Skimming Theory of Reading

best to ensure that they are engaged with the topic of a reading text and the activities they are asked to do while dealing with it. c. Encourage students to respond to the content of a text and explore their feelings about it, not just concentrate on its construction. It is important for students to study reading texts in class in order to find out such things as the way they use language, the number of paragraphs they contain and how many times they use relative clauses. But the meaning, the message of the text, is just as important as this. As a result, the teachers must give students a chance to respond to that message in some way. It is especially important that they should be allowed to show their feelings about the topic. d. Prediction is a major factor in reading When the students are choosing what to read for pleasure, the teachers should encourage them to look at covers and back cover copy to help them select what to read and then to help them get into a book. e. Match the task to the topic when using intensive reading texts. Once a decision has been taken about what reading text, the students are going to read, the teachers need to choose good reading tasks- the right kind of questions, appropriate activities before during and after reading, and useful study exploitation. f. Good teachers exploit reading texts to the full 11 Any reading text is full of sentences, words, ideas, descriptions, etc. It does not make sense, in class, just to get students to read it and then drop it and move on to something else. Good teachers integrate the reading text into interesting lesson sequences, using the topic for discussion and further tasks, using the language for study and then activation and using range activities to bring the text to life. 11 Jeremy Harmer, ibid., pp. 101 – 102.

7. Problems of Reading

There are many problems faced by a reader as reading. According to Paula Fleming, there are some typical causes which then arise toward students’ difficulty in reading such as: a. Limited intelligence b. Overemphasis on word recognition c. Overemphasis on oral reading d. Insufficient background for reading selections e. Failure to adjust reading techniques to reading purpose f. Lack of appropriate teacher guidance 12 The six problems above would be explained further concerning the causes and how to overcome those shortcomings in order a reader is able to comprehend kinds of reading selections. In the first problem area, it is known that a fairly close relationship exists between intelligence and the ability to read. Since general intelligence is the most important factor in readiness for reading, it is obvious that intelligence tests are useful for appraising certain phases of readiness to read. 13 When we illustrate that correlation, it can be understood that there is a substantial correlation between intelligence and reading ability. It is true that a child who is intelligent enough to go to school is intelligent enough to learn to read simple mater ials. Nevertheless, a child’s ability to comprehend in reading is limited by the conceptual load that his mental ability enables him to carry. Thus, as a teacher, we should never underestimate a student’s mental development, but we should adjust the task to his capabilities to grow his power toward reading. Next, the second problem area is word recognition. Students may get difficulty in recognizing the word as they read. It is caused by the differences in syntactical patterns of the students’ native language and the target language. 14 In 12 Paula Fleming, Better Reading Skills, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1981, p.6. 13 J. Charles Alderson, Assessing Reading, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 101. 14 Jo Ann Aebersold, From Reader to Reading Teacher; Issues and Strategies for Second Language Classrooms, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 12 – 13.