TAFSIR OF SURAH AL 'ALAQ - THE CLOT

(SURAH 96)

1) Read in the name of your Lord who

created, 2) created man from a
clinging form. 3) Read! Your Lord is
the Most Generous, 4) who taught by
means of the pen; 5) taught man what
he did not know.
 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, and
sentences.
 READING SKILL
Reading is a complex cognitive process
of decoding symbols in order to construct
or derive meaning (
reading comprehension). It is a means of
language achievement, of
communication, and of sharing
information and ideas.
The reading process requires continuous
practice, development, and improvement.
 WHAT IS READING?

Reading is an important way of gaining information in

language learning. There are a lot of reading exercises in
an examination today. For instance, someone reads word
by word. Someone reads with his finger pointing to the
words or with his head shaking. Those are all bad habits.
They should read phrase by phrase. Do not blink eyes so
often and shake head. Just move the eyeball. That is
enough. If they want to get more word information, there
must be a proper distance between their eyes and the
reading material.
 STRATEGIES FOR
DEVELOPING READING
SKILLS
When we read, our minds do more
than recognize words on the page. For
faster and better comprehension,
choose activities before and during
your reading task that practice the
following strategies.
PREVIEWING:
Reviewing titles, section
headings, and photo
captions to get a sense of the
structure and content of a
reading selection
 PREDICTION:
This is perhaps the most important
strategy. Give your students hints by
asking them questions about the cover,
pictures, headlines, or format of the
text to help them predict what they
will find when they read it.
 GUESSING FROM
CONTEXT:
Guide your students to look at
contextual information outside or
within the text. Outside context
includes the source of the text, its
format, and how old it is; inside
context refers to the language used
(vocabulary, grammar, tone, etc.).
 SKIMMING:
The idea of skimming is to look
over the entire text quickly to get
the basic idea. For example, you
can give your students 30 seconds
to skim the text and tell you the
main topic, purpose, or idea.
 SCANNING:
Scanning is a quick reading, focusing on
locating specific information. Ask your
students for a very specific piece of
information and give them just enough
time to find it without allowing so much
time that they will simply read through
the entire text.
When language learners use
reading strategies, they find
that they can control the
reading experience, and they
gain confidence in their
ability to read the language.
 HOW TO TEACH READING SKILLS
If you know how to read, then
you have the ability to teach
reading skills to another
person. Here is how to teach
reading skills.
 INSTRUCTIONS
1

Introduce the student to books. The

very first reading skill that any student
learns is familiarity with the written
word. Give your student a book to
hold. Read the words to him. Show him
that the words run left to right and
from top to bottom.
 2

Teach letters and letter

sounds. The next reading
skill a student needs to be
taught is that each letter
has a sound.
 3

Show the student how to sound out

words. Once a student knows his
letter sounds, he is ready to begin
reading words in a consonant-vowel-
consonant pattern, and then help
him discover that he can read what
the word is, by putting the sounds
together.
 4
Introduce sight words. Words that
are used frequently in the English
language, such as “the” or “and”.
Encourage the student to read
books, write worksheets and do
other activities (like word search
puzzle) to help them memorize sight
words.
 5

Allow the student to sound out

what he is trying to say, If the
student can read back what he
has written to you, even if the
words are spelled incorrectly, he
is working toward mastering his
reading skills.
 6

Move toward fluency.

The more advanced
reading skills move
toward correct spelling.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF
READING SKILLS?

There are many types

of reading skills and all
have their uses in
different situations.
The first type of reading
skill is called 'Selective
Reading'. This means a
person will not read the entire
book from start to finish but
will instead check the content
or index pages and see what is
relevant to them.
Another type of reading skill is
something called 'Skim Reading'. This
is when a person will go through the
book from start to finish but will not
fully read everything. They will get a
'flavor' of the book and understand the
subject it covers without fully digesting
every single word.
 SKIMMING
 Skimming is reading quickly to take in the
main idea of the content without seeing
every word. When you skim, you get the
general idea of what has been written even
if you don't remember every detail.
Flipping through your morning paper is an
example of skimming; you are not looking
for anything in exacting and don't have time
to read each article with focused attention.
 SCANNING
Scanning is similar to skimming,
although you scan when you are
seeking specific information. You
are only interested in that
information and ignore the rest of
the text. Examples of scanning
include reading a TV schedule or a
restaurant menu.
A much more detailed approach is
called 'Close Reading'. This is when
somebody will really study the book
they are reading. Each word will be
analyzed for a hidden meaning or the
symbolic connotations. This is used
when students may be studying a
particular text to write an essay for an
exam.
'Speed Reading' is another type
of reading skill. This is great for
people who do not have much
time but need to digest (grasp)
all the information the book
provides. It is a skill that can be
honed with practise.
 INTENSIVE READING
Acquiring specific, accurate information is
the goal of intensive reading. If you follow
a recipe, you read it intensively. Intensive
reading involves focused attention,
retention of information and accurate detail
extraction. Other examples of intensive
reading include reading textbooks,
contracts, insurance claims..
 EXTENSIVE READING
Reading novels for fun falls into the
category of extensive reading. You read
more slowly, with in-depth focus, with the
goal of gaining a broad comprehension of
the text. Extensive reading is a skill for
acquiring general knowledge. You employ
extensive reading when you find a
magazine article about a topic that interests
you.
 ASSESSMENT
Reading rate
Rates of reading include reading for
memorization (fewer than 100
words per minute [wpm]); reading for
learning (100–200 wpm); reading for
comprehension (200–400 wpm); and
skimming (400–700 wpm). Reading for
comprehension is the essence of the daily
reading of most people.
HOW TO TEACH RECEPTIVE SKILL
A << PDP READING>> LESSON

A Reading lesson plan is

made of the following
steps: {Pre-reading (P) –
During/while reading (D) –
Post-reading (P)}
SAMPLE PRE-READING ACTIVITIES:

Using the title, subtitles,

and divisions within the
text to predict content and
organization or sequence
of information.
Looking at pictures, maps, and
diagrams.
Talking about the author’s
background, writing style, and
usual topics
Asking the learners to predict
from a picture or the title .
Introducing the topic
through some key words .
Telling a parallel story to
introduce some difficult
words
Ask pointed questions to
whet the pupils' appetite and
raise their motivation.
WHILE-READING ACTIVITIES
MCQ (Multiple Choice
Question)
True/false/not mentioned.
Table filling
Matching pair activities
Sentence completion
Open ended comprehension
questions graded from:
a)- Reference questions:
where the answer are explicitly
given in the text
b)- Inference questions:
where the pupils have to read
between the lines to find the
answers
 POST READING
PHASE :
The role of the teacher here is
that of evaluator. He checks
that the objectives set, that is the
activities set in the reading phase
have been done to his
satisfaction
There may also be follow up
written or oral activities:
The learners can ask each
other questions on the
passage.
They can learn how to
summarize the passage
orally first then written.