“The Art of Effective Reading for Professional Success”

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“The Art of Effective Reading for Professional Success”
Dr. Anjaneyulu Gangula
Professor & Dean- Student Affairs
Vardhaman College of Engineering
Hyderabad
INDIA
Dr. P. Eliah
Former Professor of English
JNTU, Hyderabad
India
Abstract
This paper is mainly focusing on the importance of reading, levels of reading and different
techniques to be adopted for professional success. Reading increases one’s knowledge,
understanding and intelligence. One must read not only the printed lines, but also read between
the lines, behind the lines and beyond the lines for symbolic meanings, concealed meanings and
ironic meanings. The style or method of reading depends upon the reader’s purpose or intent.
Reading any material is expected to make the reader more competent and give him more
knowledge and insight. In fact, reading is a means of learning. The goal in reading is not speed but
flexibility. Effective reading is an active reading. Therefore one must know the purpose and intent
of one’s reading. Since reading is thinking under the stimulus of the printed page, it is a
psycholinguistic guessing game. Reading certainly makes a full man. The teachers, students and
other professional readers must concentrate on this intellectual soft skill which is a challenging
and profitable activity for a modern reader to get success in his career.
Key words: Importance of reading, levels of reading, techniques of effective reading.
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The style or method of reading depends upon the reader’s purpose or intent. At the lowest
mechanical level, reading is the interpretation of printed or written symbols or words into speech
or its mental equivalent. Another conceptual level of reading incorporates the idea of literal
meaning. Yet another conceptual level of reading involves an active outgoing attitude on the part
of the reader. He makes an attempt to relate the present reading material to other writings related
to the topic, the reader’s own experience, the times in which the author wrote the reading material
and his intent in writing the material. One more concept of reading is the personal meaning that
reading a particular material has for a particular reader. After all, reading any material must make
the reader more competent, and give him more knowledge and insight. One must have an idea of
the nature of reading, the goals to be attained, and the methods and material required to attain these
goals.
Linguists conceptualize language into four layers: phonology, the study of the sounds;
morphology, the study of the form and structure; syntax, the manner in which strings of
morphemes are put together to form sentences; and finally semantics, which deals with meanings.
Reading may be considered at three levels: reading as a useful activity, reading as an attractive
activity, and reading as a task that demands selective and sustained attention. In fact, reading is a
means of learning. In recent years there has been a flurry of interest in speed or quick reading. A
desire for greater speed of reading can lead to a great deal of misapplied effort. The goal in reading
is not speed but flexibility and selectivity. What happens when a person reads a text depends on
the reader’s purpose, the type of the text, the reader’s degree of familiarity with the topic and the
reader’s general reading ability.
There are two types of reading: oral and silent. One can read silently many times faster
than orally. However, oral reading only can ensure correct pronunciation, accent and intonation
besides focus. Oral reading for the pleasure or knowledge of the listeners is an art form like
painting and dancing. Oral reading, being an art form, constitutes a performance in an informative
or entertainment situation and therefore requires the degree of preparation associated with similar
art forms, such as, storytelling, dramatization and musical recital. However, understanding of the
passage by the reader is of prime importance. In addition, oral reading improves comprehension.
Preparation, repetition, discussion, and rehearsal improve comprehension and result in good oral
reading. The reader must heighten the dramatic effect by pauses, changes in rate, volume and
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expression. Similarly, uninterrupted sustained silent reading is conducive to learning. Sometimes
the bustle of busy bodies may create a climate that is not particularly conducive to sustained silent
reading. However, whether it is silent reading or oral reading, the very activity of reading makes a
full man, that is , a man having sufficient knowledge of life and the world , so he can guide himself.
Succinctly, to understand a written text, one has to extract the required information from it
as efficiently as possible. For example, readers of a newspaper look for different items and may
ignore the items not applicable to them. This shows that there are different purposes of reading. A
reader rejects or ignores irrelevant material, and concentrates only on relevant material or
information.
It may not be out of context to try to identify the different items of text that people read,
such as, novels, short stories, essays, biographies; plays, poems, letters,
newspapers and
magazines; scholarly articles, reports and reviews; textbooks and guide books; advertisements,
posters, instructions, notices, rules, regulations, and price lists; telephone directories and so on.
There are, in fact, multiple text types if only one can read them. But the moot question is, why do
people read them? People read any text for pleasure, information, knowledge, wisdom, and growth.
The next question is, how do people read?
The main ways of reading are:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
skimming
scanning
intensive reading, and
extensive reading
Skimming helps the reader get a general and superficial idea of a text. It gives a global or
universal idea. The reader is expected to quickly run his eyes over the text to get a gist or rough
idea of it. Scanning, on the other hand, helps the reader get a specific piece of information quickly
going through a text. Extensive reading constitutes reading of longer texts for the reader’s own
pleasure and / or profit. Intensive reading helps one to extract specific information, an in-depth,
hidden and/or symbolic meanings from a text. It requires slow and concentrated effort. Intensive
reading can be termed as an accuracy activity that calls for reading for details. A good reader varies
his speed of reading depending upon the purpose of his reading. A slow reader naturally has a
greater level of comprehension compared to an average or fast reader. It has been said that one
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paragraph is enough to make a reader a scholar if he makes intensive reading. It has also been said
that one may read thousands of books and yet remain ignorant.
All these different ways of reading, namely, skimming, scanning, intensive and extensive, are
not mutually exclusive. In real life situations, the reading purposes constantly vary. For instance,
a newspaper need not be read intensively. Only skimming and scanning are sufficient for a
newspaper. However, a scholarly article may be read rather intensively if the reader is interested
in it or if he finds it useful for his general knowledge and/ or academic purpose. Similarly, William
Shakespeare’s Hamlet or John Milton’s Paradise Lost must be read intensively because they are
profoundly scholarly.
In fact, reading requires a variety of skills as given below:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
a knowledge of the graphemes of a language
a knowledge of the language
Grasping the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical terms
Understanding the explicitly stated information
Understanding the information not explicitly stated
Grasping conceptual meanings
Understanding the communicative function of utterances and sentences
Understanding relations within the sentence
Understanding relations between parts of a text through lexical cohesion devices
Understanding cohesion between parts of a text through grammatical cohesion
devices
(xi)
Interpreting the text by going outside it
(xii) Recognizing indicators in discourse
(xiii) Identifying the main point or important information in a piece of discourse
(xiv) Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details
(xv) Extracting salient points to summarize the text
(xvi) Extracting relevant points from a text
(xvii) Basic reference skills
(xviii) Skimming
(xix) Scanning to locate a piece of required information
(xx) Trans coding information to a diagrammatic display
In addition to these skills, a reader requires knowledge of the world, a reason for reading
and a reading style appropriate to it. Thus while reading, a reader interacts with a text, decodes it
and constructs meanings in the process. What he constructs depends on not only what the writer
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writes but also what the reader brings to the text. In fact, reading is a constant process of guessing,
and what one brings to the text is often more important than what one finds in it. Thus reading is
an active skill.
Until recently materials have concentrated on the sentence and units smaller than the
sentence. It was thought that a text was a succession of sentences thematically related. But for
efficient reading the structure of longer units, such as, the paragraph or the whole text itself must
be understood. A text is not a series of independent units or sentences.
One must start reading a text with global understanding and proceed towards detailed
understanding instead of working the other way round. This way the reader will develop an
awareness of how texts are organized, that is, stating the main information first and then
developing it in a chronological sequence. The awareness of this general structure of a text will
make one a more efficient reader. Similarly, the reader must be encouraged to develop his skills
of inference, anticipation and deduction.
The communicative function of reading makes it an active skill. Exercises after a text must
be answered. The author’s point of view, intention and tone must be taken into consideration for a
complete understanding of the text so that the readers may become independent and efficient. It
may be borne in mind that meaning is not inherent in the text, and that readers bring their own
meaning to what they read. This is based on what the readers expect from the text and their
previous knowledge.
One may now turn one’s attention to reading techniques. Sometimes readers come across
unfamiliar words and complex or obscure sentences. They need not stumble on these difficulties.
There are different ways of overcoming the difficulties. For instance, the reader may infer the
meanings of unfamiliar words through the context, word-formation and guessing. One can also
make use of syntactic, logical and cultural clues to discover the meanings of unknown elements.
The problem with relatives, embedded clauses and complex structures can be overcome by looking
first for the core of the sentence, that is, subject plus verb. The reader must take note of the devices
used to create textual cohesion, and the use of reference and link-words. After all, a text is not
made up of independent sentences or clauses but a web of related ideas that are announced,
introduced and taken up again later throughout the text with the help of references. If the reader
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does not understand some words of the text, some of the facts and ideas may escape him. But if he
does not understand inter or intra-sentential connectors, he may also fail to recognize the
communicative value of the text since those words act as signals indicating the function of what
follows, for example, the conclusion, an example and a supposition. Therefore the readers must be
on the lookout for different markers. This will be useful to the reader when skimming since the
simple recognition of the link-words will help the reader to understand the development of the
argument in the text.
Slow readers tend to stumble on unfamiliar words and fail to grasp the general meaning of
the text. At the same time they must increase their speed of reading. However, the reading speed
should not be developed at the expense of understanding of the text. One cannot read efficiently
unless one can adopt one’s reading speed and technique to one’s aim when reading. This way one
may become a confident and efficient reader.
Predicting is not a reading technique but a skill basic to all the reading techniques. Predicting
is a faculty of guessing what is coming next based on grammatical, logical and cultural clues. This
skill helps in anticipation and skimming.
Previewing, unlike predicting, is a specific reading technique based on the table of contents,
the appendix, the preface, the chapter and paragraph heading .These things will help in finding out
where the required information can be located. Even the back cover helps. Previewing is useful in
skimming and scanning.
To read any type of text first of all one needs motivation. Being motivated means that one
reads a text expecting to find a number of things in it, including answers to some questions, some
specific information and ideas. Certainly there is an interrelationship between the reader and the
text. We may recall what Robert Southey said of books: “My never failing-friends are they, with
whom I converse day by day”.1 There is no doubt that reading enriches and enhances one’s
knowledge, vision and wisdom.
Both skimming and scanning are specific reading techniques necessary for quick and
efficient reading. The reader skims through a text to get a gist of it, to know how it is organized,
or to get an idea of the tone, intention and purpose of the writer.
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When scanning, the reader tries to locate specific information. He simply lets his eyes
wander over the text to find out what he is looking for. It may be the name of a person or place or
a date. Of the two techniques, skimming is more thorough activity requiring an overall view of the
text and a definite reading competence. A good reader makes simultaneous use of these two
techniques. For instance, he may skim through a text just to know its worth and then read it through
carefully if he finds it worth-reading. He may later scan the text to note a date, a name or a word.
All the techniques of reading obviously help the reader understand a text by being aware of
its function as determined by the writer. Therefore the reader must first of all try to know whether
a text aims at convincing the reader, giving him some information or any other thing. The reader
must also recognize the pattern of organization of a text. The first kind of organization is the one
built around a main or central idea, which is then developed throughout the text. Sometimes the
first paragraph sums up the main idea and the rest of the paragraphs consist of expansion of
different kinds. There are also other kinds of organization, such as, chronological sequence,
description, analogy and contrast, classification, argumentative and logical. Readers must also be
wary of the order of elements in a sentence, that is, syntax. If the order is changed, meaning may
change. The reader must also be able to discriminate fact from opinions. Besides identifying the
intention or purpose and tone of a text, a reader must study the language used by the writer, his
vocabulary and the use of images and the genre.
It is no gainsaying the fact that reading is an essential requirement at every stage of one’s
life, especially for students, writers, executives and administrators. Reading is a means of
discovering information and expanding the horizons of one’s understanding and knowledge. In
fact, reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Reading helps one stay in touch with great
minds. It also keeps one aware of contemporary issues. Reading develops positive values and
improves one’s spelling, vocabulary, writing skills, grammar, and writing styles. Developing one’s
creativity, ability to comprehend concepts and ideas, critical thinking, communication skills and
broadening one’s vision are some of the benefits of reading.
Effective reading is an active reading. Therefore one must know the purpose and intention
of one’s reading. The reader must pose questions, take notes, summarise, and review and reflect.
This will enhance his understanding. To sharpen and facilitate textbook reading skills, the SQ3R
technique is said to be useful .The SQ3R stands for survey, question, read, recite and review. This
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technique makes reading meaningful and purposeful. The survey helps the reader collect the
information to focus on. The questions help the reader find out the problems or issues that require
answers. Reading helps the reader find out the answers. The reader should stop reading now and
then and test himself whether or not he remembers the points he has studied in the text. After
reading the whole text, the reader must review it to ensure its comprehensive understanding. The
reader must also analyze what he has read and critically react to the text. After all, the reader need
not passively accept whatever the writer has offered. Instead, he can form his own opinions and
judgments.
Generally, fluency is necessary in reading. It is the ability to read a text rapidly, smoothly,
effortlessly and automatically with little conscious attention to the mechanics of reading, such as
decoding. Skilled reading consists of the ability to read words automatically by sight. However,
for different types of reading, a reader may vary his speed and similarly his rate of reading. There
are four key steps for rapid reading. They are concentration, avoidance of regression, avoidance
of sub-vocalizing and maximizing the eye-span. At one fix of the eye, a rapid reader can take in a
breadth of the reading material. Maximizing the eye- span will enhance his comprehension of the
text.
There is a valid reason why rapid or fast reading is habit that must be adopted. Knowledge
has been increasing at a great speed resulting in the publication of a large number of books, journals
and articles every year, and millions of scientific and technical pages are printed annually.
Students, teachers and scholars must learn not only to read these materials but also to read better
and faster, maintaining at the same time a high level of comprehension. Academic material may
be read and analyzed slowly and carefully with attention to each detail. But in view of the need to
read vast amounts of materials relating to different fields of knowledge, researchers are of the
opinion that very fast reading skills must be developed. Otherwise, it is not possible to cover or
know what is in these materials. There is a belief that only a fast or rapid reader is an efficient and
effective reader. In fact, there are different reading styles, such as, skimming, scanning, intensive
and extensive reading as already mentioned. The belief that only slow reading leads to effective
comprehension is not valid. Researchers observe that a higher speed rate facilitates better
understanding.
An efficient fast reader has the following qualities:
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(i)
(ii)
(iii)
He does not move his head, eyes and a finger along the lines of the reading material.
He does silent reading covering about eight hundred words a minute.
He never pronounces words or rereads them for correct sounds, accent and
intonation.
(iv)
He reads only to identify the main ideas, theme, avoiding details, descriptions and
minor details.
(v)
He fixes a time limit and finishes his reading within this time limit displaying the
power of his mind. He skims, scans and runs forward looking for main ideas only.
Lack of sufficient time drives him to his emergency exercise.
(vi)
He will have developed a wide range of vocabulary to help him understand the
author’s ideas as he rushes forward.
(vii) He develops an extensive reading habit so as to be able to speed up his reading
(viii) He reads clusters or bunches of words at a time hopping from one bunch to another.
He expands his eye-span and tries to accommodate more and more words in the
bunches. He has knowledge of the grammar and structure of the language. He can
grasp the meaning at a cursory glance. He has obviously a trained eye, a disciplined
mind and an eager spirit.
However, a good reader is not necessarily a fast reader. He varies the speed of his reading
to suit his purpose, as follows:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
He adopts a slow pace of reading when the material is difficult and a high level of
comprehension is required.
He adopts an average speed of reading for magazines, newspapers and other routine
materials.
But a fast reader adopts a skimming and scanning strategy when his materials are
not of a serious nature. Naturally, the level of comprehension is low, but he is not
at loss because he succeeds in getting a global or universal idea of the text.
The reader’s ability to understand a text is tested by his comprehension, interpretation and
analysis of text on different topics and his own range of vocabulary. The reader must be able to
answer the questions set on the texts. A knowledge of the roots, prefixes and suffixes will help in
grasping the meanings of words. The following guides will help in answering the questions:
(i)
(ii)
All the questions are based on the given text, and the answers also must be based
on the text.
The text must be skimmed first and the key terms must be noted.
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(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
(xi)
(xii)
The first and the last sentences of each paragraph must be read first for a possible
clue to the theme of the text.
The whole passage must be read then making a note of the main points, important
conclusions, names, definitions, places and numbers.
In case the meanings of some words are not understood, the nearest sentence must
be read to grasp the contextual meanings of those words.
A fair knowledge of prefixes, suffixes and roots helps in understanding the
meanings of words.
A knowledge of grammatical functions of words helps in identifying the synonyms
and antonyms of words.
The questions must be read first before identifying the answer choices.
Correct answers must be identified by an elimination process.
One must read between the lines for implied meanings and views of the author.
The reader must not get stuck over any one question or part of the passage.
The answers must be brief and to the point.
It is clear that reading is thinking under the stimulus of the printed page. It is a
psycholinguistic guessing game. There are four levels of reading, namely,
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
Reading the lines
Reading between the lines
Reading behind the lines, and
Reading beyond the lines
Conclusion
Since reading is an active process, a reader can understand a text only when he actively
puts to use his mental faculties. While reading, a reader interacts with a text, decodes it and
constructs meanings in the process. What he constructs depends on not only what the writer writes
but also on what the reader brings to the text. This intellectual soft skill is a challenging and
profitable activity for a modern reader since modern textual material is mostly abstract and
symbolic.
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References
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S.Chand & Company Ltd. First Edition Reprint 2009
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at Gospons paper Pvt ltd , Noida
3. John Mc Rae and Roy Boardman. Reading between the lines- Integrated language and
literature activities. student’s book Cambridge University Press Cambridge house, New
Delhi,2008
4. John Mc Rae and Roy Boardman. Reading between the lines- Integrated language and
literature activities. teacher’s book Cambridge University Press, South Asian edition,1997
5. Sara Lynn, Q: skills for Success Reading and writing. Oxford University Press,2011
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