41. Проблеми навчання техніки читання. Види вправ

Reading in the English language is one of the most difficult things because there are 26 letters and 104 graphemes which represent 46 phonemes.

Then these is a gap between letters and sounds in a word, that is between graphic and sound form of the word:

Daughter ['dɔːtə] Nephew ['nef vjuː]

Different ways of reading letters and letter combination: e. g. pin – pine, cut – put, now – snow.

The presence of deaf letters:

e. g. Kite, through, Wednesday.

One and the same sound is given by different letters or letter combination:

[k] – cat, Kite, school, question.

Besides technical difficulties these are same linguistic difficulties

• a lot of converted words and the words which have a lot of meanings;

• inversion;

• complex constructions with Infinitive, Gerund, Participle etc.

The most difficult thing in learning to read is to get information from a sentence or a paragraph on the basis of knowledge of structural signals and not only the meaning of words. Pupils often ignore grammar and tray to understand what they read relying on their knowledge of separate words. And they often fail. (E. g. He was asked to help the old woman.) Pupils sometimes find it difficult to pick out topical sentences in the text which express the main ideas.

To make the process of reading easier new words, phrases and sentences patterns should be learnt orally before pupils are asked to read them. When pupils start reading they know how to pronounce the words, the phrases and the sentences and are familiar with their meaning.

The teacher can use the whole system of exercises for developing pupils’ ability to read which may be done in two forms – loud and silent.

Reading aloud. The following methods are observed: the phonic, the word, the sentence methods. When the phonic method is used, the child learns the sounds and associates them with graphical symbols – letters. In the word method a complete word is first presented to the child. When a several words have been learnt they are used in simple sentences. The sentence method deals with the sentences as units of approach in teaching reading. The teacher can develop pupils’ ability to read sentences with correct intonation. Later the sentence is split up into words. The combination of the three methods can ensure good reading.

Non-communication exercises for teaching reading:

1. acquisition with the letters;

2. mastering letter–sound and sound–letter connections;

3. automatization of the operation of perceiving the words;

4. acquisition with the rules of reading vowels, consonants, letter combinations;

5. the formation of the habits and skills in reading words, words combinations and sentences.

Exercises aimed at the development of graphic–phoneme connection:

• sound the letters;

• read the letter in different positions in a word;

• choose the letter;

• count the letters and sounds in a word;

• combine capital and small letters;

• write down the letter, named by the teacher;

• choose the words beginning with the letter…;

• find similarities and differences in the word: from – from.

Exercises aimed at reading words:

• define the type of syllable (1, 2, 3, 4);

• write down the words;

• group the words according to the types of syllables;

• read the pairs of the words (take – make, ice –nice, etc);

• read the unknown words;

• write down the missed letter;

• find pictures to the words;

• crosswords;

• find the hidden words;

• remember the words shown by the teacher on the cards;

• different tests.

Exercises aimed at the form of the word:

• find the word in the letters: bde:

• make up the word;

• fill in the gaps in the words;

• write down the ending o the words;

• renew the words, etc.

Exercises aimed at the phonetic side:

• repeat after the speaker;

• define the intonation;

• read the text aloud after intoning it;

• change the logical stress in sentences.

Exercises aimed at the speed of reading:

• read the text during a certain period of time;

• read the sentences shown by the teacher quickly;

• read the text and find the answer to the question.