Sorry! and a Big One for having not written anything on the blog for quite some time. There were reasons...
Anyway, resuming my thread about Reading Comprehension...
There are four skills which one needs to have if one wants to be proficient in English.
1)Listening Skills- so that one can understand the lectures, seminars, the news, the chat shows, the movies and so on.
2)Speaking Skills- so that one can take part in seminars,discussions,presentations and even simple conversations.
3)Reading Skills- so that one can comprehend textbooks,journals,newspapers,reading comprehension handouts and so on.
4)Writing Skills- for essays reports and so on.
Anyway, resuming my thread about Reading Comprehension...
There are four skills which one needs to have if one wants to be proficient in English.
1)Listening Skills- so that one can understand the lectures, seminars, the news, the chat shows, the movies and so on.
2)Speaking Skills- so that one can take part in seminars,discussions,presentations and even simple conversations.
3)Reading Skills- so that one can comprehend textbooks,journals,newspapers,reading comprehension handouts and so on.
4)Writing Skills- for essays reports and so on.
READING SKILLS--
The written text has a great advantage over the Spoken Text. It is fixed and hence can be read as many times as possible.Much has been talked about Reading Speed.However Speed Reading without Comprehension and Critical evaluation is futile. Slow Reading does not increase Comprehension, in fact it might distract the student and make him lose the sentence and thought connects . So, what's needed is a perfect blend of efficient and effective eye movements, and an active interaction between the reader and the passage.
EYE MOVEMENTS--The eyes are powerful focal points of concentration. In order to read any passage the eye must follow the print line. This however cannot be a smooth even flow, it would be impossible to focus on anything unless the eyes are momentarily fixed on the words.The eyes then must move in a series of pauses and jumps. Each stoppage should not take more than a quarter of a second.
Remember, re-reading a set of words already read would result in anxiety and insecurity.
The pause and jump can only be possible if you read in terms of collocations,taking up to five/six words at each fixation clearly this will increase reading speed dramatically. Collocation reading is reading in terms of 'sense units' and 'visual units' and a higher range of means can be easily extracted. To prevent distraction and improve sentence connects use a card state under a line and keep moving it downwards. If you are stealing glances at the lines already read just reverse the card position.
