Adapting authentic reading texts for low-level students

Aims:

Understand what makes an authentic text difficult for learners to understand

Practise adapting authentic texts to make them comprehensible to low-level English
language learners

Materials required:

A text written for native speakers of English (e.g., a newspaper or magazine article, a
brochure, etc.)
Access to a computer with Internet connection

Appropriate for:

Trainee teachers, new teachers

Learners at lower levels (A1 A2)

Over the last 40 years experts have often advised English language teachers to work with
authentic reading materials texts written for native speakers of English and to grade the
task, not the text. In other words, teachers should leave the text as it is, but make the
accompanying reading activities simple enough, so that students can succeed in completing
them.
Using authentic texts in this way can work very well with students at higher levels, but
language learners just starting to read in English will probably have difficulties understanding
texts written for native speakers of English. This is because students at low levels know little
English vocabulary and cannot easily understand long, complicated sentences. Reading
materials for students at A1 and A2 levels need to be suitable for their language level, so
authentic texts are not always the best choice.
Teachers can adapt authentic materials to make them understandable to low level learners.
For example, they can make long and difficult sentences shorter and less complicated; and
replace difficult words and phrases with easier words with a similar meaning. This process is
called simplification. In simplified materials most of the vocabulary in the text is familiar and
sentences are short and simple, so that the students can guess the meaning of the few new
words.
In the past, teachers have often used their knowledge of English and of their students' first
language, their experience, and intuition to simplify texts. But now teachers can also use free
and user-friendly online tools to help them simplify vocabulary at the right level; or to decide
if a text is readable (easy enough for their learners to read).

Tasks

Choose one of the following tasks. Or do both, if you want to and have the time!

Task 1

This task will give you an opportunity to use English Vocabulary Profile, an online tool to
check the level of vocabulary in texts.
1. Choose a short text written for native speakers of English.
2. Read it carefully and decide: if you wanted to use the text as it is, at what level would you
use it? Why?
3. Read the text again. Underline the words and phrases you think are too difficult for A1 and
A2 level learners to understand.
4. Check your answers:
a) Go to English Vocabulary Profile.
http://www.englishprofile.org/index.php/resources/wordlists/free-subscription
(You will need to subscribe to be able to use the site, but this is free and quick to do).
b) On the Choose level menu, select A1-C2.

Type the first word you underlined, and select 'Search.' The word replace has been typed
as an example below:

The search results will show at which level(s) learners know the word you have selected. In
the example above, replace is a word that students know from level from B1 to C2. This
means that the word replace might be difficult for learners at A1 and A2 levels to
understand if they find it in a text, so I might want to either replace it with an easier word in
my text, or leave it as one of the few new words that I want my students to guess. The
results also show the level at which each individual meaning of these words is known.
c) Check the level of the other words that you have underlined.
d) Compare your guesses (the words and phrases in the text that you thought were too
difficult for A1 and A2 level learners to understand) with the results from English Vocabulary
Profile about the level of those words. How accurate were your guesses?
e) Replace the words in your text that are too difficult for A1 and A2 level learners to
understand. Think of easier words or phrases.
f) Now check the words that you have used to simplify the original text using English
Vocabulary Profile. Are they easier words? Are they understandable for A1 and A2 level
learners?

Task 2

a) Read the following extract from an authentic text, taken from a book about reading in
a second language.

Reading and comprehension should not be equated; comprehension is a more all-

encompassing concept than reading. [] Nonetheless, as fluent readers we assume that
comprehension is a central goal. After all, we seldom pick up a newspaper or magazine and
expect not to understand.
Grabe, W. (2009) Reading in a Second Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

b) Imagine you want to simplify the text above so that your low-level students can
understand it. Think about what makes this text difficult for low-level learners.

c) Re-write the sentences that you think are long and complicated. Make them short
and simple. For example:

Authentic text:
Reading and comprehension should not be equated; comprehension is a more all-
encompassing concept than reading.
Simplified text:
Reading is not the same as understanding. Understanding means more than just
reading.
d) Replace the words that you feel are too difficult for A1 and A2 level learners to
understand. Change them for easier words (words that low-level learners would
understand) or for phrases that explain the meaning of the original words. For
example:
 Authentic text:
Nonetheless (used at level C1 according to English Vocabulary Profile )
Simplified text:
However (used at level A2 according to English Vocabulary Profile )

Suggested answer

Answers will vary. The text below is just a possible adaptation:

Reading is not the same as understanding. Understanding means more than just reading.
However, understanding what they read is very important for good readers. After all, when
we pick up a newspaper or magazine we think we will understand it.

Further reading

Guariento, W. and Morley, J. (2001) Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom ELT
Journal, 55/4: 347-353, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crossley, S, Allen, D and McNamara, D. (2011) Text readability and intuitive simplification:
A comparison of readability formulas Reading in a Foreign Language, 23/ 1: 84101
Available: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/April2011/articles/crossley.pdf. Last accessed 22nd Sept
2013.