Жамият ва инновациялар –
Общество и инновации –
Society and innovations
Journal home page:
https://inscience.uz/index.php/socinov/index
Approaches to defining the concepts of “Reading” and “Authentic
materials” in english methodology
Muslimaxon ERKABOYEVA
1
, Otabek BEKTOSHEV
2
Kokand State Pedagogical Institute
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received April 2021
Received in revised form
20 April 2021
Accepted 15 May 2021
Available online
25 June 2021
The article deals with approaches to defining the concepts of
“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. Reading comprehension is a complex process in
which the reader used his mental ability to obtain the
information.
2181-1415/© 2021 in Science LLC.
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
reading,
authentic material,
meaning,
comprehensive description,
speaking,
interactive model,
communication process.
Ingliz tili metodologiyasida “o‘qish” va “haqiqiy materiallar”
tushunchalarini tahrirlashning yondashuvlari
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar:
o‘qish,
haqiqiy material,
ma’no,
keng qamrovli tavsif,
nutq,
interaktiv model,
aloqa jarayoni.
Maqola ingliz metodologiyasida “o‘qish” va “haqiqiy material-
lar” tushunchalarini aniqlashga yondashuvlar haqidadir. O‘qish
har xil odamlarga turli xil narsalarni anglatadi, ba’zilari yozma
so‘zlarni taniydi, boshqalari uchun talaffuzni o‘rgatish va nutqni
mashq qilish imkoniyatidir. Biroq, o‘qish har doim bir maqsadga
ega. Bu biz har kuni qiladigan narsa, bu kundalik hayotimizning
ajralmas qismi bo‘lib, juda oddiy deb qabul qilinadi va umuman
hamma qila oladigan narsa deb taxmin qilinadi. Aytishlaricha,
o‘qish talabalar va o‘qituvchilar tomonidan juda qadrlanadigan
mahoratdir. O‘qishni tushunish – o‘quvchi ma’lumot olish uchun
uning aqliy qobiliyatidan foydalangan holda murakkab jarayon.
1
Student, Kokand State Pedagogical Institute, Kokand, Uzbekistan.
2
Head of the Department of English Language and Literature, Kokand State Pedagogical Institute. Kokand, Uzbekistan.
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Подходы к определению понятий «чтение» и «аутентичные
материалы» в английской методологии
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
чтение,
аутентичный материал,
смысл,
исчерпывающее описание,
разговор, интерактивная
модель,
коммуникативный
процесс.
В статье рассматриваются подходы к определению
понятий «чтение» и «аутентичные материалы» в
английской методологии. Чтение для разных людей
означает разные вещи, для одних это распознавание
написанных слов, а для других возможность научиться
произношению и попрактиковаться в разговорной речи.
Однако у чтения всегда есть цель. Это то, чем мы
занимаемся каждый день, это неотъемлемая часть нашей
повседневной жизни, которая воспринимается как должное
и обычно считается чем-то, что может сделать каждый.
Говорят, что чтение – это навык, который высоко ценится
как учениками, так и учителями. Понимание прочитанного
– это сложный процесс, в котором читатель использует свои
умственные способности для получения информации.
Alderson defines reading as “…an enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which
much pleasure can be derived, and in which one can become totally absorbed”.
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 process
.
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
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. Top – Down processing is the opposite, where a global meaning of the text is
obtained, through “clues” in the text and the reader’s good schema knowledge. This is often
associated with a good reader, who does not read word for word but quickly and
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efficiently. 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 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.
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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
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.
It is defined reading comprehension is the ability to understand information in a text
and interpret it appropriately. Reading comprehension is an activity aimed to understand
the message of a particular text. Yang stated that reading comprehension as an active,
dynamic, and developing process of looking for interrelations between elements and texts.
Reading comprehension is basically an interactive process of meaning making between the
reader and the author through the text, which involves mental activities and background
knowledge. It is defined that reading comprehension is an active process, directed by
intentional thinking that allows young readers to make connections between their
thinking processes, the textual content and their own knowledge, expectations, and
purposes for reading.
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Reading helps the acquisition of new vocabulary and helps retain prior learned
vocabulary. Vocabulary plays a vital role in students’ comprehension and acquisition of a
foreign language. Without an adequate number of words, language learners will not be able
to comprehend or use the second language (L2). Researchers argue that vocabulary is the
foundation of other skills, a core component of language development. It is assured that
the importance of vocabulary on reading comprehension and advocate the use of extensive
reading along with direct instructions on vocabulary.
Reading is practice of using text to create meaning. Based on the definitions, the
researcher concludes that reading must develop, so the reader can understand the
meaning of passage and also catch the meaning of the text. Many experts have shared their
own definitions about the definition of reading. Reading is an activity that has a purpose.
People may read in order to get information or increase their knowledge and sometimes
to critique a writer’s idea or writing style. People also read for pleasure or enhance
knowledge of the language being read. Reading is a source of learning and a source of
enjoyment. Getting this consideration, the purposes of reading guide the reader to select
better of text to read. Reading is the main reason why students learn language. Without
reading, the learners never know about anything.
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
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”.
Moreover, reading is not simple. Reading is also an active process that requires a
great deal of practice and skill. It is supported by Stone who states that “reading is a
complex process that must be modeled, taught, practiced, and evaluated on a daily basis”.
Then, Harrison and Salinger say that “reading is a complex activity and accomplished
readers to operate a number of levels simultaneously. They are decoding and establishing
meaning at the same time as they are responding to what they read, selecting particular
aspects for considering and evaluating effects”. Based on the definitions above, the writer
concludes that reading is the active process of grasp meaning from the content of the
writer’s idea about the topic in a text.
Reading cannot be separated with comprehension. Comprehension has the same
meaning as understanding. When the readers read a text, they need to comprehend what
the writer tells about. Comprehension here is the capacity to grasp meaning from the
writer’s idea in a text. There are some experts that have shared their own definition about
reading comprehension. It is defined “reading comprehension as the ability to convert
written language into forms near those used in either inner thought or dialogue”. Harris
and Graham interprets “reading comprehension is a multicomponent, highly complex
process that involves many interactions between readers and what they bring to the text
(previous knowledge, strategy use) as well as variables related to the text itself (interest
in text, understanding of text types)”. It is stated that “reading comprehension is a complex
process of constructing meaning by coordinating a number of skills related to decoding,
word reading, and fluency and the integration of background knowledge, vocabulary, and
previous experiences. Based on the description above, it can be concluded that reading
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comprehension is an active process of grasp meaning from the content of the writer’s idea
about the topic in a text by coordinating a number of skills related to decoding, word
reading, and fluency and the integration of background knowledge, vocabulary, and
previous experiences.
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”.
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. 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.
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.
There are some types of reading such as Intensive reading, Extensive Reading, Aloud
Reading and Silent Reading.
a.
Intensive reading is type of reading that focus on idiom and vocabulary that taught
by the teacher in the classroom and that idiom and vocabulary is existed in poem, poetry,
novel or other source. For example: The students focus on linguistic or semantic details of
a reading and focus on structure details such as grammar. Intensive reading is reading
carefully to remember the details and understand all the words and meanings. This is the
type of reading that is most often taught and used in schools. Many pupils use only this
strategy no matter what kind of text they are reading.
b.
Extensive Reading is types of reading, involves learners reading texts for
enjoyment and to develop general reading skills. For example : The students read as many
different kinds of books such as journals, newspapers and magazine as you can, especially
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for pleasure, and only needing a general understanding of the contents. If they are
struggling to understand every word, they can hardly be reading for pleasure-the main
goal of this activity. This mean that we need to provide books which either by chance, or
because they have been especially written, are readily accessible to our students. Extensive
reading is reading to understand the general meaning of a text. Extensive reading “usually
means silent reading and reading for pleasure and enjoyment. A global understanding of
the text, i.e. without grasping every part of it, is normally aimed at in extensive reading”.
c. Aloud reading is reading by using loud voice and clearly. 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. For example: Reading poetry, dialogue, and other type of text.
d. Silent reading activity is meant to train the students to read without voice in order
that the students can concentrate their attention or through to comprehend the texts.
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. For example: The students reading a text
by heart.
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.” The 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.
People read books of poems, novels etc. because ‘they find them pleasurable’, and it
is truly appropriate as far as the foreign language is concerned. Intention for seeking
pleasure from a text makes readers read more and more which ultimately leads them
towards a better understanding of and building up vocabulary, and it ultimately helps them
to develop the overall skills in reading ESL and EFL. A reader enjoys a book when she/he
gets pleasure. If the book ceases to provide the pleasure she/he seeks, she/he will simply
stop reading.
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
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sources. Grellet states that people read books “in order to find out something or in order
to do something with the information they get”. Furthermore, we read because we want to
get something from the writing.
In this age of information technology, people are busy in collecting and storing
information– update news of the current world, business information, information on
culture and politics, news of foreign affairs etc. The major sources of these pieces of
information are newspaper, magazines, and internet, and these media require necessary
skills in reading. As the language of computer and international newspapers and
magazines is English, reading skill in ESL and EFL is necessary. Moreover, learners go
overseas with a specific purpose – higher studies, or dealing with overseas customers, or
performing professional jobs well etc. It is rightly stated that reading for information in
English is one of the most important purposes that the learners may have in learning
English. Students read books for information also because of the fact that they want
answers of certain questions upon certain issues, and they need to confirm their
conclusions.
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. – PP. 181.
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.
