Developing Materials for Reading and Writing Skills Essay

Developing Materials for Reading and Writing Skills - Essay Example Developing Materials for Reading and Writing Skills On the other hand, the skill of writing is difficult when compared to reading because writing requires more effort in terms of correctness of grammar, use, or appropriacy of expression, punctuation, spelling, and of comprehension on the reader's part. But, I think if a reader has world knowledge and has a habit of reading a range of texts across different domains, s/he will be able to comprehend unfamiliar texts with ease. This paper is presented with an assumption that reading texts of various genres is likely to enhance the writing ability of a student because a fluent reader's word knowledge as well as knowledge of the academic texts is considered to be high, as aptly reported by (Kintsch, 1998) that skilled readers are good decoders with an ability to recognize words twice as fast as unskilled readers. Therefore, I believe that the teacher's approach towards classroom instruction should focus on various academic genres, and in integrating reading and writing skills that help students develop relevant academic vocabulary used across various disciplines. Studies also indicate that readers' knowledge in a domain helps in understanding the text better than readers with little or no knowledge in a domain (Sampson, 2003). However, the ever changing scenario in education and teaching approaches nudges the students to learn various reading and writing strategies that would help them succeed academically. At the same time, teachers and researchers continue to churn out various curricula, and device a variety of reading strategies in order to determine the most effective strategy that would help students to be effective learners. Though, these strategies (Simpson, 2000) were assumed to be part of a hidden curriculum, realizing their importance various studies have been carried out since 1960 till today by researchers. As (Simpson, 2000) pointed out that "The advantages of teaching strategies within a context are numerous. Students can learn how to define and interpret academic tasks, establish goals, and select the appropriate strategies, and then evaluate the utility of those strategies in relationship to the specific contexts". Along side, latest research trends and best practices continue to evolve based on sound theory and research. The skill of reading The purpose of reading can be classified into two categories depending on what they are read for - for pleasure or for information. Similarly, the purpose of reading varies from situation to situation and from text to text. Since reading is an active process, a reader's understanding of any text depends on the application of mental faculties. Therefore, the reader should have the knowledge of the writing system, the language, the ability to interpret, the knowledge of the world and a reason for reading. Thus, while reading a reader interacts with a text decodes it and constructs meaning. In the process, what the reader constructs depends on what the writer writes. On the contrary, poor or passive readers lack certain abilities as (Farr, 2003) stated that poor readers fail to relate with background knowledge, make interpretations, or understand the purpose of reading, in short they do not think while reading. A number of reading strate

Beyond Leadership, the Social Architecture for the Future Essay

Beyond Leadership, the Social Architecture for the Future - Essay Example The significant policies for this purpose may include Risk Management, Human Resource Management, and Procurement of goods and services, marketing.† (File Format†¦) The listing of legal responsibilities is long. Some of the important ones are annual business plans, long term plans, capital needs and budget, manpower planning, preparation of quarterly operating results, and framing a perfect system of internal audit, planning joint ventures, fulfill the demand of the revenue and regulatory authorities. Warren Bennis (1997) writes, â€Å"The new leader is one who commits people into action, who converts followers into leaders, and who may convert leaders into agents of change. â€Å"(p.3) In a military environment, the four actions that should be taken on assuming a new leadership position are: Determine what is expected of your unit; determine what is expected of you; determine the strengths and weaknesses of your subordinates; determine what other key people whose willing support is necessary to accomplish your job.(Military†¦.) A leader immediately after his posting, has to quickly take stock of his duties and responsibilities in the given environment and with the tools available to him. He is a poor leader who has the habit of complaining about the inadequacies and the facilities not provided. In any organization, including the military set-up, there are compulsive limitations of financial resources and constraint of policy decisions. If your resources are not adequate, you need to carry on with the available resources. But the discipline in the unit needs to be perfect; as a leader you cannot say, I somehow carry on with the available discipline! The co-leader may or may not have the power of positional authority, but such an individual does enjoy the authority that may be delegated to him from time to time. Or a co-leader may be given fixed duties and responsibilities to manage and take care of the unit in a military set-up, for which he will be held