BEGLA- 138 UNIT- 1 ( The Reading Process ) IGNOU- Reading And Speaking Skills

INTRODUCTION

Reading helps in bettering our communication skills.
Reading improves their overall language skills as well as critical thinking.
Reading helps to increase their awareness of issues.
In this chapter, we will learn about reading and the skills and strategies of a successful reader.

THE MODERN CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW

A classroom a place where teaching and learning takes place.
It is a platform for the educator to display and transmit knowledge to the learners.
It is also not a place for addressing social power.
It is also a place for discussing issues of injustice, inequality
The expectations, values and beliefs of the learner also have influence on the learning environment.
The classroom provides accurate and relevant information as well as holistic knowledge.
The teacher is a surrogate experimental psychologist.
He is responsible for facilitating comprehension for individual learners and reinforces positive learning behaviors.
The teacher motivates the learners to read.

Developing Reading Skills

Four skills needed for complete and holistic language learning are listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The development of reading skill in learner is essential and indispensable.
Students augment their vocabulary and acquire fresh knowledge of life and the world through reading.
Reading helps in improving comprehension, spelling, vocabulary and writing.
If reading skill is not developed, it can adversely impact the performance of learners across a wide variety of curricular disciplines and have a negative impact on self- motivation and self- esteem of the learner.
The learner needs to understand the subtle differences between long and short sounds, vowels and consonants.
The leaner also needs to learn vocabulary including the meaning and sound.
Being a fast and efficient reader is important not just for classroom based lesson
But also for satisfying requirement of assignment and performing well in standarized exams.

CLASSIFICATION OF READING TECHNIQUES

Reading can be categorized into three types: extensive reading, intensive reading and oral reading.

(a) Extensive reading means a culture and practice of reading through cultivating the habit of copious reading. Extensive reading involves learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills. It can be compared with intensive reading, which means reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks.

(b) Intensive reading involves learners reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks.It can be compared with extensive reading, which involves learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills. The learners read a short text and put events from it into chronological order.

(c) Oral reading does attract attention in multiple learning contexts.It is an integral part of reading especially in non-native English language contexts.

THE READING PROCESS

The following four steps are followed in a reading lesson:

(i) Introduction : The tutor explains the purpose of reading the text given and presents a background of the information in the text. He selects and tells the meaning of the new vocabulary necessary to comprehend the main ideas in the text.

(ii) Reading : Reading is an oral exercise. It involves pronouncing the words properly.

(iii) Comprehension Tasks : It means setting some questions to elicit factual or inferential information based upon your understanding of the textual extract.

During a reading lesson, the following steps should be followed

(i) Listening attentively to when the teacher reads the text and following the text as the lines on a page are progressively pronounced or spoken aloud.

(ii) The teacher may highlight the meanings of words in between the reading and engage in discussion on specific portions during gaps in reading.
(iii) The teacher reads and encourages the students to repeat, listen and read along, following the pronunciation he makes.
(iv) The tutor elicits questions or conducts a discussion on stylistic or grammatical points.
(v) The teacher discusses the theme and content. You all are encouraged to either read silently or practice reading aloud individually with the tutor's permission.

READING THROUGH STORIES

Short stories provide a relaxing break from routine, lengthy and academic texts as well as other lesson exercises.
Adult learners and children would like different types of short stories.
For adult readers, the following factors come into play:

Complexity of Vocabulary

The story should have enough words that the majority of the readers can understand.
The story should have sufficient complex words which they can decode.
( Simplicity of Language )
The stories should not have too many idioms and archaic words as that might make the story difficult and disinteresting for reading.

Relevance of Theme and Content

The content should be relevant to the readers with themes such as relationships, business situations, family life or even something personal and intimate to the readers culturally and professionally.

Potential for Discussion

The story must provide interesting themes or topics keeping in mind the contemporary situation and critical thinking

Read More- COMMUNICATION IN EVERYDAY LIFE ( Unit – 3 )

BEGLA- 138 UNIT- 1 ( The Reading Process ) IGNOU- Reading And Speaking Skills