LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 10 : 9 September 2010
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.

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Extensive Reading and Reading Strategies: A Try-Out

J. Samuel Kirubahar, Ph.D.
A. Subashini, M.A., M.Phil.

1. Introduction

English has become essential for every citizen in the global family. In today's world, a youth with a good English education can have a better chance of earning a decent livelihood. English is not only a tool of learning but also a matter of social prestige. As Parasher (1979) suggests, "it is found to be associated with formality and higher domains while the mother tongue is found to be associated with informality and lower domains". This being the situation, the second language learners, associated with informality and lower domains do not find an opportunity to develop their inner ability to process a text at a cognitive level, as they face problems with the subject because they have less chance to develop their skills in learning English even though English is being taught as a subject and part of the curricula.

1.1. Textbooks

The textbooks used in the classroom have literary pieces as staple ingredients, but the teaching of these pieces is often restricted only to surface-level comprehension.

Due to this, the learners lack the motivation to read through the texts and as a result the focus shifts to comprehension without basic understanding of the language. This becomes a serious problem.

1.2. Reading

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas. It is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning and/or constructing meaning. It is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which can be shaped by the reader's prior knowledge, experiences, attitudes, and language community which is culturally and socially situated.

The reading process requires continuous practice, development and requirement because when reading in an unfamiliar language, even accomplished readers commonly function like novices, exhibiting many of the same problems as unskilled readers (Keiko Koda : 20).

Readers of lower ability tend to see reading as a serious, difficult process, requiring hard work and disciplined effort and students of higher reading ability see reading as a pleasant, imaginative activity. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways of exposing learners to language and enable them to go through some texts, which focus on the use of language in real life situations. This exposure could be given through literature. Extensive reading as a teaching procedure could be administered to encourage and help the learners with their reading during or after class time.

This article surveys extensive reading and tries to establish extensive reading as a language teaching tool as it explores the main issues in extensive reading, including the role of readers and teachers.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Right to Education and Languages in India - Part I | An Application of Skills Integration in Language Teaching | Official Ways to Subjugate Languages - School Setting as a Cause of Pahari Dhundi-Kairali Decline | Speech Identification Scores in Children With Bimodal Hearing | Continuous Professional Development - An Issue in Tertiary Education in Bangladesh | Teaching the Extra - Essentiality of Bringing Eclecticism into Classroom | Effective Teaching of English: A CLT Perspective for Haryana | ELT in Libyan Universities - A Pragmatic Approach | Behavioural Problems of Secondary School Students - A Pakistani Scene | Selection Procedure for English Language Teachers' Professional Development Courses of HEC Pakistan - A Case Study | Cohesion and Coherence in the novel The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James | A Review of A. R. Kidwai 2009: Literary Orientalism: a companion | Dravidian Ideologue Kanimozhi and Her Language | Extensive Reading and Reading Strategies: A Try-Out | Trends in Language Shift and Maintenance in the Eranad Dialect of Malayalam | Interdependence of Law and Literature in Shakespeare's and Charles Dickens's Writings - A Reflection | The Interaction between Bilingualism, Educational and Social Factors and Foreign Language Leaning in Iran | Code Switching in Kailasam's Play - Poli Kitty | Morph-Synthesizer for Oriya Language Computational Approach | Question Formation in Pahari | Language in Politics of Recognition: A Case of the Nepali Language in the Creation of Political Identity of the Nepalis in Darjeeling | Technology Note - Creating Parallel Test Items with Microsoft Excel | Politeness Strategies Across Cultures | Bridge between East and West - Iqbal and Goethe | Syntactic Errors Made by Science Students at the Graduate Level in Pakistan - Causes and Remedies | Prospective Teachers of English in India: A Perspective | Reported Perceptions and Practices of English Language Teachers at Secondary Level in Pakistan | A PRINT VERSION OF ALL THE PAPERS OF SEPTEMBER, 2010 ISSUE IN BOOK FORMAT. | HOME PAGE of September 2010 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com

J. Samuel Kirubahar, Ph.D.
Research Centre in English
VHNSN College
Virudhunagar
Tamilnadu, India
samuelkirubhakar@yahoo.in

A. Subashini, M.A., M.Phil.
Research Center in English
VHNSN College
Virudhunagar
Tamilnadu, India
subaandravi@yahoo.in

 
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