Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction to Reading
important reason why we should try to develop our reading skills. Smith (1994), the
educational researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between reading
and academic success. In other words, a person who is a good reader is more likely to
do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weak reader. It is because
good readers can understand the individual sentences and the organizational structure
of a piece of writing. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments, and detect
implications. They know most of the words in the text already, but they can also
determine the meaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the context - failing this,
they can use their dictionary effectively to do so. In summary, good readers can extract
from the writing what is important for the particular task they are employed in. And
they can do it quickly.
Educational researchers have also found a strong correlation between reading
and vocabulary knowledge (Smith, 1994). In other words, people who have a large
vocabulary are usually good readers. This is not very surprising, since the best way to
acquire a large vocabulary is to read extensively, and if we read extensively we are
likely to be or become a good reader! Thus, reading is more important today than it
ever was — it is crucial to being an informed citizen, to succeed in one's chosen career,
and to personal fulfillment. As the world becomes more complex, reading is
increasingly important for people trying to find their place in it. Now we see how
important reading is but do we really know what reading means to us.
What is Reading?
Reading is the process of retrieving and comprehending some forms of stored
information or ideas (Barnett, 1988). These ideas are usually some sorts of
representation of language, such as symbols to be examined by sight, or by touch (for
example Braille). Other types of reading may not be language-based, such as music
notation, signs, or pictograms. (Alderson, 1984) Reading is a significant aid in brain
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Nature of Reading
Reading is often considered a passive activity, one which doesn’t require much
action. However, reading can be a complex and very active process (Gildrie, 2005). It
is complex because there are various types of reading. We should change the way we
read according to our purpose for reading. If reading for pleasure, we may thumb
through a book briefly and then start reading without stopping much to think about
what is being read. There is no great need to remember what is read if we are just
passing time. Some people read rapidly to get the gist of a story or the main points of
an argument. Some read out loud, enjoying the sound of words. If reading to retain
information, perhaps in a textbook for a class, we may look through the book more
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thoroughly, read and frequently think about what is read. We may ask questions, stop
and look up unfamiliar words, and take notes and if we are reading to evaluate
someone’s writing, the process is even more complicated. Besides reading thoroughly
as we do when study reading, a person who is evaluating must stop frequently to check
sources or reread sections of an argument. He or she may think about alternative
opinions or ways of approaching the topic discussed.
Although all forms of reading have processes in common, they vary in the
thoroughness of those processes and the depth of thought applied while reading. The
complexity is present in those acts of thinking, researching, and taking notes. Reading
is also complex because of the knowledge base it utilizes and the mental activities are
employs. Most people think immediately of the importance of vocabulary knowledge
in the reading process. If one can not pronounce numerous words (or doesn’t know
their meaning) in a passage, reading becomes very difficult (Fries, 1962).
Written material often contains references or allusions to information, the
writer expects the reader to already know. Lack of that expected knowledge
complicates reading and limits comprehension. If a person is not familiar with formal
forms of writing, that lack of knowledge makes reading more complex. The reader
does not recognize the clues that the writer imbeds in the structure or form of his or her
writing to make reading easier. Knowledge of reading strategies or reading processes
can help a reader achieve his or her reading purposes more easily. Lack of knowledge
of those strategies or processes make reading more complex (Goodman, 1968). This
book may help you increase your knowledge of words, of structure, of reading
processes, and general information so you will have greater control of the complexity
of reading and can make it a more active process through your mental as well as
physical responses to what you read.
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will answer our questions. Once we've scanned the document, we might go back and
skim it (Bruce, 2005).
When scanning, look for the author's use of organizers such as numbers, letters,
steps, or the words, first, second, or next. Look for words that are bold faced, italics, or
in a different font size, style, or color. Sometimes the author will put key ideas in the
margin.
"have personal expectations about what they will get from a selection, and they bring
those expectations to bear as they read by predicting and testing their predictions. They
actively create meaning by constructing, or generating, relationships between what is
within the text and what they already know" (Lee, 1988). See Figure 1.
1. World Knowledge
Readers construct meaning before, during, and after a reading transaction
depending upon their interest in and prior knowledge about the following:
1.1 facts related to the topic
1.2 concepts and related vocabulary
1.3 underlying principles and generalizations.
Readers have schemas, or organized networks of prior knowledge and
experiences about topics, which create expectations when reading about those topics.
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When readers are involved in a reading transaction, they add to or adjust their schemas
and their schemas influence and aid their comprehension of what they read. Using their
existing schemas, readers make predictions and inferences about what they read
(Halpern, 1996).
2. Linguistic Knowledge
The reader's knowledge of the way that language works (e.g., the position
of words in a sentence, punctuation marks, and word relationships within sentences)
contributes to successful comprehension of text. Through the use of context clues
provided by the cueing systems--graphophonic, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic--
readers make sense of what they read.
Proficient readers are concerned with meaning first. They use the
continuous formulation of meaning to determine how much attention needs to be given
to the print in confirming or correcting predictions, and also in making further
predictions. Readers need to continue to develop a balanced use of the interacting
language cueing systems to access meaning from text. As readers become proficient,
they internalize the language cues and use them automatically to help them make sense
of what they read.
When it is necessary for us to review any of the language cueing systems, it
is done most effectively in the context of what we are reading and it will be achieved
most appropriately on an individual basis of ours.
2.1 Readers use graphophonic cues.
The correspondence of patterns of sounds (phonemes) to the patterns of
letters (graphemes) at the word level is an important decoding tool for all readers. For
example, when decoding the word apprehend, readers see nine letters and hear three
phonemes--/ap/+/pre/+/hend/. The readers should use these skills automatically.
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contributes to the construction of meaning. For instance, a poem may rhyme or have a
repeating pattern; an expository passage develops logically; a short story or novel
includes such elements as setting and characters; headings indicate major sections of
text; and summaries review main points. When readers are aware of the structure of
text, they will understand better what they read and remember it for a longer time
period. Readers use their knowledge of text structure to differentiate between narrative
and expository reading materials, and they adapt their reading strategies accordingly.
As well, when readers recognize paragraph patterns (e.g., simple listing, cause and
effect, contrast and compare, time order) and the signal words within the paragraphs
(e.g., for example, in particular, however, but, on the other hand, in addition,
secondly), they develop a sense of text organization that helps them to make meaning
of what they read.
4. Metacognitive Knowledge
Metacognitive knowledge refers to the readers' awareness of how they make
meaning and how they knowingly monitor their own understanding as they read.
Effective readers use a variety of comprehension strategies as they read; they often
raise and answer questions in their minds by visualizing, predicting, and summarizing
to themselves and rereading as necessary. Metacognitive readers recognize when
something does not make sense and they take appropriate action to do something about
it. Examining their own thinking allows readers to understand how they arrived at a
particular meaning and offers them the option of revising their understanding.
Reading Models
A reading model is a graphic attempt “to depict how an individual perceives a
word, processes a clause, and comprehends a text.” (Singer and Robert, 1985).
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Here are some kinds of reading models. Although there are many models of reading,
reading researchers tend to classify them into three kinds; 1) Top-down, 2) Bottom-up
and 3) Interactive. All details are as follows:
Moreover, Fries(1962) viewed that 1) the reader must learn to transfer from the
auditory signs for language signals; to a set of visual signs for the same signals, 2) the
reader must learn to automatically respond to the visual patterns, 3) the cumulative
comprehension of the meanings signaled then enable the reader to supply those
portions of the signals which are not in the graphic representations themselves and 4)
learning to read that means developing a considerable range of habitual responses to a
specific set of patterns of graphic shapes.
Bottom-up advocates believe the reader needs to identify letter features, link
these features to recognize letters, combine letters to recognize spelling patterns, link
spelling patterns to recognize words, and then proceed to sentence, paragraph and text-
level processing.
during short breaks taken during reading, and even after the ‘reading’ itself has
commenced. Comprehension is a consuming and complex activity, but one that, for
good readers, is typically both satisfying and productive. The followings may lead you
to be a good reader.
1. To be active reader
As aforementioned that reading is often considered as a passive activity, one
which doesn’t require much action. Reading actively actually means a series of things.
Perhaps most importantly is that active reading means reading with an awareness of a
purpose for reading. Far too often people read aimlessly, hoping that the key ideas will
somehow "sink in" and then eventually "surface" when they need to. Having a purpose
is another way of saying that we have set goals for our readings. In many textbooks,
we may find chapters that begin with a brief note on learning goals, but we may find
that we pass over these goals in the rush to get to the end of the chapter. We can use
goals to focus our attention on specific aspects of a chapter that we are about to read.
Without setting goals we are, by default, saying that everything has the same value and
that we want to learn it all in the same depth and in the same detail. This can sound
like an admirable way to approach reading, but in practice this often leads to
frustration when we forget large portions of the text soon after reading. We may find
that the information seems to resist structure and logical organization because we have
overloaded our mind with new information.
In addition to setting goals and purposes for reading, active reading may
involve using the structure of our reading to construct an overview for our reading
which we use to select a focus. The structures of the reading materials vary almost as
much as the readings themselves, but there are some common features associated with
various kinds of readings that readers can make effective use of. Textbooks, for
example, usually contain chapter titles, introductions, headings, sub-headings, bold
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face or italicized type, and conclusions. They may also contain chapter learning
objectives, review questions, summary sections, application sections, and notes and
key words in the margins. Clearly these are meant to be used and can go a long way to
assisting us in understanding and working with the information there. Even if a text has
few headings, we can rely on the structures of the paragraphs contained in the text to
access the same kind of information that the more prominent markers indicate: that is,
the main divisions of ideas and how the ideas are elaborated. Novels and journal
articles are bound by different structures, but an awareness of these can assist in an
intelligent approach to the reading of these differently organized texts. The academic
introduction to novels can provide a number of guidelines for how to read the novel,
for example, and the abstract of a journal article serves the function of summarizing
the contents of the article for the reader in simplified language. All of these structures
assist us in developing an overview of what is about to be read and this allows us to
guide ourselves through the text with a focus in mind.
Active reading also certainly means reading with a view to understand and
relate the information to other readings, ideas and themes from lectures, and to the
goals of our course and our learning (Barnitz, 1985). As well, in the manner we talked
about becoming conscious of our approach to reading, active reading involves
checking our understanding, monitoring for difficulties, and checking for ways to
correct difficulties. It should be clear from these aspects of active reading that active
reading is brain intensive; that is, it involves thinking as we read and directing that
thinking to achieve certain reading goals. Some readers make the mistake of assuming
that this means that active reading will be time intensive too and then use that as an
argument against doing the work of learning effectively through reading. It is
important to know that in fact, active reading has been shown to save time. It does take
time to adjust to this new approach to learning, but active reading helps to eliminate
the wasteful and often mindless repetition that is necessitated by forgetting what we
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2. To be strategic reader
In the new view, readers are far more active and unpredictable. They make
decisions about what to read, how to read it, how to think about what they read, what
to remember, what other information to remember it with. They bring context,
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approach, bias, and personal experiences to what they read. They interpret, they skip,
they misread, they misunderstand, they understand in their own way. Their reading is
not reactive but strategic; they read with purpose, meaning, and goals. Readers are said
to use two levels of strategies; 1) cognitive strategies enable the reader to understand
written text and 2) metacognitive strategies govern the use of cognitive strategies--
enabling one to manage the process of reading (Jennifer, 1997).
It is under the heading of "metacognition" that discussed on motivation, focusing
attention, managing time, deciding what to read, along with methods for reading such as
reading the conclusion first, looking for key words and summaries, reading for main
ideas, identifying the structure of text, self-questioning, and reading to remember.
In practice, the two levels of strategy work together. Studies have demonstrated
that better readers and learners go about the task more strategically than others do,
which means they have greater conscious control over what and how they read.
In cognitive theory, there is nothing passive about reading, and the activity of
reading goes far beyond the "decoding" step. Vaughn (1982) epitomized this view with
his statement: "Reading is thinking stimulated by print." Readers engage nearly every
kind of thought process during reading. Reading have included categorizing,
previewing, comparing and connecting and organizing ideas, filling blanks in their
knowledge structures, evaluating evidence, arguing with what they read, passing and
withholding judgment, summarizing, hypothesis testing and modification, predicting,
clarifying, generating questions, agreeing, disagreeing, anticipating, learning new
concepts, deciding what is important , skipping, problem-solving, making unexpected
connections, reflecting, reviewing, comparing, analyzing, synthesizing, looping back,
strategies for comprehending words, sentences, segments of text and conventions of
writing and organization (Robert, 1993).
The strategic activities of readers are not only highly active and interpretive,
they are recursive and non-linear (Scheid, 1993). Although there are surely times when
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readers start with the first word of a piece and read through sequentially, researchers
have emphasized the extent to which readers (especially of non-fiction) scan, select,
skip, pause, loop back, and do a considerable amount of rooting around the page.
Indeed, readers not only adopt strategies toward what they read, they test and modify
those strategies as they go.
Readers make ready use of nonverbal cues with they read. They interpret
pictures, graphics, color, charts, symbols, decorations, cartoons, typography, rules (lines
and boxes), spatial relationships, recurring positions and patterns, and other spatial cues.
Davine (1987) argued that readers carry on different modes of thinking
simultaneously, at least including visual and linguistic modes of thought. A person's
knowledge structure is sure to contain spatial modes of organization.
What looks from one perspective like words on a page becomes (when it enters
the life of a reader) an integral part of a rich, multimodal, imaginatively elaborated
inner world. And because every reader translates the written message into such a
world, we can never know information as information alone, but only as it is reflected
in a particular, lived system of meaning.
In cognitive theory, then, readers are selective, active, and strategic. They
understand what they read in terms of what they already know -- though what they
read may modify what they know.
Readers activate strategies for managing their approach to a text, along with
schemas for interpreting it. Readers may modify the strategy of reading and shift the
context of interpretation as they go. New information becomes meaningful only as it is
interconnected with meaningful patterns that the reader already knows.
When new information is interconnected with the old in meaningful patterns, it
becomes knowledge--and it can then be recalled, reasoned with, extended by inference,
and used to filter new perceptions.
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Reading effectively needs the readers who are strategic. That means the readers
who know how and when to use an appropriate reading strategy for text
comprehension. Strategic readers actively construct meaning as they read, interacting
with the text. They set purposes for reading, select methods of accomplishing these
purposes, monitor and repair their own comprehension as they read, and evaluate the
completed task. A strategic reader constructs, examines, and extends meaning before,
during, and after reading for a variety of texts (Barnett, 1988 ).
There are a number of differences between strategic readers and poor readers
during all phases of the reading process that Irvin (1996), Jennifer (1997) mentioned.
They can be concluded as Table 1.
Table 1.1 How Strategic and proficient Readers Differ from Ineffective and Poor
Readers
Strategic and Proficient Readers Ineffective and Poor Readers
Before Reading
• Build up their own background • Start reading without thinking about the
knowledge about reading and the process of reading, the topic, the
topic language, or the structure of the text.
• Set purposes for reading • Do not know why they are reading but
• Determine methods for reading, merely view the task as "ground to
according to their purposes. cover."
• Understand that reading is a • Think of reading as decoding--one word
sense-making process at a time
• Use their prior topical and • Do not expect reading to make sense
linguistic knowledge as they read
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Below is suggested ways from some readers’ experiences including the writer’s
experience on reading that may help you become “a strategic reader.”
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1. Decide whether or not you are interested in the material and adjust your
attitude accordingly. If you can become interested, do it. If you can't, decide to live
with it.
2. Some textbooks have a "guide to reading" section at the beginning of each
chapter. These guides are there to tell you what the main ideas are and what to look for
as you read.
3. Take time to skim the assignment for headings, bold print, and other clues
to what will be discussed. Use these clues to help you see the important parts of the
reading.
4. Decide whether you need to know all the details you read or just some of
them then plan on spending the time and effort to get the right amount of information
from the reading.
5. Pause frequently as you read to make sure you are understanding the
material. Write down the main ideas as you read them. If you didn't understand the last
sentence or paragraph, go back and figure it out.
6. Try to distinguish key concepts from supporting or unimportant
information. Learn the key concepts. Write them down!
7. Organize your reading notes in an outline or use some other method to
make sure you can find and study important information again.
Moreover, when you read you should infer and predict by looking for
important information, looking at illustrations, thinking about what you know, thinking
about what you will learn, thinking about what will happen next. Then monitoring or
clarifying by asking yourself “Does this make sense?”, trying “fix ups” like: reread,
read ahead, se a dictionary and ask for help. Next summarizing by retelling the story in
your own words, thinking about story elements, thinking about main ideas and details.
The last thing you should do is evaluating by asking yourself how you feel about what
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you read, if you agree or disagree. These may help you to be an active reader and lead
you to comprehend most of texts you read.
material, if possible. This does not prevent adding new questions, but it does prevent
forgetting about an important question that occurs to you during the overview. Ideally,
the headings can be converted into questions which will provide a suitable outline of
the important information in the selection. When this is not the case, the basic
interrogatives of who, what, when, where, why and how, frequently supply aid in
suggesting important concepts in almost all reading selections. You have to respond to
learn.
4. Reading: The techniques and the reading skills will be employed for
reading carefully and thoughtfully. Reading here means not only the familiar line-by-
line reading, but reading that is guided by our purpose and questions. Also be sure and
read the material you covered while obtaining an overview.
5. Summarizing: An important part of summarizing is organizing the ideas
and supporting points. This organizing should begin in the reading but should be
finalized and expressed in the notes. Generally, each paragraph will have one or two
ideas. It is important to state in your own words, aloud, the points you wish to
remember. The most effective type of summarizing, which lends itself to both
organizing and testing, is an outline of questions reflecting major ideas and
concepts. The subpoints are indented to show clearly that they are related to the main
point in a supporting role. By using questions as headings, the outline can be started
before reading on the basis of the overview. It allows the answers to the questions to
guide the reading, rather than be automatically summarized as a few brief points. A
topic that does not lend itself to the question style can be included as a statement.
There are other techniques you may use. One is underlining. However, its
faults tend to outweigh its value. If you must underline, restrict yourself to clear,
concise definitions or statements. Another technique is marginal notes and
questions. You may (with practice and discretion) elaborate, raise questions, and relate
and organize certain important concepts or points in this manner.
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6. Testing: The next step is testing yourself. It is vital that you recall rather
just recognize the answers. This means that you test yourself with an essay or a fill-in-
the-blank type of test. This simply means you must "produce" the answer; just as you
often have to in class. This testing seems to "set" or "fix" the information more firmly
in your mind so that you will retain it better. Re-reading and other forms of
recognition do not produce as high a level of retention. This testing may occur after
paragraphs, or after sections, or at the end of the selection. The rule to follow is to deal
with closely related thoughts that are not too many for you to consider at one time.
7. Understanding: The end product of the steps in reading is to be sure that
you understand every important question. If you omit a point, or answer a question
incorrectly, you should go back and review that point immediately. You may do this
by reviewing your summarizing notes, or by re-reading parts of the selection that are
not clear, or where the information is scattered, by scanning to locate the forgotten
parts.
8. Getting rid of bad reading habits: To really get rid of a bad habit, you
should replace it with a good one. You have to get rid of the bad habits, and you must
practice and work at it in order to change. The following are some of the bad habits
which tend to cause people to read slowly. Ask yourself whether you are guilty of any
of the following:
8.1 Moving your lips when you read: Moving your lips slows you to a
fast talking rate, about 150 words per minute. Put your fingers on your lips to stop the
motion.
8.2 Vocalizing: Vocalizing means that you are pronouncing words in the
voice box of the throat without making sounds. This also slows your reading rate to
that of speaking. To check, rest your fingertips lightly against the vocal cord area of
your throat. If you feel a vibration, or if you find that your tongue is moving, you are
vocalizing.
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8.3 Reading everything at the same speed: When reading, set your rate
according to your purpose for reading and the difficulty level of the material. Practice
adjusting your rate to suit your material. The more difficult the material, the slower the
rate.
8.4 Regressing out of habit: Regressing means rereading a word, phrase,
or sentence out of habit and not because of need. Sometimes, it is necessary to reread
something, especially in a difficult passage. But habitual, unnecessary regressing really
slows you down. Use a card or paper to cover the text after you read it to prevent
regressing.
8.5 Reading one word at a time: Do you think one word at a time, or in
phrases? Slow readers tend to see only one word at a time. Good readers will see
several words at a time and their eyes will stop only three or four times as they move
across a page. Reading in idea-phrases speeds your reading and improves your
understanding of what you have read. Mark the phrases in the sentences of a passage,
then practice seeing more than one word at a time.
The best way to read faster is to practice reading just a little faster than is
comfortable. Changing reading habits is not easy, after all you have been reading that
way for many years. It takes several weeks of conscious effort in order to change bad
reading habits.
Conclusion
Reading is more than the decoding of written words into sound. Reading is a
complex communication process which requires thought and individual construction of
meaning (Livingston, 1996). It is not an easy task for all people, even though we have
to use it all in our life. It is a basic skill for living happily in a period of globalization
that is no boundary of information and knowledge. If we don’t read, we may become
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out of date or selfish person. That means we ignore what news in our world and this
will affect our living both on academic and profession fields. Consequently, practicing
reading is still the most important for our living. Start to love reading is a crucial way
for improving our life in the modern time. The rest of this book provides you some
interactive approaches to English reading and practices to help you improve your
reading skills. It is included how to get the meaning of unfamiliar words, how to make
inference, how to refer and the use of connectives, how to find topics and main ideas
and how to analyze writer’s opinions and attitudes.