"Reading is an
act of communication in which information is transferred from a transmitter to
a receiver" (Smith
1973:2) Reading is one of the two receptive skills and for me one of the most difficult to
develop because considering the Ecuadorian context, people here are not used to
reading. For many of them it is difficult to read in their mother tongue and it
would be much difficult in another language. Reading is a complex matter
because it is not only understanding what a paragraph or a sentence wants to
transmit. We have to take into account our knowledge of the world which is coherence and the
grammatical linking between the sentences which is cohesion. There are some sub-skills that will
help us to understand a text such as intensive reading, inferring, reading for gist, etc. each of them will be
used according to our purpose of reading. Developing reading in class is
challenging for teachers, but if we use some strategies like pre-teaching vocabulary,
it means teaching vocabulary before reading a text, can help students develop
this skill. Reading does not have to be boring; teachers can make it a fun hour
bringing activities such as lead-in activities or interesting topics to read or graded readers with
simple vocabulary.
How and why we read:
References
- UK Essays. (2015). Definition of Reading. April 25, 2015, de UK Essays Sitio web: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/languages/definition-of-reading.php
- Green, J. (November 15, 2012) How and Why We Read: Crash Course English Literature #1.(video) Rretrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSYw502dJNY
- Larkin, C. (2015) Reading (Image). Retrieved from: http://tumalo.redmond.k12.or.us/files/2013/10/reading2.jpg
The more vocabulary a person has, the easier understanding of words in context.
ResponderEliminarI consider that reading is very important receptive skill because through it we can improve our way of reading of course, besides that the way of writing, and pronounce words. Reading is a useful tool to increase lexicon of different fields.