WHY SHOULD STUDENTS START READING?

WHY SHOULD STUDENTS START READING?

The present article is the result of some nice years spent among some interesting and active high school students. English is the subject that has a special role in shaping the personalities of the students, in shaping some skills and abilities which are necessary for them to deal with the demands of the contemporary society, based mainly on knowledge. A student that graduates high school doesn’t have to be a specialist in rules, but a human being eager to read, a person who feels thrilled when holding in his/ her hands a literary creation, who knows to value the gifts a book offers and to use its information in the complex process of shaping his/ her personality.
Teenagers and the rest of us live in a world where English has become one of the most widely used foreign languages. We meet it everywhere: when we watch television, we listen to the radio, when we send e-mails or we communicate on the Internet and even when we go shopping in big supermarkets, when we want to get a better-paid job. Our students have to know to speak and use it properly, in different situations of their lives without feeling frustrated or unconfident. And how to do that if not through reading, which is the main source of improving vocabulary and one of gaining self-confidence.
I think that reading is the main source of language improvement, the way through which the four skills are better developed. The teacher has the duty to help students enrich their knowledge through interesting and attractive methods and techniques. For reading, the literary texts are the best option when it comes to exploitability and facilitation of learning. The students’ competences as readers are sustained by the degree of readability of a text. Thus, the teacher and the students make a team to go through the process of learning and get to the goals, those of becoming better readers and better users of English, choosing the suitable literary works.
Even if some teachers may find difficult to establish a reading habit in their schools, it is not as difficult as one may find. The key to students to want to read is enjoyment. This pleasure can be found in those well-chosen books. I refer to those books that suit the linguistic level of the reader and also have a suitable content for the students to enjoy reading.
The most difficult situation in which teachers may find themselves is how to motivate the students read and enjoy reading, even large pieces of writing. It is known that there is a tendency, among students in general, to dislike reading. A wide variety of authentic literary texts seems the best solution to this problem. With the help of literature I expect the students’ interest for reading to raise and to start reading with pleasure and for pleasure, to stimulate their critical and reflexive thinking. Students should be helped enrich their ability to express their own opinions and ideas, to be tolerant with the others’ ideas and opinions and to compare and contrast their own ideas with those of their colleagues. They live in a world based on communication so they have to learn to communicate properly in a foreign language too. They should become able to predict what is going to happen at a different point in the literary text or anticipate the writer’s message, feelings. They should gain confidence in their abilities to communicate, to share ideas, opinions.
Christine Nuttall suggests in her book Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language to use the acronym SAVE to summarize the main criteria for choosing extensive reading materials.
S comes from SHORT – if the length of the book is not properly chosen it may be discouraging for students to start reading. To avoid boredom and discouragement we, as teachers, have to take into consideration, which I find vital, the level of the students in the foreign language.
A comes from APPEALING – again the level of the students is of major importance. The books must genuinely appeal to the intended reader. Sometimes it is better if the books look attractive, are well printed or have illustrations.
V comes from VARIED - reading for pleasure requires a large selection of books be available for students to choose from at their level. I can say that variety is for pupils a reason to read; they can find things that they want to read.
E comes from EASY – reading must not turn into a struggle with the words. The students have to go step by step and thus more material is read. Taking step by step, the students gain a sense of confidence and the target of language learning and improvement is achieved.
So, for all this to happen some points have to be taken into consideration when the texts are chosen. They have to be level appropriate, to treat themes and motifs that interest the nowadays teenager. Do not forget about the methods and techniques that have to be varied, interesting and active. Students like to move, to do something all the time, to use modern technology and modern teaching techniques which have to be mingled with the traditional ones. In this way most students will be motivated and remain motivated to study English and to read as much as possible in the years to come. That’s why let’s, we teachers, encourage students read more and more!