Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim
Department of English and French,
muhsin2008@gmail.com
Abstract
The paper seeks to
answer some triggering questions on reading: why, when, what and how, through
demonstrating to the students some of the many (positive) impacts of good
reading culture, exploring the probable 'reasons' why students don’t, or hate
to, read, and by offering ways on how to overcome such problems. In the discussion,
the writer highlights on how achieving this would contribute to the development
of the student’s academic pursuit, linguistic competence and performance, and
life in general. In conclusion, a call is made to the “stakeholders” and the
people in general to assist the students as their success means, in wider
perspective, the nation’s success.
Being a Paper Presented at a Special Lecture Organized by the Department
of English, Girls’ Science College, Garko, Kano; 03rd March, 2013
INTRODUCTION
The issue of education in
Islam is of paramount importance that could not be over emphasized. One of the
reasons to ascertain this saying is contained in the religion’s most sacred
book, the holy Qur’an. The first revelation to the Prophet Mohammad (upon whom
be peace) says: “1. Read! In the
Name of your Lord Who created; 2. He has created man from a clot; 3. Read! And your Lord is the Most
Generous; 4. Who has taught by the pen; 5. He has taught man that which he knew
not (Al-Alaq, 96:1-5). And, the high status of the learned people is mentioned
in many verses in the Qur’an (see Al-An’am, 6:122, Az-Zumar, 39:9; etc). Therefore,
Islam stresses greatly on seeking knowledge by both sexes and to wherever length. Women
in particular, as Dauda (2000) observes, are the life vein of the society, and
the custodians of its distinct socio-cultural values, and as the first teachers
of all sons and daughters biologically born; and culturally suitable and
relevant to their distinct societal roles and their natural disposition. What
is the way through which one gets the needed education?
It is not a two-way thing. One can
only and only get education through learning, and one can primarily learn via reading. Without reading and the ability
to read, we would not be able to understand our religion and what it teaches
us. We could not be distinguished from animal; there would not have been
technology, media houses, banks, hospitals, and more.
WHAT IS TO READ?
The word “reading” has multiple definitions. Reading basically means “interpretation” or
“decoding”. This could either be of literal
meaning or of inner meaning, that is,
when we read “between the lines”. Reading is an essential aspect of academic
activities and reading efficiently enhances the acquisition of knowledge and
skills in every discipline—medicine, engineering, arts, sciences and all
others. Reading
is a source of learning and a source of enjoyment (Nation 2005, in Rosszell, 2007).
However, as Ogbonna and Obiozor (2009) observe, majority of our children
growing up today, particularly, those in the rural areas have limited exposure
to reading materials. And, again, due, among other reasons,
to globalisation, many African parents are reluctant to use African languages
and therefore, want their children to learn in languages of wider
communication, mainly English, to be able to access prestigious education in
the future and be competitive at the world market. But there are good reading
materials in all languages. For instance, the tag: “Kano Market Literature”
being used to refer to mainly novels written in Hausa and sold in Kano is considered a
derogatory by many scholars, for pockets of such books are good. And, of
course, many others are not worthy of any attention.
Many other studies reinforce the observation that student literacy is
declining these days due to the emergence of technological gadgets such as the
internet, GSM, satellite and so on. Many students prefer viewing to reading as
a spare time activity. A survey conducted by Ibrahim et al. (2010) indicates
that watching TV is the prime leisure activity of respondents.
READING CULTURE
Reading habit implies
reading as a regular activity. However, Nigerians, despite many measures being
taken by the country’s successive governments as well as many other
individuals, are not known to have a good reading culture compared to the
western world. Reasons adduced to this, according to Anunobi (2005 in Ogbonna & Obiozor 2009), is the inability to develop the attitude of reading at the
early stages of life. Moreover, a good number of people who read hardly read for
leisure except either for academic purposes or basically for research. This
calls for more need to make more effort to immerse
the students in the culture of reading, for they are losing a lot.
The
school system approach towards reading, which has made students conceive it as
a once and for all activity associated with passing examinations, getting a
certificate, winning a job and attaining promotion, could be one of the reasons.
Hence, once the aforesaid targets are achieved, students cease to have interest
in reading books. This result is present because teachers basically teach and
request students to only read their course notes or what is examinable
(Mugisha, 2010 in Ruterana, 2012); and thus, they forget that reading is a
life-long skill that should transcend not only the exam, but also the
classroom. In other words, reading is a cradle to the grave activity. As a
consequence, Izizinga (2000) notes that students imbued with such reading
perception lack motivation and interest in reading in their everyday life to
the extent that they even develop a habit of considering reading tasks assigned
to them in schools as a burden.
On their part, students who enjoy reading read more, and such practice
hones their reading skills. Numerous studies describe the importance ER or, as
it is called in other literatures, Recreational Reading plays in the
development of reading abilities, vocabulary enhancement, and language
acquisition (Paulson, 2006; Krashen, 1993; Krashen, 1989; Griswold, 2006). On
the other part, many poor readers are placed in programs in which they read
less, not more, and are “given less opportunity to read authentic texts and
instead are given more drills and out of context instruction that involve
little if any connected reading” (Paulson, 2006, p. 52). And, they are those
students who perform poorly is their academic pursuit.
QUEST FOR THE REMEDY, AND
IMPACT OF THE FOUND RESULT
While it is true that poor readers need extensive remedial work that
includes drills, etc., one very effective way to improve students reading
skills is simply to have them read more and more: “Reading is the only way we
become good readers, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary,
advanced grammatical competence, and become good spellers” (Paulson, 2006, p.
53). This capitalizes on the fact that reading is done for both or either intellectual
pursuits and for pleasure, and for many other purposes. A good
reading culture according to Ogbonna & Obiozor (2009) is
a sine-qua non to personal and national
development. The following are, however, a few of
those benefits:
Communicative Competence
Meera and Ramya (2008) put it that ER is essential for language development.
Moreover, reading is
further described as a source of learning and a source of enjoyment. In a
second, particularly a foreign language situation, a good reading competence is
a necessity for those studying English for academic and occupational purposes
and many curricula therefore devote large amounts of time to reading lessons in
order to achieve such competence. Yet despite years of instruction and practice
in reading, many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students have difficulty
in making sense of texts they want to read, seem to read considerably more
slowly than they read in their first language, and feel less confident about
reading in English. Of course, there are a number of possible reasons for this,
but this is partly due to the way reading is approached in the language class
(Nation 2005, in Rosszell 2007).
Hence the need to create a reading circles, where students could learn from and
with each other. Topics to discuss could be virtually any ranging from mysteries,
fiction, biographies, sports, religious books and so on.
Linguistic Impact
ER promotes the growth of vocabulary, verbal fluency and general
information (Anderson, Wilson & Fielding, 1988). Schackne (1994) studied
whether there is a correlation between extensive reading and language
acquisition and obtained significant results. Other research evidence shows
that ER and achievement in English are closely related. Students, who read
independently, become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all
subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not
(Krashen, 1989). Having been aware of this fact I, for example, take up the
habit of reading extensively. I would also want to advise you to try to resist
all the nagging feelings that what you are doing is not mandatory, so put it
down. Persevere and continue; you shall, consciously or subconsciously, gather
an avalanche of knowledge—your pool of vocabulary will be enriched with more
words; you will get more verbally fluent and obtain more general information.
Intellectual Impact
It is a verified truth that good reading skills are critical for success
in any student’s chosen career. Likewise having more prior knowledge generally
aids comprehension. There are many aspects to prior knowledge, including
knowledge of the world, cultural knowledge, subject-matter knowledge and
linguistic knowledge (Afflerbach, 1990). Bello-Kano (undated) maintains that
reading enlarges the mind; those who have read many, many, books are likely to
be broadminded, cosmopolitan, nice, and pleasant. They have enlarged their
knowledge of other people, other cultures, and can be called truly human beings
because their mind could appreciate, tolerate and accommodate differences
between themselves and others.
Studies conducted by McCabe (1991) proved that academic achievement and
creativity are related significantly. Nanda, Arti and Pal (1994) reported that
highly creative students possessed better academic achievement. Language
teachers can bring forth the best creative outputs from children by providing
interesting activities but language teaching often fails to produce critics. It
is seen that students who read extensively sometimes, fail to score good marks.
I talk much but unfortunately say little.
However, there are many different purposes for reading. As Turner &
Paris, (1995) maintain; a reader reads a text to understand its meaning, as
well as put that understanding to use. A person reads a text to learn, to find
out information, to be entertained, to reflect or as religious practice. The
purpose for reading is closely connected to a person’s motivation for reading.
It will also affect the way a book is read.
(MORE) PIECES OF ADVICE TO THE
STUDENTS
In addition to the suggestions offered above, I think I should say more.
I often say it, for that is how I do it: read everything that comes your way. Reading is like a
groundnut, meaning almost every “ounce” of it is useful. Read all genres, all
literatures so as to gather tens and thousands of vocabularies, sheer
experience, wisdom and more. It is, however, worth calling attention to: not everything readable is wholly good.
Consult your teachers, parents, seniors, elders and whoever knows more than you
do for guidance and selection.
There are, nonetheless, impediments to effective reading such as sub-vocalisation, which is also referred
to as “lisping”, finger-pointing, regression
and the like. They are threats to efficient reading and reading speed. They are
mostly due, among other reasons, to lack of concentration. Give required
attention to distinct material being read, say, for instance, 80% of your attention
for IR and 60% for ER. And, lastly, do not read while lying on your back and
holding the book upward. Best position for reading is sitting or reclining.
Bello-Kano (undated) hints that: “You can read not only in the library, but
also in your room, in the toilet or in kitchen, or everywhere you happen to be”.
AS “STAKEHOLDERS”, WHAT CAN WE
OFFER?
It may seem odd or rather sound awkward to say, but the responsibility
of inculcating reading culture in our students is not a one-man business, that
is to say not a sole responsibility of a “poor” language teacher(s). Eric J.
Paulson, in his article on developing a reading culture, proposed that:
If
we identify an important goal of … reading programs for college readers as
providing a foundation of life-long reading, a study-skills approach to college
development reading falls short. Instead, we must focus on encouraging and
instilling in … students the belief that reading has intrinsic value. It is
through this approach that solid academic progress can be obtained as well
(Paulson, 2006, pp. 51-52).
The way to achieving above apparently calls for concerted effort from
and championed by individual department, staff, students, and alumni; and,
above all, the government. I kind of believe that our curriculum in schools has
to be redesigned to give more space and time for reading. There should be a
whole period of not less than 30 minutes dedicated for reading every day. Our
younger ones in all levels have to be encouraged to read self-selected material
outside of their assigned coursework through creating a collection of fiction
and other popular works in the public libraries, school libraries and so on;
or, via formalizing and making compulsory a credit-bearing recreational reading
program. I think the Department of English of this prestigious college under
the leadership of Malam Abdu Fagge do this or something like that. The trend
should be supported by the school authority, the Board and the government in
general. The benefit may not be so visible, but there it is. And the students,
now or later in life, will say and praise it, and will say their goodwill to
the initiators of such.
CONCLUSION
It is more or less demonstrated in the foregoing paragraphs that
developing reading culture is very important, even imperative. It, I dare to
say, humanizes a student, for she
will know herself and be exposed to the thinking and the world of others. And,
it clears path for her to greater knowledge, success, experience and exposure
in her entire life as a student, a worker, a housewife, an individual, a
human-being. Therefore, our hope is when students graduate from Garko Science
College ; we want them to
be able to read with greater understanding, greater frequency, and greater
appreciation for the value of reading. In essence, we want them to have
internalized the culture of reading from their Garko Science
College experience to
their life outside.
Thank you so much for listening. May Allah, the Exalted, bless us all.
May He let peace reign in our dearest state, Kano
and all the Muslim communities in Nigeria and the world, amin.
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