What is Reading?

• is the process of constructing meaning from written texts.

•  is a means of language acquisition, communication, and of sharing
information and ideas.
• is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting
meaning from them.
• is a skill that has to be taught and developed.
• is the best way to stimulate new ideas and train yourself in creative,
open thinking.

Importance/Benefits of Reading:
1. Reading develops vocabulary.
Reading allows for exposure to words and phrases that you might not
use as part of normal speech.
2. Reading increases attention span.
Encouraging good reading habits develops a person’s attention span
and allows him/her to focus better and for longer periods of time.
3. Reading encourages a thirst for knowledge.
Reading leads to asking questions, and seeking answers, which
means you learn more every day.
4. Reading exercises the mind.
Brain muscles are used in reading. What you use in your body
continuously develops. This is why reading is associated with
academic success
5. Reading develops self-esteem.
The more you read, the more you know, and the more comfortable
and confident you will be.
6. Reading improves memory.
In reading, you remember every detail of the plot in order to
understand the material. This is a good exercise for your memorization
skills.
7. Reading develops imagination.
When reading, you make the most creative representation of the
words you read in your head; thus improving your imagination.
8. Reading develops concentration.

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 To understand the story you are reading, you focus on your material.
In the process, your concentration skill is enhanced.
9. Reading gives entertainment.
It can be relaxing, funny, exciting, thrilling and much, much more.

Components of Reading

1. Phonemic awareness refers to the student’s ability to focus on and

manipulate these phonemes in spoken syllables and words. Phonemes are
only sounds.
Phonemes are the smallest sound units used to form spoken words. For
example, in the word bat, there are three specific phonemes or sounds, /
b /, / a / / t /. Phonemic awareness refers to the student’s ability to focus on
and manipulate phonemes (sounds) in spoken syllables and words. This
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includes giving children exposure to and experience with hearing and
identifying similar word patterns (sound matching) and listening for and
detecting spoken syllables (counting syllables). Phonemic awareness is
essential because children must be able to hear and manipulate oral sound
patterns before they can identify these patterns in print. Reading programs
that include systematic instruction for connecting oral language to print lead
to higher achievement in word recognition and spelling.
2. Phonics is the relationship between the letters (or letter combinations) in
written language and the individual sounds in spoken language.
Phonics is the relationship between the letters in written language and the
individual sounds in spoken language. Phonics instruction teaches students
how to use these relationships to read and spell words. Phonics associates
sounds to written symbols (the alphabet). Phonics helps children develop
critical word recognition skills. Children can then apply the sound- symbol
relationship to read print.
3. A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language.
Vocabulary development is closely connected to comprehension. The
larger the reader’s vocabulary (either oral or print), the easier it is to make
sense of the text.
Vocabulary is closely connected to comprehension. The larger the reader’s
vocabulary (either oral or print) the easier it is to make sense of the text.
Vocabulary can be learned incidentally through storybook reading or
listening to others, and vocabulary should be taught both directly and
indirectly. Students should be actively engaged in instruction that includes
learning words before reading, repetition, and multiple exposures, learning
in rich contexts, incidental learning, and use of computer technology.
4. Fluency is a reader’s ability to read with speed, accuracy and
expression. Fluency is intimately tied to comprehension. A reader must be
able to move quickly enough through a text to develop meaning.
Fluent readers are able to read orally with appropriate speed, accuracy,
and proper expression. Fluency is the ability to read as well as we speak
and to make sense of the text without having to stop and decode each
word.
5. Comprehension is the aspect of reading that all of the others serve to
create. Reading comprehension is understanding what a text is all about. It
is more than just understanding words in isolation. It is putting them
together and using prior knowledge to develop meaning.

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Comprehension is the complex cognitive process readers use to
understand what they have read. Vocabulary development and instruction
play a critical role in comprehension. Young readers develop text
comprehension through a variety of techniques, including answering
questions and summarization (retelling the story).

Types of Readers

1. Underground readers are those who read for pleasure at home. They
are extremely gifted but see the reading they are asked to do in school
different from the reading they enjoy doing on their own.  

2. Dormant readers are good readers, but tend to not pick up a book
because reading in their eyes means work. They read to pass their
class or do well on state tests. They are the ones who never read for
their own enjoyment outside of school.
3. Developing readers are readers who do not read at their own grade level
and believe that they do not like to read at all because of that. They are
referred to as the struggling readers.

Kinds of Reading

1. Extensive Reading
-reading for pleasure any topic of interest
-purpose: to relax and enjoy
-examples: comics, humorous stories, tales, novels, short articles in
the newspapers and magazines, jokes, and other forms of light
reading materials
2. Intensive Reading
-careful or in-depth reading
-purpose: you read for details and extract specific information on
particular topics
-the kind of reading you do when you study, prepare a term/research
paper, or an oral report
-has several techniques or sub-types: scanning, skimming,

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 exploratory reading, study reading, critical reading, and analytical
reading

READING TECHNIQUES for Intensive Reading

1. Scanning
-rapid reading assisted by key words to locate specific pieces of
information.
-for research
-gets info that answers what, who, where, when, how.
Ex. looking for a word meaning in the dictionary, getting a
document from the filing cabinet, looking through the yellow
pages (telephone directory)

2. Skimming

-rapid reading focusing on the title, headings, and topic sentence to

get the main idea.
- effective preliminary step to reading thoroughly because after
skimming, you can quickly go back to details you need to read
entirely.
-also called as gist reading.
Ex. surveying a chapter/article, reviewing something you’ve read,
choosing a magazine/book to buy in the bookstore

3. Exploratory Reading
- aims to get a fairly accurate picture of a whole presentation of ideas;
how the whole selection is presented.
-refers to structure, method of paragraph development.
- allots more time for reading.
Ex. long articles in magazines, short stories, descriptive texts
4. Study Reading
- the reader must get a maximum understanding of the main ideas
and their relationships.
Ex. SQ3R, SQ4R (survey, question, read, record, recite, review)

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5. Critical Reading

-makes the reader weigh facts, information, or ideas presented in the

selection, so that he, too, can perform judgments or conclusions about
them.
-questions, analyzes and evaluates the text.
Ex. Reading done in periodicals, books, ads which are loaded with
propaganda devices designed to sway opinions

6. Analytical Reading
- careful attention to each word and its importance in relation to other
words in the sentence or the paragraph.
Ex. Reading mathematical problems, scientific formulas,
and certain definitive statements of key ideas that require a
questioning/inquisitive mind

7. Developmental Reading
-when a reader is under a comprehensive reading program that lets
him go through stages & monitors him closely.

Ex. SRA (Science Research Associates)