CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Reading
Reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation. It is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning (reading comprehension). It is a means of language acquisition of communication, and of sharing information and ideas. Like all language, it is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which is shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language community which is culturally and socially situated. The reading process requires continuous practice, development and refinement.
Reading is making meaning from print, it requires that we:
i. Identify the words in print – a process called word recognition. ii. Construct an understanding from them – a process called comprehension. iii. Coordinate identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and accurate – an achievement called fluency.
Sometimes you can make meaning from print without being able to identify all the words. Sometimes you can identify words without being able to construct much meaning from them. Sometimes you can identify words and comprehend them, but if the processes don’t come together smoothly, reading will still be a labored process. Reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together word recognition and comprehension in a fluent manner. These three processes are complex and each is important.
i. To develop word recognition, One need to learn:
• How to break apart and manipulate the sounds in words – this is Phonemic Awareness. Example: Feet have three sounds: /f/, /e/, and /t/.
• Certain letters are used to represent certain sounds - this is the Alphabetic Principle. Example: s and h makes the /sh/ sound.
• How to apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to sound out words that is new to them – this is decoding. Example: sssspppoooon – spoon!
• How to analyze words and spelling patterns in order to become more efficient at reading words – this is word study. Example: Bookworm has two words: book and worm. ii. To develop Comprehension, one need to develop:
• Background knowledge about many topics. Example: This book is about zoos – that’s where lots of animals live.
• Extensive oral and print vocabularies.
• Various purposes for reading
• Strategies for constructing meaning

iii. To develop fluency one need to:
• Develop a high level of accuracy in word recognition.
• Maintain a rate of reading brisk enough to facilitate comprehension.
• Transform deliberate strategies for word recognition and comprehension into automatic skills.
• Use phrasing and expression so that oral reading sounds like speech.
Reading can then be summarized as the motivated and fluent coordination of word recognition and comprehension.
1.2 Independent Reading
Independent reading is a term used in educational settings, where students are involved in choosing and reading material (fiction books, non-fiction, magazine, and other media) for their independent consumption and enjoyment. People choose to read independently. It gives student the right to be creative in what they want to read. Usually Independent Reading is conducted alongside the ongoing curriculum in the classroom. Independent Reading can be tied to assessment and evaluation or remain as an activity in itself.
Independent reading reflects the reader’s personal choice of the material to be read as well as the time and place to read it. Independent reading is done for information or for pleasure. No one assigns it; no one requires a report; no one checks on comprehension. Independent reading is also called voluntary reading, leisure reading, spare time reading, recreational reading, and reading outside of school. In independent reading, the final stage of comprehensive literacy, students take full responsibility for their reading. As the continuum of reading instruction flows from teacher read-alouds to shared reading to guided reading, students learn and practice good reading strategies with various amounts of responsibility. In the early stages of comprehensive literacy, student responsibility was interposed with teacher responsibility. In the independent reading stage however, students are required to self-select and read materials at their own “just right” levels, navigate texts, and practice on their own what they have learned about comprehending text.
By self-selecting books, students take control of what they read and, therefore, become confident, motivated, and enthusiastic about reading. Because students can now choose what they read, the teacher should have many genres available to them. Books can be recommended to students by teachers or by their peers. A short summary of the book and an explanation of why that book is enjoyable should accompany each recommendation. During independent reading, students keep reading logs and response journals. The teacher is required to review these logs and journals, as well as conference with individual students, to monitor their progress. Voluntary reading involves personal choice, reading widely from a variety of sources, and choosing what one reads, People who have the ability to read but choose not to, miss just as much as those who cannot read at all. Individuals read to live life to its fullest, to earn a living, to understand what is going on in the world, and to benefit from the accumulated knowledge of civilization. Even the benefits of democracy and the capacity to govern ourselves successfully depend on reading. Thomas Jefferson believed that informed citizens are the best safeguard against tyranny. He believed that every citizen must know how to read; that it is the public’s responsibility to support the teaching of reading, and that child should be taught to read during the earliest years of schooling.
Research indicates, however, that many students do not choose to read often or in great quantities. In recent years scholars from a variety of disciplines have studied the amount of time students choose to read and the effect of literacy on cognitive functions. In a series of studies involving hundreds of students, it is discovered that very few preschool and primary grade children chose to look at books during free-choice time at school. In fifth-grade students spent only 5.4 percent of their out-of-school free time engaged in reading and 23 percent of them chose not to read at all. Furthermore, as students get older, the amount of reading they do decrease. The premise that literacy is associated with school achievement, participation in a democracy, and self-fulfillment is widely held. Why then don’t students read more? Some suggest that the way reading is taught is not conducive producing students who love to read. In a study for UNESCO, it is found that most respondents made no association whatsoever between reading and pleasure.
Many teachers of language arts, recognizing the value of independent reading, immerse students in real literature from their earliest encounters with print and establish sustained silent reading time in their classrooms. Students who begin reading a book in school are more likely to continue to read outside of school than students who do not begin a book in school. However, research also suggests that some teachers are not knowledgeable about children’s literature; they are not able to introduce students to the wealth of books available, and they may not recognize the effects of their teaching methods on students’ attitude toward reading. The common sense notion that students who do a substantial amount of voluntary reading demonstrate a positive attitude toward reading is upheld in both qualitative and quantitative research. Students’ reading achievement has been shown to correlate with success in school and the amount of independent reading they do. This affirms the predictability of a success cycle: we become more proficient at what we practice. Longitudinal studies that show long-term effects or that isolate the exercise of literacy, however, are missing from the research on voluntary reading and school achievement. Such studies might indicate which factors make a difference in establishing lifetime reading habits and in what influences readers’ choice of reading material, that perhaps could help us plan effective programs. Unfortunately very few case studies set in homes, libraries, or classrooms extend over long periods of time and factors associated with the effects of reading are not well defined.

CHAPTER TWO
2.1 The Effects of Independent Reading on Reading Achievement
Research clearly shows that the reading of meaningful, connected text results in improved reading achievement .In one of the most extensive studies of independent reading yet conducted, it is found that the amount of time students spent in independent reading was the best predictor of reading achievement and also the best predictor of the amount of gain in reading achievement made by students between second and fifth grade.
Among the many benefits of independent reading are the following:
i. Builds Fluency
Independent reading builds fluency. There is substantial evidence that unless students can accurately and effortlessly deal with the word-identification demands of reading, difficulties will result in comprehension and overall reading achievement. There is also evidence that unless children read substantial amounts of print, their reading will remain laborious and limited in effectiveness. Finally, evidence exists which shows that when students do read substantial amounts of text, their reading performance improves. ii. Increases Vocabulary
Independent reading leads to increased vocabulary development. One of the best-established relationships in the field of reading is the very significant relationship between vocabulary development and achievement in reading. There is also evidence that shows that independent reading is probably the major source of vocabulary acquisition beyond the beginning stages of learning to read. This same research shows that while the probability of acquiring the meaning of any specific word simply through reading it in the context in which it appears in independent reading materials is not high, students who read widely can learn the meanings of thousands of new words each year. iii. Builds Background
Independent reading builds background knowledge, or schema. Another extremely well-established research finding is that students' reading ability is dramatically influenced by the amount of interrelated information (schema) they have about the topic about which they are reading. By reading widely, students are exposed to diverse topics and information which they can then use in future reading.
2.2 Effects of Independent Reading on Learners
The amount of free reading done outside of school has consistently been found to relate to growth in vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency, and general information. 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. Although the correlations are steady, determining the appropriate causal interpretation of the relationships is problematic. This section reviews research on the status of independent reading, how it develops across age levels, and how it is encouraged.
i. Preschool and Kindergarten
During the 1930s and 1940s educators believed that children should not be taught to read until they were six and a half years old and performed well on reading readiness tests. This belief was based on a study showing that most children who received formal reading instruction when they were that age usually succeeded in learning to read. Inferences made from the study established teaching practices for many years. Later researchers went beyond simple chronological age and looked at the literacy experiences children had during their early years Some concluded that children learned to read naturally, although a great deal of supportive and interactive behaviors conducive to the learning were apparent. Overwhelmingly the studies show that children from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds learn to read early.
Children who learn to read before school entrance (about 1 percent of the population) are those who are ready to, who have someone to answer their questions, and who like to make marks on paper. They are called “paper and pencil” kids. Studies show clearly that children need not be from privileged homes in order to learn to read early, but they must have access to print and have someone to read to them. It is concluded that the way children interact with books in many homes differs from how they are expected to interact with books in school. Children who come to school with well-developed skills in “taking meaning from books” are clearly at an advantage.
However, being read to does not by itself automatically lead to literacy. The real link seems to lie in the verbal interaction that occurs between adult and child during story reading. Since children learn language by actively constructing meaning, the seeds of literacy lie in the social construction of meaning around print, that is, the talk—“scaffolding,” explaining, clarifying—between the reader and child listener as they look at, point to, and label objects, and discuss print and its meaning. Successful storybook reading that leads to literacy involves interaction in which participants actively construct meaning based on the text.
Early childhood experiences strongly influence literacy acquisition. Studies of day-care experiences show that children’s literacy learning depends heavily upon what adult caregivers do. ii. Primary and Elementary Grades 1–5
The amount of independent reading students do significantly influences their level of reading performance. Students’ reading ability and desire to read are affected by the structure of the texts they read. If texts are well organized, have a logical flow, and include relevant information, they are inviting and reader friendly. Unfortunately the quality of writing used in some content-area textbooks found in classrooms is considered deficient in some respects. Some textbooks are simply “baskets of facts,” little more than loosely connected lists of propositions about a topic. The organization of chapters, the structure of expository text, and the language may be murky. Traditional expository structures such as cause-effect, temporal sequence, or comparison-contrast are seldom found. Students often find more clearly written expository text in good informational trade books than in textbooks.
Independent reading builds background knowledge. It contributes to knowledge of text content and familiarity with standard text structures. Independent reading contributes to vocabulary growth. Readers with a rich vocabulary understand content and appreciate the language used in well-written texts. A synthesis of existing reports suggests that students in grades 3–12 learn about 3,000 new words a year. Students acquire knowledge of some vocabulary words as the result of direct instruction, but that could only account for a modest proportion of the total. To learn 3,000 words a year would require learning about fifteen words every school day–more than even the most enthusiastic teacher would attempt to teach. Vocabulary is learned from reading .In a meta-analysis of studies related to the influence of the Newspaper in Education program on later newspaper readership, positive results was found. Students who participate in the program have less trouble reading newspapers, enjoy reading them more, and are likely to be current newspaper readers. Their interest in hard news increases, and they become interested in public affairs.
Collectively, research supports the fact that during primary and elementary grades, even a small amount of independent reading helps increase students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling facility, understanding of grammar, and knowledge of the world. Research also shows that a variety of means can be used to measure exposure to print, such as diary records of amount of time spent reading, author recognition, title recognition, and activity preference checklists. Whereas these measures appear to be good predictors of verbal outcomes when used individually, they are stronger when used in combinations.
Middle School and Young Adults: Grades 6–9 and 9–12
Age level is a primary factor that shapes why people read, what they read, how much they read, and what they do with what they read. Furthermore when students started to read affects their subsequent school experiences and reading competence. Developmental influences are strong. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is administered every five years to a sample of nine-, thirteen-, and seventeen-year-old students across the United States. The NAEP data was analyzed and it was found that age is a determining factor in how much time students spend watching television and how much time they spend doing spare-time reading. Time spent watching television as well as doing spare-time reading declines as children reach adolescence.
2.3 Programs to Promote Independent Reading
Schools and public libraries develop programs intended to increase the amount and quality of reading students do. The programs are located in homes as well as in schools and public libraries. Some are more effective than others.
• Preschool and Kindergarten
Programs for preschool children leading to independent reading traditionally include story hours, parent and child programs, book-related activities, and other outreach attempts. Librarians work to reach underserved families, such as homeless children and their families, the physically handicapped, children from homes where English is not the primary language, and other groups with special needs.
Library programs for preschoolers are founded on the knowledge that early literacy experiences have a positive effect on language growth, reading development, and scholastic achievement. Effective programs encourage parents to take an active role in preparing their children for success in school. Giving preschool children the necessary literacy experiences enables them to enter school ready to learn to read and write. Common factors of successful programs for preschool children include active parent involvement, access to books and libraries, models in the use of books, and efforts to make people feel at ease in libraries.
• Primary and Elementary Grades 1–5
Primary and elementary school ages are critical periods in the development of reading skill and in the formation of lifelong reading habits. Studies of students of these ages center on classroom and school library environments and practices. In one experimental study library centers were set up in classrooms to provide literary and literacy activities based on books and authors. New titles added to racks and shelves were placed open-faced to show the fronts of books instead of the spines to encourage browsing. Picture books, short chapter books, humorous stories, informational books, and magazines were included in the classroom collections. Students used flannel boards for storytelling and tape recorded stories or their retelling to accompany the books. They also created books of their own that became a part of the library collection. Students could take home the commercially published books as well as student-authored books to read. They kept records of what they read both at home and school. The substantial increase in numbers of children who selected independent reading as a free-choice activity was maintained long after the study was completed. It is now a fully integrated feature of the current reading program.
• Middle School and Young Adults: Grades 6–9 and 9–12
Teaching practices have a lasting effect on students’ ability and willingness to read. Students gained an average of 3.9 year levels on their reading achievement test scores during a one-year program.
Some common features of effective programs cited for primary and intermediate students remain the same for programs for middle school students and young adults, for example, active parental involvement in student learning, partnerships among community institutions, and collaboration among school and public librarians and teachers. The added freedom of middle school and young adult students makes it imperative to give adequate time for independent, self-chosen reading, to demonstrate the value and pleasure of reading and writing, and to make technology available in the search for information.

2.4 Conclusion
Independent reading is the kind students choose to do on their own; it is not assigned or assessed, but it has a positive effect on learning and school achievement.

Bibliography
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