Reading bestows enjoyment and enlightenment. It unlocks the unknown. It is a complex cognitive activity that is indispensable for the kind of knowledge society. So the students of today’s world must know how to learn from reading and to enter the present literate society. One who reads can lead others to light. People who read can be free because reading banishes ignorance and superstition. Reading has the power to revolutionize everyone’s ways of thinking and living. It makes everyone think critically and creatively.
Teachers must emphasize all kinds of reading, especially critical reading which is not just reading on the lines but it deals with reading between and beyond the lines. A critical reader challenges the author’s assumptions, inferences, and conclusions, and judges the accuracy, reliability, quality and value of what he reads on the basis of sound criteria or standards developed through previous experiences. This kind of reading paves clear path for students to acquire better comprehensive ability through SQ3R techniques, computer multimedia and other activities such as skimming and scanning. Although there are ways and means to acquire reading skill, there are a few factors which affect it severely. Teachers must be careful in avoiding these hindrances and make their wards’ reading easy, effective and successful. Teachers are the prime source for students in cultivating their reading habit. Their advice and encouragement will help the students move a step further in developing their attitude towards reading.
Teachers can teach phonetics to readers of initial stage and help them pronounce the sounds of letters and words properly. They should also emphasize writing task in the primary grade as it is directly associated with reading programme. They can teach them syllabication to recognize new words. Special assistance may be given to students with regard to the selection of materials for reading based on their age, time and capacity and determine their reading levels. They must realize that they have to play major role in encouraging and engaging the students to become voracious readers.
