4. Techniques of Reading
An appropriate technique helps readers or students to get comprehension or to improve their ability of reading. According to Ronald Mackay there are two
techniques in reading those are scanning and skimming. For further explanation as follows:
7
1. Scanning
Scanning is that the reader pushing himself through a selection at an initially uncomfortable rate, but the search is more focused since the information
needed is very specific usually date, a number, or a place.
2. Skimming
Skimming is more complex than scanning; skimming is a quick reading for the general drift of a passage. It is an activity which is appropriate when there
is no time to read something carefully or when trying to decide it careful reading is merited. It is also a great way to review material that the reader
read before. The technique in reading including scanning and skimming is aimed to
comprehend the printed material as the reader read. However many teachers get misunderstanding about comprehension itself, they usually ask the students about
their comprehension by using conventional multiple choices, true false, or fill in the blank items on objective test.
8
7
Ronald Mackay, Bruce Barkman and R.R Jordan, Reading A Second Language, Massachusetts: New Burry House, 1979, p.55.
8
John F Savage Jean F Mooney, Teaching Reading to Children with Special Needs, USA: Allyn and Bacon inc, 1979, p.30.
5. Purpose of Reading
Purpose refers to readers’ aim or intention in reading certain text. When dealing with reading, the reader seems to address the different purposes.
According to Grabe, there are six major purposes of reading:
9
a. Reading to search for information
When the readers want to search for some specific information, they engage in two skills: Skimming and Scanning. Skimming is used to determine what a
text is about or to read more difficult text under intense time pressure. Besides, they use scanning in order to identify a specific graph form of the
text.
b. Reading for quick understanding
The readers often read to a text because they want to learn something from the text without considering too many details. Skimming can be used to entail
the reader’s ability to select the main points rapidly.
c. Reading to learn
In academic and professional settings, sometimes the readers read to learn something from the text. It occurs when the information in a text is identified
as important which will be used for some task given by the teacher at the specific course.
d. Reading to integrate information
This purpose is carried out when the readers are required to insert the information from multiple texts or bring together information taken from
different chapters of a textbook.
e. Reading to evaluate, critique, and use information
Reading to evaluate, critique, and use information indicates the higher demand of interaction of reading process. Sometimes, the readers are required
to evaluate and criticize the information of a text whether the parts of the text are important, more or less persuasive, or most controversial.
9
William Grabe, Reading in a Second Language: Moving from Theory to Practice, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 13.
Kategori