text, but the actual meaning is constructed only when the individual reader creates visual images, sees a city with many skyscrapers on the screen of one’s own mind. Later, there may be oral description about the same. This is where the individual variations take place. Unless this creation of meaning at the individual level takes place, reading cannot be said to have happened. It is a process that requires a great deal of active participation on the part of the reader. Good readers give as much to the text as they receive. They make meaning from the text using their own prior knowledge and experiences. They are able to make guesses about what might happen next. Thus, they are able to read fluently.

Fluency in reading means the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. When fluent readers read silently, they recognise words automatically. They group words quickly to help them understand what they read. Fluent readers also read aloud effortlessly and with expression, their reading sounds natural, like speaking. Readers, who have not yet developed fluency, read slowly, word by word. Their oral reading is full of jerks and too many pauses.


Enabling Reading

Helping learners to read implies creating conditions and opportunities to read. Since reading is essentially an individual act, it can be made an overt activity through discussion. When students are able to participate in the discussion it is a proof that they have read and understood the text. In order to help learners understand the text, the teacher needs to ensure that they know the words, phrases and the contexts/ socio-cultural situations of what they read. It is necessary to set achievable targets and create avenues to reach the targets. Hence, pre-reading session activities are important. The long text, for instance, may be broken into small convenient bits and students could work in groups on different aspects of the entire passage. Some picture or a song could be used to develop the theme that the students are likely to come across in the passage.

The focus in reading comprehension is constantly on language and graphic symbols, ideas and tone and style among other things.

Language and graphic symbols are attended to by focusing on (1) the comprehension of a large number of the lexical items occurring in the passage, and by making guesses about meanings of the unfamiliar words from the context in which they appear, (2) the understanding of the syntactic patterns and morphological forms, and (3) by responding to graphic symbols in the form of the use of punctuation, paragraphing etc used in order to convey and/or even clarify meaning.

The focus on ideas requires (a) the identification of the writer's intention as well as the central idea of the passage, (b) understanding of the related ideas supporting and strengthening the main one/s, and (c) drawing valid inferences and correct conclusions from what is given.

In terms of tone and style, the concern is usually with (i) the providing of evidence of our recognition of the author's attitude to the subject as well as his/her readers, (ii) understanding of the tone of the argument, and (iii) the identification of methods and stylistic devices used by the writer to convey his/her ideas.

Numerous activities can be given to the students to develop their skills of reading.

Cloze Reading

This technique aims at developing skills of silent reading and improving the sense of grammatical accuracy. Further, since there are numerous gaps in the text, it helps the reader to make guesses and produce numerous responses.

Materials: A Cloze Passage

Methodology: Students work individually and read the entire passage. They try to arrive at an overall meaning of the text. Then they fill in the gaps with a single word or a phrase. During the process of filling the gaps they may read back and forth to find out if the sentences make sense. Once all the blanks have been filled they read the entire passage again to check if the sentences are grammatically correct, or if words they filled in the blanks are appropriate. Once the students have completed the passage, they work in pairs and compare their answers with that of their partners. They discuss the different options and discuss how the meaning might vary with different options. When the whole class has completed this, the teacher can ask some student to read aloud the entire text. Discussion on the different options offered by the class can be undertaken at this stage.
The teacher can help students appreciate the need to use words appropriately.

Example: Read the following passage carefully and try to complete it by filling in the blanks with appropriate expressions. You may fill in the blanks either by a single word or a phrase.

An artist, who was a poor __1___ kind man, was once traveling by ____2____ train. After sometime, he saw a ____3_____. So the artist put his hand ____4____his pocket and gave away whatever ____5____ he had in his pocket. After ___6___while, another beggar approached him. The ____7_____took pity on him and invited ___8___ beggar for a lunch. After the ___9___, came the bill which the artist obviously ____10____not pay. Feeling bad and sad ____11_____ the incident, the artist told the _____12_____, “Come home with me in a ____13_____. I’ll pay you the money”. “No, ____14___. I paid for your lunch. I ___15___ not want to pay for your taxi, too”, said the beggar.


You may follow these steps.

1. First read the passage as fast as you can and try to understand the overall meaning that it conveys.
2. Read the passage again. This time think of words/ phrases that could fit into the blank slots.
3. Fill in the blanks.
4. Read the passage again. Consider not only the meaning that the passage conveys but also the grammar of each sentence.
5. Read the complete passage once again. Think of the alternatives (other words/ expressions) that may appropriately fit into the blanks.
6. Compare your answers with those of your partner.

(Key: but, a, beggar, into, coins, a, artist, the, meal, could, about, beggar, taxi, thanks, do)

Jig-saw-reading

The focus of this technique is help learners to arrive at the whole on the basis of bits and pieces. Prior to reading the text, the students are 'prepared through discussion'. They are given bits and pieces of the story on the basis of which they try to build stories in groups. Each group may come out with their own stories. The stories are presented before the class during the plenary session. The viability of each story is discussed, questioned, verified. Individual listeners take their own decisions.

Having listened to numerous presentations during which the new contexts as well as vocabulary items are taken care of, the students are asked to read silently. This time they are given a few questions to guide them in their reading.

When they have finished reading the text, they are able to see the difference between what they thought the story was, and finally, what it turned out to be.

Strip Story

A story is a sequence of events. Understanding this sequence is a sign of reading. The strip story technique is one based on developing this sense of relationship among events.

How is the strip story written?

1. It should be a new story. Or, it could be an old story with a new twist. If the story is a highly familiar one, there is no challenge, hence little learning.
2. Although the theme and the development of the story may be new, it should be written in known language known words, grammar, etc.
3. The sentences should be short, simple for they are to be remembered.
4. They must have a fixed order.
5. Each sentence must be inevitable in the story.

How is it organised in the class?

a. The sentences of the story are written on separate slips of paper---one sentence on a slip.
b. They are distributed among students to read and memorise.
c. The strips are collected back.
d. Students are asked to report their sentences to the class.
e. As the sentences are reported, the students listen and try to see a link among them.
f. Students decide the order of sentences. They may come out to the front of the class and stand in a line, each one saying his/her sentence aloud.
g. The sentences are repeated until the story is formed.
h. The whole story is narrated by a couple of students.
i. A couple of other students are encouraged to narrate the story with a few alterations/ modifications: additions, deletions of details.
j. Having ensured that the class has understood how the events in the story are related. The teacher can take up discussion on various ways of organising details. For example, the story could begin with the end itself. Some details could be presented in the form of a dialogue, etc.
k. After the above discussion, students engage themselves in writing the story. This is an individual effort wherein they need to be encouraged to write in a creative manner.

When the students are struggling to build the story, the teacher may be tempted to give answers. However, this must be resisted. Instead, the teacher may intervene at times to ask questions that guide. At no point should the answer be given. The students struggle to arrive at the meaning by repeating the sentences, by arguing about their place in the story, by justifying their response, etc. This 'small talk', that is, the language not directly associated with the task but generated with a view to accomplishing the task leads to natural use of language. This is meaningful use of language because it is for a genuine reason.


Information Transfer

In real life, we read not only the textbooks but also newspapers, magazines, comics, advertisements, vouchers of different kinds, brochures, pamphlets, notices, circulars, membership forms, train/ bus schedules, timetables for events at school, sports events, hoardings, etc. The information in such materials is not given directly in the form of a passage. It could be in the form of figures, graphs, charts, tables, which need to be interpreted. Students need to be given practice in reading such materials, too.

In this activity, information about Mother Teresa’s life is given in the form of a table. Read it carefully and present it in the form of a paragraph.

26 August, 1910 : Born in An Albanian family, Skopjee, Yugoslavia.
1928 Attended lyceum, vow to enter the church and joined Sister
of our Lady of Loretto Abbey near Dublin for formal training.
1929 Reached India and was accepted as a novice.
1929-1946 Taught at St.Mary’s High School, Calcutta.
1952 Started Missionaries of Charity.and served the society
1962 Awarded Padmashri.
1971 Pope John XXIII, Peace Prize.
1979 Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sept. 5, 1997 Passed away.


Reading Aloud

As mentioned earlier, reading aloud is an exercise in developing oral reading skills. They are skills of articulation, modulation of voice, using appropriate sentence and word stress, use of appropriate intonation, pauses and overall rhythm suitable for the passage or poem being read aloud or recited. For this purpose, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the text to be read aloud. The aim is to create the climate intended by the author of the literary piece.
Read the following poem aloud. In order to read it aloud effectively, you need to read it silently and understand its meaning.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

John Codfrey Saxe

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined.
Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the Elephant, and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
“God bless me! But the Elephant is very like a wall.

The second, feeling of the tusk cried,” Ho! What have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me it’s very clear
This wonder of an Elephant is very like a spear!

The third approached the animal and, happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands
Thus boldly up he spake: “ I see, the Elephant is like a snake”!

The fourth reached out an eager hand and felt about his knee:
“What most his wondrous beast is like is very plain,” quoth he:
“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant is very like a tree”!

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “Even the blindest man can tell what this resembles most”
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant is very like a fan”!

The sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope
Than, seizing on the swinging tail that felt within his scope.
“I see”, quoth he, “ the Elephant is very like a rope”!
And so these men of Indostan disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion exceeding stiff and strong.
Though each was partly in the right, they all were in the wrong!

Riddles

Riddles bring a lot of fun as well as challenge to language learning. students may explore numerous options to answer the riddles, thereby they develop thinking. This develops not only their skills of language but also of thinking. Here are a few examples of riddles.

It is a precious thing. Neither can we buy nor can we keep it safe. We can only spend it lavishly. What is it?
Everyday I come fro the North, East, West and South. Who am I?
A man goes with some fruits. Which fruits are they?
Which two words have thousands of letters in them?
Ten cats were in the boat. One fell out. How many were left?
It runs night and day, yet does not go anywhere. What is it?

(Key: Time, News, Mangoes, Post Office, None, Watch)

v Can you give a single letter for each of the following?
Example: An insect which makes honey: B

A large body of water:
Standing in a row:
A drink often called the queen of all drinks:
A sense organ of our body:
Plural of ‘I’
A delicious vegetable:
A present tense form of ‘to be’:
A helping verb that follows ‘I’:
A tool used for cutting trees:
Are __________ happy with this activity?

Y R U so confused?

(Key: C, Q, T, I, V, P, R, M, X, U)


Vocabulary Development

Since language is essentially formed of words, successful reading is a result of an adequate range of vocabulary. In other words, in order to become a successful reader, one must be able to comprehend the words within the context in which they occur. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a wide range of vocabulary.

There are numerous word games which provide joy with knowledge. Here is a game wherein words which are normally used as pairs are separated. Match A with B and create appropriate word combinations. Take help of a dictionary, if needed.


A
B
Ozone
Oil
Cut down
Greenhouse
Animal
Endangered
Melting
Recycle


Spills
Effect
Waste
Layer
Trees
Polar ice-caps
Species
Poaching
Pairs of words frequently confused

Study the following pairs of words. What difference do you find between the two words in each pair? Make sentences to bring out the difference.

Mail- male
Stationary – stationery
Then – than
Adopt – adapt – adept
All together – altogether
Council – counsel
Defective- deficient
Considerable – considerate
Comprehensive – comprehension
Beside – besides
Beneficial – beneficiary
Cloth – clothes
Complement –compliment
Alter – altar
Ascent – assent
Honorary – honorable
Later – latter
Judicious – judicial
Respectful – respectable – respective
Lose – loose –loss
Principal – principle
Zealous – jealous
Carrier – career


Silent Reading

Lets’ remember silent reading requires a great deal of concentration. It is absolutely necessary for you to do a very careful reading of the passage. Reading of this kind is clearly purposeful and requires the use of your imagination as you progress along. Skimming or merely scanning the passage will land you in trouble. If you find the passage to be very lengthy, then identify the theme statement in each of the paragraphs, and try to get to the overall meaning of the passage.

The focus could be on
1. choice of the title
2. the reason/s for the main argument
3. the implication of a certain statement/s
4. the purpose of the paragraph/s
5. the crucial bits of evidence etc,

As you read the passage, raise questions to yourself about what you are reading. The number of questions may vary from paragraph to paragraph. You will find three readings beneficial. The first reading will enable you only to understand the gist of the passage. The second reading of the passage will help you to discover the spirit of the passage when you are able to locate the key words and phrases, and arrive at both the implicit meaning and explicit sense. It is here that you will find yourself reading between the lines and, therefore, in a position to decipher the writer's intentions, besides what and the how of these intentions. Keep the items before you during the third reading when you will be able to find the cues built into the items. Then, you will be able to answer the questions that follow.

Now read the following passage carefully and complete the items appearing thereafter by marking the most appropriate choices on your answer sheet.



Nature has always favoured early education of children, bestowing upon them an insatiable sense of curiosity right from their birth. Children have a natural tendency to touch, smell, taste, see, and hear and so great is their urge to explore the world around them that they end up learning a lot of things on their own. The more they learn, the more they want to learn. However, this is dependent on the environment in which they grow up. In homes, where discovery is discouraged, they end up learning how not to learn but when early explorations are encouraged, their minds and personalities register a steady growth and their potential develops to the maximum. This is where parents have a vital role to play.

Nonetheless, in order to be able to do that they are required to have the ability to identify and understand the skills that need to be acquired and mastered, to introduce activities and materials that lead to learning, to take interest in their learning discoveries, to interpret and enlarge experiences, to relate learning to their children’s overall framework of knowledge, to be patient with their weaknesses, and to praise them for their strengths and achievements. Learning is a long-drawn process and, therefore, any attempt to rush it is likely to have a negative fall-out with the children learning a lesson that learning is no fun at all.

Good parents accept their children for what they are and encourage them to develop their potential at their awn pace. They enjoy their children’s learning discoveries as an exciting aspect of their overall growth, sharing but never forcing their natural development sensing what good teachers know" It is apparent that children learn from experiences that are concrete and active. The fact that they are always ready to learn at their own level and pace, that they have individual learning styles which enable them to learn things from hearing and trying to do them en their own, and that providing effect1ve learning experiences, are vital to our understanding of things. Popular perception has it that our system of education has become largely politicised and, hence, the problem of indiscipline on the campuses. This is further tainted by the general aura of corruption that surrounds them. Therefore, the entire system is now the constant target of the critics.

The poor academic showing by both the teachers and the taught is often the result of a faulty perception of the government of the largely tenuous link between the two. There is the need for change and it is here that the parent-student-teacher-government connection comes into full play. Alert parents, zealous students, gifted teachers, and a far-sighted policy of a caring government alone can combine to make education an instrument of social change. Mere legislation or even only one these elements in the change would hardly help things change for the better.

Questions:

“Instable is a word usually connected with

[A] Money. [B] Shelter. [C] Hunger. [D] Employment.

The technical names for the sense of touch, smell, taste, seeing, and hearing, in that order, are

[A] olfactory, visual, tactile, gustatory, and auditory senses respectively.
[B] tactile, olfactory, gustatory, visual, and auditory senses respectively.
[C] gustatory, visual, audition, olfactory, and auditory senses respectively.
[D] olfactory, tactile, gustatory, auditory, and auditory senses respectively.

Learning according to the author of this passage, has to do with the desire to explore one's

[A] world of opportunities.
[B] world of ideas.
[C] own immediate world.
[D] own inner experiences.

It is foolhardy to accelerate the pace of learning because it

[A] destroys the pleasure a child gets from it.
[B] militates against the age and learning correlation.
[C] stands vindicated in view of the accepted canons.
[D] enhances the pleasure a child gets from it.

The passage suggests that parents and teachers should assume

[A] an advisory role in the education of their children.
[B] a collaborative role in the education of their children.
[C] a evaluative role in the education of their children.
[D] a leading role in the education of their children.

Parents can understand and identify the skills to be acquired and mastered by their children because they are

[A] favourably disposed towards them all the time.
[b] clear about what their children should or should not be.
[C] trained for the purpose by virtue of their relationship".
[D] familiar with their mental make-up and aptitude.


Children learn how learning is no fun at all

[A] when the process of learning is rushed.
[B] as they are subject to corporal punishment.
[C] for they know that it is no use after all.
[D] when the process of teaching is incomprehensible.

Encouragement of explorations in childhood leads to

[A] an unsteady growth of personalities but no development of potential.
[B] a steady growth of personalities but no development of potential.
[C] a steady growth of personalities and the maximum development of potential.
[D] an unsteady growth of personalities and partial development of potential.

Learning spurs on further learning because it

[A] acts as a demotivating factor.
[B] acts as a motivating factor.
[C] acts as a negative force.
[D] does none of these.

The author finds children's urge to explore things in the around them to be

[A] the basis for learning about things from others.
[B] the basis for information in the main from others.
[C] the basis for future course of action in the main.
[D] the basis for learning about things by themselves.

It is believed that children learn from

[A] indirect experiences gained passively.
[B] abstract and indirect experiences.
[C] concrete and personal experiences.
[D] indirect experiences gained actively.

The basic problem of indiscipline on educational campuses is, according to the author of this passage, due to

[A] the all-pervasive corruption in evidence.
[B] politicisation of our system of education.
[C] commercialisation of our system of education
[D] the all-pervasive nepotism in evidence.

The author argues that the chief motivating factor in the early education of children is

[A] their inimitable style of learning.
[B] their insatiable thirst for knowledge.
[C] their indifference to their surroundings.
[D] indomitable spirit of competition.

We learn from the passage that it is wrong on the part of the society

[A] to expect uniform levels of achievement from all learners.
[B] to expect miracles from the system of teaching and learning.
[C] to avoid accepting the truth of individual differences.
[D] tp avoid doing its best to perform its expected roles.

The author argues that it is possible to accelerate theprocess of learning

[A] by helping children benefit and learn from lectures.
[B] by encouraging children to become dependent on others.
[C] by helping children benefit and learn from discoveries.
[D] by deciding how children should learn from teachers.

Natural development is possible if and only if

[A] it takes place fast through memorisation.
[B] it is induced in fits and starts all the while.
[C] it is program«ed and implemented officially.
[D] it takes place gradually through learning discoveries.

The two main complaints against our system of education are
[A] those of politicization and corruption.
[B] those of efficiency and effectiveness.
[C] those of corruption and wholesale nepotism.
[D] those of politicization and effectiveness.

Academic showing can, in the opinion of this author, be improvedthrough a joint effort by
[A] parents and teachers.
[B] parents, students, teachers and government.
[C]teachers, students and the government.
[D] students and the government.

A ‘proper perspective’ of things would include our understanding of the children’s

[A] readiness to learn, and their learning styles as well as the ability to try their hand at doing things on their own.
[B] readiness to learn, and the availability of effective learning experiences which enable them to learn.
[C] learning experiences and their ability to try their hand at doing things on their own at their own level and pace.
[D] readiness to learn, their learning styles, and the availability of effective learning experiences all put together.

The author pleads for

[A] a sociological approach to learning.
[B] an ethico-moralistic approach to learning.
[C] a psychological approach to learning.
[D] a politico-moralistic approach to learning.


Conclusion

Reading is a process that requires total involvement of the reader. While reading a text, the focus could be on the following points: choice of the title, the reason/s for the main argument, the implication of a certain statement/s, the purpose of the paragraph/s, the crucial bits of evidence etc. During the process of reading, the reader not only gets meaning out of the text, that is the arguments put forth by the author, but also gives specific meaning to the text. This is the interpretation of the text by the reader. Since readers vary in their experience, exposure and expectations, their interpretations also may tend to vary. Thus, every reader finds her/his own meaning from the text s/he reads. Thus, reading, essentially, becomes an individual act. Oral reading, basically, is practice in speech production. Nevertheless, during the initial years of learning a language, oral reading is found to be helpful in the process of decoding.