Participate in a Workplace Communication, Part 10

LEARNING OUTCOME 2: INTERPRET WRITTEN NOTICES

INFORMATION SHEET No.8

EFFECTIVE READING:

Pursuing what you have encountered in connection with developing vocabulary development skill and acquiring learning skill, you will note another skill worth your attention-compreshension skill in reading and listening. We can learn only what we comprehend.

Anyone who desires to acquire effective study techniques would do well to improve his reading and listening compreshension skill. Developing reading comprehension techniques is one of the two basic was of improving reading skill, the other being developing reading speed. Speed is the rate at which a reader covers a piece of printed matter expressed in words per minute. The symbol wpm is often used to stand for words per minute. An average reader covers about 250 wpm. A good reader moves along at a rate between 500 and 600 wpm. An exceptional reader can manage over 1000 words per minute.

Rapid reading is valueless however unless what is read is unterstood. Thus comprehension is the other vital factor in efficient reading. Comprehension is commonly expressed in percent-the percentage of total understanding a reader attains in his efforts to master a reading selection.

The efficient reader maintains consistently 70 to 80 percent comprehension, regardless of the difficulty of the material.

FACTORS THAT MAKE FOR EFFICIENT READING:

Purpose and Flexibility – To be a good readers, you must read with a purpose. First determine why you are reading and what you are looking for. Once you have a definite purpose in mind, consider your familiarity with the material and its level of complexity.

Characteristics of a Good Reader – Since reading is more than mere recognition of words on a page, you must strive to be efficient reader. Besides having a flexible rate of speed, the efficient reader also can grasp the larger meaning that a word conveys; he sees the larger unit that the individual word helps to form: the phrase, the clause, the sentence, even the paragraph and the larger units, such as the essay, chapter, or book itself.

While reading your eyes would sometime move back – because you felt you missed something or if you wish to make sure you grasp the meaning. About 90% of the time your eyes will seem to be fastened on words while the other 10% they will seem to be moving.

Your long pauses are commonly called fixations, while the returns to an earlier point are called regressions.

It is when the eyes are fixed that meaningful reading takes place, when the image on the retina of the eye gets translated into meaning by the brain. How long fixation lasts depends on the amount of time that it takes the brain to translate the sign on a page into meaning. While the eyes are moving, images are blurred, and nothing can be translated by the brain.

Undesirable Reading Habits

One who reads at 225 wpm or less is usually the victim of one or more bad habits, which include:

1. lip reading – Lip readers are slow readers. Are you? If you move your lips while you are reading, you limit your reading rate to the number of words you speak per minute which is really not very many.
2. vocalizing words – Poor readers often speak the words they read, a habit even more common than in lip reading. Do you lip read? This is not advisable for it limits you to reading word by word.
3. sounding words in the inner ear – Many readers hear the words they read. These auditory readers, though not pronouncing words aloud or silently, are actually pronouncing them in mind. You can eliminate this habit by proacticing reading through units, by getting away from hearing words.
4. pointing to words with the head or finger – Another habit of poor readers is to follow along the line of print with their head and finger. The eyes can move rapidly and accurately enough by themselves; they do not require help from other poarts of the body, so moving a pointing finger and swinging the head from the first word to the last are wasted movements. They slow you down.
5. constant regression - Even efficient readers sometimes regress when they’re reading but they do so deliberately-they are aware of their regressions. When they go back, it is for a reason. They find the material difficult and realize at least another fixation is necessary. Or they wish to examine critically an idea of the writer, or study an unfamiliar word, or check a fact.

Poor readers, on the other hand make many necessary regression for the following reasons:

1. They usually are reading word by word and have to regress frequently in order to get any meaning;

2. their vocabulary is insufficient;

3. they lack confidence.

ACTIVITY SHEET No. 8

A. Directions: Read the text and work on the compreshension check up that follows:

1. Reading Speed:

Record your starting time here _____

Rockets are built to orbit the earth, but they are the results of manyears of research, millions of man-hours, and billions of dollars. Unfortunately we have not yet arrived at that state op public mind which would invest much money and time in educational research.

It is obiously absurd to expect a perfect self-teaching device to be developed from a few years of relatively uncoordinated effort and research that have been financed by foundations, private businesses, and the government, in small proportion to funds allocated to defense projects.

Record here the time now ______.

Your speed is therefore _________wpm.

II. Comprehension Check up:

A. Place “T” in the blank to the left if the statement is correct and place “F” if the statement is incorrect.

_____1. The main statement is to be found in sentence 2.

_____2. The best title for this paragraph would be “Rockets and Research.”

_____3. The writer obviously feels that not enough money has been spent on

rockets research.

_____4. The writer states that too much has been allocated for defense

projects.

B. Directions: Read the following texts and based on your understanding of their contents answer the question that follow.

One kind of inflation is caused by the law of supply and demand. Prices go higher in a time of shortage because demand exceeds supply. The other kind of inflation is caused when people are paid higher wages without producing more. To distinguish between these two kinds of inflation is to distinguish between a natural law and a man-made condition.

This means taking things that belong to others. The businessman who inflates prices fot the sake of excessive profits takes what belongs to us as surely as the thief who picks our pockets.

1. In this paragraph we find information on the following except

a. effect of inflation d. distinction between two causes

b. causes of inflation of inflation

c. definition of a pickpocket e. analogy regarding price inflation

2. What is being talked about is in the area of

a. physics c. mathematics

b. economics d. aesthetics

3. The statement of the author are apparently based on

a. facts and observation c. experiment

b. opinion d. hearsay and gossip

4. The thoughts expressed by the author are useful to studies on

a. adult literacy c. national economy

b. family planning d. labor and employment

5. Two pairs of terms used in the paragraph that are opposite in

meaning are:

a. and

b. and

6. The following words found in the text are used in a technical sense:

1. 4.

2. 5.

3. 6.

SELF- CHECK No. 8

Read the following text and based on your understanding of their contents answer the questions that follow:

All the evident indicates that the population upsurge in the underdeveloped countries is not helping them to advance economically. On the contrary, it may well be interfering with their economic growth. A surplus of labor on the farms holds back the mechanization of agriculture. A rapid rise in the number of people to be maintained uses up income that might otherwise be utilized for long term investment in education, equipment and other capital needs. To put it in concrete terms, it is difficult to give a child the basic education he needs to become an engineer when he is one of eight children of an illiterate farmer who must support the family with the produce of two acres of ground.

Encircle the letter of correct choice:

1. The subject or general thing being talked about in this paragraph is:

1. Effect of population c. value of children
2. Unemployment explosion d. farming methods

As such the subject is in the sphere of:

a. Art c. natural science

b. Business d. social science

1. The statements of the author are apparently based on:

a. Opinion c. hearsay

b. Facts d. none of these

1. The thoughts expressed by the author are useful to studies on the following except:

a. Labor and economy c. values of literacy

b. National development d. family planning

e. political emancipation

1. Indirectly the selection points out the need for

a. Productivity b. labor surplus

b. Labor surplus c. low cost of living

Indicate what are asked for:

1. In the selection the words and phrases that have negative meaning are:

1. _____________________ c. ___________________
2. _____________________ d. ___________________

e. ______________________

1. The following words are used in a technical sense:

a. f.

b. G.

c. h.

d. i.

e. j.

1. The sentences indicating that population upsurge adversely affects the following are:

a. Widespread professional education - sentence _______________

b. National economic growth - sentence _______________

c. Technological advancement - sentence _______________

d. Improvement of the quality of life - sentence _______________