Teaching Reading: A Pedagogical Lens

In the past, my main failure in teaching reading was mainly attributed to my presumption of the aim

of learning how to read in a language, which I viewed as merely to get the content written in a given lingo.

During that time, I mainly restricted teaching reading to literary texts that indicated a deep affiliation to

culture.

However, as a result of learning the importance of communicative approach and applying it in the

teaching of reading, I have had a better perception of the role of reading as well as the types of texts to be

applied in teaching reading in any given language, as a result of which I have succeeded in this endeavor.

When a teacher’s main objective of teaching reading encompasses communicative competence,

diverse reading materials such as newspapers, comprehension text books as well as internet should be

used. This is because exposing the learners to diverse reading materials develops their communicative

competence tremendously. For this reason, we cannot separate instruction in reading from reading practice

at any one time.

As an instructor of reading skills, I plan to lay out some comprehension strategies that my learners

will employ in order to reap maximum benefits from any given texts in future. This way, the learners will

learn to become dynamic and focused readers who can manage reading comprehension on their own.

The strategies include instruction on comprehension monitoring where I will teach the learners on how to

be aware of what they understand and make out whatever they do not comprehend as well as employ

suitable means of solving comprehension problems. In addition,

I will expose the learners to metacognition skills which will require them to have control over their

reading and establish the purpose of reading prior to the reading process, while establishing the hurdles
they encounter in understanding a particular comprehension. Furthermore, I will teach the learners on how

to make use of semantic as well as graphic organizers for effective understanding.

These include diagrams as well as subject words that are crucial in understanding any

comprehension. Other important aspects that I plan to teach include formulating and answering

comprehension questions, elaborating the structure of the story as well as summarizing the main

components of a given comprehension.

In conclusion, even though a teacher is crucial in instructing effective comprehension skills, the

benefits can only be achieved through cooperative learning. Learners should work hand in hand with each

other in order to comprehend texts. Besides, they should also employ the given strategies of

comprehension reading. We as the instructors should assist the learners to work in groups and model the

reading strategies to them.