Reading: The Importance Of Reading And Academic Success

Viewed as a tool for learning and communication, reading is of importance in scholastic success, job success, continuing education and personal improvement and pleasure. No person will deny that the student must read in order to learn. Not surprising, a student who knows how to read well has an advantage over those who do not in the field of learning. Educational researchers found out that there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success. In other words, a student who is a good reader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a poor reader. Relative to this, Mohammadi and Abidin (2013) underscored that college students who are more proficient readers are more likely to experience more success

For instance, if he cannot read well, he cannot follow simple warning signs on the streets, understand a prescription bottle of medications, and follow experiment procedures. Reading is a great tool for learning. It plays a vital role in the acquisition of knowledge and information.

With these cited roles of reading in man’s life, one must be skilled reader and comprehender for no reading takes place if there is no successful comprehension. His success depends to a great extent on his ability to read well. Thus, reading is a man’s most potent skill which is the true backbone of learning. The more he reads proficiently, the more he likely to succeed in every endeavor he takes. That is why reading skills are essential to a reader for without reading skills he cannot gather any information and use it to efficiently function and enjoy the richness of

They do not possess adequate reading skills to grasp the information or the meaning underlying in the text. For instance, the United States of America, which is one of the developed countries in the world, grapples to cope with this problem. According to the U.S Department of Education, thirty-million Americans are considered illiterate and are unable to complete job applications or understand health care forms. The literacy rates among fourth grade students in America are struggling. Sixty-six percent (66%) of all U.S fourth graders scored “below proficient” on the 2013 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading test are not reading at grade level. Even more alarming is the fact that among students from low-income backgrounds, 80 percent (80%) scored below grade level in reading. Reading proficiency among middle school students is not much better. On the 2013 NAEP reading test, about 22 percent (22%) of eighth graders scored below the “basic level”, and only 36 percent of eighth graders were at or above grade level. Accordingly, over 60 percent (60%) of inmates in the U.S prison system have reading skills at or below the fourth grade level; 85 percent of U.S juveniles in prison are functionally illiterate; percent set of adults with extremely low reading skills live at or below the poverty line; nearly two-thirds of students who reach the