Teaching Reading Skills through Small Group Interaction Techniques

Reading is the basic foundation on which academic skills of an individual are built. Engineering graduates require Reading several technical texts both in academic and professional career. Reading technical materials involves a complex process of obtaining discipline-specific information and retaining the same for future use and reference. It becomes pertinent to focus on enhancing the communication skills of the Engineering students with special emphasis on Reading Skills. Despite the establishment of computerized multi-media enabled Digital English Language Laboratories in many Engineering colleges, the focus is more on imparting Speaking and Listening skills. The need of the hour is a shift in teaching Reading Skills to Engineering students. It is imperative to identify dynamic and productive grasping techniques to improve Reading. Cooperative Learning Techniques have proven to be effective when implemented properly. It is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. This book studies the relative effectiveness of the Reciprocal method and the Jigsaw method, as reading improvement techniques.