Empowering the Reading Skills of English Learners

This study aims at exploring ways to improve the learners' reading skills through an examination of the most frequent errors they commit while reading. Special emphasis will be placed upon an intensive analysis of learners' production of: (a) rhythmic feet (b)pronunciation (c) stressing. To achieve the above-mentioned aim, a fixed number of subjects were involved in reading practices of texts of different length and content and taped throughout their readings. Initial results suggest that the great majority of learners lack knowledge of dynamic features of English particularly rhythm and stress where most students show tremendous weakness in identifying rhythmic feet in their speech which contributed to their inability to pause at proper place. Consequently, their reading sounded confusing and intelligible. The study has also revealed that learners lack proper guidance concerning how sounds should be properly pronounced in connected speech. In the light of these findings, the researchers strongly recommended the implementation of a linguistic component within their study plans of the school and university levels which should take into account offering the above-mentioned problems with the teaching material combined with proposals and remedies.