Reading

Skill
Abdul Rahman
 CLASS & SUBJECT

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMME

THIRD SEMESTER

TECHNICAL WRITING & PRESENTATION SKILSS

(ENGLISH III)
 READING SKILL
• Introduction
• Reading is one of the language skills and one of the gateways of
getting worldly knowledge. Traditionally, reading was
considered as a passive skill, but it is considered as an active
one nowadays and one‟s reading ability decides his academic
success.
• Education of a child is incomplete unless he is equipped with
the ability to read, to decipher, to interpret and to understand
properly the content of reading material.
• Reading is a good source of self education. By reading, a person
can keep himself informed of all the news and knowledge,
literature and science of world.
 Reading
skill?
• Reading skill enables readers to turn writing into
meaning and achieve the goals of independence,
comprehension and fluency. English language texts
can be used to encourage functional literacy in English
among the students. By reading newspapers, the
• students not only improve their reading skill but also
enhance their knowledge of current
• issues and improve their vocabulary. Normally good
readers are good speakers. Those people who a wide
reading habit have good oral communication skill.
 Definition of Reading
• Reading is a complex and conscious activity using the written
symbols meaning and ideas are obtained. However, the
readers‟ background knowledge is necessary for complete
understanding of a text.
• The efficient reader can only retrieve both his literal and
pragmatic meanings from a text.
• Reading skill are specific abilities which enable a reader:
• to read the written form as meaningful language
• to read anything written independence, comprehension and
fluency, and
• to mentally interact with the message.
 Importance of Reading
• Reading helps one to keep oneself abreast of the ever
increasing knowledge.
• Francis Bacon says “Reading maketh a full man”. It is
through reading one can acquire
• knowledge in all subjects like Arts, Science, Medicine,
Engineering, Computer Science, etc. It is through
reading the books we learn the thoughts, emotions,
life pattern, culture and tradition of the people of the
bygone days and of the men and women living in
different countries
 What is Reading?
• Reading is a reaction to the graphic symbols, may it be reading
aloud or silent reading. Reading aloud with meaningful sense
groups, good pronunciation, proper pauses, modulation of
voice can be only understood by the reader and the listener.
Silent reading helps one to read faster and comprehend
better. Reading is often coupled with listening skill and is
described as passive or receptive skill. But reading without
understanding cannot be called as „reading‟ at all. Hence, if
the author is the encoder, the reader is the decoder.
• The reader reacts to the message according to his previous
knowledge.
 Cont. What is Reading?
• The following are the skill, one has to acquire to become
an efficient reader as mentioned by P. Gurrey:
1. Skill of reading aloud.
2. Skill of grasping the gist of a passage.
3. The skill of deducing information or ideas from what has
been read.
4. The skill of being able to find facts and information in
books and other printed matter.
5. Skill of being able to note exact information when one is
reading.
 What is Reading?
• Reading with comprehension is related to
numerous skill and they are inter-related. They are:
1. Word recognition.
2. Phrase meaning.
3. Retention of meaning.
4. Sentence meaning.
5. Reading the context.
6. Paragraph meaning.
 Cont.
7.Recognize the structural clues and comprehend structural
patterns.
8. Skimming.
9. Scanning.
10. Reading for organization (Note making and Summarizing).
11. Draw conclusions, make inferences and read between the
lines.
12. Critical reading.
13. Reading Charts, Maps and Graphs.
14. Reading to follow directions.
15. Reading to answer questions.
 Mechanics of Reading
• Reading is recognition of printed symbol. The eyes are the
gateways to enter into the „realm of reading‟ which is a
golden door through which one can reach the pinnacle
• of knowledge and wisdom. Recognition of printed or written
form depends on the movement of eyes. The eyes do not
move letter by letter. The eyes jump from one meaningful
group or words to another. The group of words the reader
recognizes at a glance is known as „eye span‟. After each
jump he pauses for a short while and then he proceeds to
next group. The pause is called „fixation‟ during which he
tries to understand what he has read.
 Continued.Mechanics of Reading
• If what he has read is not meaningful to him,
his eyes make a regressive movement which is
called „regression‟. This regression will affect
the speed of reading.
• The larger the eye span, the greater the speed
in reading.
 Skill of Reading
• Reading is mainly a decoding process
• Encoder or Writer
• Message
• Decoder or Reader
• The encoder encodes the message and the decoder decodes it and
understands it.
• Reading activity involves perception, recall, reasoning, evaluating,
imagining, organizing, application and problem solving. The goal of
all reading is the comprehension of meaning. Effective reading
includes not only a literal comprehension of an author's word, but
also an interpretation of his mood, tone, feeling and attitude .
 Reading- An Analysis
• Reading content is divided into word
recognition skill and comprehension skill.

• The following figure - An Organizational

Framework of Developmental Reading Skill
illustrates these skills.
 Reading- An Analysis

• Word Recognition • Word and Idea

• Configuration comprehension
• Context Analysis • Vocabulary Development
• Sight Words • Literal Comprehension
• Phonic Analysis • Inferential Comprehension
• Syllabication • Evaluation
• Structural Analysis • Appreciation
• Dictionary Analysis
 Vocabulary Development & Literal
Comprehension
• Vocabulary Development
• To understand the words used by the writer, vocabulary
development is essential for the reader. Exposure to books,
people and places will provide meaningful experience in learning
words from context and this will aid in vocabulary development.
• Literal Comprehension
• Recognition and recall of explicitly stated information is literal
comprehension. Skill involved in literal reading are ability to read
for the central thought and main ideas, remembering significant
details, sequence of event and to find answer to specific
questions.
 Inferential Comprehension &Evaluation

• Inferential Comprehension
• It requires the reader to make hypotheses based on stated
information, intuition and personal experience. Grasping cause-
effect relationships, anticipating the remainder of a story, and
forming opinions are inferential comprehension skill .
• Evaluation
• It deals with judgment based on the reader‟s experiences,
knowledge or values.
• Evaluation focuses on qualities of accuracy, acceptability or
probability of occurrence. It includes making value judgments
and analyzing the intent of the author.
 Appreciation
• It is the reader's emotional and aesthetic
sensitivity to the written selection. The reader
identifies with characters and incidents.

• Therefore for a valid assessment of the skill of

comprehension, all these five areas should be
incorporated with measuring instruments.