READING COMPREHENSION SKILL & READING FOR

PLEASURE

LECTURER : JERNIH SINURAT M.Pd

Arranged By:

Syarifah Aini

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

POTENSI UTAMA UNIVERSITY

MEDAN

2020
 READING COMPREHENSION SKILL

Reading comprehension skill is the ability to process text, understand its

meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows. Fundamental
skills required in efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of
words, ability to understand meaning of a word from discourse context, ability
to follow organization of passage and to identify antecedents and references in
it, ability to draw inferences from a passage about its contents, ability to identify
the main thought of a passage, ability to answer questions answered in a
passage, ability to recognize the literary devices or propositional structures used
in a passage and determine its tone, to understand the situational mood (agents,
objects, temporal and spatial reference points, casual and intentional inflections,
etc.) conveyed for assertions, questioning, commanding, refraining etc. and
finally ability to determine writer's purpose, intent and point of view, and draw
inferences about the writer (discourse-semantics).

There are many reading strategies to improve reading comprehension and

inferences, including improving one's vocabulary, critical text analysis
(intertextuality, actual events vs. narration of events, etc.) and practicing deep
reading.
 SCANNING

Scanning is reading a text quickly in order to find specific information,

e.g. figures or names. It can be contrasted with skimming, which is reading
quickly to get a general idea of meaning.

Example :
A learner taking a reading test needs to scan a text on population rates quickly
to find out if a series of statements about the population figures are true or false.

In the classroom
As the above example shows, scanning is a specific reading skill which is often
used in combination with others such as skimming and intensive reading.
Learners need to learn different ways and understand that choosing how to read
is an important step in building reading skills.

PREVIEWING

Previewing is a strategy that readers use to recall prior knowledge and set
a purpose for reading. It calls for readers to skim a text before reading, looking
for various features and information that will help as they return to read it in
detail later.

According to research, previewing a text can improve comprehension

(Graves, Cooke, & LaBerge, 1983, cited in Paris et al., 1991).

Previewing a text helps readers prepare for what they are about to read and set a
purpose for reading.

The genre determines the reader’s methods for previewing:

  Readers preview nonfiction to find out what they know about the subject
and what they want to find out. It also helps them understand how an
author has organized information.

 Readers preview biography to determine something about the person in

the biography, the time period, and some possible places and events in the
life of the person.

 Readers preview fiction to determine characters, setting, and plot. They

also preview to make predictions about story’s problems and solutions.

When readers preview a text before they read, they first ask themselves whether
the text is fiction or nonfiction.

 If the text is fiction or biography, readers look at the title, chapter

headings, introductory notes, and illustrations for a better understanding of
the content and possible settings or events.

 If the text is nonfiction, readers look at text features and illustrations (and
their captions) to determine subject matter and to recall prior knowledge,
to decide what they know about the subject. Previewing also helps readers
figure out what they don’t know and what they want to find out.

Think of previewing a text as similar to creating a movie trailer.  A successful

preview for either a movie or a reading experience will capture what the overall
work is going to be about, generally what expectations the audience can have of
the experience to come, how the piece is structured, and what kinds of patterns
will emerge.

Previewing engages your prior experience, and asks you to think about what
you already know about this subject matter, or this author, or this publication.
Then anticipate what new information might be ahead of you when you return
to read this text more closely.
 PREDICTING
Predicting is an important reading strategy. It allows students to use
information from the text, such as titles, headings, pictures and diagrams to
anticipate what will happen in the story (Bailey, 2015). When making
predictions, students envision what will come next in the text, based on their
prior knowledge. Predicting encourages children to actively think ahead and ask
questions. It also allows students to understand the story better, make
connections to what they are reading, and interact with the text.

Making predictions is also a valuable strategy to improve reading

comprehension. Students are able to make predictions about a story, based on
what they have already heard, read, or seen. This in turn, will allow students to
become actively involved in the reading process. To determine if their
predictions are correct, students should be required to reread portions of the text
to recall facts about the characters or events within the story. Picture walks can
serve as a tool to organize information within a story, which can also increase a
child’s comprehension. During a picture walk, students are able to activate their
prior knowledge and connect the visual images in the story to their own
personal experiences.

Students can also use a graphic organizer to predict the outcome of a story.
They can do this by identifying clues within the text to predict how characters
will behave and how significant problems in the story will be solved. When
using a graphic organizer, students are able to stay fully engaged in the story as
they capture their thoughts in a logical way. It is important for teachers to
encourage children to record clues that either support or deny their predictions.
Teachers can also allow students to revise their predictions in order to reflect on
the clues that are found within the text. 
Making predictions encourages readers to use critical thinking and problem
solving skills.  Readers are given the opportunity to reflect and evaluate the text,
thus extracting deeper meaning and comprehension skills. Students will also be
more interested in the reading material when they connect their prior knowledge
with the new information that is being learned.
 READING FOR PLEASURE

Reading for Pleasure is a notion that can be misleading, especially in a context

of literacy (policy). Some may associate it with good readers, who pick up a fat
novel to enjoy themselves. However, within ELINET (and within a wider
context of reading promotion) Reading for Pleasure means: voluntary reading,
and choosing (what) to read, either during school time or in free time. It can be
a powerful tool in all age groups and amongst all levels of readers. Those who
cannot read, will need assistance from others (e.g. parents, teachers) to access
and comprehend the reading materials of their interest.

Reading for Pleasure during childhood has been identified as having long term
benefits. Individuals who read for pleasure as children had enhanced vocabulary
levels 30 years later. The benefits may be because ‘good’ reading habits
established during childhood endure through adolescence and into adulthood.
Advocacy by Book Trust and others means that Reading for Pleasure is
acknowledged now in the National Curriculum for English schools. Book
Trust’s Bookstart ‘books for babies’ programme - beginning that lifelong
enjoyment of sharing and reading stories - has been funded by the UK
Government since 2000. The Book Start Corner home-visiting programme
targets disadvantaged parents with children under 3. The benefits of
programmes such as these are seen in the evidence of more reading with
children in the home (71%) and increased parental confidence about how to
share stories with their young children (85%). And for older children, giving 11-
year-olds choices and opportunities to read increases their enjoyment and the
amount of reading that they do. It just takes the right book to help all children
discover the joys of reading!

It is clear the advocacy case has to be made to key stakeholders across Europe.
At times it may seem an uphill task, but we gain strength from what has been
achieved - for instance, Bookstart has been replicated in 30 countries, and there
is growing interest in EURead from many countries - and from the influence of
our fictional role models, those characters that made most impact on ELINET
members when they were children: Pippi Longstocking, Jo March (Little
Women), Tom Sawyer and others. These are feisty figures. It is our Reading for
Pleasure that gives us the belief that we will win through.