55. Reading Skills Comprehension: Group of Teachers

Group of Teachers

Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions:-

Not too long ago, a group of teachers made a study of the students and learning problems. A curious fact came out of this study. The teachers discovered that the students who did poorly in subjects such as Maths or Art could still do very well in other subjects. But the students who did poorly in reading almost did poorly in all their other courses.

For a while, the teachers who made the study were puzzled by this, but they soon had an answer to this puzzle. The teachers looked at the subjects that the students were failing in and discovered that even subjects like Maths and Science were based on reading.

Of course, there were also other skills involved such as learning to add and subtract in Maths class most of the explanations of how to do things had to be read by the students. Much of the homework assignments required students to read long sets of directions and tests and, problems in class often involved story problems, problems that were explained in words and had to be read and understood before they could be solved. Your success or failure in these classes will depend on your ability to read the required material. Finally, if you go to college, almost all your study time will be spent on reading. You need more and more information and most of this information comes from the printed material you have to read. Even if you could get tapes or movies containing all the information, you need to know that they would not be of much help until and unless you know how to read.

Magazines and books may all be on microfilm in the next few years, but they will still have to be read. The same is true of most of what you have to learn in school. Your school is probably not going to throw all the printed material out of the window very soon.

Success in school courses still depends on an ability to read and those students, who cannot read or at least read well enough to master the material, are in trouble. You are moving into a world where every day more and more technical reading is required. Instructions for using applications are becoming more complex. There are written instructions to follow, for food preparations, traffic signs, travel directions and safety information, all requiring the ability to read. People in modern society read hundreds and even thousands of words every day.

Also, your ability to get and keep a job is directly related to your ability to read. Even the simplest jobs require some reading ability, and many people advance to more important and better-paying jobs by getting additional knowledge and skills through reading. The more specialised the job, the greater the need to read confidently, quickly and efficiently.

Doctors read professional journals so that they can use the latest medical knowledge in treating patients while pharmacists have to read the prescriptions the doctors write. Lawyers spend their days reading briefs. The number of semiskilled and professional occupations that require high reading ability is increasing rapidly. Today a person who cannot read is almost unemployable.

1.Answer the following questions briefly:

(i) What did the study of a group of teachers reveal?

(ii) On which factor does your ability to get and keep a job depend?

(iii) The subjects like Maths and Science were based on which thing?

(iv) What is a man considered without the skill of reading?

2. Find words in the passage which convey the similar meaning of the following words by choosing the correct option:

(i) not simple…………..

(a) puzzled (b) complex

(ii) (done) with skill……………

(a) confidently (b) efficiently

(iii) strange…………..

(a) peculiar (b) puzzled