LESSON 3.

THE RECEPTIVE SKILLS

A. READING
Introduction
What is reading? This is one question that seems so easy yet it is full of complexities.
Leu & Kinzer (1987) defines reading as a development, interactive, and global process involving
learned skills. As for Tarigan (2008), it is a process carried out and used by a reader to acquire
message which is conveyed by a writer through words and could be known and seen by reader.
Some definitions give emphasis on the mental processes involved in reading, while others
deal with the values derived from the process. No matter how reading is defined, they all boil
down to one thing: reading involves the use of a code that has to be interpreted for meaning
(Romero & Romero 1985).
As a college student, your workload may be overwhelming. Unlike in high school, you
need to read a lot now that you are in college if you want to succeed on all your undertakings in
this new phase of your life. You have to develop proficiency and fluency in reading.

Reading defined:
⮚ Reading is decoding written symbols.

⮚ Reading is getting meaning from printed page.

⮚ Reading is putting meaning into the printed page.

⮚ Reading is the process of interpreting the written symbols.

⮚ Reading is the process of communication between author and reader.

Characteristics of the reading process: (Romero & Romero, 1985)

1. Reading is a complex process.

Reading is a complex process because there are many factors involved that may affect
one’s performance in reading. Word recognition, identifying and making sense out of the
words being read are also a few of the requisites towards better comprehension of the
text.

2. Reading is a two-way process.

Reading is not just receiving, or absorption of ideas; it is an interaction or communication
between the author and the reader. When the reader fails to understand the text, he may
have a problem of poor comprehension, thus communication gap between him and the
author occurs. The reading act is complete only when the reading is put to use in some
way, like communicating with others in discussion, reporting, summarizing, etc.

3. Reading is largely a visual process.

For one to be able to read well, he has to have good eyesight.

4. Reading is an active process.

 The reader constructs meaning from a text and may have different interpretation of what
he reads because of his experiences and knowledge. As a reader reads, he asks questions
and looks for points to which he agrees or disagrees.

5. Reading makes use of a linguistic system which enables readers to be more effective
users of written language.
A reader would do better if he knows the syntax, orthography, and morphology of a
language. Having said this, he could interact more effectively with the printed page.

6. Effective reading is partly dependent on the reader’s prior knowledge or

background experiences.
A person’s knowledge of the topic facilitates comprehension.

STAGES OF READING

a. Pre-Reading Stage
During this stage, the individual is engaged in a program of experiences aimed to
enhance his oral language development to a level equal to or greater than the level of
materials for beginning reading. Experiences are provided for concept development. The
individual is also trained auditory and visual discrimination, listens to, tells, and discusses
stories and learns basic work and study habits. To develop his mental, physical,
emotional, and social readiness for reading, further experiences are provided.

b. Initial Reading Stage

The individual begins to use picture, context, and configuration clues to recognize
words and then goes on to beginning instruction in phonetic and structural analysis
techniques. He learns to use and handle books, acquires the understanding that reading
yields information, and begins to develop skills in finding main ideas, anticipating
outcomes, making inferences, finding details, and noting sequences.

c. Stage of Rapid Progress

The reader extends his use of a variety of word-recognition techniques and begins to
use the dictionary for word meaning for word meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. He
extends his vocabulary and comprehension skills, he reads with understanding a greater
variety of materials, and he begins to read independently for information and pleasures.

d. Stage of Extended Reading Experience and Rapidly Increasing Reading Efficiency

The individual, at this stage, uses word-recognition techniques automatically, and is
almost completely independent in reading. He reads with understanding in the subject
areas, extends his dictionary independently, and begins to use reading as a tool in
problem solving.

e. Stage of Refinement in Reading Abilities, Attitudes, and Tastes

The individual reader has acquired independence in locating and utilizing a variety of
materials, is aware of varied purposes for reading and has developed skills of critical
evaluation of material read. His reading interests are extended, and his literary tastes
refined. This refinement process actually begins with initial reading instruction and
proceeds into adult life.

Importance of Reading
✔ Reading is good for the brain. It makes us well-informed and smarter because we gain
access to various knowledge.
 ✔ Reading inspires you. Yes, reading can be a source of inspiration especially when you
encounter good things on the material that you read. For example, if you read the story of
a person who succeeded in life despite his hardships, one who rose from rags to riches,
this will give you more energy to strive until you reach your dream.
✔ Reading can be a source of recreation. Reading about something you enjoy can be a form
of relaxation; it can ease tension in your muscles and heart.
✔ Reading makes you a better writer. When you read, your vocabulary and spelling are
enhanced. You also get exposed to various writing techniques, which unconsciously, you
will be able to imitate these writing techniques.
✔ Reading can make you a good conversationalist. What do we get from reading? A lot of
ideas. When you have a lot of ideas, you have a lot to share when talking with others.

READING TECHNIQUES
Reading is one good habit that can do wonders in a person’s life; it can even change
human life significantly. It can entertain us, amuse us, and enrich us with knowledge and
experiences.

If you want to become a better and more comprehensive reader, mastering these
techniques can help you a lot. https://www.iedunote.com/reading-techniques

1. Scanning. This is a reading strategy that is used for getting some specific points by
looking at the whole text. When you do the following, you do scanning technique:
a. Looking up the meaning of a word in a dictionary
b. Finding a telephone number in a directory
c. Finding statistical information in tables, charts, graphs
d. Finding the answers to certain questions from a text
e. Looking up a name from the telephone guidebook

Procedures for Scanning

a. Keep in mind only the specific information to be located.
b. Decide which clues will help to find the required information.
c. Move your eyes as quickly as possible down the page to find the clue.
d. Read the section containing the clues to get the information needed.
Scanning trains students to think of clues in finding specific
information and to move their eyes rapidly to obtain the information quickly
using clues like word/words, alphabetical order, numbers, etc.

2. Skimming. This reading technique is used for looking for main ideas in a text,
without going into the details. Under this technique, we read quickly to get the main
points and skip over the detail. https://literarydevices.net/skimming/
When skimming, try to do the following:
⮚ Don’t read everything

⮚ Read the first and last sentences of the paragraph.

⮚ Read the introduction and the summary.

 ⮚ Read a few examples until you understand until you understand the concept
they want to illustrate

3. Comprehensive Reading. When undertaking comprehensive reading, your aim must

be clear in mind. Student must read carefully and slowly in order to get information
and understand the text.

The following are necessary to do comprehensive reading:

a. Vocabulary Recognition
Students should be able to analyse words, use the dictionary, and use
context clues.

b. Sentence Comprehension
Here are the techniques to understand a sentence:
1. Sentence analysis
Analyzing the parts of the sentence, knowing the subject and the
verb, etc. will help students understand the meaning of the
sentence.
2. Recognizing punctuation marks
Students should recognize the meaning and use of punctuation
marks in order to know the ideas the writer wants to convey.
3. Recognizing reference terms
A reference term is a word used to replace another word so that
the writer does not have to repeat the same word again and
again.
4. Recognizing signal words
A signal word is a word or phrase that functions as a connector in
a sentence, between sentences, or between paragraphs.
Examples of signal words
addition: and, as well as, besides
cause –effect relationships: hence, due to, as a result
condition: if, when, unless
contrast: but, though, despite
comparison: like, unlike, in the same way
doubt or hypothesis: possibly, probably
emphasis: above all, really, in effect
sequence or order of events: first, later, eventually, etc.
examples and restatements: for example, that is, namely

c. Paragraph analysis
The student learns to:
1. Find the topic
2. Find the main idea
3. Find major supporting details
4. Find minor supporting details
d. Interpreting illustrations
Pictures, tables, maps, etc. must be interpreted properly.

4. Critical Reading
To be able to read critically, the student must learn to:
a. Examine the reliability of the material
b. Distinguish facts from opinions
c. Draw inferences from the material
B. LISTENING
Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication
process. It is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken
and/or nonverbal messages.
It is an active process by which we make sense of, assess, and respond to what we hear. It
require concentration, which is the focusing of your thoughts upon one particular topic.

Listening vs Hearing

A person who receives and understands information or an instruction, and then chooses
not to comply with it or not to agree to it; one is hearing what others are saying, and another is
trying to understand what it means.

⮚ Hearing – refers to the sounds that enter your ears. It is a physical process that
provided you that you do not have any hearing problems.
- It happens automatically or naturally.
- It is passive.
- It is more of physiological.

⮚ Listening – is done by choice. It is interpretative action taken by someone in order to

understand and potentially make meaning of something they hear.
- It is a physical and mental process; active; learned process; a skill
- It is more of psychological.

TYPES OF LISTENING

• Appreciative Listening
- listening for pleasure and enjoyment, as when we listen to music, to a comedy
routine, or to an entertaining speech.

- describes how well speakers choose and use words, use humour, ask questions,
tell stories, and argue persuasively.

• Emphatic Listening
 - listening to provide emotional support for the speaker, as when a psychiatrist
listens to a patient or when we lend a sympathetic ear to a friend.

- focuses on understanding and identifying with a person’s situation, feelings, or

motives.

- there is an attempt to understand what the other person is feeling.

• Comprehensive/Active Listening
- listening to understand the message of a speaker, as when we attend a classroom
lecture or listen to directions for finding a friend’s house.

- focuses on accurately understanding the meaning of the speaker’s words while

simultaneously interpreting non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, gestures,
posture, and vocal quality.

- it is a particular communication technique that requires the listener to provide

feedback on what he or she hears to the speaker.

Three (3) Main Degrees of Comprehensive or Active Listening

1. Repeating - requires perceiving, paying attention, and remembering.
- repeating the messages involves using exactly the same words used by the
speaker.

2. Paraphrasing - requires thinking and reasoning. It involves rendering the message

using similar phrase arrangement to the ones used by the speaker.

3. Reflecting - involves rendering the message using your own words and sentence
structure.

• Critical/ Analytical Listening

- listening to evaluate a message for purposes of accepting or rejecting it, as
when we listen to the sales pitch of a used-car dealer or the campaign speech of a
political candidate
- focuses on evaluating whether a message is logical and reasonable
- asks you to make judgements based on your evaluation of the speaker’s
arguments
- challenges the speaker’s message by evaluating its accuracy and
meaningfulness, and utility
- uses critical thinking skills

● Critical thinking Skills - the intellectually disciplines process of actively and

skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from or generated by, observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning, or communication as a guide to belief and action.

It is the process by which people qualitatively and quantitatively assess the

information they have accumulated, and how they in turn use that information to
solve problems and forge new pattern of understanding.

Critical thinking skills include observation, interpretation, analysis,

inference, evaluation, explanation, and metacognition.
 Critical thinkers are those who are able to do the following:

1. Recognize problems and find workable solutions to those problems.

2. Understand the importance of prioritization in the hierarchy of problem solving tasks.
3. Gather relevant information.
4. Read between the lines by recognizing what is not said or stated.
5. Use language clearly, efficiently, and with efficacy.
6. Interpret data and form conclusions based on that data.
7. Determine the presence of lack of logical relationships.
8. Make sound conclusions and/or generalizations based on given data.
9. Test conclusions and generalizations.
10. Reconstruct one’s patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience.
11. Render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life.

✔ Therefore, critical thinkers must engage in highly active listening to further

their critical thinking skills. People can use critical thinking skills to understand,
interpret, and assess what they hear in order to formulate appropriate reactions or
responses. These skills allow people to organize the information that they hear,
understand its context or relevance, recognize unstated assumptions, make logical
connections between ideas, determine the truth values, and draw conclusions.
Conversely, engaging in focused, effective listening also lets people collect information
in a way that best promotes critical thinking and, ultimately, successful communication.

Process of Listening

⮚ Receiving – it refers to the response caused by sound waves stimulating the sensory
receptors of the ear.

⮚ Understanding – it is the stage at which you learn what the speaker means - the thoughts
and emotional tone.
⮚ Remembering – this is retaining messages for at least some period of time.
- What you remember is actually not what was said but what you think
was said.

⮚ Evaluating – It consists of judging the messages in some way. At times, you may try to
evaluate the speaker’s underlying intentions or motives.
- Effective listeners should deliberately reduce the influence of their own
viewpoint until they have first understood the speaker’s ideas.

● In language learning, some teaching methods, such physical response, involve

students by simply listening and responding. There two distinction involve in
listening learning process and these are:

1. Intensive Listening – in which learners attempt to listen with maximum

accuracy to a relatively brief sequence of speech.
- more effective in terms of developing specific aspects of
listening ability.

2. Extensive Listening – in which learners listen to lengthy passages for general

comprehension.
- more effective in building fluency and maintaining
learner motivation.