20-09-2013, 04:19 PM
Reading Skills For Effective Business Communication
Introduction
Apart from listening, written and oral skills, business executives also need to equip themselves with
reading skills, in order to succeed in the workplace. These skills are very different from what you
require as a student of management. The types of reading that you will have to do at the workplace
will be varied – sometimes you may have to do extensive reading of professional books, magazines
and journals; at other times you may be required to study research reports in an intensive manner.
Often, business executives are also asked to scan newspapers and magazines to collect information,
or to read and condense business related articles for their busy superiors. Unless you familiarize
yourself with the different techniques of reading, you will not be successful. This unit deals with the
different purposes and types of reading and some special techniques that should be applied, in order
to extract the most out of reading.
What Is Reading ?
The following are a few definitions/descriptions regarding the process of reading.
· “Reading is thinking under the stimulus of the printed page” (Webster, 1982:30)
· “Reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game” (Webster, 1982:19)
· “Reading comprehension means understanding a written text. Understanding a written text is
extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible”. Francoise Grellet 1991:3)
Reading As A Skill
Similar to listening, reading, for many of us, is a “passive” process, where we sit down, relax and run
our eyes through the words on the page. However, meaningful reading, or reading with
understanding, is considered an “active” process. A reader can understand a text only when he/she
actively uses his/her mental faculties. Therefore, to read efficiently, one has to have:
· Knowledge of the writing system of the language
· Knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language
· Ability to interpret
· A reason for reading and the appropriate method of reading
· Knowledge of the world (experience/background knowledge)
Scanning
As you read a text, editorial or an article, you may suddenly come across a word that is not familiar to
you. Naturally, you would like to know the meaning of the word, for your own benefit. So you get the
dictionary and carefully find the word. You see the spelling, pronunciation, meaning and also the
various uses of the same word (if any). This type of careful reading to find out the specific, clear
details, is known as “scanning.” In this case, you do not just run your eyes across the page, but look
into the information for specific details. Let us go through the following exercise, to be familiar with
what scanning is all about.
Extensive Reading
As we have already mentioned, our way of reading is influenced by the purpose of our reading. Most
of us have the habit of reading especially when we are free, or have a lot of leisure time. We might
get hold of a novel, a comic strip, or a magazine. When we read for the pure pleasure of reading, it
is known as “extensive” reading. However, it should not be given less priority, because it is extensive
reading. It is enjoyable, as well as informative. Here, we practice rapid reading to get a
global/overall understanding of the matter.
Loud And Silent Reading
Most of our daytoday reading is done silently. When we read an article or an advertisement, we are
engaged in the process of deriving meaning from the passage. Actually when we read aloud, our
concentration is divided between reading and speaking. This makes reading difficult and may cause
problems in understanding the matter. However, there are situations when we may have to read
things aloud when others do not have access to them – for example, notices and circulars.
We need to read the instructions aloud to students or employees, so that there is no confusion later.
Apart from these extraordinary situations, most of the time the natural way of reading is silent
reading, which is ideal and helps comprehension.