Promoting English language Competence through Fostering the Reading Habit

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Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
TESOL Arabia Publications
Year of Publication: 
2007
Authors: 
Maher Fattash
Current Affiliation: 
Language Center, Faculty of Humanities, An-Najah National University, Palestine
Preferred Abstract (Original): 

Reading is among the four language skills that are taught to students of English in Palestine. There are two types of reading activity: academic and recreational. But of the two, only the former is promoted because it is necessitated by the exigencies of modern day education in schools, colleges and universities. The other, being a nonacademic activity, is generally considered to be outside the teacher's domain and has consequently been neglected. The paucity too, of the data available on the contribution to recreational reading makes the acquisition of a second or foreign language, owes itself to the fact that recreational reading is seldom indulged in a foreign language, in addition to its nature as a highly individual and private activity. This tends to remove it from the sphere of the EFL researcher's interests and concerns. This paper examines the viability of recreational reading for facilitating optimum learning in English, especially in Palestine, where there are relatively meagre other nonacademic sources of input in the language.  The aim of the proposition is to create an awareness of the need to reverse the trend and to establish the reading habit as the proper concern of academic institutions.

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