Reading is an essential activity that every child should have as a habit. It improves fluency and communication skills, introduces new vocabulary, and helps develop a wider worldview. Reading books of different genres opens gateways to experience diverse scenarios and forms unique perspectives in the reader’s mind. One gets a chance to go through different emotions and situations in the comfort of their homes. It enhances literacy skills and academic progress. In this blog, we will explore a few techniques to develop reading skills for school students.
The 4 Key Reading Techniques
- Skimming: If the text that you are reading is too lengthy and complicated, then a method called skimming could be used. It means to quickly go through the entire text just to get an overview and understand the gist of what is written. Headings and sub-headings used in the text save time and help in easy comprehension and identification of the main theme without having to read every word.
- Scanning: This is a type of reading skill wherein the focus is to look out for specific keywords without reading every line. The reader reads in a fast manner only to spot particular pieces of information, such as words, names, dates, days, etc. This method is beneficial when you are already aware of what you are trying to locate.
- Intensive reading: This reading technique requires a lot of attention and involves reading in-depth. The reader almost reads every word with great focus on structure, grammar and vocabulary to have a good understanding of topics. This reading skill improves the comprehension and critical thinking of school students.
- Extensive reading: This is more about reading large volumes of text just for fun, leisure, or as a hobby. Readers are less concerned about details. They usually read magazines, novels, and fictional books for knowledge, building vocabulary, or to have a relaxed experience.
Essential Skills for Achieving Reading Success
Reading skills are crucial for developing strong comprehension abilities and for achieving reading success. Such skills can be mastered over time, and they include the following:
- Decoding: This is a method of breaking down complex topics into simple matters and also translating written words into spoken form. This ability gives the reader an opportunity to learn the pronunciation and meaning of the texts. This improves reading efficiency and fluency.
- Acquiring new vocabulary: Reading introduces children to multiple new words. They can learn the meaning of these words and start using them in daily conversations. This helps them develop better communication skills and also helps in understanding complex conversations. It also helps provide a good reading experience without having to check the meaning every time.
- Fluency: Fluency refers to the ability to speak easily and accurately. Reading frequently improves fluency in a particular language. It makes reading enjoyable, and children can converse without any hesitation.
- Knowing language conventions: Reading gives a chance to understand the basic as well as advanced levels of a language. Children can understand grammar, punctuation, pronunciation, and syntax to improve reading comprehension and writing skills.
- Reading comprehension: It means to decode and understand the written text. Strong comprehension skills help students grasp and retain the information for longer durations.
- Working memory and attention: Studies have shown that due to continuous engagement of the brain while reading, reading enhances memory and attention span. Children learn to read and store information, leading to better learning outcomes.
- Reasoning and background knowledge: Reasoning skills and prior knowledge allow readers to draw conclusions and relate new information to background knowledge. This connection helps them enhance their level of understanding and retain and apply concepts more effectively.
Differences Between Active And Passive Reading
| Active Reading | Passive Reading |
| Reading with a purpose of learning. | Reading without any purpose or for leisure. |
| The style and pace of reading depend on the complexity and length of the text. | Reading style and speed are similar for all kinds of texts. |
| Multiple reading techniques are used. | Skimming can be frequently used. |
| It involves critical thinking. | This does not always need thinking. |
| Involves active questioning. | No such interaction. |
| Leads to deeper understanding and retention. | The reader simply reads without the need for retention. |
Categories Of Reading Comprehension
The types of reading comprehension include:
- Literal: This method focuses on understanding the explicit meaning and the ability to to identify specific details, the main theme and message, and answer questions based on the information contained in the text.
- Inferential: The meaning or the message of the text is somewhat implicit and hidden. The reader has to utilize reasoning and understanding skills to interpret and arrive at the conclusion using the hints given.
- Evaluative: The method mainly involves judging the text based on the author’s tone, style of writing, point of view of the author, and developing one’s well-supported opinion.
Reading Skills In The Classroom
Given below are some effective strategies to teach reading skills in the classroom:
- Encouraging students to read aloud to improve pronunciation and fluency.
- Encouraging students to ask questions and discuss the topics.
- Promoting group reading activities.
- Conducting reading and writing activities and giving students proper feedback.
- Using visual aids and videos to teach correct pronunciation or usage of vocabulary.
How To Improve Reading Skills Of A Child?
Here are some practical skills to improve the reading skills of children:
- Reading along with children to boost their confidence and help them understand better.
- Encouraging them to read on a regular basis.
- Creating a reading-friendly environment at home and school.
- Introducing and buying them books that excite them.
- Set a reading routine to help them stay consistent.
- Playing word games such as scrabble or crossword puzzles can improve their fluency and build vocabulary.
- Listening to audiobooks.
Conclusion
Reading and learning is a lifelong process. If children start cultivating the habit of reading from an early age, it helps them retain more information, increases their attention span, and lays a strong foundation of the language and grammar. Reading comprehension improves fluency, communication, and vocabulary. It helps children converse confidently and develop social skills. Parents and teachers should follow good strategies to improve the reading skills of their children for academic and personal success.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Skimming—glancing quickly; scanning—locating specific information; intensive reading—deep reading; and extensive reading—reading for fun are four key techniques that every child should learn.Â
In skimming, the reader quickly goes through the entire text to get the overview or understand the message using headlines and subheadings. In scanning, readers look for specific information like dates, days, names, etc.; they already know what the text is all about.
Vocabulary acquisition makes reading easy and smooth. It also saves time, as the reader does not need to spend effort understanding the meaning of various words. Strong vocabulary helps in identifying the essence of the text and improves retention span.
In the active reading method, the goal of the reader is to learn, think and form opinions. This form of reading helps raise questions and helps in understanding the subject matter to retain information. The reader adjusts his reading style and speed based on the text. While using passive reading techniques, the reader reads the text just for pleasure without any background knowledge. It does not involve questioning and critical thinking.
Setting a proper reading schedule for children.
Reading together frequently.
Creating reading space at home.
Discussing books, stories and characters to excite them.
Buying books of different genres.
Giving them feedback and correcting their mistakes.
