UNIT 5

 

READING 

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Reading is a receptive English language skill that sometimes people do not take advantage of it. The reason is that people do not take the time to analyze the text at a word level to try to connect the meaning of the text with our knowledge and this way we can acquire a better perspective of the reading. Our understanding of the written words is important but our knowledge of the world is helpful to get the message even if we do not the meaning of all words.

The way people read is affected by the content and the reason to read. It means that a person that reads for pleasure is probably to read carefully to avoid losing ideas of the text. Contrary, someone who reads a newspaper to find out a job probably will identify schedules or the salary first. Unconsciously, we are practicing some reading subskills.

What it is tried to say is that there are several ways to read. First consider the person reading a book for pleasure, avoiding losing ideas the reader is reading for detail and to get the ideas clearly it is necessary to understand the text structure too. In addition, to understand the opinion of the author, the reader can identify the grammar style used or the register of the text. Without realizing at all the reader is inferring. On the other hand, the person who reads the newspaper is reading for specific information or scanning. Let’s suppose that the person wants to be informed about the current economic situation so he goes to that section of the newspaper. To avoid reading financial data that probably will not understand at all, the reader just has a quick reading to have a general idea. By doing this the reading is skimming or reading for gist. For sure, there will technical terms that most of reader will not comprehend but by the context that in this case is economic news the reader can deduce meaning for the context.

Keep in mind that reading skills are not mandatory just for some texts, all can be used in all kind of text types but it is important to pay attention to the layouts of the texts too.

As a teacher in our classrooms, we can deduce that students who read the grammatical points of the coursebook, probably will are reading in detail or having an intensive reading. In the same way, other learners will be scanning in this part of the coursebook to identify the function of the grammar point.

Another casual example is when children are reading an invitation birthday card. Some children will scan for the hour and place meanwhile other children can read in detail to find another kind of information such as the topic of the party. It could be a thematic birthday party. The layout matters in this text because usually these invitations have funny style words, many colors and not a strict layout design. Also, by seeing a cake on the card, children can predict it is an invitation to a birthday.

So as future teachers we have to be aware of the complexity of reading skill and how to take advantage of the sub skills to develop student’s confidence and understanding of the texts. For that reason, it is recommendable to use graded readers with our students.

Additional Information

Speaking Skills

What Are Effective Speaking Skills?

References

Harappa.education. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/speaking-skills-and-its-importance> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (2nd ed., TKT Course). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139062398

What are Speaking Skills? (n.d.). https://www.twinkl.com/teaching-wiki/speaking-skills.