Teaching Reading

Topics for discussion: 1. How do people read?2. What do people read?3. What are the skills involved in

reading?4. Common types of activities in

teaching reading

How do we read?

The nature of readingReading aloud Silent reading

Manner Utterance of every word

Silent

Speed Usually slow Usually fast

Purpose Usually to share information

Usually to get information

Skills involved

Pronunciation and intonation

Skimming, scanning, predicting; Guessing unknown words; Understanding details; Understanding relations between sentences and between paragraphs; Understanding references;

Activity type Collective activity Individual activity

Management in the

classroom

Easy to manage as it can be observed and heard

Difficult to manage as teachers cannot see what is going on in the students’ minds

What do effective readers do? have a clear purpose in reading;read silently;read phrase by phrase, rather than word by

word;concentrate on the important bits, skim the

rest, and skip the insignificant parts;use different speeds and strategies for

different reading tasks;guess the meaning of new words from the

context, or ignore them;have and use background information to

help understand the text.

What do we read? We believe ESL/EFL reading textbooks

should have a great variety of authentic materials, as much as the coverage allows. Of course, textbooks should always be supplemented by extra materials.

Calendars Clothes size labels Magazines

Addresses Graffiti on walls Radio/TV guides

Phone books Children’s scribbling Advertisements

Name cards Informa1 letters Posters

Bank statements Business letters Travel guides

Credit cards Rules and regulations Cookbooks

Maps Electronic mail Repair manuals

Anecdotes Telegrams Memos

Weather forecast Fax messages Time schedules

Pamphlets Junk mail Street signs

Product labels Postcards Syllabi

Washing instructions Credit cards Journal articles

Short stories Comic books Song lyrics

Novels Newspapers Film subtitles

Plays Diplomas Diagrams

Poems Application forms Flowcharts

Handbooks Store catalogues Name tags

It is important for ESL/EFL teachers to bear in mind what we read in real life, so that when we select reading materials for our ESL/EFL classroom, we not only have a greater variety but also meet the needs of different students.

Skills needed in readingUnderstanding the explicitly stated information;

Understanding the communicative value (function) of sentences;

Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items;

Understanding relations within sentences;

Understanding references;Recognising indicators in discourse;

Recognising the organization of the text;

Strategic skills needed in reading

Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details;

Skimming: reading for the gist or main idea;

Scanning: reading to look for specific information;

Predicting: guessing what is coming next;

Principles and models for teaching reading

Principles for teaching reading: The texts and tasks should be accessible

to the students.Tasks should be clearly given in advance.Tasks should be designed to encourage

reading for the main meaning rather than test the students’ understanding of trivial details.

Tasks should help develop students’ reading skills and strategies rather than test their reading comprehension.

Teachers should help the students to read on their own, so that they eventually become independent readers.

Models for teaching readingThe Bottom-up ModelThe Top-down ModelThe Interactive Model

In the Bottom-up Model, the teacher teaches reading by introducing vocabulary and new words first and then going over the text sentence by sentence. This is followed by some questions and answers and reading aloud practice.

In the Top-down Model the teacher should teach the background knowledge first, so that students equipped with such knowledge will be able to guess meaning from the printed page.

The Interactive Model divides reading activities into basically three stages, in which bottom-up and top-down techniques are integrated to help students in their reading comprehension and in increasing their language efficiency in general.

The three stages are pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading.

Pre-reading activitiesThe purpose of pre-reading (also called Lead-in) is to facilitate while-reading activities.

predicting, skimmingscanning

Predicting

Predicting will get the reader’s mind closer to the theme of the text.

Ways of predicting: predicting based on the title, predicting based on vocabulary,

Predicting based on the titleA Nation of Pet-Lovers

If the students are not good at predicting, the teacher can help them by asking certain questions such as;

What is a pet? What are pets for? Why do people love pets? Are there any problems with pets?

Predicting based on vocabularyHaving made predictions based on the title,

students can be asked to predict some lexical items that they think are likely to occur in the text. Then the students read the text to confirm their predictions.

SkimmingSkimming means reading quickly to get

the main idea of the text. Some suggestions: Ask the students to choose a

statement from 3-4 statements.Ask the students to put subtitles for

different parts of the text into the right order. e.g.:

Headings: Where can we put it? Confirming ActionGreetingsInterrupting without insultClosing the call Getting to the point

Text

Top tips for telephone EnglishIf you're looking for a challenging

situation to practice your English, just pick up the telephone. Not being able to see the person you're talking to and the body language they're using can make chatting on the phone one of the most difficult forms of communication. Never fear, though! We've compiled some tips to guide you through an average telephone conversation in English.

(Which heading should be here?) Every phone call should begin

with a polite greeting such as, Hi, how've you been? or Nice to hear from you. Even if you're calling a business contact for a specific purpose, it'd be rude to jump right into business without a little small talk at the beginning.

(Which heading should be here?)There always comes the point,

however, where you want to move on from friendly banter and get down to business. For this situation, use the phrase I'm just calling to ... to transition to the topic at hand. For example, I'm just calling to see if you'd like to set up a meeting. If the situation is reversed, however, and you are waiting to find out why someone called you, you can guide the conversation by saying, So what can I do for you?

(Which heading should be here?)If you happen to be speaking with a very

talkative person, it may be difficult to get a word in edgewise or contribute to the conversation. If someone is going on and on, and you'd like to interrupt, be sure to do it politely. For example, begin with I would like to say something here, if I may or Allow me to make a point. Or, you could just ask: May I interrupt you for a second?

If you're making plans on the phone, be sure to confirm the details toward the end of the call. Begin with phrases like Please let me confirm... and So, let me make sure I've got things straight... and follow up with the details as you understand them.

(Which heading should be here?)Sometimes this can be the trickiest part of

the conversation! It may be the time to offer some good wishes, such as good luck on that interview or hope you feel better soon if it's appropriate. Additionally, you may want to confirm any plans you've made: I'll see you on Friday, then. Sometimes it's easiest to just say you enjoyed speaking to the other person. Also, keep in mind that strategically saying the word well at the beginning of a sentence can indicate that you are ready to end the conversation: Well John, it's been a pleasure talking to you.

ScanningScanning means to read to locate specific information.

The key point in scanning is that the reader has something in his mind and he or she should ignore the irrelevant parts when reading.

Questions for a scanning activity are often about specific information.

We can also ask students to scan for vocabulary.

We can also ask students to scan for certain structures, e.g. tense forms, discourse connectors, particular sentence structures.

Something to bear in mind when conducting scanningSet a time limit.Give clear instructions.Wait until 70% of the students finish.Make clear how you are going to get

feedback.Answers to the scanning questions should be

scattered throughout the text rather than clustered at one place.

While-reading activitiesWhile-reading activities focus on the process

of understanding rather than the result of reading.

Information transfer activitiesReading comprehension questionsUnderstanding referencesMaking inferences

Information transfer activities using transition devices

Transition device: A way to transfer information from one form, e.g. the text form, to another, e.g. a visual form.

Sophisticated Input (SI)

Transition Device (TD)

Output

(OP)

Transition devices can be used to make information in text form effectively processed and retained.

Some transition devicesPictures, drawings, maps, tables, tree diagrams, cyclic diagrams, pie charts, bar charts, flow charts, etc.

Family

Family Tree

Prediction Chart

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2009 2010 2011 2012

TeacherDoctorArti st

Examples of using transition devices

Read the following passage and complete the table, which compares the two families.

Son

Daughter

Favorite Place

Budi’s family

Nina’s family

It is important that students fill in the table while they are reading rather than after they finish reading.

Then a follow-up output activity can be conducted based on the results.

e.g.: The teacher can ask questions

like “Which family is rich ?”

CLASSIFY THE INFORMATION

Reading comprehension questionsQuestions for literal comprehension.

(Answers directly and explicitly available in the text)

Questions involving reorganization or reinterpretation. (Require Ss to obtain literal information from various parts of the text and put it together or reinterpret it)

Questions for inferences. (what is not explicitly stated but implied

Questions for evaluation or appreciation. (making a judgement about the text in terms of what the writer is trying to convey)

Post-reading activitiesPost-reading tasks should provide the students with opportunities to relate what they have read to what they already know or what they feel.

In addition, post-reading task should enable students to produce language based on what they have learned

Discussion questionsDo you think he was a good doctor?How do you think the young man felt?

Reproducing the textTell part of the story from these prompts:

A doctor – village – annoyed.People – stop – street – advice.

Role Play1. Act out the conversation between the doctor and the young man.

2. Act out an interview between a journalist and the doctor.

Gap-fillingOne day the doctor ________ by a young man. The doctor _________ to be interested. He felt the young man __________ in the street with his tongue ______ out.

False summaryThe teacher provides a summary with some wrong information, and asks the students to correct it.

Writing Writing based on what the students have read, e.g. producing a tourist brochure, an advertisement, a short summary, etc.

ConclusionThe teaching of reading should

focus on developing students’ reading skills and strategies rather than testing students’ reading comprehension.

We should view reading as an interactive process.

Reading in the classroom can be divided into 3 stages: pre-reading activities, while-reading activities, and post-reading activities.

Thank you!