Teaching Reading Skills .

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Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................2

Reading is a receptive language process. It is the process of recognition, interpretation, and perception of written or printed materials. Reading proficiency plays a great role in understanding a written statement accurately and efficiently. Reading serves as an important tool in every field of professional service ( Abdul Halim,2006). In English foreign language teaching, reading is one of the most important factors in assessing a learner’s linguistic competence. However, it is a common problem for some students to complain about having trouble with how to read efficiently. Students always feel confused about the main idea of the passage even if they can get a full mark to the questions following the passage. In addition , some teachers also find difficulties in increasing efficiency in reading classes. So, therefore some of approches for teaching reading that teacher has to follow them and some of reading techinques .

However, due to many such reasons the students fail to comprehend textbooks properly. This is largely reflected in the poor performance of the 14

students both in their classes, as well as in their everyday life. So, it is important now to point out the problems existing in the present reading leearning and provide some proposals for how to teach reading efficiently.

Indeed , the teaching of reading has been an essential part of learning a language ever since foreign language began to be taught ( Kelly,1969). Jiao (2007) discusses that reading teaching becomes teaching of language points known as grammar and vocabulary. This kind of English reading teaching to a great extent hinders EFL students’ language proficiency. Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes. Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader. It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations ( Grellet ,2001) Douglas(2001 ) discusses that Students should be trained to be flexible in reading by using different kinds of exercises such scanning , skimming ,and critical reading.

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Reading is very important to our studying English, especially reading speed, skills, factors and steps. So we should master some good reading skills to improve our English levels.

Two approches of were used in this research : Quantative Method and Qualitative . TheQualitative approche : Qualitative research seeks out the ‘why’, not the ‘how’ of its topic through the analysis of unstructured information – things like interview transcripts and recordings, emails, notes, feedback forms, photos and videos. I investigated Extensively many of books , journals and webessites and I relied on the these materials for gathering information.So, the the most parts of the research will involve theoretical basis such as objectives of teaching reading , approaches to teaching reading ,and some of reading techniques .and stratigies for developing yor rading skills . The Qualitative Method (questionnaires): Quantitative method are research techniques that are used to gather quantitative data - information dealing with numbers and anything that is measurable. Statistics, tables and graphs, are often used to present the results of these methods. A five-point scale questionnaire was designed for the purpose of the study where students were presented with stated reading difficulties e.g. unknown words ) and asked to grade their difficulty according to the) 14

agreement scale ( strongly agree – strongly disagree ).The questionnaire was written in Arabic and distributed to 20 students of the same specialization ( English specialists ). Eighteen response were collected . This questionnaire was designed to yield data that would contribute to our understanding of the nature of the problems that students encounter in

. reading class

By the way of reading ,a learner can master these high-tech and cultural knowledge concerning English -speaking countries. As reading is the only time-saved way to absorb foreign advanced technology, by reading, we can learn more and make cont ributions to the construction of our motherland .In that case, reading becomes necessary and urgentbecause Reading can help absorb all kinds of information. Reading English books, magazines etc can improve reading ability step by step, speeding up cultivating and forming good reading habits. So. Reading can help us develop our interest. By reading a lot, one can advance their English background knowledge and broaden his or her vision, inspire his thought, build the values, train the creative performance and develop his intelligence. The psycholinguistic view 's Goals of teaching Reading are to train students to form their expectation for a Reading activity ,to encourage students to take risks in guessing , in ignoring the fact that they should always be correct , and to train students to use the minimum number of syntactic and semantic clues to obtain the maximum amount of information .

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Students should therefore be trained to be flexible in reading by using different kinds of exercises , i.e. to obtain specific information ( scanning ), to obtain the general idea (skimming ) , to obtain comprehensive understanding of reading ( through comprehension ) or to evaluate information (critical reading ) . Students should be aware of these ways of reading as aims so that they can determine proper strategies in reading .( Hasan, 1993).

The pedagogical approach is organized around a reading passage accompanied by comprehension questions .The passage is usually used as .a vehicle to consolidate structure and vocabulary Passages which contain syntactic structure and lexical items beyond the learners' competence are not easy to comprehend .The procedure to follow this case is to provide a list of the problematic words and phrases and their meanings before learners are given the opportunity to read the passage . " .These called "primary glossaries Alternatively , words which are assumes=d to create difficulty through context can be glossed after the passage ,and the reader's attention is " directed to them . (Widdowson,1978) calls them "promoting glossaries In short , the pedagogical approach , with its emphasis on simplification of language structures ,falls short of teaching reading as communication . ( Hasan, 1993).

The communicative approach to language teaching has given instructors a different understanding of the role of 14

reading in the language classroom and the types of texts that can be used in instruction. When the goal of instruction is communicative competence, everyday materials such as train schedules, newspaper articles, and travel become appropriate classroom materials, because reading them is one way communicative competence is developed. Instruction in reading and reading practice thus become essential parts of language teaching at every level.

The communicative approach is such an approach where comprehensible input and the task-based learning could exist together. To achieve this suitable objective, we have to adapt the following principles in communicative language teaching as suggested by Nunan (1988) A. The focus of every task should be on the performing of some operation…teaching the learner to do something in the target language. This something is communicatively useful. B. Use of language above the sentence level, with real language in real situations and pay attention to both the part and the whole work in the context. C. The practice of forms should take place within a communicative framework. D. Mistakes are not always mistakes. Emphasis should be on fluency. F. What happens in the classroom must involve the learners and must be judged in terms of its effects on them.

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These are the two main skills needed in developing your effectiveness as a reader.

It is a technique you often use when you search for key words or ideas. In most cases, you know what you're looking for, so you're concentrating on finding a particular answer. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases. Scanning is also used when you first find a resource to determine whether it will answer your questions. Once you've scanned the document, you might go back and skim it. When scanning, look for the author's use of organizers such as numbers, letters, steps, or the words, first, second, or next. Look for words that are bold faced, italics, or in a different font size, style, or color. Sometimes the author will put key ideas in the margin.

It is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. When you read the newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-byword, instead you're scanning the text. Skimming is done at a speed three 14

to four times faster than normal reading. People often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time. Use skimming when you want to see if an article may be of interest in your research. There are many strategies that can be used when skimming. Some people read the first and last paragraphs using headings, summarizes and other organizers as they move down the page or screen. You might read the title, subtitles, subheading, and illustrations. Consider reading the first sentence of each paragraph. ( http://42explore.com)

I believe effective reading depends upon difficult level of the text, the unknown words in the text and background knowledge of the reader. It all contributes to the reading successfully getting the message of the writer. I have tried to make a point that difficult level in a reading text should be according to the level of the reader. I have tried to focus on all those factors which make reading uneasy /or difficult for the learners. A list of such factors is given as under: a. Vocabulary. b. Structure of sentences. c. Background knowledge of the students.

A.

Vocabulary:

I have minutely observed during my investigation for questionnaire. The first and most problem I found was unknown or difficult words. Such vocabulary items which students thought were difficult for them proved to be a serious deterrent in the way of reading. B. Structure of Sentences: 14

During my investigation of questionnaire , I also found that in addition to difficult Vocabulary items, the complex sentence structure also create a problem for the proper understanding of the text. Consequently, a large number of students do not benefit much from such texts which contain difficult sentence structure.

C. Background Knowledge: Inappropriacy of these text books is more to do with the cultural features that occur in the texts which students and in many cases even teachers cannot explain to the learners. I have observed that a text which reflects and contains difficult words, do not coordinates with background knowledge of the students and they do not know anything about the subject under discussion, they feel it completely difficult to understand the text. See figure (1)

10 9 8 7 6

Unknown words

5

Background Knowledge

4

Organizational Structure

3 2 1 0 Reading Difficulties

figure (1) Reading Difficulties 14

Language instructors are often frustrated by the fact that students do not automatically transfer the strategies they use when reading in their native language to reading in a language they are learning. Instead, they seem to think reading means starting at the beginning and going word by word, stopping to look up every unknown vocabulary item, until they reach the end. When they do this, students are relying exclusively on their linguistic knowledge. One of the most important functions of the language instructor is to help students move past this idea . Effective language instructors show students how they can adjust their reading behavior to deal with a variety of situations, and reading purposes. They help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each reading situation. " Strategies that can help students read more quickly and effectively include : •

Previewing: reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the structure and content of a reading selection

•

Predicting: using knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions about content and vocabulary and check comprehension;

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using knowledge of the text type and purpose to make predictions about discourse structure. •

Guessing from context: using prior knowledge of the subject and the ideas in the text as clues to the meanings of unknown words, instead of stopping to look them up

•

Paraphrasing: stopping at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the information and ideas in the text (http://www.nclrc.org)

Reading is a very important skill that students need to master as early as possible. However, the process of mastering reading is actually very complex and this is clearly shown by the large number of students who are not skilled in reading. So ,we should master some good reading skills to improve our English levels. In our country, most English learner are worried about not understanding English articles, newspaper, magazines and so on. How to improve our English become more and more importantand to engage struggling readers .Teachers can use a number of strategies to promote cognitive competence, motivation and social interaction. They should be encouraged to construct rich knowledge goals and use real-world interactions to connect them with their own experiences. They should be provided with an abundance of interesting reading materials, provided with choice, and be able to share and discuss their reading experiences with others. •

Reading is a skill that will empower everyone who learns it. They will be able to benefit from the store of knowledge in printed materials and, ultimately, to

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contribute to that knowledge. Good teaching enables students to learn to read and read to learn. •

By encouraging students to talk about what strategies they think will help them approach a reading assignment, and then talking after reading about what strategies they actually used. This helps students develop flexibility in their choice of strategies.

When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading experience, and they gain confidence in their ability to read the language.

Books Abdul Halim Ibrahim, (2006) The Process and Problems of Reading. Masalah Pendidikan . Brown H. Douglas, (2001) Teaching by Principles An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy ( second edition ). Addison Wesley Longman ,Inc . Davis Cole, Ardith, (2004) When Reading Begins: The Teacher’s Role in Decoding, Comprehension, and Fluency. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Grellet, F. (2001). Developing reading skills. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Hasan, A.S. (1993) Methodology of Teaching English. Syria: Damascus University . Nunan, D. (1988) Syllabus Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Penny Ur. , (1996) A course Language Teaching Practice and Theory . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Journals Cubukcu, Feryal, (2007) An Investigation of Reading Strategies Employed by Trainee Teachers. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 7 (2).

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Johnsen, L. “Problem-Guided Reading for College ” Journal of Reading April (1984): 602-6

Websites http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/stratread.htm http://42explore.com/skim.htm

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