Basic Communication Skills II - Reading

Name of the Professor:
Dr. Tushar S. Brahmbhatt, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences (DHS)
Indukaka Ipcowala Institute of Management (I2IM)
Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT)
Changa – 388 421, Gujarat, India
• The skill of reading depends on the reader's ability to get meaning from the written symbols
and to interpret it in the given context.
• Every day we read newspapers, books, letters, training materials, journals, encyclopedias, etc.
• When we attend to the reading material, it is not only passing our eyes through the text, but it is
actively analysing and processing the words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs so that
meaning is interpreted, evaluated and understood.
• Effective reading depends on the techniques of active reading.
• If one has to deal with a large volume of daily reading, one must know the essentials of active
reading. For that purpose,
1. One has to find out the writer's intention for writing and anticipate what he has to say.
2. Secondly, the reader has to relate the reading material to his past experience and knowledge.
3. Thirdly, he has to evaluate the message and form his own judgement.
4. And, finally he has to choose one of the three reading approaches – skimming, scanning and
reading for details.
1. Skimming:
• Readers rapidly go on glancing through the reading material and note the major ideas in the
keywords, phrases and sentences.
• Skimming is useful especially when the messages do not require detailed reading.
• In skimming, the readers look for general information.
• It is also useful in reading the light and simple messages like letters of thanks, ordinary
requests, etc.
• It is actually a ‘fast process’ in which the readers try to check most of the main ideas in the
content.
• For Example: news paper headlines, when we want to buy a book in hurry.
2. Scanning:
• Readers rapidly go on glancing through a given message in order to find out something specific,
i.e. a specific title, word, phrase, statement, etc.
• Readers aim to find out specific information in the document.
• They usually do not know what information is given in the document when they skim it, but
in scanning, they know that specific information is given in the document and they try to
locate it.
• For example, a word in an index or dictionary, or a name in a name-list, a phone number in
telephone directory, check what time your programme is on television, etc.
3. Intensive Reading:
• Intensive reading is a detailed reading activity that helps the reader to get the explicit
(something that is very clear and stated plainly) and implicit (Something is implied but not
stated directly) information from the text.
• For Example: prepare notes for examination.

4. Extensive Reading:
• Extensive reading is meant for getting pleasure from the reading of literary works like novels,
short stories, drama, poetry, epics, etc.
• They read for enjoyment and pleasure.
• The readers do not read for any specific information in extensive reading.
• Let’s read a story and see…

These are two types of reading : Loud Reading and Silent Reading
• In loud reading, a learner is expected to master the correct articulation of basic sounds, correct
pronunciation, stress, accent and intonation patterns of the language. At advanced stage the
learners have to read the research papers, reports aloud in seminars and symposiums. Loud
reading requires good understanding of the phonology of English.
• In silent reading, a learner develops his ability to read by 'sense group' than by the 'individual
words'. It is required for the speed of reading and comprehension of the text. In order to
enhance the speed and comprehension in silent reading, a reader should try to avoid pointing at
words with pen or finger.
• Comprehension requires both linguistic competence and knowledge of the context situation and
the background.
• The readers get information from the texts and interpret the written symbols with one of the two
approaches, i.e. ‘bottom-up approach’ and ‘top-down approach’.
• In ‘top-down approach’, a reader starts with the use of his knowledge of context to understand
the meaning of the written symbols while in ‘bottom-up approach’ he goes from the text to the
meaning.
• Every reader requires the skills of identification, interpretation, reorganization, location and
evaluation for better comprehension of the text.
1. A reader has to become familiar with the script of the language.
2. A reader has to understand the explicit as well as the implicit meaning of the written symbols.
3. The skill of summarizing because it enhances the reader’s ability of comprehension.
4. A reader has to develop a habit of referring to a dictionary to get the meaning of the new words.
5. A reader has to find out the main theme as well as the sub-themes of the text.
6. A reader has to understand the coherence (Connectedness of ideas and ideas should be
understood) and cohesion (One sentence should be connected with the other sentence) in the
text.
7. A reader has to understand the word-structure, phrase-structure and the sentence-structure of
English language.

Basic Communication Skills II - Reading

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Basic Communication Skills II - Reading

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Basic Communication Skills II - Reading

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Name of the Professor:

Dr. Tushar S. Brahmbhatt, Ph.D.

• For Example: prepare notes for examination.

• Let’s read a story and see…

You might also like