THE POWER OF READING: SKILLS AND STARTEGIES FOR EFFICIENT READING AT ADVANCED LEVEL

Abstract

Reading has emerged as a central problem among all academic problems in Pakistan. Most students even at the master’s level suffer due to poor reading traits. Majority of students develop severe personality problems, when they fail to grasp the main concepts of a text. Thus, reading disability entraps a student in a vicious circle: he does not understand the text, reads slowly, and does not enjoy reading, consequently, does not read much and finally gives up reading. According to the United States Commission of Education, "Every problem of our school, of poverty of troubled parents about our school, and learning disorder seems to show some association with reading difficulty" (Chapman & Czcerniewska: 1978). The report of the U.S. Commission holds true in the case of Pakistan even to date also. The launch of mechanical tools like AI and Chat GPT have further aggravated the reading issue among the students. Yet the importance of reading in academic life could not be diminished by such innovations. The present paper, therefore, attempts to establish the reading power by identifying the reading problems of students and delineating important reading techniques and strategies to enhance students' reading comprehension, enabling them to tackle every reading text effectively at the advanced level, and finally, becoming accelerated readers.