READING(the basic, the goals and technique of reading)

TEACHING READING

A.  The Basic of Reading

1.      Reading Purpose and Reading Comprehension

Reading is an activity with a purpose. A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a writer's ideas or writing style. A person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of the language being read. The purpose(s) for reading guide the reader's selection of texts.

The purpose for reading also determines the appropriate approach to reading comprehension. A person who needs to know whether she can afford to eat at a particular restaurant needs to comprehend the pricing information provided on the menu, but does not need to recognize the name of every appetizer listed. A person reading poetry for enjoyment needs to recognize the words the poet uses and the ways they are put together, but does not need to identify main idea and supporting details. However, a person using a scientific article to support an opinion needs to know the vocabulary that is used, understand the facts and cause-effect sequences that are presented, and recognize ideas that are presented as hypotheses and givens.

Reading research shows that good readers:

1.       Read extensively

2.       Integrate information in the text with existing knowledge

3.       Have a flexible reading style, depending on what they are reading

4.       Are motivated

5.       Rely on different skills interacting: perceptual processing, phonemic processing, recall. Read for a purpose; reading serves a function

2.      Reading as a process

Reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is. Reader knowledge, skills, and strategies include:

a.       Linguistic competence: the ability to recognize the elements of the writing system; knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences

b.       Discourse competence: knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts of the text to one another.

c.        Sociolinguistic competence: knowledge about different types of texts and their usual structure and content.

d.       Strategic competence: the ability to use top-down strategies as well as knowledge of the language (a bottom-up strategy)

The purpose for reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge, skills, and strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading comprehension is thus much more than decoding. Reading comprehension results when the reader knows which skills and strategies are appropriate for the type of text, and understands how to apply them to accomplish the reading purpose.  

3.      Written language

Written language is the representation of a language by means of the writing system. This language is used in reading and writing. The example of it is genre of written language such as non-fiction, fiction, letters, memos, announcements, advertisements, etc. Moreover, the characteristics of this language are:

a.       Permanence: when students write something they already set in their mind have to finish in one session. They don't think that they can edit or revised their written to be better because students think their written would be permanence. In this case teacher perhaps notices for all of students that they just write everything come in their mind and they can edit it to finish their written.

b.      Production time: in this part students think about the deadline. The possibility case in here is students just only focus on the deadline not for the content of their written.

c.       Distance: have a relationship with the audience anticipation. Before students start to write, they have to know who will be read their written. If they write for teenager it also influences the word, phrases and sentences that will use.

d.      Orthography: this part is talk about the technical of appearance. After writer considers about the word, phrase and sentence that they will use students also consider about the font, size and also the picture. All appearances have to connect with the topic and target of the reader.

e.       Complexity: this is talk about the sentence whether students use simple sentence, combine or complex sentence. We as a teacher will know the students progress of learning. And for the academic writing, students should provide reference.

f.       Vocabulary: talk about word richness. We (teacher) can see what a new vocabulary that they already acquired. 

g.      Formality: this is complex conventions for academic writing (describe, explain, compare, criticize, argue, etc). If the writer creates academic writing it means the product have to formal. Because of that the language that they use has to formal and polite. The font or size has to consistent with the guideline that they use.

4.      Micro-skills and micro-skills of reading

Reading is the 3rd of the four-macro skills. Reading is a complex skill that is taught when you're still young as it's essential for learning and development and vocabulary. It is also an act or activity of rendering aloud written or printed material. Reading is also an ability to understand reading material in a form of a paragraph or a sentence. We used the skill reading for scanning information and understanding what the writers want to tell and evaluate what we read and incorporate information from multiple sources. When you learned the different macro skill including reading it is very helpful in the workplace. And there are many advantages associated in reading like learning vocabulary in a context, seeing correct structure in English, and to it will improve your personal interest in reading. When you read you usually encounter new word and things. It can help high your vocabulary skill and apply it when you are communicating to other people. Reading comprehension involves decoding symbols with the intention of deriving meaning from the text. This can be used for further processes such as sharing knowledge, self-development or simply relaxation and escapism into the realms of fiction. Reading can also significantly improve other micro skills such as spelling,

B.  Goals and Techniques for Reading

1.    The reading process

To accomplish this goal, instructors focus on the process of reading rather than on its product.

a.        They develop students' awareness of the reading process and reading strategies by asking students to think and talk about how they read in their native language.

b.       They allow students to practice the full repertoire of reading strategies by using authentic reading tasks. They encourage students to read to learn (and have an authentic purpose for reading) by giving students some choice of reading material.

c.        When working with reading tasks in class, they show students the strategies that will work best for the reading purpose and the type of text. They explain how and why students should use the strategies.

d.       They have students practice reading strategies in class and ask them to practice outside of class in their reading assignments. They encourage students to be conscious of what they're doing while they complete reading assignments.

e.       They encourage students to evaluate their comprehension and self-report their use of strategies. They build comprehension checks into in-class and out-of-class reading assignments, and periodically review how and when to use particular strategies.

f.         They encourage the development of reading skills and the use of reading strategies by using the target language to convey instructions and course-related information in written form: office hours, homework assignments, test content.

2.         Integrating Reading Strategies 

a.        Before reading: Plan for the reading task

1.      Set a purpose or decide in advance what to read for.

2.      Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed.

3.      Determine whether to enter the text from the top down (attend to the overall meaning) or from the bottom up (focus on the words and phrases).

b.      During and after reading: Monitor comprehension

1.    Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses.

2.    Decide what is and is not important to understand.

3.    Reread to check comprehension.

4.    Ask for help.

c.       After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use

1.     Evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area.

2.     Evaluate overall progress in reading and in particular types of reading tasks.

3.     Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task.

4.     Modify strategies if necessary.

4.        Using Authentic Materials and Approaches

a.    The reading material must be authentic: It must be the kind of material that students will need and want to be able to read when traveling, studying abroad, or using the language in other contexts outside the classroom.

b.     The reading purpose must be authentic: Students must be reading for reasons that make sense and have relevance to them. "Because the teacher assigned it" is not an authentic reason for reading a text.

c.    The reading approach must be authentic: Students should read the text in a way that matches the reading purpose, the type of text, and the way people normally read. This means that reading aloud will take place only in situations where it would take place outside the classroom, such as reading for pleasure. The majority of students' reading should be done silently.

5.        Reading Aloud in the Classroom

Students do not learn to read by reading aloud. A person who reads aloud and comprehends the meaning of the text is coordinating word recognition with comprehension and speaking and pronunciation ability in highly complex ways. Usually the dropped element is comprehension, and reading aloud becomes word calling: simply pronouncing a series of words without regard for the meaning they carry individually and together. Word calling is not productive for the student who is doing it, and it is boring for other students to listen to.

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