Dear Editor,
These are my personal steps to follow in increasing awareness of the value of reading.
Step 1. At the introductory stage in a reading program, the instructor should read aloud narratives from text, handbook, or other vital sources such as magazines, newspapers, or study guides. Readers can practice specific skills as reading to extract important information from the text, or for general understanding of the narratives.
Step 2. The purpose for reading: (A) skills predicting reading for gist. (B) reading for detailed comprehension. The participants will read the text and other publications for gist, and again for detailed comprehension. This is mostly suitable for advance (ESL) learners. Any activities involving completing simple diagrams and labelling tasks should be awarded points for involvement in the reading process.
Step 3. Specific objective: Readers will be able to recognize and decode words used in the text, handbook or other publications. They’ll also learn to interpret phrases, improve their reading habits, and learn to construct simple sentences.
Step 4. Understanding extensive and intensive reading: During extensive reading – readers read for general or detailed understanding of the text or topics. The reader can also read for pleasure. Extensive reading will help readers in grammar and vocabulary usage. Participants will become much better readers.
Step 5. The importance of extensive reading materials: We should encourage readers to read stories or narratives from fiction and non-fiction books. Get them to transcribe important words used in the materials or text with the use of a dictionary for clear understanding. Involve the readers with the use of authentic language materials such as reading from newspapers, magazines, study-guides, and weather reports. During intensive reading, the reader extracts specific information from the text or other materials without knowing the meaning of every word in the text. Intensive reading is actually reading for gist, to extract only the information the instructor wants readers to know from the materials, text or handbook.
Step 6. The importance of intensive reading materials: The instructor must use a lot of authentic materials to promote intensive reading. Apart from newspapers, magazines, and study-guides, the Gazette with new legislations passed by the Government is also important for readers. Many company brochures and discovery journals are other important tools for intensive reading. Readers can extract words and phrases, and learn to develop simple sentences from materials. First, readers should learn to decode important vocabulary used in their community. A couple of words are listed below such as, doctor, dentist, nurse, police, bank, post office, court house, animal, plant, pier, bridge, judge, insurance, library, parliament, prime minister, church, lawyer, airport, harbor, independence, republic, and so on. We should also encourage readers to read about topics affecting the community and the outside world such as the environment, refuge crisis, global warfare, COVID-19 pandemic, nuclear power, OPEC, world-war, hypersonic system, and cyber security, etc.
Step 7. In summary, in order to promote good reading habits, we should organize a lot of community reading programs. Encourage people to attend literacy training centers. Invest in a good library and organized radio and TV reading programs. I would like future readers to get involved in extensive and intensive reading habits.
Joseph Harvey
