Nursing Instructors Must Also Teach Reading and Study Skills - Essay Example

Class 3- academic reading and writing Name Institution Nursing instructors must also teach reading and study skills’, White, H - Reading Improvement, March 1, 2004; Vol. 41, No. 1, p. 38-50. Success in pursuit of nursing courses demands that students have sufficient reading and study skills to be able to understand substantial material. This is complicated by the need of skills that are different from what the students know, and applicable in all levels of nursing practically (White 2004, p. 39). Since the nursing faculty lack the requisite skills for teaching study skills and the fact that the teaching of theses skills is secondary to nursing courses, there are some strategies can be used by the faculty to improve the learning of such skills. Information reading skills can be taught by directly using nursing vocabulary during classes such as giving a list of words to students before the beginning of the course and encouraging the use of medical dictionaries. Comprehension of learned material can be improved by giving students a background experience through non-reading techniques. Other methods include assigning well developed homework, helping in the use of learning aids and providing enough learning resources (White 2004, p. 43). Instructors can help students to read flexibly by teaching methods of identifying reading material, and the style and speed of reading them. Importance of study skills cannot be underestimated and students can use SQ3R technique, which is an acronym for survey, question, and the RS for read, recite and review. Note taking is another skill that can be learned through pre-reading the required material for a new course. This can be followed up by monitoring and evaluation (White 2004, p. 41). Critical reading and thinking are other skills important to nursing students because of their use in analysis and judgment. Critical thinking is a method of studying problems and phenomena. This can be achieved by use of decision grids, concept mapping, journaling and case studies. Other vital skills are problem solving and decision making, which are useful in real time application especially in choosing the best solution for a problem. Information technology skills can be taught by giving students relevant web addresses, development of chat rooms and online classes (White 2004, p. 48). Students with learning challenges can be aided by evaluating and referring them to specialists. ‘Reading, writing, and assistive technology: An integrated developmental curriculum for college students’. Engstrom, E. U. - Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Sept 1, 2005; Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 30-39. There is a rising concern among American educators that high school children have problems with literary skills such as reading and study skills. A study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that a limited number of American students have the requisite literacy skills needed for problem solving in an economy driven by information technology (Engstrom 2005, p. 32). Landmark College is one institution fully dedicated to teaching the necessary reading and writing skills to learners who have learning disabilities and challenges. The curriculum used at landmark is designed to cater for the learning needs of students with different learning profiles (Engstrom 2005, p. 31). Students are given rigorous training covering reading and study skills techniques as well as direct teaching in decoding, careful use of assistive technology. This will help them improve their reading speed, accuracy and understanding of information. The curriculum at Landmark College aims at developing language skills though a three pronged strategy. The first is through the reading course whose objective is instruction on active reading, which comprises techniques such as pre-reading, reading, giving prominence, and fringe noting, chunking parts of information, and making summaries. The reading software allows the students to achieve active reading by removing the need for decoding and creating mental memory that is used for comprehension. The writing course teaches students techniques of efficient reading and writing in learning settings. It includes sentence structure, paragraph structure, writing processes such as generation of ideas, drafting and revisions. The assistive technology acts a spelling checker, removes need for handwriting and the revision toolbar helps in revisions and proofreading. The integration of both reading and writing courses allows students to undertake the tasks simultaneously (Engstrom 2005, p. 36). Assistive technology, when incorporated into a reading and writing curriculum helps students in comprehension because they can handle complex assignments since the structure of language has been simplified, which gives them amble time to understand written information. ‘Reading for academic purposes: the literacy practices of British, French and Spanish Law and Economics students as background for study abroad’. Taillefer, G - Journal of Research in Reading; Nov 2005, Vol. 28 Issue 4, pp. 435-451. Over the years, a large number of students travel abroad for studies necessitating the need to adapt to new languages and university cultures. These students encounter reading and wring problems, and most of them take quite a long time to adapt to the reading requirements in the new language (Taillefer 2005, p. 436). Some of the challenges include the difference in methods of instruction; using different methods of assessment and making foreign students understand terms such as plagiarism. Challenges facing foreign students are further compounded by difference in cultures. This is exemplified in Spain where students rely more on lectures than personal reading, while in France, the reading culture is not well developed because students spend more time in class than in personal reading per week. Differences in academic disciplines also play a role in academic literacy in various cultures. The difference exists in theories, ideas and vocabulary, and discourse format (Taillefer 2005, p. 441). The current study aims at providing empirical data supporting the dependence of literacy challenges on cultural differences. The study concerns French exchange program students of law and economics between a French institutions and its partner institutions in the United Kingdom and Spain. A questionnaire was used to survey the students and teachers about their perceptions, practices and prospects concerning student reading. Part of the results showed that law students preferred reading as a method of gaining course material. Spanish and British students showed limited interest in assimilation of course material than the French. More was demanded from French and British law students than their Spanish counterparts by teachers. From the results of this study, it is evident that steps must be taken to reduce the demands of adjusting to a new literary environment (Taillefer 2005, p. 448). Those involved must comprehend the existing differences clearly because it affects several aspects of the learning environment. Foreign students need help to adapt to these new settings quickly. This can be achieved through creation of language centers at university levels. Personal reflection The articles used in this essay came form online sources. Compared with other sources of information, online libraries are more effective and have a large volume of learning resources. In the first article, I searched Wiley online articles then refined my search on reading and study skills. The next step was to refine my search further by including reading and study skills for nursing students. I repeated the same process for the rest of the articles, changing the search titles to solutions for learners with reading and writing challenges, and problems facing foreign learners in adjusting to new literary and cultural environments. The reading strategy that I adopted started with pre-reading the articles. This is where I read through the whole articles to familiarize myself with the main concepts and the message that is contained in it. The next step was to read the articles concisely, paying attention to important ideas and the central theme. To make sure that important ideas are not ignored I highlighted important sections of the article that contain vital information. Since the text is in electronic format, I highlight it using a different color. Another technique of noting important sections is by margin noting. This is writing short notes at the side of the text containing important information. The notes are summarized in short sentences or in single words. The last step is summarizing the information contained in the article. I achieved this by using the highlighted text and the margin notes. By doing this, the summary will contain the main information in the article in a brief and simplified form. Personally, I have learned a lot of skills in searching for learning materials. In the age of information technology, accessing reading materials has become an easy task compared to information contained in books. Another advantage of online resources is that it can be accessed virtually from any location without having to travel to a library. Another lesson I have learned are the techniques of locating the right articles from vast resources. Searching for information in the internet has also furnished me with skills necessary in navigating the various websites and online resources in search of the relevant reading material. The material contained in the three articles has instilled various lessons on me concerning the right study skills in various learning environments. On the first articles, I have learned that it is necessary to develop concrete reading and writing skills to be able to manage the rigorous academic environment of colleges. By using nursing as an example, the author was able to drive the pint home that without good reading, writing, decision making, comprehension and information technology skills, learners will experience learning problems in college. This information will prepare me to take study skills seriously at the high school level to be able to manage the challenges a head. On the second article, I have learned that even with study problems, one can overcome them with the assistance of learning software. The integrated curriculum used in aiding such students prepares them for post secondary education. It has showed me that there is hope for students with reading and writing challenges. It has also taught me that assistive technology helps students in comprehension because the memory that could have been used for learning study skills is free for other uses like understanding the learned material. In the last article, I have gotten the skills that will enable me manage a new learning and cultural environment. Due to globalization, the likelihood of studying in a foreign country cannot be discounted. The article has given me a better understanding of other academic cultures. Generally, the articles have been educative, and the lessons learned will go along way in my post secondary education. References Engstrom, E. U, 2005, ‘Reading, writing, and assistive technology: An integrated developmental curriculum for college students’. - Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 30-39. Taillefer, G, 2005, ‘Reading for academic purposes: the literacy practices of British, French and Spanish Law and Economics students as background for study abroad’. - Journal of Research in Reading; Vol. 28 Issue 4, pp. 435-451. White, H, 2004, ‘Nursing instructors must also teach reading and study skills’, - Reading Improvement, Vol. 41, No. 1, p. 38-50. Read More