LEARNING OUTCOME 2 READING & VIEWING

The National Curriculum Statement recognises that well-developed reading and viewing skills are central to successful learning. The word 'viewing' is synonymous with examining or inspecting. 

Reading and viewing are very important for full participation in society and the world of work. Those who acquire the skills of reading are successful in pursuing academic studies and becoming professionals.

The National Curriculum Statement envisages that learners will develop proficiency in reading and viewing a wide range of literary and non-literary texts for information. In this respect understanding genre and register assume a special importance.

Reading Strategies must be used for:

• making meaning from texts;

• identifying values and assumptions;

• responding to the texts in a critical manner

• Through reading and viewing learners explore and reflect on the interrelationship of their own existence with that of others;
• Reading literary texts will provide learners with models for their own writing.

• skimming texts;
• scanning texts;
• using the SQ3R technique;
• predicting;
• inferring meanings of words and phrases;
• rereading; and 
• reviewing 

• finding information;

• determining how omissions in a text affect the meaning;

• distinguishing between fact and opinions;

• distinguishing between direct and implied meaning;

• explaining the viewpoints of the writer and of the characters;

• explaining the socio-political-cultural background;

• analysing advertisements;

• analysing rhetorical and literary devices;

• understanding propaganda; and

• understanding figures of speech

• evaluating the writer’s inferences and conclusions with his / her own;
• explaining his / her response to texts, incidents, characters and philosophy;
• collecting phrases and quotations;
• recreating a scene with a local setting and characters; and
• dramatising a scene from the text.

The following should be done to help learners achieving this Learning Outcome:

● This Learning Outcome should aim at developing learners who are independent and enthusiastic readers and are thus able to engage in lifelong learning. Texts chosen should be relevant to the learners.

● In order to read with confidence and enjoyment, learners must develop reading strategies. They should be able to:

• match different ways of reading to different texts and purposes, such as skimming newspaper headlines for the main ideas; scanning a telephone directory for a number; reading instructions slowly and with care or reading a poem with enjoyment;

• develop and evaluate own reading speed;

• use strategies to work out or find the meanings of words and phrases such as working out the meaning from the context; using word formation or using a dictionary; and

• use content pages, indexes, reference books, library catalogues, internet searches, etc.

● Learners should, according to specific language level and grade, also be knowledgeable about different genres of non-fiction and fiction such as crime stories, science fiction, romances and biographies. They should be exposed to the work of different authors and be able to select texts that they will enjoy.

● Learners should evaluate meaning and language critically in all texts and learn to appreciate and critique them.

● Important literary works of the language should be shared with the learner who responds analytically and creatively. The extent to which this happens will differ according to the level of language. In a Second Additional Language, fewer and less taxing texts are studied.

● The beauty of the language as expressed through its various literary and stylistic devices is experienced. The level of analysis and engagement will differ according to the level at which the language is studied.

● Effective reading and viewing skills provide learners with the means to access information and thus is central to their functioning in a work environment.

● Viewing implies engagement with visual aspects of texts, such as pictures, symbols, graphs, cartoons, comic strips, posters and advertisements, and is an aspect that is often neglected in language teaching. Critical viewing is important in a world driven by multimedia and visual stimuli.