Lees-om-te-leer: 'n studievaardigheid

Abstract

Learners specially acquire knowledge by means of reading. The importance of this skill is emphasised with reference to reading strategies and the teaching thereof, as well as the development of critical and analytical thinking. Although it is not implicated that such teaching does not exist at all, the lack of a procedural and systematic approach in this regard is mentioned. The different underlying processes which take place during the transaction between reader and text need to be taken into account. One of the main functions of text processing is to make the reader understand the text as a coherent whole, and therefore the teaching of reading should acknowledge the interaction between cohesion and coherence. Learners must become aware of the different devices by means of which an author communicates specific intentions and should be taught how to utilize these markers of cohesiveness.

Prediction and inferencing are two of the most important thinking skills used during reading and effective readers are able to identify text features and contextualisation cues as part of these cognitive processes. They know, in fact, the meaning and grammatical functions of words, can identify the logical relationships between ideas in a text and recognise the rhetorical conventions that govern academic texts. These readers possess the necessary strategies for the construction of meaning and use it in a flexible and active way. Successful readers monitor the reading process and adapt their reading strategies to the type of text and reading purposes. It is this ability that needs to be taught by means of a procedural approach to reading.

Key Words: reading instruction; reading strategies; markers; cohesion

Kernbegrippe: leesonderrig; leesstrategieë; merkers; kohesie

Journal for Language Teaching Vol.38(2) 2004: 198-214