UNIT ONE

1. Introduction to Reading Skills

1.1. Definition of Reading

What is reading?

* Reading is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from
them. When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks
and spaces) and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs that
communicate something to us.

* Reading is an enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which much pleasure can be derived,
and in which one can become totally absorbed, Anderson (2000).

According to Mill rood (2001), reading is a visual and cognitive process to extract meaning from
writing by understanding the written text processing information and relating it to existing
experience.

Therefore, reader needs to work hard to draw meaning out of a text employing different
reading strategies as reading is getting meaning encoded by the writer from the text.

Reading is a receptive skill - through it we receive information. But the complex process of
reading also requires the skill of speaking, so that we can pronounce the words that we read. In
this sense, reading is also a productive skill in that we are both receiving information and
transmitting it (even if only to ourselves).

2. What to read?

The reading materials includes:

Textbooks Lecture notes

Handouts Short articles

Fictions Novels

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Newspaper Magazines Notice etc.

3. Why to read?

This are the reasons why we read (We read)

To get knowledge (reading for learning)

To get information (specific and general)

To relax or for recreation or enjoyment

4. How to read?

The techniques or strategies of reading

According to our reading purpose, our reading strategy would be the following:

* Scanning- reading for specific information

* Skimming – reading for general information

* Intensive reading_ deep reading

* Extensive reading- rough reading

Based on what to read and why to read, the effective reader should have to adapt reading
strategies

Accordingly, scan and skim, the materials such as magazines, newspaper, notice and short
articles either to find the specific or general information

* Intensively, read academic textbooks, lecture notes and hand outs for deep understanding

* Extensively, read literature related materials like novels, fictions, poems poetry etc to
entertain them yourselves.

1.2. Reading Comprehension

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What is reading comprehension?

* Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to
integrate with what the reader already knows.

Fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are:

knowing meaning of words ( look words from four aspects)

* ability to understand meaning of a word from discourse context

* ability to follow organization of passage & to identify antecedents & references in it

* ability to draw inferences from a passage about its contents

* ability to identify the main thought of a passage

* ability to answer questions answered in a passage

* ability to recognize the literary devices or propositional structures used in a passage and
determine its tone to understand the situational mood (agents, objects, temporal and spatial
reference points, casual and intentional inflections, etc.) conveyed for assertions, questioning,
commanding, refraining etc. and finally ability to determine writer's purpose, intent and point
of view, and draw inferences about the writer (discourse-semantics).

1.3. What are the reading comprehension strategies?

There are many reading strategies to improve reading comprehension and inferences. This
includes:

* improving one's vocabulary

* critical text analysis (inter sexuality, actual events vs. narration of events, etc.) and practicing
deep reading.

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* Ability to comprehend text is influenced by readers' skills and their ability to process
information. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity
to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read.

1.4. What are the factors that affect students reading comprehensions?

The factors that affect the students reading comprehensions are home related, teacher’s
related, learner’s related, numbers of learners in the class room, textbook learner’s ratio and
reading selection given every time.

1. Home related factors * Parent’s educational attainment

* Parent’s occupations * Number of siblings

2. Teachers related factors

* Teacher’s educational attainment * Teacher’s relevant training and seminars

* Teaching strategies

3. Learner related factors

* Learner’s prior knowledge * Learner’s level of understanding

* Motivation and interest for reading

4. Number of learners 5. Textbook learners ratio

6. Reading selection given every time

* Difficulty of the materials * Unfamiliarity

CHAPTER 2

2. Theories/Models of Reading

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Which approach should be appropriate for a text depends on the size of the text, the purpose
of reading, time allotted etc. Accordingly, Models of reading include bottom-up, top-down, and
interactive processes Grabe and Stoller (2002).

Just like teaching methodology, reading theories have had their shifts and transitions.

Starting from the traditional view which focused on the printed form of a text and moving to
the cognitive view that enhanced the role of background knowledge in addition to what
appeared on the printed page, they ultimately culminated in the metacognitive view which is
now in vogue.

It is based on the control and manipulation that a reader can have on the act of comprehending
a text.

2.1. The traditional view (Bottom-up)

=> According to Dole et al. (1991), in the traditional view of reading, novice or beginner readers
acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension
ability.

Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read.

As to this view, readers are passive recipients of information in the text.

Meaning resides or exists in the text and the reader has to reproduce meaning.

According to Nunan (1991), reading in this view is basically a matter of decoding a series of
written symbols into their aural equivalents in the quest for making sense of the text. He
referred to this process as the 'bottom-up' view of reading.

McCarthy (1999) has called this view 'outside-in' processing, referring to the idea that meaning
exists in the printed page and is interpreted by the reader then taken in.

2.2. The cognitive view

=> The 'top-down' model is in direct opposition to the 'bottom-up' model.

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Goodman (1967; cited in Paran, 1996) presented reading as:

* a psycholinguistic guessing game

* a process in which readers sample the text

* make hypotheses

* confirm or reject them

* make new hypotheses, and so forth.

Here, the reader rather than the text is at the heart of the reading process.

Cognitively based views of reading comprehension emphasize the interactive nature of reading
and the constructive nature of comprehension.

Dole et al. (1991) have stated that, besides knowledge brought to bear on the reading process,
a set of flexible, adaptable strategies are used to make sense of a text and to monitor ongoing
understanding.

2.3. The metacognitive view

=> According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on "whether reading is a bottom-up,
language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process."

It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on both L1 and
L2 readers.

Research has gone even further to define the control readers execute on their ability to
understand a text. This control, Block (1992) has referred to as metacognition.

Metacognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Klein et al. (1991)
stated that strategic readers attempt the following while reading:

* Identifying the purpose of the reading before reading

* Identifying the form or type of the text before reading

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* Thinking about the general character and features of the form or type of the text. For
instance, they try to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion.

* Projecting the author's purpose for writing the text (while reading it),

* Choosing, scanning, or reading in detail.

* Making continuous predictions about what will occur next, based on information obtained
earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages.

* Moreover, they attempt to form a summary of what was read. Carrying out the previous steps
requires the reader to be able to classify, sequence, establish whole-part relationships,
compare and contrast, determine cause-effect, summarize, hypothesize and predict, infer, and
conclude.

CHAPTER 3

3. Levels of understanding Reading

=> What it is:

* Leveled reading is a way to comprehend, interpret and apply difficult texts by working at the
literal, interpretive and applied levels.

=> What it does:

* Leveled reading helps readers to go beyond the surface of a text in a step-by-step way.

3.1. literal levels of understanding ( Reading what is right there)

Here the reader finds the answer in the text. The reader might be asked to do any of the
following:

• Identify the main ideas of the paragraph or short story.

• Recall details that support the main ideas.

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• Organize the sequence in which the main events occurred.

Examples of literal question starters:

What happened . . . ? How many . . . ? How did . . . ? Who . . . ? What is . . . ? Which . . . ?

3.2. Interpretive – reading between the lines)

Here, the reader interprets the information to find answers. The reader might be asked to any
of the following:

• Predict endings and anticipate consequences.

• State reasons for events.

• Make generalizations.

Examples of interpretive question starters:

Why did . . . ? What was . . . ? What do you think about . . . ? Can you explain…? How was this
similar to . . . ?

3.3. Affective Understanding/ Reading for Applied meaning – reading beyond the lines)

Here, the reader makes links between the text and his or her own experience and knowledge to
develop an answer. The reader asks open-ended questions to promote deeper understanding
and do the following:

• Make generalizations. • Make comparisons.

• Make judgments. • Make recommendations and suggestions.

• Make decisions. • Create alternative endings.