Reading: extensive or intensive?

[kiranlegend]

Hi,

Which type of reading is good if one has to be improve up in each of the following components over the long run?

1) Improvement reading speed with good retention.
2) Improvement in vocabulary.
3) Time is a constraint.. say 8 months
4) Time factor... 2 years
5) Time factor... 5 years.
6) Time factor... 10 years
7) Time factor... Life time
8) Improvement in spoken English.

I feel that memory power diminishes due to intensive reading.. is this my myth or a fact?


Please help me by letting me know using your wisdom and your personal experiences. As many views as possible are welcomed.

Thanks a lot for your help

Kiran

[svartnik]

I feel that memory power diminishes due to intensive reading.. is this my myth or a fact? The former.

Kiran, I could not really make head or tail of what you are trying to drive at here.

[kiranlegend]

Kiran, I could not really make head or tail of what you are trying to drive at here.

Yeah, when I re-read after I had read your post, even, I felt the lacking of not only aesthetic sense in my post but also the common sense..

I am, here, re-structuring by question with better explanation following it:

Which type of reading is good if one has to be improve up in each of the following components over the long run?

1) Improvement reading speed with good retention.
2) Improvement in vocabulary.
3) Improvement in spoken English.

In each of the above 3 aspects, which kind of reading is preferred? and on a whole, i.e., taking all the 3 aspects as one cohesive unit, which one is advised to be pursued?

I tried to be better at putting forth my question this time.[Is tried to be a linking verb?]

Thanks,
Kiran

[kiranlegend]

Yeah, when I re-read after I had read your post, even, I felt the lacking of not only aesthetic sense in my post but also the common sense..

I am, here, re-structuring by question with better explanation following it:

Which type of reading is good if one has to be improve up in each of the following components over the long run?

1) Improvement reading speed with good retention.
2) Improvement in vocabulary.
3) Improvement in spoken English.

In each of the above 3 aspects, which kind of reading is preferred? and on a whole, i.e., taking all the 3 aspects as one cohesive unit, which one is advised to be pursued?

I tried to be better at putting forth my question this time.[Is tried to be a linking verb?]

Thanks,
Kiran

Any insights into above aspects through your experiences? Please let me know. I feel it would be of help for me. Please throw in as many thoughts as possible

Thanks,
Kirru

[BobK]

Yeah, when I re-read after I had read your post, even, I felt the lacking of not only aesthetic sense in my post but also the common sense..

I am, here, re-structuring by question with better explanation following it:

Which type of reading is good if one has to be improve up in each of the following components over the long run?

1) Improvement reading speed with good retention.
2) Improvement in vocabulary.
3) Improvement in spoken English.

In each of the above 3 aspects, which kind of reading is preferred? and on a whole, i.e., taking all the 3 aspects as one cohesive unit, which one is advised to be pursued?

I tried to be better at putting forth my question this time.[Is tried to be a linking verb?]

Thanks,
Kiran

Thank you for the rewrite - much clearer (and shorter: remember what Pascal wrote at the end of a long letter: "Excuse me for writing such a long letter. I didn't have time to make it shorter.")

To return to your list: 2 improves 3, so reading widely will have a good influence on your spoken skills. But you improve your spoken skills chiefly by conversing. There are muscles (and muscle-memory) involved, and no amount of reading or silent study will give you the necessary training. Listening also helps - it can give you the vocabulary you need through contextual clues*.

As to 1, retention comes through testing your comprehension; I don't mean do lots of 'comprehension tests', but if you have, say, 45 minutes for reading, read for 30 mins and spend the rest of the time summarizing what you've read; or at least take notes (I had a schoolteacher who used to say 'You can't read properly without a pencil in your hand').

As to types of reading matter, a lot depends on what you want to do with your language skills. Reading Jane Austen - my favourite writer of novels - won't help much with your conversational skills. For contemporary vocabulary, I'd subscribe to a good news service (BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera...).

b

*Personal ramblings:

Many years ago I was 'on call' as a police interpreter of Portuguese. One early morning I had a call to come and interpret for some Brazilian students who had been drinking and got rowdy in the street. It was about 4.00 a.m., so the police sent a car. On the ride to the police station I talked to the arresting officer (in English, of course) about what had happened. The students had apparently done something to or with a dustbin lid.

I spent the rest of the journey racking my brains for a way of saying 'dustbin lid' in Portuguese. But as soon as I met the students, their first sentence referred to tampa de lixo; so I could go on talking to them as if I'd known about dustbin lids all my life. Keep your ears open

[kiranlegend]

It was a marvelous explanation:)