Assignment ON Intensive and Extensive Reading Activities: Submitted By, S.V. Allan Sharmila, REG. NO: 19BDEN04

ASSIGNMENT
ON
INTENSIVE AND
EXTENSIVE READING
ACTIVITIES
SUBMITTED BY,
S.V. ALLAN SHARMILA,
REG. NO: 19BDEN04

INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE READING ACTIVITIES
Effective language instructor shows students how they can adjust their reading
behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input and reading purposes. They help
students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each reading
situation.
Strategies that can help students read more quickly and effectively include.
➢ Previewing
➢ Predicting
➢ Skimming
➢ Scanning
➢ Guessing from context
➢ Paraphrasing
Many language text books emphasize product (answers to comprehension questions) over
process (using reading skills and strategies to understand the text), provide little or no
contextual information about the reading selections or their authors and few, if any, pre
reading tasks. Newer text books may provide pre-reading activities and reading strategy
guidance, but their one-size-fits-all approach may or may not be appropriate for the students
level.
Another problem with text book reading selections is that they have been adapted to a
predetermined reading level through adjustment of vocabulary, grammar and sentence length.
This makes them more immediately approachable, but it also means that they are less
authentic and do not encourage students to apply the reading strategies they will need to use
outside the class. When this is the case, the text book reading selection can be used as a
starting point to introduce a writer or topic, and then the students can be given choices of
more challenging authentic texts to read as follow up.

In foreign language teaching and learning, reading involves understanding and
comprehending meaning / message conveyed through the written text. An efficient reader
will understand what is relevant for him and what is relevant in the text that he should get at.
Reading is an active process in which the reader is all the time involved in getting at the
message, what is called decoding the text.
The message of the text is accessible to the mind of the reader only after decoding it and,
thus, communication is achieved. This equally applies to the spoken text in which the speaker
encodes the message in a certain order for the listener to hear it. The listener decodes the
message or the intended meaning of the speaker as he listens to the speech. It would be
therefore wrong to assume that the reader’s or listener’s role is passive at any time of reading
or listening.
INTENSIVE READING
Intensive reading or reading for accuracy involves approaching a text under the close
guidance of a teacher or through a task that forces the student to pay attention to the text. It
involves a profound understanding of the text not only in terms of ‘what’ it says but in terms
of also ‘how’ it says it. An intensive reading lesson is primarily concerned with developing
reading strategies, judgment, reasoning, interpretation and appreciation of the learners.

EXAMPLES
➢ A bookkeeping report
➢ An insurance claim
➢ A contract
Extensive Reading
Extensive reading or reading for fluency involves reading of longer texts for pleasure
and, not necessarily, for minute details. It is a fluency activity in which the students can read
on their own. Class time is short and the amount of reading normally is very great in our
school curriculums. Extensive reading can lesson the teacher’s burden if he encourages his
students to read without his help.
A good school library would be an ideal place for students to enjoy reading.
Unfortunately, most of our schools are ill equipped in terms of libraries and the
school timings are such that they give very little chance to students to have some free time for
reading. However, wherever such library facilities are available, students should be
encouraged to read on their own and where no libraries are available, the teacher should refer
to a list of books that students could be asked to read in their home.
Extensive reading can play a vital role in the learning of a second / foreign language.
In this regard, the following characteristics are very important.
➢ Students read as much as possible both in the class and outside it.
➢ Different text- types are available for reading, for different purposes and in different
ways.
➢ Students have a choice and freedom to select whatever they want to read. They can
stop reading the texts, which do not interest them.
➢ Reading has its own reward. There are no follow up activities or tasks.
➢ The reading texts are within the linguistic competence of the reader. During reading,
the use of dictionary is very rare, as one does not stop to look for meaning of an
unfamiliar/ difficult word.
➢ Reading is individual and silent. Students read at their own pace. They choose when
to read and where to read. This helps them develop fluency as they learn to read faster
and without disturbance.
It is important, then, that intensive reading course is not confined to anthologies of
prose and poetry, as is done in most of the school curriculum. It should include texts that
interest and motivate students to read without a teacher's help, both familiar and unfamiliar
texts.
Extensive reading -used for pleasure and general understanding.
Examples of Extensive Reading: The latest marketing strategy book, A novel you read before
going to bed, Magazine articles that interest you.

Extensive reading can prove very helpful in teaching and learning of English as
second/ foreign language. It can provide a better exposure to English through a wide variety
of materials. Generally, students find their school textbooks uninteresting and demotivating.
They can be asked to read additional materials so that the learning becomes easier. It is
imperative that extensive materials are easy, appealing, varied and, above all, authentic. They
should be texts which students come across in daily life and which they will want to read
after they exit their educational institutions.
The decisions with regard to when to introduce authentic texts will depend on the
level of linguistic competence the students have reached at a particular point of time. If the
students' proficiency is below the required level, problems are bound to arise. Independent
silent reading will require a sufficient command of language to comprehend and understand
the message in the text.
Many teachers regard the prime purpose of reading as being to extract the message
from the text - while students may well regard the prime purpose of reading as being to study
the language contained within the text. As a result of the contrasting views, there is potential
for misunderstanding.
Intent on helping them to hone their reading skills, teachers often tell their students to
read quickly, urging them not to pause at every unfamiliar word. They may give them a
limited time to read a particular text. Alternatively, they may instruct their class to embark on
a post-reading activity before everyone in the room has finished reading. Being required to
read in ways that are unfamiliar to them can make students feel uneasy.
To put students’ mind at rest, teachers can justify the importance of developing
strategic reading skills by explaining that there is so much reading matter in the modern
world, particularly on the internet, that everyone needs to develop the skill of identifying the
main message of each text as quickly as possible - perhaps to decide that the text does not
contain useful or valid information.

Assignment ON Intensive and Extensive Reading Activities: Submitted By, S.V. Allan Sharmila, REG. NO: 19BDEN04

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ASSIGNMENT

S.V. ALLAN SHARMILA,

REG. NO: 19BDEN04

➢ Guessing from context

more challenging authentic texts to read as follow up.

message, what is called decoding the text.

reading strategies, judgment, reasoning, interpretation and appreciation of the learners.

students to read without his help.

to a list of books that students could be asked to read in their home.

In this regard, the following characteristics are very important.

stop reading the texts, which do not interest them.

unfamiliar/ difficult word.

and without disturbance.

It is important, then, that intensive reading course is not confined to anthologies of

Extensive reading -used for pleasure and general understanding.

going to bed, Magazine articles that interest you.

after they exit their educational institutions.

the message in the text.

contain useful or valid information.

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