7 Critical reading as a kind of reading

Critical reading is the process of reading that goes beyond just understanding a text.  Critical reading involves:

* carefully considering and evaluating the reading

* identifying the reading's strengths and implications

* identifying the reading's weaknesses and flaws

* looking at the 'big picture' and deciding how the reading fits into the greater academic context (the understandings presented in other books and articles on this topic)

Critical reading means that a reader applies certain processes, models, questions, and theories that result in enhanced clarity and comprehension. There is more involved, both in effort and understanding, in a critical reading than in a mere "skimming" of the text. What is the difference? If a reader "skims" the text, superficial characteristics and information are as far as the reader goes. A critical reading gets at "deep structure" (if there is such a thing apart from the superficial text!), that is, logical consistency, tone, organization, and a number of other very important sounding terms.Critical reading involves using logical and rhetorical skills. Critical reading often involves asking questions about the reading. In particular, you are examining the strengths and weaknesses of the reading's argument.

8 Reading for thorough comprehension as a kind of reading

Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning. An individual's ability to comprehend text is influenced by their traits and skills, one of which is the ability to make inferences. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read. There are a number of approaches to improve reading comprehension, including improving one's vocabulary and reading strategies.

Simply put, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. Reading comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing.

Reading comprehension is one of the pillars of the act of reading. When a person reads a text he engages in a complex array of cognitive processes. He is simultaneously using his awareness and understanding of phonemes (individual sound “pieces” in language), phonics (connection between letters and sounds and the relationship between sounds, letters and words) and ability to comprehend or construct meaning from the text. This last component of the act of reading is reading comprehension. It cannot occur independent of the other two elements of the process. At the same time, it is the most difficult and most important of the three. There are two elements that make up the process of reading comprehension: vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension.

9 Silent reading as a kind of reading

Reading silently improves students’ understanding because it helps them concentrate on what they are reading, rather than the pronunciation of individual words. When we read silently, we can form mental pictures of the topic being discussed. Also, we do not need to read one word at a time. When you encourage your students to read silently, you are helping them develop the strategies they need for reading fast, and with better comprehension. This is called reading efficiency, and it will help your students to read any text with maximum attention to meaning.

Silent reading also helps develop the skills of reading for a purpose, as the focus is on understanding the content without the additional burden of having to pay attention to pronunciation.