BROWN, Douglas. Teaching Reading.

In: Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to

language pedagogy. Michigan: Longman, 2001.1
William Melo Araújo2
H. Douglas Brown reached his M.A. in Linguistic e Ph.D. in Educational Psychology
at the University of California, Los Angeles. His current research interests center on
strategies-bsed instruction, classroom Language assessment, and relating second language
acquisition researh to classroom methodology.
The chapter begins by inquiring into how we are teaching foreign languages to
students, and highlights that all learning skills are important such as reading, writing,
speaking and listening. They did some research about how was the learning in a second
language. It explains the Bottom-up and Top-down process in a didactic way, that one looks
for the meaning, the significance for understanding the activity or text. He quotes Cristine
Nuttall who explains in her book the processes very well, giving examples using the
magnifying glass and an eagle's eye view. And she concludes by explaining about interactive
reading according to recent research, which, by making the relationship with Nuttall's book
that we study in the classroom, adds knowledge to us.
From the second topic the author explains about the schema theory and background
knowledge, where in the first the reader learns culture, experience and knowledge goes
beyond the printed pages, but is an interaction with his memories and his life story. The fact
that culture and affection are part of the learning systems has won a very well developed
topic, the author reports that motivation, ego, self-esteem, empathy and etc are important
factors for readers who fall in love with reading and for those who are entering this world
have to work very well this scope, and comments that not only cognitive factors are
necessary. This contributes to our knowledge, because many graduates imagine that only
intelligence or just studying a lot will bring results, but we have to understand that internal
questions are of utmost importance, and the way the content is transmitted, the way the
teacher understands the feelings of the students will make all the difference if the students will
learn effectively or not.
Extensive reading is mentioned with great results because reading for pleasure and
reading without looking for the meaning of all the words was connected with students' overall
proficiency. We learned in class exactly this in our discussions with classmates about

1
Resenha Crítica produzida para a obtenção de nota na disciplina de Reading II, ministrada pela profa. Giselle
Andrade Pereira.
2
Acadêmica do 3° período do curso de Licenciatura Plena em Letras Inglês da UESPI – Campus Alexandre
Alves Oliveira. Email: williamaraujo@aluno.uespi.br
extensive reading. We also read in the chapter about the types of writing and the genres of the
most varied, which is important in reading in English, as the author mentions, we will select
what goes to short and long memory according to the type of text or genre we read, and if we
do this in portuguese we should also do this in english, which was very well remembered in
this chapter, and we should be alert when we go to teach English language classes.
It is also explained about the complexity of writing as well as speaking, which many
find more difficult to write, which also reflects in the vocabulary as mentioned. In a
conversation we use fewer words in English than in a text, and we need to be attentive to this
in teaching foreign language writing and speaking. Then the author mentions strategies for
reading comprehension, such as identifying the purpose of reading, and using silent reading
for more concentrated comprehension at higher levels, looking for the main ideas, scanning
the text for specific information or key concepts so you don't have to read the whole text to
speed up the search for certain information, and about the ability to make deductions.
To deduce and not need to look up words directly in the dictionary, but to read and
understand through the context, and between the lines, the information given. This process
contributes to develop autonomy in each student and make reading more fluid and cadenced,
because unnecessary pauses cause discomfort and there is the probability of making the
reading experience unpleasant, what the author masterfully lists all these skills for our
understanding what was efficient for teachers who know these techniques at the time of
producing reading activities. The author further comments on analyzing vocabulary which is
to look for prefixes, suffixes and etc. Differentiate between literal and figurative meanings,
and gives examples in the text for us to understand, which makes reading the chapter more
enjoyable.
Another important part is the analysis system to check the level in class, such as
asking students to do oral, silent and extensive reading. Which the author complements
assertively in the following topics about specific instruction in reading skills. That way
students will be focused and use specific skills or the ones the teacher wants them to use. The
choices of texts for students, the author quotes Nuttall again speaking concepts from her book
such as: Suitability, which is enjoyable subject matter for students. Explorability: texts that fit
with as many abilities as possible and Readability: text that challenges students, but without
overwhelming them. The author brings some reading exercises where we can learn in practice
the skills explained in the chapter, which is very beneficial because we learn the theoretical
content and the readers can now put it into practice. I recommend reading the book and the
chapter to graduates in the english language course as a necessity, because as I have learned,
reading in the classroom is important and indispensable to develop reading skills at all levels.