Language Essay: The Importance Of Language Skills

Register to read the introduction… Students pursuing higher level education have to do alarming amounts of it to ensure their academic success. Most people may agree that reading is the make or break language skill for a student's academic success. Merriam-Webster (2014) defines “reading” as looking at and understand the meaning of letters, words, symbols, etc. Similar to listening, there are different types and ways in which different schools of thought categories them. For this purpose, the types to be discussed are “independent reading”, “reading aloud to students”, “guided reading and shared reading”(Thompkins, 2006.pp 87). The book notes that “independent reading” is where the individual reads silently to him or herself. “Reading Aloud to Students” is a very useful strategy and type of reading, especially in primary and secondary schools levels. Presumably, this type of reading is helpful to learners to understand the correct pronunciation of words, appreciate cadence, intonation, phonetics and grammar orally. Guided Reading, on the other hand is “Teachers scaffold students' reading to teach reading strategies (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996, 2001). Guided reading is conducted with small groups of students who read at the same level.” (Thompkins, 2006. pp87). Lastly the Thompkins reveals that “shared reading” is when students follow along as the teacher reads a selection aloud. Other types include active reading, scanning, skimming, intensive reading and extensive reading (MacLeod, Maija. 2014). Often, these skills are not exclusive to each other and it is possible to use all of them depending on the purpose of …show more content…
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