How to become a good reader?
This question might sound like a nonsense question on the surface to the most of you. And you may reply: ’what do you mean by how to read? As if we haven’t read a single thing in our entire lives’. But, the fact, my friends, is that most of us, although we have been reading since the age of 3 to 5 years or even younger, do not know how to read. Even I came to know that a couple of months back.
Let understand that with the help of a real-life example. I am a student of M.A, English Linguistics (Final Year). One of my teachers asked us to define reading and most of the definitions that came said ‘saying a text aloud’ is a component of the practice we call reading. It came as a surprise when she revealed that reading …show more content…
Sometimes, teacher’s agenda is that they want to improve the pronunciation of their students, which is absolutely okay. But then it should not be called reading. The actual term for this kind of activity is ‘speaking’. At the initial stage, reading aloud is taught to teach students the connection between written and spoken text. Also, speaking is used as a strategy to develop speaking skills. Therefore, teaching reading to toddlers that way is not a problem, it is a requirement. But, the same method cannot be applied to kids a little older than that. In a number of schools, usually, those that are not ‘elite’, students are taught reading in a very wrong way. In my school, for example, I remember, we used to practice reading aloud till grade VII and would raise our hands so high as if doing that would be an extremely honorable task. At the end of the day, I don’t remember I learned anything from that exercise.
To put it simply, there are three basic steps to teaching reading. The first one in learning reading is to Read Aloud. Next is Read Along. And the final stage is Read Alone. As teachers or adults, our duty is to gradually make them accustomed to reading
This question might sound like a nonsense question on the surface to the most of you. And you may reply: ’what do you mean by how to read? As if we haven’t read a single thing in our entire lives’. But, the fact, my friends, is that most of us, although we have been reading since the age of 3 to 5 years or even younger, do not know how to read. Even I came to know that a couple of months back.
Let understand that with the help of a real-life example. I am a student of M.A, English Linguistics (Final Year). One of my teachers asked us to define reading and most of the definitions that came said ‘saying a text aloud’ is a component of the practice we call reading. It came as a surprise when she revealed that reading …show more content…
Sometimes, teacher’s agenda is that they want to improve the pronunciation of their students, which is absolutely okay. But then it should not be called reading. The actual term for this kind of activity is ‘speaking’. At the initial stage, reading aloud is taught to teach students the connection between written and spoken text. Also, speaking is used as a strategy to develop speaking skills. Therefore, teaching reading to toddlers that way is not a problem, it is a requirement. But, the same method cannot be applied to kids a little older than that. In a number of schools, usually, those that are not ‘elite’, students are taught reading in a very wrong way. In my school, for example, I remember, we used to practice reading aloud till grade VII and would raise our hands so high as if doing that would be an extremely honorable task. At the end of the day, I don’t remember I learned anything from that exercise.
To put it simply, there are three basic steps to teaching reading. The first one in learning reading is to Read Aloud. Next is Read Along. And the final stage is Read Alone. As teachers or adults, our duty is to gradually make them accustomed to reading