COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES- I ENGLISH READING SKILLS 19. READING STRATEGIES: GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR READING There are four main components of communication namely Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. In this Unit we will be discussing the various aspects of the first one, which is Reading. How can we get the most out of our reading?
19.0 Objectives By the end of this lesson you will: i.
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monitor your understanding of reading tasks a. before reading b. during reading c. after reading distinguish the main idea from the subsidiary information
19.1 Introduction From reading the signboard on buses to directions for filling out forms, reading plays a very important role in our lives. We find ourselves reading for many different purposes. Different reading skills are needed for each of the purposes of reading. Sometimes, we may need to read each and every word to understand details, while at other times we may need to read just for the main points. It is important for us to develop a variety of reading skills to meet the purpose of our reading task. We may be able to read each and every printed word. However, comprehending the words (i.e. understanding the meaning of the words) is most important. This unit will help you develop some basic skills that you will need for various reading tasks. It will teach you some strategies you may use to understand printed matter.
19.2 Metacognitive Reading Far from being a ‘passive’ skill, reading is in fact, an active process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know. Knowledge of the language allows readers to identify the printed words and sentences.
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Knowledge of the word allows them to comprehend these words and sentences. Good readers read for meaning. They do not decode each letter or each word. Instead, they take in chunks of the text and relate it to what they already know. Reading involves more than just identifying the printed words and being able to decode what they are. Reading involves a variety of skills, which are as follows: 1. Looking at the words and knowing how to pronounce them. 2. Understanding the meaning of the words by themselves. 3. Understanding the meaning of the words in the context they have been used. In Unit Three you learned how to guess the meaning of unknown words and phrases while listening to passages. You were taught specific strategies that you could use when trying to make an educated guess. You were asked to think about the overall context and what you already knew about the topic on hand. You will now focus on some techniques that will help you with your reading skills. Imagine you have been called for a job interview. You will need to go out of town for the interview. You know it is important for you to look your best to give a good impression, as well as to be able to know the subject you will need to talk about. In order to be successful, you know you need to think about the interview before actually going there. You will need to begin planning for the trip well in advance. You will need to plan what you will wear, what you will take with you, and also what you will say. In the same way, a good reader begins to think about the reading task and the matter even before actually reading. He/she should do several things before actually reading. 19.2.1 ‘Before-Reading’ Strategies Before reading, you must: •
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Preview the text by looking at the title, the pictures (if any) and the print in order to bring to mind relevant thoughts and memories that are connected to the topic on hand. Set the purpose for reading by asking questions about what you think you want to learn during the reading process.
19.2.2 ‘During-Reading’ Strategies Now, let’s see what you would do during the actual reading process. • • •
Check understanding of the text by paraphrasing the author's words. Monitor comprehension and use ‘fix-up’ strategies: use the strategies you have learnt to figure out unknown words and phrases. Integrate new information with knowledge you already have about the topic.
19.2.3 ‘After-Reading’ Strategies 2
After reading, you must: • • •
Summarize what you have read by retelling the plot of the story or the main idea of the text. Interpret and Evaluate the ideas contained in the text. Make Applications of the ideas in the text to unique situations, extending the ideas to broader perspectives. The following table gives a good list of questions you may ask yourself when you are given the task of reading. It shows what good readers do at all times. Metacognitive Reading Strategy Plan before Reading What is the text about? • What do I know about this? • How is this material organized? • What am I supposed to learn? • What are some key words that I might come across? • Why do I need to read this? • How much time should I spend on this? •
Monitor During Reading • Am I attaining my purpose? • How do I know I’m learning what I’m supposed to learn? • What are the important ideas? • How is this related to what I already know? • If I am not learning, what should I do?
Reflect After reading Did I learn what I was supposed to learn? • Has, what I knew about this topic before I started changed? • Can I put what I’ve learned in my own words? • How can I use what I’ve learned? • Do I need to learn something else about this? • How can I do this kind of reading better next time? •
19.3 Distinguishing the Main Idea from the Subsidiary Details Let us look at the following article taken from the educational website: ReadWriteThink Gorillas in Crisis By Kathleen Donovan-Snavely Introduction What will you have for supper tonight? Hotdogs, Pizza or Gorilla? It may surprise you to know that these gentle creatures of the jungle regularly appear as the featured entrée at many a meal served near the African rainforest. That isn’t the only problem that haunts gorillas lately. The combined threats posed
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by hunters, loggers, and disease are eliminating large numbers of gorillas in central and West Africa. The future of gorillas in the wild is at risk. 1. Gorilla meat is a dietary staple for nearly 12 million people who live near the rainforests of central and West Africa. Some Africans prefer bush meat, such as gorilla, because it provides an economical source of daily protein. Poor families without the means to purchase food at the market travel a short distance to the rainforest to get bush meat. Their only expense is the cost of ammunition and the fee to rent a gun. Some of these same families raise chickens and goats, but do not eat them. Instead, they sell the animals for the cash they need for buying supplies. Africa’s population is increasing rapidly, along with its demand for bush meat. If nothing changes, primatologists fear that gorillas may become extinct in the next thirty years. 2. Moving away from one’s childhood home sometimes leaves us longing for familiar places and traditions. Naturally, the African families who move away from their original rainforest homes struggle with these feelings of sadness and displacement. Now living in villages and cities, they eat bush meat to feel closer to the past and to their old way of life. For them, gorilla feeds the body and the soul as well. This custom brings little comfort to endangered gorillas, whose females produce only one offspring every five to seven years. It is easy to see why gorillas are being killed faster than they can reproduce. 3. While Africans plunder the gorilla population, they are not the only ones. Over the years, their European neighbors have developed a taste for exotic bush meat as a status symbol. Trophy hunters value gorillas for their collectable heads and hands. Finally, some hunters persist in the decades-long practice of trapping young gorillas to sell to zoos and private citizens across the world. When mature members of the gorilla troop try to defend an infant, hunters shoot to preserve their prize. Entire troops of gorillas have perished this way. The international gorilla trade continues even though it is illegal, since the laws are nearly impossible to enforce. Gorilla populations continue to decline. 4. You have heard the slogan, “Save the Rainforest,” with good reason. Conservationists know that if the forest is cut down, the habitat needed to sustain countless tropical plants and animals will no longer exist. Already the loggers who harvest tropical trees have eliminated some of the bush where gorillas live, causing crowding that leads to the spread of disease. Furthermore, logging has depleted the vegetation on which gorillas depend for their daily food. Up to 70 pounds of plants and leaves are required daily for a mature gorilla’s diet. Finally, the logging roads that facilitate removal of harvested trees also enable poachers efficiently to remove freshly killed gorillas from the bush to the market for sale. Loggers are endangering the rainforest, along with its inhabitants. 5.
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Most recently, a disease called Ebola fever has joined forces with hunters and loggers to further threaten the existence of gorillas. Biologists suspect that the virus was first spread across species with the help of tropical insects. Whatever its origins, we do know that the virus is now carried from gorillas to humans in a deadly cycle. Hunters contract the headache and fever when they kill and eat infected bush meat. As the disease runs its course, internal bleeding leads to death. Meanwhile, an unsuspecting hunter who seems only a bit “under the weather” may return to the bush, effectively sickening an entire troop of gorillas. Ninety percent of all gorillas that get Ebola fever die. Healthy gorillas that come into contact with diseased bodies in the bush get the disease as well. Scientists are currently researching treatments for Ebola. Since human and gorilla DNA are so similar, it is possible that a vaccine for humans will eventually help gorillas as well. Meanwhile, Ebola continues to thrive. People once thought that gorillas were fierce, threatening animals. Today, scientists know that gorillas live peacefully in family groups. Their only enemies in the bush are people. Watch these “gentle giants of the jungle” now, while you can. Unless we work together to make sure that gorillas survive, they may disappear forever. Copyright 2004 IRA/NCTE. All rights reserved. ReadW riteThink materials may be reproduced for educational purposes.
When we read the article, we can see that there are several paragraphs in it. Reading the first paragraph, we can understand that the whole article talks about the problems that gorillas face in Central and West Africa. This first paragraph may be referred to as the introductory paragraph since it introduces us to the main idea of the whole article. We then look at the rest of the paragraphs one by one and pick out the main idea from each paragraph. Once we identify the main ideas, we can identify the details that tell us more about each main idea. Look at the graphic organizer given on the next page. Try to fill in the main ideas and supporting details from the article on the template.
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Now look at the completed graphic organizer. Study each main idea and the details that support it.
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Self-Check Questions Read the passages and answer the questions that follow: Passage 1: A recent study showed that in twelve cases of computer-related embezzlement, the average take was one million dollars. With such rewards, computer crime seems destined to flourish, especially because the chances of detection are slim; embezzlers are discovered more often by coincidence than by internal safeguards. 1. Which of the following sentences best summarizes the passage? (A) Annual reports concerning computer crime are accurate. (B) Computer crime can be a very profitable business. (C) Various techniques are used in computer crime. (D) The adoption of safeguards against computer crime is widespread. 2. According to the passage, the number of computer crimes will increase because (A) people convicted of computer crimes receive light sentences (B) most computer crimes are committed by accident (C) the use of computers is growing (D) the rewards outweigh the risks Passage 2: Each year, millions of people visit the national parks of the American West, and they come for a variety of reasons. Some seek to explore the historical past. Others are looking for a short escape from the hot city or the crowded office or factory. Still others are trying to learn something about the mysteries of nature. Whatever their reason for visiting the parks, few leave disappointed. 3. People who visit the parks for the first reason mentioned by the author would most probably want to see (A) an animal preserve (B) the ruins of an Indian village (C) a canyon with a variety of geological formations (D) a geyser with a predictable pattern of eruptions 4. What does the passage tell us about national parks? (A) Those in the West are preferable to those in the East. (B) They serve relatively few people. (C) They should be closed to people who treat them badly. (D) They satisfy the needs of many people. Passage 3: Television today sits in the center of Indian homes and not too far from the center of Indian lives, a companionable though unsettling kind of house pet. Here and there, somebody will claim independence from it by announcing scornfully, "I never watch television!" or even, "I don't own a television set!" But such defiance matters little. You do not really need to have this pet in the house to be affected by it. 5. Which of the following best summarizes the main point of the passage?
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(A) Indians cannot escape the influence of television. (B) Indians love television as much as they love their pets. (C) The role of television is in a stage of transition. (D) Few people realize the advantages of television. 6. The passage suggests that people who claim to be unaffected by television are (A) apologetic (B) mistaken (C) educated (D) devious
19.4 Summing Up In this lesson you learnt two important Reading Strategies: •
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Metacognitive Reading - This helped you to develop your thought processes for the different stages of reading text o before reading o during reading o after reading Distinguishing the Main Ideas from subsidiary details
19.5 Answers to Self-Check Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
(B) Computer crime can be a very profitable business. (D) the rewards outweigh the risks (B) the ruins of an Indian village (D) They satisfy the needs of many people. (A) Indians cannot escape the influence of television. (B) mistaken
19.6 References Broukal, Milada. Weaving It Together. Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle Publishers A Division of Wadsworth, Inc., 1994 Vacca, Richard T, and Jo Anne L Vacca. Content Area Reading. United States of America: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 1999 Ferreira, Linda A. Beginnings 1. United States of America: Newbury House Publishers, Inc., 1985 Nagaraj, Dr. Geetha. Comprehend & Compose. New Delhi: Foundation Books, 2003
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19.7 Glossary • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Comprehension: understanding Context: specific situation, specific circumstance Decode: make out what the word says Educated Guess: guess that is based on knowledge that we already have on the subject that makes sense in context Graphic Organizer: tool that helps us arrange given information visually. Integrate: put together Main Idea: key idea, central thought Metacognition: the process of thinking about how we learn and read Metacognitive Reading: being conscious/aware of how we learn and read; being aware of what we think about while we learn and read Monitor: keep an eye on, examine, watch, check Pronounce: speak correctly, articulate Relevant Information: important information Strategy: plan, method of doing something, technique Subsidiary Details: additional facts and information Supporting Details: facts that give more information about the main idea
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