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TEACHING OF READING

Effective Reading

Reading of readiness

Importance of reading

Meaning characteristics good readers-> rapid reader

Specific skills skimming-scanning-SQ3R

Reading Process (5) Reading

Reading types (2)

Methods or reading (7)


Oral reading Silent reading

Picture reading

Non-verbal reading

Graphs (6)
Maps
Diagram
Charts

Reading is one of the four skills of a language. It is recognizing the letters at the print
and recognizing the words. Comprehending is the essential part of reading. Finally,
comprehension of each sentence, in order to understand a text, is important in reading.
Reading consists of 3 elements-the symbol, the sound and the sense.
Symbol

Sound Sense

Reading is a complex activity. Converting symbols into sounds is a beginning to read. This
involves not only the mechanical skills but also attitude, vocabulary and ability to identify
key points.

According to Dr. West, reading should be given more priority in the teaching process. He
emphasizes that reading indicates knowledge of a language, enhances experiences, facilitates
the intellectual development of the learner.
 What are the characteristics of a good readers?
• The reader knows and understands the meaning of the words.
• The reader summarizes a text.
• He grasps how the ideas are linked together and organized a text.
• He is capable of ‘Predicting’
• He is able to assesses and judge the text.

 What are the specific skills of reading?


Extracting main ideas, reading for specific information, understanding text
organization, predicting, checking comprehension, inferring, dealing with unfamiliar words,
linking ideas, understanding complex sentences, understanding writer’s style and writing
summaries.
 Definition of Reading (or) Define Reading
Reading is generally defined as a process that helps us to
 Decode, decipher and identify the words in print.
 Articulate and pronounce the words in print.
 Understand, interpret and sense the meaning of the words/texts in print.
 Why reading should be given the key place in teaching? (or)
 Teaching of reading is important. Why?
 Reading indicates knowledge of the language.
 It gives full control over words and patterns.
 It is a source of recreation. (Reading books, magazines….)
 Reading enhances experience.
 It facilitates (help) the intellectual development of the child.
 It is a good source of self-education.
 Reading makes a full man.
 Reading affects a pupil’s personality.
 It is necessary for social adjustment.

 What are the important aspects of reading process?


While reading, eyes progress by little jumps, moves and stops. This move-stop makes
reading possible. This kind of jumping movement is called a ‘Saccadic movement’.
In reading, eyes have to fix on some point because when they are moving one cannot
see. So every time the eye pauses and sees a phrases or sentences. The pauses which
the eye makes are called ‘fixation’. Inter fixation is the movement of the eye from
one fixation to another. It is normally 1/100 of a second in the case of a mature reader.

Regression:
The reader goes back and looks again at something he had read. It happens
when he is unable to get the message in one or two fixations. A refixation is required.
This backward movement of the eye is called regression.
Eye voice span:
It is the distance the eyes have travelled ahead of pronunciation. It is
the forward sweep of the eyes ahead of the point of interpretation. It is useful in the
development of silent reading.
Eye-memory span:
One of the important factors to be noted in the reading process is eye-memory
span. The eye memory span is the distance the eyes have travelled ahead of
interpretation.
 What are the characteristics of a rapid reader?
Wider span of recognition.
Shorter reaction time.
Fewer regressions.
Reduction of vocalization.
Better comprehension.
Accurate perception.
Concentration.
Rich vocabulary.

 What are the advantages and disadvantages of reading aloud and silent
reading? (or) Define Silent reading (or) explain oral reading.
“Oral reading” is a valuable skill. Reading involves
many processes such as physiological, psychological, social, cultural and linguistics.
Reading should develop the skill of getting meaning from the words/word groups. There are
two important methods of reading. They are:
(i) Silent reading
(ii) Reading aloud or oral reading.

READING ALOUD OR ORAL READING:


Oral reading motivates young children. Students develop the skill of speech and
communication. Their mistakes can be corrected in oral reading. They learn by imitation.
Meaningful reading is very necessary in oral reading. They are many occasions where oral
reading can be found useful.
 To inform an audience or provide general knowledge.
 To clarify meanings.
 To discuss the topic from newspapers, magazines, etc.,
 To prove instruction, directions, announcements, invitation, etc.,
An oral reader should focus on the thought rather than the recognition of individual words.

DO’S IN ORAL READING:


i. Give an example of good oral reading yourself.
ii. Give pupils opportunities to read aloud to each other.
iii. Give suggestions to the children.
iv. Encourage children to follow reading aloud without their books.
v. Supply suitable materials for reading stories, anecdotes etc.,
SILENT READING:
It is the most important type or reading. The right time to begin silent reading
is when pupils
a) Know the basic structure.
b) Can perceive and recognizes words.
c) Can pronounce words.
d) Can understand the meaning of words.

ADVANTAGES OF SILENT READING:


1. Silent reading is time-saving and quick.
2. It saves the readers energy.
3. It is useful in real life situation.
4. It develops the ability to read with interest.
5. It initiates self education and deep study.
Silent reading is initially an individual activity. Communication is not between one
another, but between the author and reader. At the end of class IV, silent reading can be
practiced because they are ready to read small stories. Story reading will create interest in
children. When they begin to read by themselves, choosing the material it is easy to develop
the silent reading skills in them.

 What is reading readiness?


The reader’s preparedness to read is called ‘Reading readiness’. Children read
effectively only when they are ready. According Thorndike’s law of learning, The first
requisite for beginning reading is an interest in reading. Reading stories, allowing
children to draw and read charts, displaying readable messages, providing picture books
and labeling the objects will stimulate their interests.
A good readiness programme develops proficiency in the following area:
 Speaking and listing skill.
 Visual discrimination.
 Knowing the alphabet.
 Thinking skills.
 Word meaning skills.
 Auditory discrimination.
 Moving left to right.
 Sight vocabulary.
 Identification skill.

 Visual Discrimination:
1. Identification of the same picture in a row.
 Visual and auditory discrimination:
2. Identification of same letters in a row.
3. Find the odd one.
4. Pick out word pairs (yes-yes, tit-tit)
5. Circle the odd word pair in a group.
 Word identification and word recognition:
Complete the letters or words with the help of pictures in a sentence.
 Additional activities:
a) Cut pictures from magazines.
b) Drawing missing part of an object.
c) Recognizes different shapes and forms.
d) Drawing similar pictures.
e) Naming objects in a composite picture.

 What are the methods of teaching reading? Explain with suitable examples.
There are six important methods of teaching reading. They are as follows:
 The alphabetic method (or) ABC method (or) Spelling method.
 The phonic method.
 The word method.
 The phrase method.
 The sentence method.
 The story method.

• The alphabetic method:


The teacher teaches the students the names of letters in their alphabetic
order. The teacher combines two or more letters to form a word. i_n=in, o_n=on, o_n_e=one.
From ‘words’ it moves to ‘phrases’ and finally ‘sentences’. Thus the procedure begins from
letters and ends in sentences.

ADVANTAGES:
 It gives the students sufficient opportunity to see words.
 It helps the students to build up the essential visual image.

DISADVATAGES:
 It is a difficult and lengthy method.
 It is a dull and monotonous process.
 It does not expand the eye-span.
• Phonic method:
The word is broken into speech sounds. The sounds are taught to the students.
They learn the alphabet afterwards. The teacher teaches English through phonetic script.
Example: Cup-/k/ /^/ /p/

ADVANTAGES:
o This phonic method gives the good knowledge of sounds to the learners.
o It is also linked with speech training.
o It helps to avoid spelling defects.
o This is a complete method.
DISADVANTAGES:
o Meaning is not given priority in this method.
o Words with similar sounds but different spelling confuse the learners.
o It delays the development of reading words as a whole.

• The Word Method:


The Word Method is otherwise known as “Look and say” Method.
ADVANTAGES:
o It is a direct method.
o It facilitates the oral work.
o It is an easy and a natural method.
The unit of teaching is a word. Here, pictures are also used. The students look at the
picture and say whatever they see.
DISADVANTAGES:
o It encourages the learner the habit of reading one word at a time. All words cannot be
taught by using pictures. There are abstract words, full meaning of which cannot be
understood through single, separate words. It ignores spelling.
• The Phrase Method:
The phrase method lies midway between the word method and the sentence
method. It helps in extending the eye span. Phrases can be presented with more interesting
material aids. The teacher prepares a list of phrases and writes one phrase on the blackboard.
He asks the students to look at the phrase attentively. The teacher reads the phrase and pupils
repeat it several times. New phrases are compared with the phrases already taught. It has all
the limitations of the word method. It places emphasis on meaning rather than reading.
• The Sentence Method:
In this method the whole sentence is the minimum meaningful unit. It is also a
“look and say method”. This method is used in situational teaching. Students learn words and
letter of the alphabet afterwards. Flash cards are used. The flash card contains the whole
sentence. The method is useful for continuous reading.

This is a car

Words and sentences should be familiar to the children. The sentence method can be used
effectively only when the children are already able to speak the language. The procedure of
this method is sentence ->phrase->words->letters.
It facilitates speaking. It is natural as well as psychological. It develops the eye span. It helps
in self learning. It makes use of visual aids.

LIMITATIONS:
The readers find it difficult to read a sentence without the knowledge of words and letters.
It is a time consuming method.
• The Story Method:
The Story Method is an advanced method over the sentence method. It creates
interest among the children. It gives the complete unit of thought. The teacher tells the story
in four or five sentences illustrated through pictures. The children first memorize the story
and then read it.
LIMITATIONS:
 It fails to develop the habit of reading accurately.
 It puts a heavy load on the memory of the student.
• The Eclectic Method:
The Eclectic Method is a combination of all the salient features of all the
six methods mentioned above. It is a judicious combination of all the above methods.
Depending upon the class room situations and the background of the students, the teacher
selects the salient features of all the methods and uses them appropriately to teach reading
more effectively.
 What is picture reading?
Eliciting many details about the picture through activities and questions is
called picture reading. Picture provides a great deal of information at a glance. It attracts
student’s attention. It promotes self learning. It facilitates easy understanding of the message.
It encourages students to speak without any inhibition. Composite pictures, pictures of birds,
animals, fruits, story pictures may use for picture reading.
For example: Refer page no: 104
 How to make reading effective?
• Start with words familiar to the children.
• Start teaching reading when the child can learn his own mother-tongue.
• Start teaching reading with blackboard and flash cards.
• Give emphasis to recognizing and understanding the meaning of a word
simultaneously.
• Use simple structures.
• Create a proper atmosphere for reading.
• Make use of the library for your reference.
• Check all the unwanted gesture in reading.
• Always keep in mind the various problems of reading a foreign language.

 Justify activities and language games to enhance student’s participation. (or)


How do you foster interest in reading through activities and language games?
Implementing activities and language games in the class room by the teachers will make
reading more effective. There are many activities and language games available to develop
the learning skill among the learners.
Activities: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Refer page no: 106
Language games: Refer page no: 107
 Define non-verbal texts.
Graphs, maps diagrams, tables and charts are non-verbal in nature.

Graphs: The Line graphs, bar graphs, horizontal bar graph, vertical bar graph,
Circle or pie graph, pictorial graph or pictogram, charts and tables,
flowcharts, algorithm.
Examples: Refer page no: 109-114

SKIMMING AND SCANNING:


Skimming:
It is a method of quick gathering of information, from the print page. The eye skims through
the material and grasps the content. Skimming is one of the main reading styles. It helps
pupils to read faster.
Usefulness:
To decide about material’s worthiness.
To decide the purpose and way of reading.
To improve the effectiveness and speed of reading.
To review a text read some time ago.
To give an overview of the information.
Time and labour are saved.
Skimming is not simply turning over the pages as quickly as possible. It is searching the
text to find what the writer has to stay. During skimming the eyes move in a zigzag manner
over words and phrases. In skimming the over all pictures of the passage is important to the
reader. It can be used successfully in our day to day reading. In skimming, readers must
make the fullest possible use of the headings and sub headings provided. They should be
particularly aware of the topic sentences in the paragraph.

Scanning:
In scanning, readers run their eyes down the page with the purpose of finding an
answer to a specific question, of locating a specific data of number, a reference, a name or a
quotation. It is a style of reading to search for a specific piece of information.
Example:
a) Reading a section of text for a date.
b) Locating a telephone number from a directory.
c) Locating up a word in a dictionary.
While scanning the reader should have a mental picture of what he is looking for. He
glances swiftly down the page and verifies the information carefully.
 Explain SQ3R (or) Define SQ3R (or) Justify SQ3R
It increase the retention ability among the readers is used to improve the
effectiveness of reading for learning.
S-Survey
Q-Question
R-Read
R-Recite
R-Review

Survey the first one or two paragraphs, the sub-headings and the last one or two
paragraphs.
• Change each sub heading into a question before reading a section.
• Read the section to answer to the question.
• Recite to yourself the answer to the question.
• Review the entire section by repeating steps 2 and 4 (question and recite) for each
section.
 The reader becomes active in the proven success of SQ3R method.
 The reader does not passively accept the view of the writer.
 The reader is deeply involved with the text in SQ3R method.
 But all the texts cannot be approached in this method.

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