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| Tuesday, 12 October 2004 |
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Reading habits at all levels
But I feel that I should meet one of the local experts on the subject, presumably an educationist, who has done intensive studies in reading habits at all levels. Fortunately, I met the right person, who in the first instance smiled when I posed the question. "Can reading be taught?" The expert friend, who is a retired teacher, who does not like divulging his name, said. "It goes without saying that reading has been taught over the years in all literate countries and this is one of the ancient traditions in the world." "I wish to know more about it." I insisted. "It is common knowledge that with the advent and the gradual development of a language, books came to be written, and the foremost mission was to read and allow a group to listen. As this trend continued we find that there grew a group of listeners, who would like to read themselves, replacing the function of the teacher. This was found in religious seats of learning at gradually spread into other centres of learning." My expert friend paused for a while and said. "As you know the earliest tradition of story telling is linked with narrating and listening. One person narrates a story and a person or a group of persons listen to it, thus giving way to a methodical oral transmission of a story into a written form." "Are you referring to an oriental tradition?" I asked. "No," he said. "Orient as well as the occident both had a similar tradition of story telling. Myths, fables, legends, parables, came to be orally narrated by various types of people, inclusive of priests, merchants, teachers, warriors and many others. There was the grave necessity to know more and more interesting experiences on the part of the listeners. As such the tendency was the inculcation of the reading habit when once a document is prepared. "Now don't we try to give an extra dimension of reading?" I asked. "Yes certainly, with the advent of technology and media channels there seems at certain points of moment. In social history, a drop in the reading habit. But at the same time with the growth of literacy the urge to know more via the print media and the information dissemination grew steadily. "I have come across some new interpretations given to the concept of 'reading'." "Can you enlighten me on it?" "The process of 'reading' is one thing. The process of rereading and reading for a purpose, are quite different. In the first instance, the average reading process in most cases is a habit formation and cultivation required for learning at school level. But this process changes accordingly when a particular person, may it be a child or an adult, who so wishes to reread or rediscover in the light of a new knowledge he or she has acquired. As such, 'rereading' is a special trend where the emphasis lies on a particular purpose. This trend has gone into controversies, where some scholars even go to the extent of saying that even the pictures could be read and the very process is similar to transformation from one medium to another. There are also various other nuances sprung up from reading. "What are they?" "Reading the mind is one example, reading between the lines is another, reading to reinterpret or retell is yet another. In this manner, various types of reading has come to stay. If you collect materials like articles, essays, creative works, and compile for a particular purpose, you may call that an anthology or a 'reader'. Anyway a good reader in the modern world is a rare specie. "Why?" "Reading habits over the years have changed due to various factors." |
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The month of October is declared officially as the 'reading month'.
Quite a number of projects are being launched on the part of the National
Library Services and Documentation Centre, especially with reference to
lectures, demonstrations and discussions.
