Teaching Reading

Reading for a purpose

A crucial factor in reading is purpose.
This determines the way we read. In real life, we may
want to glance quickly through a sports article to see
who won or to go quickly through a telephone
directory to find someone’s telephone number.
On the other hand, a legal document requires much
closer attention, perhaps several readings, because
we need to grasp the information in detail. We read
different texts with different purposes and at
different speeds, very often silently, and only seldom
aloud.
 Silent reading vs. reading aloud
Reading is normally a silent activity, and it
should be encouraged as such in the classroom.
You can sometimes read aloud fragments,
especially for beginners, but the students should
be asked to read aloud as rarely as possible.
Reading aloud may have some value as a means
of testing pronunciation, but it does not help
comprehension. In addition, excessive practice
in reading aloud tends to prevent the students
from developing effective silent reading
strategies.
Moreover, reading aloud is a highly specialised
skill and very few students will need it.
 Kinds of Reading
Intensive reading - reading (relatively) short texts to extract specific
information. For instance, we read poetry or legal documents
intensively, focusing on the words used. In the classroom, intensive
reading is usually an accuracy activity. It is a way of focusing the
students’ attention on language rather than content. This kind of
reading can contribute immensely to improve the students’ language
competence. However, intensive reading does not always contribute to
the development of reading skills.
Extensive reading consists of reading (longer) texts, usually for one’s
own pleasure. The emphasis is on the information content of the text.
Extensive reading is a fluency activity involving global understanding, in
which the students do not check every unknown word or structure.
There is one major condition for the success of an extensive reading
activity: the text must be enjoyable. The main criteria for choosing
extensive reading materials are length, appeal, variety and easiness.
 Reading Techniques
Skimming and scanning - necessary for fast and efficient
reading.
Skimming involves reading for an overall understanding of the
text. The reader is quickly running one’s eyes through a text to
get its essence, its general idea or gist. Reading a few sentences,
recognising a few words and expressions, a few main point(s)
and the function(s) may be enough.
Practice in skimming will show your students how much they can
find out simply by looking at the prominent elements of a text,
by catching a few words or by reading fragments.
To train your students in skimming, you can remove a few
sentences from a text or even whole paragraphs – making sure
those parts contain only supporting details – and ask the
students to supply the missing parts.
 Reading Techniques

Scanning is quickly going through a text to find particular

information.
Readers look quickly through the text to find words that
answer their specific questions.
Scanning is a visual skill more than an interpretive one.
When you practice scanning in the classroom, make sure that
you give your students clear instructions as to what they
need to find out.
Your students will need practice in both skimming and
scanning, as it is usual to make use of both when reading a
text.
Intensive, extensive, scan and skim reading do not
exclude one another.
We often skim through a text to see what it is about before
deciding whether it is worth scanning for specific
information.
In real life, our reading purposes constantly vary, and we
need various approaches to cope with our needs. That is
why your students need practice in different ways of
reading.
Their choice of reading style will depend on the nature of
the text and the purpose they have in reading it.
 Approaches to teaching reading

R. White suggests three stages and a general

procedure for a reading lesson: he recommends the
use of pre-, while- and postreading activities. The
procedure relies on the students’ knowledge of
language and knowledge of the world and uses this
as a basis for involvement, motivation and progress.
It also leads to the integration of language skills.
 Three Reading Approaches
Pre-reading activities are meant to introduce the text and
arouse interest in the topic; for example, brainstorming,
predicting, introducing the story by showing pictures etc.;

While-reading activities - the traditional comprehension

questions placed at the beginning, at the end or inserted at
various points within the text are a typical example of a
while-reading activity. Completing diagrams or maps, making
lists and taking notes are other types of while-reading work;

Post-reading activities may deal with reactions to the text

and to the while-reading work.
 Post-reading activities

Post-reading activities are:

• writing an outline of a paragraph or longer text;
• drawing a list of main ideas from the text and then working individually
or in pairs to locate supporting details;
• matching, in pair or group work, a column with main ideas from a
passage with a column of details;
• underlining generalisations and supporting details or creating topic
sentences for portions of the text;
• determining the function of each sentence in a paragraph or longer text
(stating a generalisation, supporting it, catching and holding the reader’s
attention, etc.);
• choosing a main idea (or best title) for a passage from among several
choices or creating one on their own;
• doing a jigsaw reading.
Exploring the relationships between ideas in a text can be carried out at almost any
proficiency level. Beginners can complete semantic maps that are entirely
schematic, containing basic words or no writing, with pictures (e.g. the semantic
map of a house).
 Sub-Skills Involved in Reading
Due to its complexity, reading is often analysed into a
set of component sub-skills (both lower and higher
level) and knowledge areas:
Recognition;
Knowledge of the language;
Knowledge of formal text structure;
Content and background knowledge;
Cognitive processing;
Metacognitive knowledge and skill monitoring.
 Cognitive processing sub-skills
The ability to interpret a text involves hypothesising, the drawing of
inferences and the resolution of ambiguities and uncertainties;
prediction, evaluation of information, and synthesis.
Predicting is guessing based on grammatical, structural, logical and
cultural clues, and asking them to say what is likely to come next (e.g.,
‘What do you think will happen next?’, ‘What do you think the next
words will be?’ or ‘What do you think the next sentence will be about?’)
Anticipating is inherent in the process of reading, which is a
permanent ‘dialogue’ between the reader and the text. The readers
usually start reading a text prepared to find answers to their
expectations. These expectations are as important as what they actually
draw from the text.
 Metacognitive knowledge and skill monitoring

Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge about

cognition and language. It includes awareness of the
mental processes which are involved in different
kinds of learning. Students can become aware of
and monitor their own mental processes, being able
to choose the most effective learning strategies.
Metacognitive knowledge includes abilities like
recognising text structure and organisation, using a
dictionary, taking notes and so on.