To may people who is learning a second language, reading is a stressful process but an important skill for all of them.
Many studies made by native speakers prove that rapid reading was only a skimmingskimming strategy used to overlay reading materials.
A possible solution fir this problem is to increase the reading rates and readers will feel encourage to read more. And, with more reading, the comprehensioncomprehension improves. The more students read, the more their reading abilities increase.
Eventhough, an inadequate vocabulary affects the reader in the process of reading, so the person read less and acquire a poor development of vocabulary.
Four reading-rate activities have been designed in order to be used in second language classes to improve students reading rates. These activities do not need special texts or tools to be applied in classrooms by a teacher.
The major benefit of these activities is that they help the reader to be aware of the importance of reading rates.
The activities are Rate-buildup reading, Repeated reading, Class-paced reading and Self-paced reading. All of them, help students to determine their own reading-rate goals.
However, students can do a variety of reading passages to improve their reading comprehension.
References.
Anderson, N. 1983. Rapid reading in the ESL classroom. Paper presented at the meeting of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Toronto, Canada.
Brown, B., D. Inouye, K. Barrus, and D. Hansen. 1981. An analysis of the rapid reading controversy. In The Social Psychology of Reading: Language and Literacy, Vol. 1. ed. J. Edwards. Silver Spring, M: Institute of Modern Languages.
Fry, E. 1975. Reading drills for speed and comprehension (2nd ed.) Providence, RI: Jamestown Publishers.
