Process of Reading

           Reading is most useful and important skill for people. This skill is more important than speaking and writing. Reading is a source of joys. Good reading is that which keeps students regular in reading which provide him both pleasure and profit.

          Reading is the most important activity in any language class. Reading is not only a source of information and a pleasurable activity but also as a means of consolidating and extending one's knowledge of the language. Reading is very necessary to widen the mind and gain and understanding of the foreign culture. Reading is certainly an important activity for expanding knowledge of a language. Thus Reading and writing reinforce each other and consolidate the aural-oral learning. The teaching and speaking, provides for greater variety of classroom activity for both teacher and students than a purely aural-oral programme.

          Knowledge and wisdom from the cultural of heritage, but are also very helpful in passing for leisure period. Leisure hours are not only, during the active period of life but also, more significantly, during the period when man has retired from active life. Therefore the learner of English must know reading English. The education of a child is imperfect, unless he is supplied every things needed with the ability of reading. A.S. West comments: "Reading is a process of sight- second sense." W.S. Gray notes:

            Reading is form of experience. Reading brings us in contact with the

            minds of great authors, with the written account of their experiences.

            Their recorded lines and the advancem~nt made by them in various fields.

The process of reading may be broadly classified into three stages:

1.    The first stage is 'the recognition stage'. At this stage the learner simply recognizes the graphic ccunterparts of the phonological items. For instance he recognizes the spoken words in its written form. Difficulty at this stage depends upon the difference between the script of the learner's mother tongue and English and between the spelling conventions of two languages.

2.    The second stage is the 'structuring stage.' The learner sees the syntactic relationship of the

items and understands the structural meaning of the syntactical units.

3.    The third stage is the 'interpretation stage'. This is the highest level in the process of reading. The learner comprehends the significance of a word, a phrase, or a sentence in the overall context of the discards. For instance, he comprehends the serious and jocular use of words, distinguishes between a statement of fact and a statement of opinion. It is this stage at which a person really reads for information or for pleasure.

Silent reading is the most important type of reading. Silent reading should be introduced when the students has mastered the basic structured, comprehends the meaning of words and can recognize and pronounce words accurately. Silent reading enable s the students to read without making sounds and moving his lips. It helps him read with speed, ease and fluency. It aids comprehension and expands the student's vocabulary.

Reference :

M.F. Patel, M. Jain Praveen.2008. English Language Teaching(Methods, Tools & Techniques). Jaipur: sunrise