Types and Techniques of Teaching Reading

                      Introduction

Reading is a method of communication that enables a person to turn writing into meaning. It allows the reader to convert a returned text into a meaningful language with independence, comprehension, and fluency, and to interact with the message. By learning different reading skills, a person will reduce unnecessary reading time. By knowing different types and techniques on how to read better a person can increase reading speed and can utilise it effectively. If a person knows when to use the different reading skills in everyday scenarios he will be able to save time and effort. 

               Types of Reading skill

 Some of the types of reading skills which are used while approaching reading materials are as follows: -

• Skimming
• Scanning
• Intensive Reading
• Extensive Reading

   1. Skimming

Skimming is one of the tools we can use to read more in less time. Skimming refers to looking only for the general or main ideas, and works best with non fictional material. The real purpose of skimming the text is to know what the text is about. By skimming one can get general superficial idea of the context of the text. Skimming  takes place while reading allows to look for details in details in addition to the main ideas. Skimming can also help to make decisions about where to place greatest focus when we have limited time for reading. People generally skim content while reading reviews, impromptu presentation, reviewing for exam, etc.
   2. Scanning
Scanning is a reading technique to be used when we want to find specific information quickly. In scanning you have a question in your mind and you read a passage only to find the answers, ignoring and related information. This technique is used when a person tries to find the specific item such as telephone number, a date, time, etc. Even for writing research paper, a person refers two or three books but in that book he/she only search for the proper topics related to his/ her research paper which is of his use. It involves very rapid movement of person's eyes up and down a page. While scanning people often focus on author's use of organizers such as bold print, numbering, etc. People generally scan while checking from their inbox messages, buying from book or grocery store or while choosing meals. In general, scanning is most effective for material with set layout, such as newspaper and phone books.
   3. Intensive Reading
Intensive reading is just what the name implies! It's reading where testing, evaluating and increasing knowledge is the primary focus. Understanding the literal meaning of what's being read is vital. Reading intensively offer includes note- taking and attention to details. In intensive reading, there's an emphasis on deconstructing sentences, to understand grammar and syntax rules as well as to extricate the details of the topic. It can also involve reading comprehension testing, such as finding answers to specific questions. Some possible examples of intensive reading material are reports, contracts, news articles, blog posts and short pieces of text such as short stories.
   4. Extensive Reading
 Extensive reading is a completely different sort of approach. This reading is for fun. And it's doing it as often as possible. Fluency and total comprehension aren't necessary for extensive reading. It's great to read at or, even better, below comfortable level of understanding. Most of the time,  an unfamiliar word can be deciphered by the surrounding text and if not, that's fine, too. It's not vital to understand every single word in order to get the general idea of a particular passage. It generally accepted that 90- 95% of the words should be familiar in order to read comfortably in a foreign language. And most of us can get along pretty well even without having all that vocabulary in our toolboxes. Guessing special event reading extensively, does work. The idea behind extensive reading is that increased exposure leads to stronger language skills.

         Techniques of Reading skill

There exist some reading techniques which if mastered at a growing stage can help us be better and far more comprehension readers. The skills might not necessarily be learnt as rigid theories are rules but if understood when once they can definitely in hands the reading skill and increases the quality and quantity of output that we get from after reading. The following are some methods/styles/techniques of reading used in different situations.

   1. Active Reading

Active reading aims to get an in-depth understanding of the text. Under this technique, the reader actively involved with the text while reading it. Getting in-depth knowledge of the text at hand is not possible by reading to skim through or scan through the text.

   2. Detailed Reading

This technique is used for extracting information accurately from the whole text. Under this technique, we read every word for understanding the meaning of the text. In this careful reading, we can skim the text first for getting a general idea and then go back to read in detail. We can use a dictionary to find the meaning of every unfamiliar word.

   3. Speed Reading

Speed reading is actually a combination of various reading methods. The aim of speed reading is basically to increase the reading speed without compromising the understanding of the text reading. Some of the strategies used in the speed reading are as follows: Identifying words without focusing on each letter; not to sounding -out all words; not sub- vocalising some phrases; spending less time on some phrases than others; skimming some sections.

   4.Structure-Proposition-Evaluation

This is an interesting reading techniques suggested by Mortimer Alder in his book "How to Read a Book". This reading technique is mainly applicable to non- fiction writing. This technique suggest writing as three following patterns: studying the structure of the work; studying the logical proposition made and organised into chains of inference; evaluation of the merits of the arguments and conclusions.

   5. Supplementary Reading

The teacher has to know the interest of the students. It refers to that kind of reading where reader read text apart from syllabus. The teacher can tell the students to read something to develop the reading of students. For example, teacher can say to students that they can also read the Marathi or Hindi language in which they are interested. It requires continuous practice.

   6. Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review

This method aims at to facilitate a clear understanding of the text that the reader would be able to teach whatever he has learnt during the process of reading. The process involves five different steps, which are as follows: Survey - The survey involves  getting quick idea on the whole writing piece. Question - We should prepare questions in our mind and look for answers while reading the text .Read - The readers should read selectively if they are looking for any specific. Recite -  The reader should answer the questions in his own words using only the key words that are required to sum up the complete idea. Review - The the readers should review the entire things in his mind.

                        Conclusion

Reading is the basic foundations on which academic skills of individuals are built. By using these types and techniques we can improve our reading skills. Reading is a true measure of a person's success in academics. As we know the paramount importance of reading, it is given the top priority in primary education.