Is the process of going through written information or piece of work in order to get information or in order to understand the content of the message.
Reading is difficult when the reader lacks the skills of reading therefore one may read but end up without getting the message from the written information or one may spend a lot of time to go through a small written text due to lack of reading skill.
Types of reading / Techniques of reading skills
There are various types or techniques of reading depending on the activities involved in the act of reading or depending on the purpose of the reader
The following are some of the types/ strategies of reading.
a. Skimming
This is the type of reading whereby the reader reads for general information. I.e. where the reader is interested in just knowing what is the text being read is about
Skimming involved reading few lines, paragraphs headings, sub – headings, table of content or any part the book which can assist the reader to know the important or key issues found in the text.
We use skimming when we get new books, journals news-papers, magazines, essay etc as a strategy of assessing withers the material is worth reading or otherwise. This is usually used in the library were various written material are found to be able to borrow or read the right one, one should employ skimming.
Skimming is therefore very important in saving time of the reader but also it helps the reader make decision because he/ she knows what he/ she wants to achieve at a certain time and what to achieve later.
b. Scanning
This is a quick survey of the written materials where the reader looks for specific information.
It is always done quickly since the reader knows what he/she is looking for in advance i.e. in scanning you are looking for particular items of information. This means the book you have may contain a lot of things but you are interested in one thing or few of them, this can be affected by going through the table of contents or index in order to know where that particular information is found in the book or text.
For the case of newspapers one should go through the headlines until when he/ she comes across the information of his/ her interest
c. Intensive/ study reading
This is a type of reading in which the reader wants to fully understand and remember what is read i.e. it is the type of reading where the reader aims to read the whole text or book about certain information in order to understand and remember thoroughly about what is read.
It is the method that is used in reading text books where the reader concentrates in everything being read, for example, when person wants to understand poetry he/she must apply intensive poetry, when a student is given a topic to read he/she must apply intensive reading.
Intensive reading involves the concentration of the reader in understanding all the details of what is read.
d. Extensive reading
This is the habit of reading by which the reader reads many sources of information i.e. Involves reading or going through various source of information.
For example; at school, students are expected to read a lot of novels, plays, short stories and poetry.
Thus buy so doing they engage themselves in extensive reading
Extensive reading is more important (useful in enriching the student with knowledge i.e. it gives a student a lot of information from different sources.
e. Critical reading
This is the type of reading which needs the reader it interprets what has been read beyond what the words suggests. I.e. it involves identifying the information presented and let it to your experience and the experience of others.In this kind of reading you read between the lines you interpret what you read and try to go beyond what the writings say.
STRATEGIES OF CRITICAL AND INTENSIVE READING
Since the intensive reading is meant to make the reader understand all the details of what is read and critical reading also requires the reader to concentrate on the material read, there are a number of hints/ criteria/ strategies in order to archive both critical and intensive reading as follows:-
i. Prepare yourself physically i.e. Arrange your books and note books well before you start reading in order to make the environment attractive for reading i.e. put all material in
order so that you avoid unnecessary movement
ii. Set your objective i.e. indicate what you want to archive at the end of the reading for example, ability to define concepts, ability to identify and describe themes etc.
iii. Outline the main points as you read i.e. read the signal words which will guide you to give the order of how ideas flow and to identify point that appear in the text
iv. Predict some questions i.e. sort down some questions as you read, these review questions are important because they help you to assess your understanding
v. Observed the text structure i.e. pay attention to headings and sub – headings as well as titles. These help you to show the topic been discussed, what topic is included under the
other and also help us to organize the material in our mind as a result we can easily remember what we read.
vi. Be active as you read i.e. read phrases rather than individual words because ideas are clearly understood by looking at the way they are related to each other in phrases, you are
also advised to concentrate on main points, this help in both remembering and understanding.
vii. Take some breaks when you fell tired i.e. reading is to be taken as leisure thus schedule time for break
viii. Make connections i.e. link new information with something that you already know – relate the new knowledge with the prior knowledge that you have in your mind. This helps to
understand the new knowledge and to strengthen what you already know.
ix. As you read, talk to the author i.e. pretend you are talking to the author like when you are talking with a friend, there are things which you agree or do not agree, thus identify the
points on which you agree with the author and those on which you do not. This will make you distinguish between facts and opinions.
Connotative meaning
Is the meaning given to a word, concept or expression over and above the basic (denotative) meaning according to the belief, culture and the real words experience of the society.
This meaning is normally unstable and it varies from one individual to another or from one society to another or culture to culture.
Example
– This man is a lion (meaning man is cruel and aggressive)
– Don’t cry, be a man be a woman (meaning man is strong, woman is weak)
– Third world countries (meaning poor countries of the world)
– Western countries – (rich and capitalist countries)
– This man is a child (man believes like a child)
Connotation is the use of words in such a way that the words have additional meaning beyond what they mean denotative.On the other hand,refers to the association that are connected to a certain word or the emotion suggestion related to that word.The connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meaning.The connotation for the word “snake” could mean evil or danger.
Denotation meaning
use of a words in a manner that makes it be interpreted as the original /basic meaning.OR It refers to the literal meaning of word;the “dictionary definition” “for example if you look
up the word “snake” in a dictionary you will discover that one of its denotative meaning is any numerous.Scarily,legless,sometimes venomous reptiles having a long
tapering,Cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate region.
In short we only share the denotation meaning of a word regardless culture, beliefs or emotional but with connotation meaning of a word would highly depends on the culture, age, beliefs and emotion of the people in a given society. For example in some societies it is believed that woman is someone weak, lazy cowards (Connotative).
Where as man is someone who is strong, hard work and nglish-swahili/courage” target=”_blank”>courageous (connotative). So if a person refers a man as a woman and vice versa it will implies the connotation meaning as explained
Connotation meaning may be positive, negative or neutral.
E.g:- When you call a “Man” a “Woman” it has a negative meaning but when you call a ‘man’ it has a positive connotation.
NB:- Positive connotation – good feeling
Negative connotation -bad feeling
Neutral connotation – neither good nor bad
Negative connotation arouses hurting fee and can be demeaning and offending
For example the words
Relaxed and idle
Spending and extravagant
Note Well that, most of the words use in literature have connotation meaning.
TASK
Give the denotation and connotation meaning of the following words and make two sentences in each.
(a)Lion (b)baby (c)Dog (d) Google (e)Books (f)Honey(g)Heart (h)Red (i)Tick (j)Books
IDIOMS /IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
Is a linguistics expression (group of words) whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words which make it up.
The idiom has a meaning which is over and above the meaning of its constitutes
E.g.
→to kick the bucket- die
→to pave the way- facilitate
→to bury the hatchet – forget the past quarries
→to air ones opinion- to give ones feelings
→to lead the altar- to marry
→to take arms – go to war
→to be bad eggs – to be worthless person
→to receive with open arms – receive
→to breathe once last- to die
→to let the cat out of a bag – to tell a secret
→to be a Good Samaritan – be kind to someone in trouble
→to be modern – updated
→throw dust in one’s eyes – deceive
→save ones face – avoid disgrace or shame
→to be in hot water – in trouble
→but about the bush- approach matter indirectly or in a roundabout manner
→keep a straight face – hide ones amusement by not smiling or laughing
→build castles in the sky – day dream
→to sit on the fence – neutral
→to burn the midnight oil- study / work until late at
→take the cake –take first night prize
→break ones back – work very hard
→crocodile tears- false tears
→take French leave – go without permission
→take a lion’s share – largest part/almost the whole
→she is over the moon – extremely happy
→make both ends meet – earn enough money, balance
→a dog life – unhappy life
→same boat- same situations
→have eyes in the back of your head – be aware of everything around you
→to see daylight – begin to understand
→ a hard not to crack – a person difficult to convince/a problem difficult to solve
→to go bananas – become angry, crazy, and silly
→it’s raining cats and dogs – rain heavily
→to give up the ghost –to die / cease trying
→to be under the heels of somebody – be under somebody’s control
→a non day wonder – a person or things that attract attention for a short time but are soon forgotten
→exam was piece of cake- very simple
→by hook and crook – any means possible
→to break the news – to be the first to tell somebody bad news
→to bite the dust – to be defeated / die
→to blow hot and cold – to do one things and the opposite soon after.
ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT
Argument among people are designed in order for one to convince others.
In ordinary usage the term argument indicates a dispute,quarrel or conflict of opinion.
The argument to be examined usually consists of three propositions.The first two are called the premises or the antecedent.They are meant to postulate the evidence of the argument .The third proposition is called the conclusion,which is drawn on the basis of the antecedent.
An argument based on correct reasoning is a valid argument .A valid argument is one whose conclusion follows logically(“sensibly”)from the premises.
So every argument consists of two parts.The first part consists of premise or a set of premises and the second part consist of a conclusion-one that derives from the premise or premises.The premises present the evidence or reason for the conclusion .Good arguments would often contain words such as if,since,then,because,must ,out,should, we may infer and so on.These words signal that there is an argument going on.They also call attention to the logical relationship between proposition that the given statement express.
NOTE:Not every presentation of proposition constitutes an argument.In newspaper ,magazine and even news report on the radio or television,there is usually an abundance of propositions that are made.But many of these tend to contain relatively few arguments.
Although it is also true that containing several assertions is necessary condition for discourse to present an argument,this in itself is not a sufficient condition .In an argument there must be premises asserted an inference being made and a conclusion.
example 1:
Deductive arguments
This moves from the general to specific
e.g 1. If it rains ,They will not come
2. It is raining
3.Conclusion…………….They will not come
example 2
1.Since all students are young
2.Barnaba is a student
3.Conclusion……………Barnaba is young
ASSERTION-A student saying that you strongly believe that to be true(claim)
INFERENCE– That you can find find out indirectly from what you already know(Deduction)
Identifying main conclusion from argumentative texts
A conclusion is just as important as introduction. The conclusion closes the text and tries to close the issue. The aim is to convince the reader that your has covered all the most important arguments about the issue and that your main promise is the position on the issue.
How can we identify conclusions in an argument texts?
Note that, in an essay there can be many conclusion as some are just concluding points/subheading. The main conclusion can easily be identified as it is always placed at the end and we can use the following phrases which are always used in concluding a text or an essay.
In conclusion …………, To conclude, To sum up …………, Generally …………., Therefore ……….., In summary ……………,
TASK
Search for an argumentative text/essay and identify, the main conclusion.