Different types of reading

Reading can be of different types. Reading is categorized based on the objective or the purpose of reading. It is important to learn all types of reading to improve reading skills. First, reading can be divided into two major categories: oral reading and silent reading. 

Oral reading is done to check pronunciation. Students can practice pronunciation through oral reading. Students read aloud to learn the mechanics of reading. For example, they learn when to take pauses while reading. This helps them in the process of comprehension as well. Teachers can also evaluate students’ reading skills by giving them oral reading. It is a good way to check stress and intonation. 

Silent reading, on the other hand, is used for better comprehension of a text. Researchers say that silent reading improves attention and develops cognitive abilities, which is why silent reading helps understand the text well. Silent reading can be divided into intensive or extensive reading. Intensive reading refers to reading the text several times to understand each part of the text fully. Students can do intensive reading to understand the content as well as the linguistic items in the text. For example, L2 learners in the classroom are given a text to read and analyze the main argument. They read each paragraph carefully and analyze the ideas and structures of the text. This helps them understand how each part supports the main argument. They also look for specific details. They analyze the linguistic forms, such as sentence structure and vocabulary to understand the writers’ style of argumentation. To do this, they have to read the text several times. Each reading will help them understand the argument more. However, extensive reading means reading a text for a general understanding of a topic. Then, read more texts on the same topic to understand the topic better. Learners do not pay attention to vocabulary or sentence structure while doing the extensive reading. They may read more articles on the same topic to understand the argument better. 

Again, extensive reading can be divided into two categories. They are skimming and scanning. Scanning refers to reading a text quickly to find out a specific piece of information. When readers look for a specific date, name, or phrase, they read through the text quickly until they find out the information. In contrast, readers look for the general meaning of a text when they skim through it. It is more complex than scanning because the learner has to remember information. ; 

All the above types of reading are important. Students have to learn all the types because each technique is important for specific reasons. Therefore, each type of reading is important to develop reading skills better.