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27THE CONCEPTS OF "READING" AND "AUTHENTIC MATERIALS" IN
ENGLISH METHODOLOGY
Muslimaxon Bahodirjon qizi Erkaboyeva
Kokand state pedagogical institute
ABSTRACT
The article deals with the defining of the concepts "reading" and "authentic materials" in English methodology. Reading means different things to different people, for some it is recognizing written words, while for others it is an opportunity to teach pronunciation and practice speaking. However, reading always has a purpose. It is something that we do every day, it is an integral part of our daily lives, taken very much for granted and generally assumed to be something that everyone can do. It is said that reading is a skill that is highly values by students and teacher alike.
Keywords: reading, authentic material, meaning, comprehensive description, speaking, interactive model, communication process.
Reading means different things to different people, for some it is recognizing written words, while for others it is an opportunity to teach pronunciation and practice speaking. However, reading always has a purpose. It is something that we do every day, it is an integral part of our daily lives, taken very much for granted and generally assumed to be something that everyone can do.
The reason for reading depends very much on the purpose for reading. Reading can have three main purposes, for survival, for learning or for pleasure. Reading for survival is considered to be in response to our environment, to find out information and can include street signs, advertising, and timetables. It depends very much on the day-to-day needs of the reader and often involves an immediate response to a situation. In contrast reading for learning is considered to be the type of reading done in the classroom and is goal orientated. While reading for pleasure is something that does not have to be done.
For Nuttall the central ideas behind reading are:
1) the idea of meaning;
2) the transfer of meaning from one mind to another;
3) the transfer of a message from writer to reader;
4) how we get meaning by reading;
5) how the reader, the writer and the text all contribute to the process1.
Reader process texts in two ways, either Top-Down or Bottom-Up. Bottom-up processing is when the reader builds up meaning by reading word for word, letter for
1 Nuttall, C. Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign language (New Edition) Oxford, Heinemann, 1996, p.31
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letter, carefully checking both vocabulary and syntax. This is often associated with poor or slow readers, but can sometimes occur when the readers own schema knowledge is inadequate. The most comprehensive description of the reading process are interactive models, . .in which every component in the reading process can interact with any other component... ", combining elements of both bottom-up and top down models. Reading is considered to be an interactive process (a conversation between writer/reader, even though the writer is not present) and for it to occur both processes are necessary, top-down to predict the meaning and bottom-up to check it. The two are therefore complementary ways of processing a text.
It is said that reading is a skill that is highly values by students and teacher alike. Reading comprehension is a complex process in which the reader used his mental ability to obtain the information. It means that the reader must be able to recognize the meaning of printed words.
Identifying reading is often connected with the process of reading itself. The process is the interaction between a reader and a text which is normally silent, internal and private. It means that there are many things happen during reading. It is about how people interpret the written text in order to acquire knowledge or understand messages. Those processes involve three components which are the writer, the text and the reader.
It is also defined that reading as a process. Reading with the communication process and states that reading means getting out of the text as nearly as possible with the writer's messages. In other words, the writer as an encoder has something in mind which wants to be shared with other people during that process. To make it happen, the writer puts his ideas into words as a text. While the reader plays a role as the decoder, who may decode or construct meaning of the text, before the messages enter the reader's mind and finally communication is achieved.
In line with those definitions, it is defined that reading as "the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language through the medium of print." In other words, reading is a process of receiving information. Here the readers do not need to produce any language while reading, they play a role as the receivers, the one who receive the message of the text and get to understand it. Moreover, reading as complex combinations of processes. It is described those processes in ten detail processes. At the top, reading can be seen as a rapid process in the sense of how fast a person read materials. There is various processing skills work together during reading, such as word recognition, meaning formation, text comprehension, critical evaluation and linking to the prior knowledge. Those synchronized processes make reading as an efficient process. Reading is also a comprehending process. This process is assumed to be the fundamental goal of reading. People read to understand what the writer intended to say through writing, while all cognitive processes involved in reading is related to
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comprehension. So, there is an interaction between the reader and the writer in order to comprehend the text. That interaction is called an interactive process.
Besides, reading as interactive model as well. The interaction in reading process happens during reading. There are two kinds of interactions which are interaction between the reader and the text and interaction between the reader and the writer. The interaction between the reader and the texts happens when the reader constructs a personal interpretation of the text through recognizing the written symbols. While when the reader tries to get the writer's intention, the interaction between the reader and the writer is happened. Then, here the reader brings a wide range of background knowledge and number of skills used in comprehending and interpreting a text.
Furthermore, reader calls for effort on the process and that is why reading can be seen as strategic process, hence those multiple efforts require that reading be a flexible process. The flexibility is demonstrated by the reader in keeping the processes and purposes aligned each other. Then the alignment between them points out that reading is also a purposeful process. Moreover, reading is also an
evaluative process. Evaluation occurs when the readers decide how they should respond to a text. This evaluation calls up the readers' attitudes and emotional responses to the text. Continuously, ongoing evaluations make reading a learning process. However, in combination with evaluations all reading activity is a learning process. Finally, reading is a linguistic process. The readers deal with some linguistic features to assist them in reading a text.
It is stated that reading is aimed at making sense of the texts involving understanding letter, word and sentence level, also activating the background knowledge. The readers need to draw their predictions, intelligence, and experiences to see the overall purpose of the text and interpret the writers' intention. So, when the readers deal with a text, they should understand what the letters are, how the letters combine to build a word, and what the meaning of the word combination is, then they can understand the sentence. The last they can call their past experience or background knowledge to help them interpret the meaning of the text. Here, rather than the text is at the heart of reading process, the readers become an active participant in which their background knowledge plays an important role in reading process.
Although there have been a number definitions of reading, it is not easy to define reading in one sentence. In summary, reading is not merely a receptive process of gathering information by word per word. It is an active process between the writer, text and the reader. There are interactions between them during reading. Interaction between the writer and the text is conducted by the writer in which he uses language (semantic, syntactic and phonological) to produce text that conveys meaning. Then the interaction between the reader and the text happens when the reader try to make sense of the text to
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get the writer's intended meaning
through their background knowledge.
Commonly, reading becomes one skill that is emphasized more in education setting. In English lesson, reading is considered as one of important English skills that teacher expects the students to acquire. The statement is supported by Williams who states that students should be taught reading so that the students can have further practice of language they have already met through listening and speaking, the students can practice language in order to reuse it in writing, the students can learn how to make sense of texts, in order to extract information they need from them, the students can find enjoyment through reading.
In learning English as a second language, reading is an active cognitive process of interacting with print to build up meaning. Nunan interprets reading as "a fluent process of readers' combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning". Linse defines reading as "a set of skills that involves making sense and
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deriving meaning from printed word". It is simplified reading as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language".
It is stated that reading is "converting print into language and then to the message intended by the author". She also claims that "Comprehension occurs when the reader extracts and integrates various information from the text and combines it with what is already known". Urquhart says that "Reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language form via the medium of print".4
Many experts have given their definition about what reading really means. Reading is very important skill that the students must be mastered, because the reading cannot be separated in the process of teaching and learning. Reading is the most important activity in any class, not only as a source of information, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one's idea and knowledge of language. According to Nunan, reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning.5 It is stated that reading is a complex conscious and unconscious mental process in which the reader uses a variety of strategies to reconstruct the meaning that the author is assumed to have intended, based on data from the text and from the readers prior knowledge. Reading is an active skill. It constantly involves guessing, predicting, checking, and asking oneself questions.
2 Nunan, David. Practical English Teaching. Singapore: McGraw Hill, 2003. p. 68
3 Linse, Caroline T. Practical ELT: Young Learners. McGraw-Hill, 2005.p. 69
4 Urquhart, A.H. Reading in a Foreign Language London, Longman , 1984, pp181.
5 Nunan, David. Practical English Teaching. Singapore: McGraw Hill, 2003. p. 71
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Reading is the construction of meaning from a printed or written message. Reading begins with the accurate, swift, and automatic visual recognition of vocabulary, independent of the context in which it occurs.
In language teaching there are three kinds of reading, namely reading aloud, silent reading and speed reading.
a. Reading aloud: Reading aloud is important to do in reading where the students who are known as a reader are required to read aloud to practice their tongue about how pronounce every word found in the reading text.
b. Silent reading: Silent reading is frequently done by a reader who wants to comprehend the tests in reading comprehension process. Reading silent needs a reading much attention to what is they read: the reader should have a full concentration.
c. Speed reading: Speed-reading is way that required by the teacher for reader to be read text rapidly and comprehend it at once. Between reading comprehension and speed faster but also how to understand the idea that express in the passage.
Reading is an activity with a purpose. People read books for a variety of reasons. They read to comprehend a text and answer comprehension check questions, to do grammar activities, to solve language problems, to improve language ability, to achieve pleasure and information, to know the instruction of using a particular tool, to be familiar with a particular country or place, to decode message from a printed document, to get idea from inscription from any objects etc.
Doff states: "We usually have a purpose in reading: there is something we want to find out, some information we want to check or clarify, some opinion we want to match against our own etc." 6The reasons and purposes of reading a text differ from person to person because of their different opinions, backgrounds and experiences. Thus, a same text may be a source of diverse interests depending on the person concerned. According to the purposes of and reasons for reading, it has been divided non-academic reading into two main criteria. They are (a) reading for pleasure and (b) reading for information Reading for Pleasure: While talking about non-academic reading or 'private reading' in his article, "Reading for Pleasure", it is commented that 'the only sensible reason for reading anything is because we enjoy it or hope to enjoy it' because 'pleasure covers a whole variety of feelings and shades of feeling', and so one should read only what one likes' so that she/he may get expected range of pleasure.
Reading for Information has been described as 'efferent reading' since many people prefer reading to collect information from anything written. The truth is that written texts as permanent sources of information still have more effect on the reader than other media (e.g. voice-recording), and reading is widely used skill in decoding the meaning from these sources. Grellet states that people read books "in order to find out
6 Doff, A. Trainers Handbook: Teach English A training course for teachers, CUP, 1997, p. 17
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something or in order to do something with the information they get". Furthermore, we read because we want to get something from the writing.
Reading for Meaning: It is necessary, and at the same time, important to decide why students are made to read either for developing language or for improving the understanding power of meaning a text conveys.
In short, discovering the intended meaning of a text should be the sole purpose of the teaching of reading since language skills develop naturally with the development of reading skills. In a primary sense, meaning of a text is an overall impression of the whole text. Reading also plays an important role in civic life. Through reading, the individual keeps informed on the political, social, and economic and cultural problems of his country. Reading affects our attitudes, beliefs, standards, morals, judgments, and general behavior; it shapes our thinking and our actions. The purpose of reading is to correlate the ideas on the text to what you have already known. The reader must understand about the subject that he/she read to connect the ideas.
To sum up, reading is a receptive skill that helps learner to recognize vocabulary, to practice speaking and pronunciation as well as giving pleasure and enjoyment for readers and receiving information from the text.
REFERENCES
1. Alderson, J.C. Assessing Reading. C.U.P, 2000, p.28
2. Nuttall, C. Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign language (New Edition) Oxford, Heinemann, 1996, p.31
3. Nunan, David. Practical English Teaching. Singapore: McGraw Hill, 2003. p. 68
4. Linse, Caroline T. Practical ELT: Young Learners. McGraw-Hill, 2005.p. 69
5. Urquhart, A.H. Reading in a Foreign Language London, Longman , 1984, pp181.
6. Doff, A. Trainers Handbook: Teach English A training course for teachers, CUP, 1997, p.17
7. Grellet, F. Developing Reading Skills: A practical guide to reading comprehension exercises. Cambridge University Press. 1996, p.49
7 Grellet, F. Developing Reading Skills: A practical guide to reading comprehension exercises. Cambridge University Press. 1996, p.49
