DEVELOPING READING SKILLS IN THE LEARNERS OF SECOND LANGUAGE

Abstract

William Faulkner, a Nobel prize winner in literature, said, “Read, Read, Read, Read. Read every thing: Trash, classics, good and bad, and see how writers do it.” The average reading speed of an educated adult is approximately fifteen thousand to 18000 words per hour so if you read four hours a day, you are likely to go through 60,000 to 72000 words daily. One can thus imagine how many words one would read in your active life of forty years are so . To get the full benefit from this effort it is essential to comprehend properly what the learner read. Reading is not recognizing the sound that a printed word makes is not imitating the sound that a teacher makes (and linking that sound with 8 symbol). Reading means understanding and comprehending the given passage that would lead to reading and thinking reading and understanding and finally to the goal of clear thinking. Broadly speaking there are various reasons for reading like reading for pleasure, reading for information and instructions, reading to correct errors and reading for writing. According to Edward Fry, there are three reading speeds; study reading speed average reading speed and skimming speed. Study reading speed is generally used to read materials which demands total comprehension and retention of its meaning. The average reading speed is used for every day reading of news paper magazine and Notices etc. skimming is the fastest reading speed and is generally used for getting an overall idea of the material read.