Intensive and Comprehensive /Extensive Reading English Text
- ‘Some books should be tasted, some should be swallowed and some should be chewed and digested’ … … in this famous dictum of Francis Bacon can still provide us with valuable guidance on reading habits that need to be developed in our books. The decision suggests that students should practice two types of reading:
- Intensive Reading
- Extensive /Comprehensive Reading
- In intensive reading, students read not only to understand the meaning in detail, but also to master the structure and vocabulary. As mentioned earlier, non-native English speakers can expect to be able to handle even native English speakers in written language use.
- This can be achieved through intensive reading. In readings like this, students can practice language in their spare time, even without a teacher. For this reason, intensive reading is still considered a very powerful language learning method. In fact, some experts view intensive reading as the only practical method to learn a foreign language or a second language such as English. But the general consensus is that reading in the early stages should be limited to the definition of words and sentences spoken in oral lessons. When students gain sufficient reading speed as usual, they will be able to use new words and sentences in their steps.
- In comprehensive reading, students read for information or just for the pleasure of reading. The main purpose in such a reading is general understanding; not a language study. Since the goal here is to read quickly, the ability to find the ‘topic sentence’ of a paragraph and understand its general meaning using a diagram will be helpful. This allows students to ignore specific paragraphs or passages and focus on the verses that concern them. The ability to predict the predicted meaning of relevant new quick notes for future use is also a necessary component of this comprehensive and useful reading skill.
- Some experts claim that reading cannot be taught, it can only be learned, but we all agree that the task of a teacher is to tell students many different ways of attacking a text. Famous linguist Brume expressed the opinion that there are two approaches to reading:
- Reading for accuracy (Intensive)
- Reading for Fluency (Comprehensive)
- These two approaches clearly require different class procedures. Intensive reading requires the teacher’s close guidance. The purpose of intensive reading is to understand the text in depth and detail.
- Comprehensive reading is mostly done outside the classroom. Lesson time is too short to achieve fluency; it is necessary to read many things that can be done in their spare time, students read in different ways, using different strategies and skills. However, when a student becomes a foreign language, he or she needs a slow, careful and diligent reading strategy to get maximum information from it.
- So let’s review intensive and thorough reading once again:
- Intensive Reading: This type of reading is intended for reading shorter texts that require precision for detail. Intensive reading involves students reading in detail with a specific learning purpose and task. It can be compared to comprehensive reading, which involves students reading a text for fun and improving reading skills in general. The students read a short text and arrange the events from it in chronological order.
- Comprehensive Reading: Comprehensive reading involves students reading texts for fun and improving reading skills in general. It can be compared to intensive reading, which means detailed reading with a specific learning goal and task. A teacher reads short stories with the students, but does not define their roles other than reading and listening. This type of reading puts more emphasis on gaining accuracy and fluency, as extensive reading is usually done outside the classroom and for the students’ own enjoyment, and inclusive students are free to:
- Buy a book that interests him, read the book at his own pace every time he feels and reveals as much as he wants in the language.
- Every time you buy a book on “Teaching Reading Skills”, you will receive words like this:
- Skimming
- Scanning
- Previewing
- Prediction
- Anticipation
- Quiet Reading
- Read it in Parts
