Module – 3

Reading with a purpose:

The Purpose of Reading:

The purpose of reading is to connect the ideas on the page to what you already know. If you
don't know anything about a subject, then pouring words of text into your mind is like
pouring water into your hand. You don't retain much.

For example, try reading these numbers:

7516324 This is hard to read and remember.

751-6324 This is easier because of chunking.
123-4567 This is easy to read because of prior knowledge and structure.

Similarly, if you like sports, then reading the sports page is easy. You have a framework in
your mind for reading, understanding and storing information.

Improving Comprehension.

Reading comprehension requires motivation, mental frameworks for holding ideas,

concentration and good study techniques. Here are some suggestions.

Develop a broad background.

Broaden your background knowledge by reading newspapers, magazines and books. Become
interested in world events.

Know the structure of paragraphs.

Good writers construct paragraphs that have a beginning, middle and end. Often, the first
sentence will give an overview that helps provide a framework for adding details. Also, look
for transitional words, phrases or paragraphs that change the topic.

Identify the type of reasoning.

Does the author use cause and effect reasoning, hypothesis, model building, induction or
deduction, systems thinking?

Anticipate and predict.

Really smart readers try to anticipate the author and predict future ideas and questions. If
you're right, this reinforces your understanding. If you're wrong, you make adjustments
quicker.
Look for the method of organization.
Is the material organized chronologically, serially, logically, functionally, spatially or
hierarchical? See section 10 for more examples on organization

Create motivation and interest.

Preview material, ask questions, discuss ideas with classmates. The stronger your interest, the
greater your comprehension.

Pay attention to supporting cues.

Study pictures, graphs and headings. Read the first and last paragraph in a chapter, or the first
sentence in each section.

Highlight, summarize and review.

Just reading a book once is not enough. To develop a deeper understanding, you have to
highlight, summarize and review important ideas.

Build a good vocabulary.

For most educated people, this is a lifetime project. The best way to improve your vocabulary
is to use a dictionary regularly. You might carry around a pocket dictionary and use it to look
up new words. Or, you can keep a list of words to look up at the end of the day. Concentrate
on roots, prefixes and endings.

Use a systematic reading technique like SQR3.

Develop a systematic reading style, like the SQR3 method and make adjustments to it,
depending on priorities and purpose. The SQR3 steps include Survey, Question, Read, Recite
and Review.

Monitor effectiveness.
Good readers monitor their attention, concentration and effectiveness. They quickly
recognize if they've missed an idea and backup to reread it.

Different Reading Styles

There are four styles of reading which we use in different situations:

Intensive Reading

 Brown (1989) explains that intensive reading "calls attention to grammatical forms,
discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding
literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like." He draws an
analogy to intensive reading as a "zoom lens" strategy . 
 Long and Richards (1987) say it is a "detailed in-class" analysis, led by the teacher, of
vocabulary and grammar points, in a short passage."
  Intensive Reading,  sometimes called "Narrow Reading",  may  involve students
reading selections by the same author or several texts about the same topic. When this
occurs, content and grammatical structures repeat themselves and students get  many
opportunities to understand the meanings of the text. The success of  "Narrow
Reading" on improving reading comprehension is based on the premise that the more
familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or having read
other works by the same author, the more comprehension is promoted.

Characteristics:
 usually classroom based 
 reader is intensely involved in looking  inside the text 
 students focus on linguistic or semantic details of a reading 
 students focus on surface structure details such as grammar and discourse markers
 students identify key vocabulary
 students may draw pictures to aid them (such as in problem solving)
 texts are read carefully and thoroughly, again and again 
 aim is to build more language knowledge rather than simply practice the skill of
reading 
 seen more commonly than extensive reading in classrooms
Materials:
 usually very short texts - not more than 500 words in length 
 chosen for level of difficulty and usually, by the teacher
 chosen to provide the types of reading and skills that the teacher wants to cover in the
course

When it is used

 when the objective of reading is to achieve full understanding of: 

           - logical argument

           - rhetorical pattern of text
           - emotional, symbolic or social attitudes and purposes of the author
           - linguistic means to an end

  for study of content material that are difficult

Extensive Reading

 Brown (1989) explains that extensive reading is carried out "to achieve a general
understanding of a text."
 Long and Richards (1971, p.216) identify extensive reading as "occurring when
students read large amounts of high interest material, usually out of class,
concentrating on meaning, "reading for gist" and skipping unknown words."
 The aims of extensive reading  are to build reader confidence and enjoyment.
 Extensive  reading is always done for the comprehension of main ideas, not for
specific details.
Characteristics:
Day and Bamford (1980) put forward ten characteristics identified  in successful Extensive
Reading Programs. They are duplicated (in abbreviated form) below:

1. Students read as much as possible.

2. A variety of materials on a range of topics is available. 
3. Students select what they want to read .
4. The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and general
understanding.
5. Reading is its own reward.
6. Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students in terms
of vocabulary and grammar.
7. Reading is individual and silent.
8. Reading speed  is usually faster than slower. 
9. Teachers orient students to the goals of the program.
10. The teacher is a role model of a reader for the students

Scanning

 Scanning is a quick reading, focusing on locating specific information.

 Scanning involves quick eye movements, not necessarily linear in fashion, in which
the eyes wander until the reader finds the piece of information needed. 
 Scanning is used when a specific piece of information is required, such as a name,
date, symbol,  formula, or phrase, is required. The reader knows what the item looks
like and so, knows when he has located  what he was searching for. It is assumed
then, that very little information is processed into long-term memory  or even for
immediate understanding because the objective is simply matching.

When it is used

 Scanning is used often with technical, scientific or professional materials to locate

specific information.
  Scanning is a valuable skill for second language learners to develop because often
they do not require a detailed read of a text. There are many everyday uses for
scanning, relevant to a purpose, such as reading a schedule.

Skimming

 Skimming is a quick reading to get: 

-  to know the general meaning of a passage                                                                         

- to know how the passage is organized
-  to get an idea of the intention of the writer

 Skimming is a more complex task than scanning because it requires the reader to
organize and remember some of the information given by the author, not just to locate
it.
 Skimming is a tool in which the author's sequence can be observed, unlike scanning in
which some predetermined information is sought after. 
When it is used

 Skimming is used when reading some some general question in mind.

 Skimming is used in making decisions on how to approach a text such as when
determining  if a careful reading is deserving.
 Skimming is used to build student confidence and an understanding that it is possible
to gain meaning without reading every word in a text.
 Skimming is used as part of the SQ3R method of reading, often for speed reading.
This method  involves the student in surveying, questioning, reading, reviewing
and reciting. Skimming is used for the initial survey and for review.
 Skimming is a skill that a  student may want to develop if they are planning to
continue with academic studies. It  is often used in reviewing for a test.

Some of the barriers to effective reading are as follows-

 Lack of grammatical and linguistic competence:

Many people cannot read effectively because they fail to decrypt grammatical and
lexical units of language in the text. They lack the ability to differentiate and
recognize the words, sentences, expressions, used in the text. It hampers the process
of reading. The reader may stop reading further if he fails to understand the text
grammatically.
 Lack of motivation:
Reading for information and knowledge requires motivation and discipline. Many
people think reading as boring and time consuming task. Lack of proper motivation
and goal may create barrier to reading.
 Lack of concentration:
If the reader lacks concentration while reading, he just will turn pages after pages
without much comprehension. Reading is psycholinguistic process. It requires careful
attention of the reader.
 Proper light and ventilation:
A reader has to struggle a lot to read in dim light or dark rooms. If proper ventilation
is not there in the reading room, reader may feel suffocated or tired.
 Size of the book:
Normally, people prefer reading small size articles and texts. If the book contains
volumes of pages, it decreases the interest of the reader.
 Articulating the words and sentences loudly:
Many readers have habit to articulate loudly or murmur the words in the text. They
buzz each word which creates a barrier to speed reading.
 Putting finger, pen or any object on the words and sentences while reading: Many
people put their finger or pen on the text while reading. They move the finger or
object from word to word which lowers down the process of reading.
 Narrow eye span:
 Many readers read the text into independent eye shift between each and every word.
They have narrow eye span. It not only decreases the speed of reading but also affects
the comprehension. Shorter the eye span, slower the speed and comprehension.
Readers require proper training and techniques to expand their eye span.

Understanding the text-

Vocabulary

A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually

developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring
knowledge.

Vocabulary is commonly defined as "all the words known and used by a particular
person"

Sentence patterns
Sentence patterns are made up of phrases and clauses.
A phrase is a group of connected words, but it is not a complete sentence because it is
missing a subject and/or a verb. Phrases are just one component that makes up a complete
sentence.
A clause contains a subject (actor) and a verb (action). There are two types of clauses:
1. An independent clause is a complete thought. It can stand alone as a complete
sentence.
2. A dependent clause (a.k.a. subordinate clause) cannot stand alone as a complete
sentence (even though it may contain a subject and a verb). It begins with a
subordinating conjunction (because, when, while, after… and many more).
 
The possibilities are endless for different types of sentences patterns. Here are the most
common and basic sentence patterns:
1. The chef cooked.
Pattern: Subject + Verb
2. The creative chef cooked.
Pattern: Adjective + Subject + Verb
3. The creative chef methodically cooked.
Pattern: Adjective + Subject + Adverb + Verb
4. The creative chef methodically cooked in the kitchen.
Pattern: Adjective + Subject + Adverb + Verb + Prepositional Phrase

Tense
The concept of tense in English is a method that we use to refer to time - past, present
and future. Many languages use tense to talk about time. Other languages have no
concept of tense at all, but of course they can still talk about time, using different
methods
English has a timeline and various ways of situating descriptions (sentences) on the timeline.
The tenses of verbs signal the viewpoint of the narrator with respect to the time being
described in the sentence.

 Past tense places the description only in the past, before the narration.
>———————[THEN]—————————(NOW) - - — - - - - - - ->

 Present tense tells about things that are happening now, at the moment of the
narration.
>—————————————————[NOW] - - - - - - - - - - - - ->

 Future tense describes what will happen at a moment in the future.

>—————————————————(NOW) - - - - - - - - - - - - [THEN] - - - >

 The present perfect tense describes the present moment  of the narration in

terms of things in the past that led up to it.
>—————————————-[XXXXXNOW] - - - - - - - - - ->

 The past perfect tense describes a specific moment in the past, before the
narration, in terms of things that led up to it.
>—————————-[XXXXXTHEN}—————(NOW) - - - - ->

 The future perfect tense describes a specific moment in the future, after the

narration, in terms of things that will lead up to it.
>————————————————(NOW) - - - - - - - - - - - -> [XXXXXTHEN] - ->

Short passages

Technically, a passage is simply a portion or section of a written work, either fiction or non-
fiction. Some hold that a passage can be as short as a sentence, but most consist of at least
one paragraph.