A teacher asks her learners of class VIII to read a novel by an Indian author and asks them to write an essay giving their views on the novel. What is this known as a reading activity ?

The correct answer is Extensive reading.

Explanation:

Extensive reading refers to reading longer texts, such as novels, storybooks, or articles, primarily for general understanding, pleasure, and overall language enrichment. In this scenario, the teacher asks class VIII learners to read an entire novel by an Indian author and express their overall views in an essay. This activity focuses on enjoying and grasping the overall theme and main ideas of a longer text rather than reading for specific technical details or grammatical analysis.

Let's look at why the other options are not correct:

1. Intensive reading: Involves reading short, detailed texts closely and carefully to understand minute language structures, vocabulary, and specific details.
2. Reading for information: Focuses specifically on extracting factual data or specific knowledge from a text.
3. Scanning: A fast reading technique used to locate a specific piece of information or keyword (e.g., looking up a name in a directory).