How to improve reading skills and reading motivation?
R
eading is one of the most
fundamental academic skills.
People know that reading is
beneficial, but why do some people just not
want to do it? Likewise, everyone's reading
ability varies, so how do we help those who
are less able to read?
The main target audience for this article is
those undergraduate and international
students who are in their first year of
college. Because first-year undergraduates,
are fresh out of high school and many may
not be very motivated to read or study. For
international students, English is a language
other than their native language, and it is
common for most to have difficulty reading.
To better advise and help, we need to
understand what reading is and the
circumstances in which people typically go
about reading. Here, Rachel Ihara and Ann
Del Principe, authors of "What We Mean
When We Talk about Reading: Rethinking
the Purposes and Contexts of College
Reading," provide insight into this area.
Rachel Ihara is the Associate Professor and
Assistant Director of Composition at
Kingsborough Community College, and
Ann Del Principe is the Associate Professor
and Director of Composition at
Kingsborough Community College. They
state that "reading is a highly variable and
nuanced activity that can only be understood
concerning its purpose and context"(Ihara,
Principe, 2018, p. 1). Students are often
assigned reading that they did not feel
compelled to complete because doing so is
optional to their success in the course. For
too long, students have failed to develop
good reading habits, which has led to a
dramatic decline in their reading skills and
has left them bewildered when faced with
lines of text.
Meanwhile, the author of "Drawing to Read:
Students Using Creative Approaches to
Access Complex Texts in First-Year
Writing", Esther M. Gabay, who is a lecturer
in the English Department at Kingsborough
Community College of the City University
of New York, says, "I have a great solution
to the problem of declining reading skills
mentioned by Rachel Ihara and Ann Del
Principe, especially for these first-year
students who are just entering college”.
Esther M. Gabay then told that “the first
step is to ask students to read repeatedly and
to reflect on it. In the second step, they are
asked to draw on paper what they have
written down in the first step and not to label
the meaning with words. This stage is
essential to deepen students' understanding
of the text and to stimulate associations with
the content, as it requires students to focus
on building visual representations and using
their cognitive abilities”.To his surprise,
students told him at the end of these reading
assignments how much they enjoy the
visualization strategies and the ability to use
their imagination as they wish. Finally,
Esther M. Gabay (2018) was satisfied with
the results of this method, “I appreciate the
enthusiasm Drawing to Read engenders in
my students and how it sparks students’
desire to engage in the challenging
intellectual work of deep reading and active
learning”. (p. 361).
Aynur Ismayilli Karakoç, Rachael Ruegg,
and Peter Gu, authors of "Beyond
comprehension: Reading requirements in
first-year undergraduate courses”. Aynur is a
Ph.D. student at the School of Linguistics
and Applied Language Studies, Victoria
University of Wellington. Dr. Rachael
Ruegg is a Senior Lecturer in the School of
Linguistics and Applied Language Studies,
at Victoria University of Wellington. Dr.
Peter Gu is Head of School at the School of
Linguistics and Applied Language Studies,
Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand. After hearing Esther M. Gabay's
program, also offered their program for
improving first-year undergraduate students'
reading skills. They said, "We agree with
Esther M. Gabay's approach. In contrast, our
approach is a bit uninteresting. We
discovered the critical reading approach
after studying first-year undergraduates,
especially those who use English as their
second language. Students are encouraged to
read the text to find the argument, then read
it to understand the author's argument, and
then express it in their own words with their
critical thoughts. Doing so induces students
to develop good reading habits step by step,
and reading with a purpose increases
students' focus on the text and helps them
better understand the author's ideas."
The author of "Investigating the Effects of
Critical Reading Skills on Students' Reading
Comprehension", Muhammad Al-Roomy,
who is currently an associate professor at
King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for
health sciences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
After hearing the talk about critical reading
skills, explained it in more depth.
According to Muhammad Al-Roomy,
students should consider critical thinking as
a core skill for their learning. It's not just a
thinking activity, but it represents a
collection of intellectual focus, learning
initiative, and creative thinking. He
emphasized that “These thinking skills
include the ability to recognize patterns; to
solve problems in practical, creative, or
scientific ways; to engage in psychological
reasoning; and to adopt different
perspectives when evaluating ideas or
issues” (Al-Roomy, 2022,p.368).
 Second, Muhammad Al-Roomy stumbled
upon why some students are not motivated
to read in his research survey on students.
As highlighted by Muhammad Al-Roomy,
he also found that students are often
reluctant to read actively because of their
lack of reading skills and the difficulties
they encounter when reading, which leads to
At the same time, the role of the teacher is
their lack of motivation to read. The students
seen as a facilitator and organizer. Students
who he helped were significantly more
alone cannot get ahead fast enough. If
motivated to learn.
teachers can help and organize activities
related to critical reading, then when
In conclusion, when I learned about these
students master the skill, not only will their
authors' perspectives, reading allows you to
reading skills increase, but also their ability
explore different topics, is a means to gain
to observe, infer, question, decide, develop
different knowledge, and likewise shows the
new ideas, and analyze arguments.
right path for those who have difficulties
with reading.
 Reference

Al Roomy, M. A. (2022). Investigating the Effects of Critical Reading Skills on Students'

Reading Comprehension. Arab World English Journal, 13(1), 366-381.

Gabay, E. M. (2022). Drawing to Read: Students Using Creative Approaches to Access Complex

Texts in First-Year Writing. Teaching English in the Two Year College, 49(4), 353-368

Ihara, R., & Del Principe, A. (2018). What we mean when we talk about reading: Rethinking the

purposes and contexts of college reading.

Karakoç, A. I., Ruegg, R., & Gu, P. (2022). Beyond comprehension: Reading requirements in

first-year undergraduate courses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 55, 101071.