1.

READING
Introduction
Experience has taught us that those who fail in school usually have failed first in reading.
Giordano Bruno has rightly observed that ‘if the first button of a man’s coat is wrongly
buttoned, all the rest are certain to be crooked. Reading is that first button in the garment of
education. Thus, successful reading processes make for successful educational processes.

Reading Pivots
Reading and writing are twin elements of literacy. Both are different sides of the same coin; they
maintain a symbiotic relationship. However, reading seems to be more vital and more essential
in literacy than writing. For instance, while one can read several texts without writing, one
cannot write without reading. As soon as one writes or rather drafts a text, one must read it over
and over again in order to refine it and come up with a better draft or final form. Besides, as
Venezeky (1990: 9) has rightly pointed out:

Reading is clearly primary to any definition of literacy and in some cases others
are secondary. Writing, as a means of recording communication, presupposes
reading; otherwise it is mere copying. Similarly, numeracy, and document
knowledge are supplementary to reading and have no role in the literacy equation
without it. The skilled reader, ignorant of numeracy and document formats, still
will obtain meaning from print. On the other hand, the non-reader who is skilled
in arithmetic and in some document styles will stumble in an environment based
on print.

Successful readers and writers have four characteristics:

First, they are confident readers and writers – reading and writing tasks rarely
intimidate them.
Second, they display high degrees of control over the processes that underpin
reading and writing.
Third, while they appreciate the communicative functions which reading and
writing serve, they also know how to use reading and writing as media for
enhancing thinking and learning.
Fourth, they continue to engage in and enjoy reading and writing long after
formal instruction has ceased. (Cambourne, 1988).

Successful reading and writing do not come by chance. They must be desired, sought, cultivated
and used.

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 can be silent (in our head) or aloud (so that other people can hear).
Reading is both a perceptual and a cognitive process.
The written text consists of two types of organised scratches or marks that are used to convey
information. First, there are the scratches, which represent the alphabet of the language in which
the information of the text is conveyed. The letters of the alphabet combine to form words,
groups (phrases), clauses and sentences. The word, the group, the clause and the sentence are the
grammatical constituents of the written text. Ability to process and comprehend them is very
critical to comprehending the written text. Second, there are graphics, pictures, drawings, etc.,
that reinforce or even clarify the meaning, which the grammatical constituents of the written text
convey.

2. Reading Efficiency

Components of Reading
There are three components of reading. These are:
i. Decoding
ii. Speed or rate of reading
iii. Comprehension.

Decoding
Decoding simply means identifying the code to which a given text belongs. To successfully
decode, some skills are needed here.
First, the reader must identify which language is used in the text.
Second, the reader should be able to identify the basic information units in the text. For instance,
the skilled and advanced reader will be able to identify the words, the group (phrase), the clause
and the sentence as units of information in the text.

Speed of Reading
There are four speeds of reading. These are scanning, skimming, normal speed of reading, and
study reading speed.
Scanning is the fastest speed of reading. It is used primarily to locate words in a text. Once the
word that is being sought is located, the student can stop and read around it to obtain the
information he/she wants. When a student looks up a word in a dictionary, a yellow page, the
telephone directory, etc., the skill that the student uses is scanning.

Skimming is another fast reading skill. However, it is not as fast as scanning. In skimming, the
reader wants to quickly collect some information in order to take a decision on what to do or to
seek clarification over a given issue. The process of seeking information must be snappy and
brisk. For instance, a student could go to the library in search of information on ‘forensic
linguistics’. After scanning the library catalogue, s/he finds that there are two books on ‘forensic
linguistics’ on the shelf. S/he rushes to the shelf and finds the two books. S/he has to make-up
his/her mind regarding which of the books to read. This is where the skill of skimming comes in.
First, s/he may look up the year of publication, the author and the table of contents. For instance,
if one of the books was published in 1949 and the other in 2001, the chances are that the one
published in 2001 may be better since it is current. If the author of one is a well-established
forensic linguist and the other is not a familiar name in linguistics but is a psychologist, the
student may want to read the book that is published by the forensic linguist. However, by
skimming the table of contents, the student would get additional information regarding which of
the two books would better meet his or her expectations. There will also be the need to randomly
read some paragraphs of some chapters of the books. When this is done, the student would have
had a bird’s eye view of what the two books cover. Any judgement on which book to take will
be based on sound principles and not mere speculations. Like scanning, skimming is an
indispensable skill which the student needs. As we have seen, they both serve different purposes.

Normal Reading Speed

The average person reads 250 words per minute. This is the speed the individual that is not
under any pressure uses when reading a text. However, the normal reading speed may be
hindered or frustrated by bad reading habits. If for instance, the individual vocalises when
reading, s/he will be compelled to read at a much lower speed than the normal speed. It is,
therefore, not a good reading habit for the individual to vocalise what s/he reads. At times, the
individual could be vocalising internally and not externally. This is called sub-vocalising. Sub-
vocalising is as injurious to reading as vocalising. However, the generality of people who sub-
vocalise do not realise that they do so. One way to detect if one is sub-vocalising is to put one’s
finger across one’s lips. If the lips brush the finger as the individual reads, s/he should know that
s/he is sub-vocalising. What we have said regarding vocalising or sub-vocalising is without
prejudice to ‘reading aloud’. Reading aloud is a sound reading strategy which, in shared or
communal reading, promotes comprehension.

Another habit that retards reading speed is pointing or fingering. Some people when they read
use a ruler or their finger to point at words. This habit slows down reading and, by implication,
hinders comprehension. Fingering or pointing when reading is a habit that should be
discouraged. Head movement is also a bad reading habit. Any reader that engages in it fails to
employ the eye primarily, thereby exerting the muscles of the neck while moving the head.
Finally, regression which is the habit of constantly reverting to what has been read before should
be discarded. The reader could, however, occasionally engage in regression maybe when he/she
needs to fix some pieces of information which tend to escape from the memory or defy
retention.

Study Reading
This rate of reading is the one used by the student when studying a given topic or concept. Study
reading demands a mix bag of skills. For instance, there may be a need to scan or skim. Thus, in
study reading, the rate of reading is determined by the purpose for reading or the goal, which the
student sets out to achieve. There are also other steps which the student should consider in study
reading. For instance, the student should have a highlighter for marking areas of the text which
s/he may want to cite, reread or refer to from time to time.
The student should, in addition, have a ‘journal’. The journal should serve as a means where
s/he notes issues that need further exploration or reflection. Besides, the journal can provide the
student with opportunities to make connections. If s/he is able to make connections between its
previous experiences and what is being read, comprehension would be facilitated and enhanced.
Besides, it will make retention and recall of what has been learnt a lot much easier for the
student if s/he reflects on it.

The study reading should not be stopped until the student has connected the reading with
writing. After the student is convinced that s/he has fully mastered the text, s/he should write an
outline or a summary of the text. The outline and/or summary should then be stored for revision
purposes in the future.

3. Reading Comprehension
There are four levels of reading comprehension. These are literal, interpretive, critical and
creative comprehension.

Literal comprehension
This is the most basic or elementary level of comprehension. It is getting the primary or direct
literal meaning of a word or an idea or a sentence in context. In literal comprehension, the
reader does not need to go outside the text for its given or required information. For instance,
the five W’s: who, what, where, when and which, are questions that can be asked in literal
comprehension. The cognitive demands on the reader regarding literal comprehension are not
exerting. This is because the reader does not need to draw from his/her previous experiences.
The information required can be effortlessly extracted from the text. Literal comprehension is
more or less bottom/top reading. The message or meaning is transmitted from the text to the
brain of the reader who accepts and regurgitates it without modification.

Interpretive Comprehension
This is a much higher level of comprehension than literal comprehension. At this level, the
reader makes use of the information in the text as well as his/her background experience to
impose meaning on that of the text. Interpretive comprehension, unlike literal comprehension, is
top/bottom reading. Here, the reader uses his/her background or previous experiences to
interpret the meaning in the text. Interpretive comprehension, therefore, involves getting deeper
meanings, anticipatory meanings and drawing inferences from the text. It also includes making
generalisations, detecting, identifying purpose, reasoning from cause to effect and making
comparisons and, of course, significance. Interpretive comprehension demands academic
thinking skills – analysing, comparing, categorising and classifying, problem solving, etc.
Unless students are carefully and adequately taught interpretive skills, their performance in
comprehending the written text will be very low. One of the reasons why candidates at such
terminal exams as West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination
Council (NECO) never perform well in comprehension tasks is that they are never taught
interpretive comprehension.

Critical Comprehension
This level of comprehension is much higher than the interpretive level. At this level, the reader,
based on his/her universe of experience passes value judgement on the text s/he is reading. At
this level, the reader can say whether a statement is factual or non-factual. Only the reader who
has a yardstick or means of verification can say if a statement is true or false. At the critical
level, the reader should be able to make value statements on the entire work. For instance, the
reader can say if the text is effective, ineffective, a pacesetter, etc. To do this, the reader would
have been quite familiar with other texts. Based on other texts and based on the content of the
text before the reader, he/she can then say whether it is effective or not. Thus, when it comes to
critical comprehension, the reader asserts himself/herself and evaluates the text based on his/her
experiences and background.
Creative Comprehension
Creative comprehension is cognitive. It is as demanding as interpretive and critical
comprehension. It is a step ahead of ‘critical comprehension’. While critical comprehension
rests on evaluating a text, creative comprehension takes the evaluation a step further. It connects
reading with writing. The reader goes on to collect additional information, plans and develops a
new text, which is in response to some aspects of the text s/he has read. In some cases, it is in
response to the entire text. Thus, in creative comprehension, the reader is piqued to respond to
what s/he has read. The response could result in summary writing, outlining, note making,
journal entry or a blown-up text that is in response to what has been read.

4. Cognitive Strategies
Activating, inferring, questioning, monitoring-clarifying, summarising and visualising-
organising cognitive strategies are essential tools in the hands of the effective reader as the
stethoscope, kidney dish, sphygmomanometer, cut down set, cheatle forceps in a jar, stainless
bowl, etc. are essential tools which a nurse needs to be effective in service. The effective reader
just cannot do without cognitive strategies.

The Activating Strategy

One of the reasons why students generally do not comprehend texts is that they do not make use
of their background, previous and even current experiences when they read. They approach the
texts they read as if they are visitors from a strange planet. They, therefore, do not want to
impose any meaning on it. They want to read it as it is and not muddle up its contents. There is
also a culture tone to it. Because they are brought up to revere property that does not belong to
them, they see the text before them as someone else’s property. In order not to mutilate or
distort the contents of the text, they read them over and over again in order to internalise them
nd regurgitate comprehensively their original contents.

Students need to change this attitude which the generality of them manifest when they read.
They need to know that their previous background and current experiences are as important as
the experiences or contents of the text before them. One way they can do this is by learning how
to use the activating cognitive strategy in their processing of texts. There are many things that
they can use to activate their previous experiences in order to hook on the experiences in the
text. One of them is Predict, Locate, Add and Note (PLAN). Let us illustrate how to use PLAN
in activating previous and current experiences.

The P element of PLAN is called Predict. Before the students read a text, they should predict or
guess at what the structure and message will be. They should look at the title, the subheadings,
some of the graphics and tables in the text. They should skim the essential parts of the text. Such
parts are usually topics which are put in bold face or in italics. Let them also skim the graphics,
pictures, illustrations in the text. In that way they would have a bird’s eye view of the entire text.
They should search their memory after the skimming. Based on what they have seen on the text,
they can then make a guess of what the text is all about. Their guess may be right or may be
wrong. It does not really matter. When they get into reading the text, they can adjust their guess
or prediction. They should of course base their predictions or guesses on their previous
experiences and the types of features they have seen in the text. The next step they should take is
to attempt a diagrammatic representation of the text. What they are doing is to activate their
memory and prepare their mind to comprehend the text to the utmost when they read. Again, it
is possible that their diagrammatic representation may be wrong. They will eventually correct it
when they get to read the text.
The second element of the activity is L. L stands for locate. They should read the text after the
prediction. As they read it, they should note those aspects of the text that strike their attention as
interesting, unfamiliar and difficult to comprehend. They should mark them and note their pages
or location in the text. The marked portions will be the focus of using their previous experience
in the third element of PLAN.

The third element of the activity is A. A stands for Add. During this activity the student must
intensively search his/her background and previous experience. The student must connect and
associate those marked areas in the text with his/her previous experience. For instance, the
student must try to recall, where s/he has learnt, read, heard or made contact with those marked
areas. The student should try to comment regarding how those marked text portions relate with
his/her previous background and current experience.

When the student makes use of previous experience and consciously connects it with what s/he
encounters in the text, s/he is making use of the activating cognitive strategy. Later when we
come to the summarising strategy, we shall illustrate how to use the N element of PLAN.

The Inferring Strategy

When effective authors write, they leave a number of things unsaid. They expect the reader to
fill in the gaps. They expect the reader to read their minds or infer the unsaid meaning or
message. Inference is ‘information that is activated during reading but not actually stated in the
text’ (van den Broek 1994: 556). Inferring meaning from a text is a very active process. It
demands putting together and reconciling the following sources of information:

 the message or the meaning of the text

 the implied or unwritten aspects of the message but which are central to its
comprehension
 the reader’s background experience arising from previous learning
 the readers’ personal experience

Thus, the power to infer is enhanced if a student, through extensive reading, has a repertoire of
experience from which s/he can draw. If the student has problem-solving and inquiry skills
which make him/her a sharp and careful observer of phenomenon and if s/he records the
experiences acquired so that they can be reviewed and reflected on later, his/her inferring ability
will definitely be enhanced. Usually, when an active and experienced reader processes a text,
inference is popped up in the mind of the reader through:

 prediction of what might happen later on in the text based on what they have read so far
 as a conclusion regarding a concept, proposition or principle in expository text
 as a brand-new idea formed by combining the reader’s prior knowledge with what they
have extracted from the text. (McEwan, 2004: 35)
The Monitoring-clarifying Cognitive Strategy
When a student has used the activating and inferring strategies effectively and has richly drawn
from his/her background and previous experience, s/he still has the task of reading the text. S/he
must construct, make, negotiate and reconstruct meaning if s/he is to optimally and maximally
comprehend the text. At this stage, s/he will need the monitoring–clarifying strategy in his/her
reconstruction of meaning.

Monitoring and clarifying are different aspects of the same strategy. During monitoring the
student uses the language cues in the text in order to make sense regarding what s/he reads. The
phonic, graphic, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic cues signal different kinds of meaning. The
student must have used them at one time or the other. Monitoring enables him/her to think on
what s/he is reading and on what s/he has read. S/he evaluates the process of reading and can
conclude whether s/he is making progress or not. Monitoring will enable the student to identify
words, phrases, clauses and sentences that block and frustrate reading. Through monitoring, the
student can make up his/her mind whether to re-read some aspects of the text or all of the text. It
will also enable the student to make his/her mind to decide if s/he has to consult some other
sources in order to have a clearer or better idea of the blocks that hinder comprehension,
frustrate or delay reading. In monitoring, the student draws from his/her previous experiences.
This time, it is a special kind of experience. It is the experience of how the language system
operates. Thus, the reader who has a good command of the grammar, phonology, graphology,
lexis and semantics of the language will be in a better position to draw from the language cues
than one who does not have a good command of them. That is why it is absolutely imperative
that at primary and secondary levels of our school system, we equip students with enough
linguistic and communicative competence that will enhance their processing of the diverse texts
they will contend with when they enter tertiary institutions.

The monitoring strategy is not restricted to the understanding and use of language cues. The
student can also use self-questioning devices in order to monitor whether or not s/he is making
any progress. For instance s/he can ask the following questions in order to monitor what s/he is
reading:

 Do I understand what I read?

 Have I attained the objectives I set for myself before I commenced reading this text?
 Should I change my speed of reading in order to achieve my objectives?
 Should I consult other reference sources in order to enhance my background experience?
 What is the tone of the text?
 What is the style of the author?
The above questions, no doubt, will help the student to monitor how s/he reads the text. While
monitoring enables the student to think and reflect on the text, clarifying enables the student to
fix up the blocks that s/he encounters in the processing of the text. Clarifying draws from the
language cues in the text in order to fix up the block.

The Questioning Strategy

It must be stressed that authors are not infallible. The fact that something is in print does not
necessarily make it right. It is, therefore, important that the student does not swallow hook, line
and sinker whatever s/he sees in print. There is, therefore, the need for the student to question
every piece of information to ascertain its authenticity. Often, some authors do not take into
consideration the background experience or even the language competence of their reader. They
write without clarifying issues. They also write leaving a lot of gaps in their text. One way the
student can comprehend what such authors mean is to use questioning to construct and
reconstruct the meaning in the text. The art of self-questioning while one reads a text is a very
useful cognitive strategy which the student must have. The art of questioning while one reads is
multi-faceted. It makes use of activating, inferring, monitoring-clarifying as well as other
cognitive strategies. Unless students are properly taught, they may never master the strategy of
questioning information while reading.

One activity which can help the student to develop the skill of questioning information sources
is QtA. QtA stands for Questioning the Author. It is the duty of the student to take advantage of
what an author provides as well as fill in the gaps regarding what is needed but which the author
does not provide. Thus, the student will need to utilise his/her activating, inferring and
monitoring-clarifying strategies in understanding who the author is, what the author has
accomplished and what the author should have accomplished but does not. In so doing, the
student could focus on the areas where the author has made wrong assumptions about what the
student knows, thereby writing without explaining such portions. At this stage, the student could
focus attention on author queries. Author queries are questions that are not specifically about the
contents of the text but about author’s intention. Such questions could include: What is the
theme of the text? What is the goal of the author? Has the author achieved his/her goal? Are the
explanations of the author clear? The QtA queries are expressed by Beck, I. et al., (1997) thus :

 What is the author trying to say?

 What is the author’s message?
 What is the author talking about?
 Does the author explain clearly?
 Does this follow with what the author told us before?
 How does this connect with what the author told us before?
 What does the author assume we already know?
 Why do you think the author gives the information now?

When students develop the strategy of questioning authors and information sources, they are
less likely to be frustrated by difficult texts. This is because they would have realised that it is
the responsibility of an author to make his/her text comprehensible. When an author fails to do
so, students would not be put off; they would be able to address challenges as they read. They
would become deeply engaged in their reading as they use questions to address the gaps in the
texts they read.

The Searching-selecting Strategy

Search-selecting, which is an essential workplace and academic skill, is described as the ‘finding
of text, browsing through information, or collecting resources for the purposes of answering
questions, solving problems or gathering information’ (Guthrie & Kirsch, 1987: 220).
Searching-selecting, therefore, is vital for survival and academic accomplishment.
Unfortunately, it is seldom taught by teachers who generally feel that it is the duty of librarians
to teach it.
Like all the other strategies we have so far described, searching-selecting does not come by
chance. It has to be taught and so has to be learnt. The need to teach the searching-selecting
strategy becomes important when we consider the avalanche of information that abounds on the
Internet. Internet information sites are multifarious. One can easily get lost when surfing the
Internet if one is not adequately trained on how to search for the information which one needs to
complete one’s project or assignment. Besides, most of the information in the Internet is not
edited. Lots of them are emotional, half truth and cannot be confirmed or corroborated. Unless
one has a discerning mind and is properly trained to search and select, one may choose the chaff
for the wheat and be completely misguided. Dreher’s (2002) model which the teacher can use to
enhance the ability to search-select has the following elements:

 Formulate a goal or plan of action.

 Select appropriate categories of documents or text for inspection.
 Extract relevant information from the imported categories.
 Integrate extracted information with prior knowledge.
 Monitor the completeness of the answer, recycling through the component processes
until the task is complete.

Thus, in the searching-selecting strategy, the student must make up his/her mind regarding what
s/he has decided to look for. Having made up his/her mind s/he should then reflect on what s/he
is looking for. Then s/he should prospect for the information by digging in library catalogues or
on the Internet in order to identify the information sources s/he wants to consult. The next step
after finding the information sources is for him/her to review the book, journal, magazine,
websites and other resources. S/he must, at this time, make up his/her mind which of the
resources s/he wants to use. In other words, s/he should pick out the most important information
source available. Finally, the student should put the information together and answer the
questions or write the project s/he has set out to accomplish.

Visualising-organising Strategy
It is one thing to effectively comprehend what one has read. It is, however, another thing to store
it in such a form that it can be easily retrieved for use if and when the information is needed.
Visualising-organising is one strategy that students must have if they are to effectively store
what they have comprehended in a form that it can be easily retrieved for later use. Students
must know how to use graphic organisers to store what they have comprehended. It is true that
students see diverse kinds of graphic organisers in the books they read. It is also true that the
graphic organisers enable them to comprehend the text better and more effectively than if there
were no organisers. However, it is absolutely true that unless students are able to generate their
own graphic organisers and use them to store what they have comprehended, they cannot retain
for long what they have comprehended.

There is abundant research evidence to support the reason why students should be taught the
cognitive strategy of using graphic organisers to store what they comprehend when they read.
Pearson & Fielding (1991: 87) contend that ‘any sort of systematic attention to clues that reveal
how authors attempt to relate ideas to another or any sort of systematic attempt to structure or
impose structure upon a text, especially in some sort of visual representation of the relationship
among key ideas, facilitates comprehension as well as both short term and long term memory’.
Similarly, Bransford et al. (2000: 238-239) maintain that:

 Effective comprehension and thinking require coherent understanding of the organising

principles in any subject matter; understanding the essential features of the problems of
various school subjects will lead to better reasoning and problem-solving.
 Transfer and wide application of learning are more likely to occur when learners achieve
an organised and coherent understanding of the material.
 Understanding can be facilitated in learning by emphasising organised, coherent, bodies
of knowledge (in which specific facts and details are embedded).
 In-depth understanding requires detailed knowledge of the facts within a domain. The
key attribute of experts is a detailed and organised understanding of the important facts
within a specific domain.

A graphic organiser helps the student to organise his/her thought before writing, taking notes
during lectures and reading, organising concepts in preparation of a text and making meaning or
sense of a difficult and inconsiderable text.

A graphic organiser is a non-linguistic representation of a verbal statement. It is a visual or

pictorial representation of a verbal statement. In order to be able to use a graphic organiser, a
student must be able to read and comprehend the text. In addition, s/he must make up his/her
mind regarding what type of graphics will best suit the knowledge s/he wants to represent.
Besides, s/he must choose the frames or labels s/he would use in developing the organiser. S/he
should also be able to draw the organiser or use appropriate software to do so.

Types of Organisers
There are many types of graphic organisers. Some like chart, cycle, crossword, flowchart, grid,
spider map, concept map, chain of events, etc., are suitable for non-fiction texts. Some like story
map, Venn diagram, character map, time line, compare–contrast matrix, pyramid map, story
frame, etc., are suitable for fiction text. Others like chart, diagram, picture, matrices, etc., can be
very useful as mathematics organisers. Concept map, semantic word map and semantic feature
analysis are good as vocabulary study organisers. When students practise, understand and
perfect their use of graphic organisers, they will be able to enhance their comprehension of texts.
In addition, they can also store what they have comprehended in a way that they can easily
retrieve and access them.