What does reading mean? …
Angaluki Muaka, Elizabeth B. Bernhardt, Michel Kamil said that:
Reading is about understanding written texts. It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. Reading consists of two related processes: word recognition and comprehension.
- Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s spoken language.
- Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text.
In that way, reading is a very important and complex process that you have to do especially whether you are learning EFL. You can support yourself in this interesting process, with the identification, development and use of some reading strategies.
Good readers use different strategies naturally, but not everybody is familiar with the ways that work best for them individually. These strategies are intended to help you improve your interaction with text as reader or as a writer and being a proficient reader.
But, what is a Strategy?
A strategy is a plan, or a way of doing something.
Reading strategy is a plan for reading.
Why do we have to use Reading Strategies?
Because they help to understand, remember, enjoy all what you read and improve your reading comprehension.
Here, there are some Reading Strategies that can help you to read more quickly and effectively:
- 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; using knowledge of the text type and purpose to make predictions about discourse structure; using knowledge about the author to make predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content
- Skimming and scanning: using a quick survey of the text to get the main idea, identify text structure, confirm or question predictions
- 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.
Here are 5 reading strategies for children that can help them become better readers.
- Visualize: Have children imagine or draw what a character looks like. Have them verbally explain what a setting looks like. Many students think visually while others have difficulty, so this can be helpful for both types of learners.
- Summarize: Having them retell the text challenges their retention. Summarization allows students to differentiate between the main thoughts and the minor details. After finishing a chapter or section, have them retell what they just read and then write down a brief summarization.
- Predict: Have them predict what they think will happen next. Ask why. This helps encourage active reading and helps them stay engaged with the text. This can also help signal a misunderstanding of the text that needs revisiting.
- Ask Questions: Have children come up with questions about the text, steer them away from the questions about minor details and have them focus on questions about the meaning or morals. This helps nurture active learning.
- Find Connections: Have them relate a character in the text to themselves or someone else they know. Have them connect different similarities and direct opposites. This will help them understand the text form a new perspective and encourages deeper thought.
Conclusions:
For being a proficient reader it is very important that you know, identify and apply Reading Strategies, because they can help you develop your reading process in a quickly and effectively.
Know More about Reading Strategies
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?read=3460
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/Reading.pdf
http://www2.wmin.ac.uk/eic/learning-skills/literacy/strat_read.html
http://courseware.nus.edu.sg/e-daf/rmn/la2201gr/la2201gr_e15/Lesetraining/readingespex.htm
http://www.brainbook.com/brainbook/lessons/ws_lesson1.shtml
http://www.suite101.com/content/teaching-prereading-strategies-a33176
By: Yomary Castro Granados