Independent Reading and Academic Achievment

Independent Reading and Academic Success : A Literature Review

Introduction

Learning takes place through different processes . As a child grows physically , mentally , and socially , he also needs to develop cognitive skills . Schools have been designed to guide the students in achieving literacy and preparation for their future lives . Perhaps the most important role of teachers in the lives of students is the stimulation motivation , and the development of the love for learning in the students . If this were developed in the student , then he will be able to seek learning by himself

and learn independently

Even if there are different methods and styles of learning depending on the personality of an individual , it cannot be denied that reading is still one of the most effective means of learning . In to facilitate learning , there should be independent reading . Independent reading can be measured as successful or not based on a person 's reading fluency and reading comprehension

One way to measure learning is academic success . Through this , it means that teachers and other authorities of education recognize that a student has indeed learned a lot . The purpose of this essay is to review several literatures that have been written concerning the relationship of independent reading and academic success

Independent Reading

Independent reading is closely connected with academic success and learning . The reading skills of a person is a determinant of the rate of his accumulation of knowledge (Pang , Muaka , Bernhardt Kamil , 2003 Thus , if a person reads more , the tendency is for him to learn more

Reading comprehension is closely connected with an individual 's level of reading fluency (Johns , 1990 . Learning how to read is a very complex process . It starts of course with the recognition of letters and words and their association with sounds and meaning . This process varies among different people depending on their training , practice , and intelligence . With a higher level of fluency , they shall be able to decode meanings more quickly (Torgesen , Rashotte , Alexander , Alexander McPhee , 2003

In to demonstrate reading fluency , the individual should be able to identify words and sounds accurately . If a person could not identify words accurately , then the meaning that will be generated will not be accurate too (Hudson , Lane Pullen 2000 . The speed of reading is also important . It should be done on a leisurely pace - neither too fast nor too slow in to facilitate better learning . The rhythm and the tone used in reading is also important since intonation and emotions in the text is also an indication that a person truly understands the text being read

Another important process in independent reading is comprehension which refers to the way that facts and figures are integrated meaningfully into an understandable framework (Smith , 1994 . By reading a person becomes exposed to more facts and learning materials , which become the building blocks of ideas and knowledge . Metaphorically speaking , reading is a process of accumulating materials in building a house of knowledge

Intelligence is , of course , highly involved in the...