Introduction: Reading is not just as simply reading a selection or a text. Basically,readers are required to acquaint and master certain skills for them to grasp the meaning of the content, and appreciate the value of reading.
Reading as Skill Majority
of the teachers take the position of that reading involves a skills-development process. And they are convinced that the successful acquisition of reading ability is heavily dependent on the acquisition of specific skills.
Teachers Teachers
teach reading by helping students master a series of skills: for instance, word recognition through phonics, structural analysis, context clues, as well as an array of comprehension skills.
Skills-development
has three attributes that mak m ake e it particularly appealing. Otto and Chester (1976) mention the following:
1.The skills essential for success in reading can be identified and described in a reasonably objective manner. 2. The skills generally tend to be sequentially related.
Aulls (1982) cites word identification and comprehension as the two most global reading skills.Others (Otto & Chester,1976;Rubin,1982) include study skills and vocabulary development and expansion.
Word Recognition Skills (also Global skills and known as Word Identification or Word Attack) Subskills
Refers
to the ability to identify, read, and analyze the meaning attached to the word.
Word Recognition
Is a twofold process that includes: 1.The recognition of printed symbols by some method so that the word can be pronounced, and; 2.The attachment to or association of
Word Recognition Strategies for Pronunciation : What
do you do when you encounter an unfamiliar word?Maybe you got stumbled knowing how to pronounce the word and grasp its meaning from the context. What strategies could you use to approach the word independently?
Strategy 1: Phonic analysis and synthesis is a decoding technique that is
Phonicsdependent on the students’ ability to make the proper grapheme-phoneme (lettersound). involves breaking down Analysissomething into its component parts. Synthesis-
involves building up the parts of something into a whole.
Example: Unfamiliar word – “brust”
Analysis: Break down the brust into the blend “br” and the phonogram (graphemic base) –“ ust”.
Br – pronounced as brown and brick. Ust- pronounced as just and must.
Synthesis:
Blend together the br and ust . Using this technique, you should be able to pronounce brust.
You
make an association between the oral word and the written word, and show this by actually saying the word. This technique, also called the sight method, helps you learn to pronounce words, but it will not help Strategy 2: Whole-word or you figure out the pronunciation of look-and-say” method unfamiliar words independently.
Strategy 3: Structural analysis and synthesis It helps you(word figure out the parts) pronunciation of an unfamiliar word if that word is composed of familiar word parts such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots.
Structural
analysis: Break down the word into its parts to isolate the word. After you have isolated all the word parts, you may recognize them as familiar words and know how to pronounce it. un
depend
able
Structural
synthesis:
Blend together un, depend , and able. (undependable). (if depend were not a familiar root word, you could apply phonic analysis and after that blend it together with the prefix un and the suffix able.
Strategy 4: Look up the information in the dictionary. This is useful but you may not have a dictionary handy. By time you look up the pronounciation of the word, you may have lost the trend o what you were reading.
Strategy 5: Context Context refers to the words clues surrounding a word that can shed light on its meaning. This maybe in the form of definitions, examples, comparisons or contrats, explanations, and so on. a
word recognition technique that will help you to figure out the meaning of the word through its
Word Recognition Your ability to pronounce does not Strategies guarantee that you will know its for word meaning meaning. If it is not part of your oral vocabulary, you would not know what the word means. What techniques would you use to help you unlock words you have never heard or met before?
Strategy 1: Context By
context, we mean the surrounding words a particular word that can help shed light on its meaning. Example: This krell maybe old, but I wouldn’t wear anything else to the party .
Context: Syntax - The word order or the position of the word. Krell – must be a noun.
Semantic clues: wear, old, and party
Context
of the sentence: it refers to an item of clothing.
Strategy 2: Structural Itanalysis andthe synthesis is useful when context clues are not if the word is forenough wordand meaning
made up of a number of word parts. Example: There is a lot of xenophobia among the citizens.
Analysis:
Xeno means “stranger” or
“foreign”. Phobia means “fear” or “hatred”. Synthesis:
Xenophobia means “fear of strangers” or “fear of things that are foreign”.
B. Comprehension (core of
Reading
comprehension is a complex reading) intellectual process involving many skills. Some experts argued that reading comprehension is primarily a matter of vocabulary knowledge and reasoning, rather than a long series of component subskills.
It
involves
various
levels
in
the
C. Study skills You
know that some students do poorly in school because they have never learned to study? Maybe this is because teachers usually do not spend time helping children acquiring study skills, which are skills that help the students study more efficiently.
Here are some lists of study/life skills:
Encyclopedia
Skimming
Tables Atlas
Reader’s guide
Almanac
Telephone
Note-taking
Directory Maps
Index
Newspaper Parts
of a book
Dictionary
order
Forms Glossary
skimming
Test-taking Card catalogue Advertisements Alphabetical
Reading as Skill, not Skills Two Views in Reading Skills A. Component global skills and subskills B. Complex unitary skill
A. Component global skills Theseand skillssubskills are usually listed in scope and sequence charts. Reading subskills are to be mastered one at a time, beginning with the simpler subskills and moving toward the larger, more complex skills.
The
philosophy expressed in these programs is:
By giving the child plenty of practice in using one discrete skill after another, we are making him into a good reader. The
philosophy can be expressed through this equation: (Reading = Skill1+ Skill2 +Skill3 +…
B. Complex unitary This is learned through the skill integration of various sets of responses---cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.. In this view, the concomitant subskills function simultaneously, not separately. The key word in this view is integration(the key process), which is achieved not through practice in separate skills but by reading
In
short, when a person reads real texts (e.g., newspaper, a poem, a recipe, a letter, a novel) for real purposes(e.g., for information or for entertainment), he or she uses as many of the so- called skills as needed and the distinction between these skills disappear. Reading becomes just one unitary skill.
(
Reading> Skill1 + Skill2 + Skill3 +
Meeting
Point of the Two Views
Aulls(1982)
says that as an observable unitary skill, we can define reading as a level of proficiency in reading a text, or components of a text, with concomitant identifiable subskills.
Two American Stalwarts of Reading William S. GrayEducation Arthur
I. Gates
- the first president of
the International Reading Association(IRA).
- awarded the IRA citation of merit in 1958. He was committed to the reading instruction and devoted his life to realizing that goal.
- According to him,
William S. Gray
-His
Arthur I. Gates research and writing is
about the areas in vocabulary control, reading interests, spelling, diagnosis, remediation, reading readiness, and handicapped children have influenced reading instruction and material the 1920’s.
-He
was given the IRA Citation of Merit in 1961. He said, “Reading should be developed as complex organization of patterns of higher mental processes(all types of thinking, evaluating, judging, imagining,
The Dimension of Reading Comprehension (Based on Gray. Gates, Smith, & Bar ret models)
Level VCREATIVE READING L Level IV INTEGRATION (Application to Self/Life) Level III
EVALUATION (Critical Reading)
Level IIINTERPRETATION Level ILITERAL COMPREHENSION
Literal
Taxonomies of comprehension Reading Comprehension
is the ability to obtain a lower- level type of understanding by using only information explicitly stated in the text.
Interpretation( inferenc e: reasoning) This category demands a higher level of thinking because the questions are concerned with answers not directly stated in the text but are suggested or implied. It is at this level that the most confusion exists when it comes to categorizing skills.
The
confusion concerns the term inference ( may be defined as”something derived by reasoning: something that is not directly stated but suggested in the statement); a logical conclusion that is drawn from statements; a deduction;an induction.).
Evaluation (critical v This level involves the making of reading)
a personal judgment on the text by the reader. Critical reading may be done into two aspects:
v 1. the content or theme (accuracy, value, truthfulness, objectivity, recency, relevance; and 2) elements of style: the use of language and literacy devices.
Example:
Does the author provide adequate support for his conclusion?
Is he attempting to sway your opinion?
This
requires analysis and evaluation of the reader’s own knowledge as well as the author’s knowledge and intent.
Integration (Application to This level stresses reading or use Self/Life) and for values clarification. The reading act nears completion as the child uses his reading in some practical way…(also when his emotions are stirred; his attitudes and purposes are modified; indeed, his innermost being is involved.” (Gates,1949)
Creative reading It uses divergent thinking skills to come up with new ideas or alternate solutions to those presented by the writer. Creative readers can reproduce text information in a different form through dramatization, oral or musical interpretation, personal narrative, visual expression, or
Conclusion: Reading skill is a tool to significant and comprehensive reading. Reading helps you to unlock the door to the world of enlightenment and enjoyment as a basic tool for learning (Villamin). However, the readers should consider such concomitant skills in order to perform a purposive reading and internalize its value. Therefore, teachers must scrutinize and understand well the things expected to them –to whom, what, when and how they are going to do and perform such reading skills especially on the
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