TEACHING READING

I. INTRODUCTION

Reading is one of the four language skills. It is a receptive skill which involves responding to texts, rather
than producing it. Very simply, we can say that reading involves making sense of text. To do this, we need
to understand the language of text at word level, sentence level and whole-text level. We also need to
connect the message of the text to our knowledge of the world. In short, reading means “reading and
understanding”.

II. WHAT DO PEOPLE READ AND WHY DO THEY READ?

Why do we read?
for ....................
for ....................
for ....................
for ....................

What do we read?

Various text-types: novels, stories, plays, poems, postcards, letters, newspapers, magazines, handbook,
guidebooks, charts, cartoons, comic strips, timetables.....
III. WAYS OF READING
A. In real life
Reasons for reading influence how we read, which reading sub-skill we use.
 If you read for the general idea (the gist) → skimming or reading for gist
 If you read a text for specific information or details in it → scanning
 If you read something and get meaning out of every single word → reading for detail.
 If you read long texts such as a story or a novel that involves global understanding → extensive
reading
 If you read and look for all the words in a short extract related to a particular topic to help
students to be aware of how language is used → intensive reading.
B. In class
There are 3 posssible ways of reading a text in class:
 The teacher reads aloud while the students follow in their books.
 Students read aloud in turn.
 Students all read silently to themselves, at their own speed.

Comments:
T reads aloud & students read aloud in turn:
 can be .............. at earliest stage of reading, make ....................between sounds & spelling.
 not a useful technique because:
- Only 1 student is active at a time, others may not listen or may listen to a bad model.
- Students focus on ................... not on understaning.
- An .................. activity.
- Ss read slowly, take up a lot of time in class.
- Reading aloud makes reading more ........................................

Silent reading
 Students can read at their own speed, can go back & read again.
 Developing ............................: Ss need practice in looking at a text & trying to understand it.
 Good .................... of the class: nothing seems to be happening, ss are in fact concentrating &
thinking about meaning.

IV. STAGES OF A READING LESSON

A. Pre-reading
1. Introducing the text (Lead-in or Warm-up)
Purpose: to help students in their reading by giving them some idea what to expect and to
increase their interest and so make them want to read the text
There are several techniques to introduce the text:
 Eliciting things (Asking students Qs related to the theme + using pictures + their personal
experience)
 Brainstorming ideas (Ss think of ideas/words related to the theme given)
 Predicting content from title/part of a story given.
 T/F sentences (Ss guess whether the sentences given are correct, basing on background
knowledge)
 Holding a discussion  advanced level +time allowed
Examples:
(1) You are going to read a text about the earthquake in the picture
What would you like to know about the earthquake? Write down at least 3 questions which you
hope the text will answer.
(2) Do you know what an earthquake is? Have you ever witnessed an earthquake?
Where in the world do earthquakes usually occur? What would you do to be safe if an earthquake
happened?
(3) Hold a short discussion
T elicits: What do you often dream of?
Ss: Answer
T: Do your dreams always come true?
Ss: Answer
T: Now you’ll read a text about a country girl and her dream. Read it and answer these
questions.
(4) You are going to read a text about the earthquake in the picture. Here are some words and
phrases from the text. Can you guess how they are used in the text?
tremors massive shocks a huge wave Tokyo and Yokohama
(5) T: you are going to read a text about a village doctor and his patient. Here is the summary of
the text with gaps. Guess what words should go in the gaps.
The doctor was unhappy because ................ however, he ................the way to solve ............ at last.
Ss: do the task
T: now read the text and find out if your guesses are right or wrong.
(6) T: you are going to read a text about a country girl. Here is the summary of the text. Guess if
it is true or false.
A country girl dreamt of going to America. She worked hard and saved money for her dream.
Finally her dream came true.
Ss: do the task
T: now read the text and see if your guesses are right or wrong.

2. Presenting new vocabulary:

We do not need to present all the new words in a text before students read it. They can guess the
meaning of many words from the context. An important part of reading is being able to guess the
meaning of unknown words, and we can help students to develop their reading skills by giving
them practice in this. Guessing helps to focus attention on new words, makes them want to know
their meaning. Only the words which would make it difficult to understand the text need to be
presented beforehand; other words can be dealt with after reading.
Look at this example:
The children were bleeing all over the playground.

Ss guess what the word ‘bleeing’ means. It should be possible to guess that:
 It is a verb
 It involves movement (because of ‘all over’)
 It is something children do, e.g: playing or running
3. Giving guiding questions:

Before students read the text, the teacher can give one or two guiding questions on the main
ideas of the text for students to think about as they read.

Purposes:
 to give students a reason to read by giving them sth to look for as they read the text
 to lead/guide students towards main points of the text (the gist).

Task 1: How would you introduce the following reading texts and design 1 guiding question for
each text.

a. A gap year for adults is constructive time out 0 – it can be anywhere, doing anything and
everything. You could be travelling around the world, building a school in Vietnam, doing
alternative work experience, lying on a beach in Fiji, or simply having a new look at your life.
Traditionally a gap year was viewed as a student activity, taking an extended break before
university. It usually involved travel and, as a result, was only done by people from wealthy families
able to pay for the experience. In the UK, both Princess William and Harry took gap years before
starting university or military training. However, a gap year now offers something for everyone: for
young people, for for older people reaching retirement; for people who don’t want a career, but just
want to take life one stage at a time, or for people in steady careers. Many top companies regard
‘porfolio careers’ of this kind as a very positive thing. If your CV has an interesting range of
activities it can often make you more employable.

b. How often one hears children wishing they were grown-ups, and old people wishing they were
young again! Each age, however, has its pleasures and also pains, and the happiest person is the one
who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless attempts. Childhood is a
time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. A child is usually fed, looked after and
loved, whatever he may do. It is possible that he will ever again in this life be given so much without
having to do anything in return. In addition, life is always presenting new things to the child. Old
age, on the other hand, has always been thought of as the worst age to be; but with old age should
come wisdom and the ability to help others with advice wisely given. The old can have the joy of
seeing their sons and daughters gradually making progress in life; they can watch their grand-
children growing up around them, and perhaps best of all, they can feel the happiness of having
reached a time when they can lie back and rest, leaving others to continue the battle of life.
Task 2: Read this text and do the tasks below it.

A doctor who worked in a village was very annoyed because many people used to stop him on the
street and ask for his advice. In this way, he was never paid for his services, and he never
managed to earn much money. He made up his mind to put an end to this. One day, he was
stopped by a young man who said to him, ‘Doctor, I’m so glad to see you. I’ve got a severe pain in
my left side.’ The doctor pretended to be interested and said, ‘shut your eyes and stick your
tongue out of your mouth’. Then he went away, leaving the man standing on the street with his
tongue hanging out... and a large crowd of people laughing at him.
 1. The new words are in italics in the text. Write them in two lists.
a. Words which you present before reading:
b. Words which you could leave for students to guess and deal with later:
2. How would you introduce the text? Decide exactly what you would say?
3. Look at these possible guiding questions. Choose the one which you think is the best?
a. Was the doctor rich?
b. Why was the doctor unhappy?
c. What was the young man’s problem?
d. Where was the man’s pain?

B. While-reading

This is the time to develop students’ comprehension and help them to learn the new language.
Tasks:
1. Question- Answer: this can be done in pairs or in groups or homework.
2. Completing a table
3. True/False exercise
4. Multiple choice
5. Gap-filling exercise
6. Eliciting personal response

 MORE TECHNIQUES FOR CHECKING COMPREHENSION

- Answering comprehension questions

- Saying whether the sentences are true-false or not mentioned
- Arranging jumbled sentences into a paragraph
- Completing the sentences
- Summarising
- Completing a table/chart/diagram
- Matching questions to answers
- Matching jumbled sentence halves
- Finding word/phrase/sentence which tells you that...
- Cloze passage (for intermediate level upwards)

 ASKING QUESTIONS

1. Question types:

a. YES/NO questions: to check comprehension, easier for ss, not require ss to produce new
language.
b. OR questions: reply with a word or phrase.
c. WH-/INFORMATION Qs: Ss should give short answers.
 COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS AND CONVERSATION QUESTIONS

Comprehension Qs = Display Qs = Qs that the questioner knows the answer.

Ex: Where is Hanoi?
Is Paris in France?
Conversation Qs = Referential Qs = Qs that the questioner doesn’t know the answer.
E.g: Where is your hometown?
What do you think about Ho Chi minh city?

What to do with these two types of Qs?

Usually the comprehension questions are display questions. The student can easily find the
answers in the text. They make the text rather boring. The conversation questions involve
individuals but do not keep the class moving together. Thus, these two kinds should be combined
so that the lesson develops with everyone involved.

2. Eliciting a personal response

There are three possible ways of eliciting a personal response from students:
- By asking students to match what they read against their own experiences
- By asking students to imagine themselves in a situation related to the text but beyond their
own experience.
- By asking students to express feelings or emotion.

These questions go beyond the text; they require students to respond to the text and to
contribute something personal that comes from their own experience or expresses their own
feelings. An important part of reading in real life is comparing what we read with our own
experience; for example it is interesting to read about another country because we can compare
it with our own or we can imagine ourselves being there. On the other hand, comprehension
questions only focus on the text itself and provide no chance for students to express themselves.

C. Post- reading/Follow up
At this stage, the reading text can be used as a basis for language practice & developing other skills
HOW:
- Speaking: discussion, role-play, interview, retelling the story in your own words
- Writing: gap-filling, reproducing the text in your own words, writing a summary of the text.
- Language practice (Pronunciation/vocabulary/grammar)

Task 3: Suppose that this text is from a previous lesson. What kinds of questions would you ask
to lead students to answer with complete sentences from the text below?

On their first day in the capital, Diana and Peter visited the Old Tower which stood on a hill near
the city center. There were stairs leading to the top, but Diana and Peter decided to take the lift. At
the top, there was a cafe and a balcony where visitors could stand and admire the view. It was
magnificent – you could see the whole city, the river and the hills beyond. On their way back from
the Tower, Diana and Peter went past the main square in the city centre. They stopped at a stall to
have some orange juice, and sat and watched the traffic for a while. The square was very busy, with
cars, buses, bicycles and pedestrians going in all directions. In the centre of the square there was a
policeman controlling the traffic.

Task 4:Work in groups. Read and answer the questions.

When you are invited to a meal in Thailand, the words of the invitation literally mean ‘come and eat
rice’. Indeed, nearly all Thai dishes are eaten with rice, which grows there very easily as the climate
is warm and there is plenty of rain.

The food is always served in nearly cut up pieces, so there is no need to use knives and forks but,
instead, special spoons and forks are used. The Thai used to eat with their hands and there are still
some people who eat this way. There is a particular way of doing it. First they wash their right hand
in a bowl of water – they only eat with their right hand. They are careful not to let the food touch
the palm of their hand. After meal, the hand is again carefully washed.

The meal is usually made up of several different dishes, all of which are spicy. They are served in
bowls which everyone shares, though each person has their own bowl of rice. As Thailand has a long
coastline, it is not surprising that fish and shellfish play an important part in Thai cooking.

TASK A:
1. Why is rice a common food in Thailand?
2. Why is fish a common food?
3. Why are knives not needed to eat food?
4. Here are some statements about the traditional way of eating in Thailand. Which are True and
which are False?
a. you should wash both hands before eating in Thailand.
b. you should eat with the fingers of the right hand.
c. you should wash your right hand after eating.

TASK B:
1. Write two lists:
- Things that are the same in Thailand as in your country
- Things that are different in Thailand from Vietnam
2. Imagine you are eating with a Thai family. What would you find most unusual? Why?
3. Do you think you would enjoy Thai food? Why/Why not?

Compare the questions in A and those in B. What is the difference between them?