Reading is that it is not the same activity each time you do it! When I read my novel in bed before switching the light off at the end of the day I read ’passively’ - I start at the top of the page and read the story steadily at the same speed (I sometimes even get to the bottom of the page before I fall asleep!).
This type of reading for pleasure is often called ‘extensive reading’ by teachers. What is important about this type of reading is that you choose the book and you don’t worry too much about difficult words you come across. Your extensive reading may be ‘readers’ (shorter simpler versions of real novels) or more authentic materials written for any reader. You may not ‘enjoy’ the reading at first but (rather like taking exercise) you will see the benefits in the long run.
But I actually wanted to think more about the other type of reading, intensive reading, which you do academically, for study, and when you read for study you are an ACTIVE reader. There is nothing passive about reading for study! If you start at the first word and read steadily through the text it is unlikely that you are going to achieve your goals.
What are your goals for reading the text? Are you sure you want to read the text at all? How do you know if it will be useful for you? What parts of the text will be useful? What point is the writer making? What notes will you make? What are your notes for?
All these questions make you into an ACTIVE READER as you employ a variety of strategies to help you meet your goals and over the next few posts I’d like to give you some tips on how to start developing or continue improving your reading strategies. The starting point is to raise your awareness of the topic of academic reading and for that I am pointing you to this page on Study Advice and Learning Development from the University of Reading. This page gives you an overview of the issue of academic reading and you can read it here.
Hi Ms. Vanessa, How are you?
ReplyDeleteI apologise for not being able to contribute for many days. Actually, I was busy in my personal problems.
Ms. Vanessa, I also read a lot. But, sometimes I read not just for knowledge but to know and understand some new words.
Ms. Vanessa can you tell me as to how can I read faster? Sometimes back, I came across a book from Norman Lewis "Read faster" which I didn't find useful. One of my friends read faster than me but he chews certain words.
Ms. Vanessa, whenever I watch movies particularly western movies like Titanic etc. I find that the actors/actresses put stress on one part of a word and not on the other. This method makes their accent different from Asian people. How can we understand where and how to put stress on some syllable of a word. I hope you understand what I want to know.
Bye
Rajeev