Lecture 11

Lecture 11:Teaching Reading

By the end of this lecture, students will be able to:

1.             Identify key reading strategies in language learning.

2.             Analyse factors that influence reading comprehension.

3.             Apply techniques for developing effective reading skills.

Introduction

Reading is the process of interpreting and constructing meaning from written texts. Teaching reading refers to the teacher’s ability to integrate learners into a context in which they have systematic access to texts or other forms of discourse (written ones). According to Wallace (1992, p. 4), "reading means to work out the meaning of a written text to be able to take some kind of action as a result." So, in educational explanation, reading denotes a shift from "text" to "meaning" to understanding. It is simply a way to build, create and construct meaning. (Day 2020, p2)

 

Reading Strategic Steps

Based on Grabe (2009), these steps offer a structured approach to enhance reading comprehension skills.

Before Reading

·         Predict

·         Brainstorm

·         Question

While Reading

·         Monitoring: Assess how well you understand the text. Ask yourself, "What confuses me here?" This reflective question can help you actively choose strategies to address any confusion.

·         Rely on the text structure to understand the text.

·         Note-taking while reading.

·         Answer anticipating questions before reading.

Problems:

1- To guide learners to read silently on their own.

2- Learners are required to answer some questions about the text.

3- Form groups and discuss the texts dealt with (in case there is more than one).

4- Follow the jigsaw reading activities (it transfers reading to an interactive task, and not only an individual one).

5- Follow webquests: Information that is used for the text comprehension is taken from the Internet. [p191/193]

After Reading

These tasks play a crucial role in completing the comprehension cycle started in the Pre-Reading stage. By focusing on reflecting and reinforcing understanding, after reading activities ensure that the initial predictions and questions posed in the pre-reading phase are systematically revisited and clarified. This leads to a deeper understanding and a more comprehensive grasp of the text's meaning, solidifying the cyclical nature of the reading process. After reading, students not only consolidate their learning but also evaluate and apply the knowledge gained, thus closing the loop of the comprehension cycle.

·        Make decisions about things you find a priority to understand or ignore.

·        Taking action (seeking help/dictionary use).

·        How well you understood the text.

·        What made it easier or difficult?

·        How will you use what you learnt?

·        Do you need extra reading about this theme?

·        The Sequence of the Reading Lesson (p.189)

Pre-Reading: It focuses on providing learners with the necessary linguistic and world knowledge needed to understand a text. This stage involves activities that engage students and encourage them to connect with the text on a personal level, fostering a conducive environment for comprehension.

 

While Reading Stage: Learners read the text and demonstrate their understanding by answering comprehension questions. This stage involves monitoring understanding through strategic questions that guide learners toward collaborating effectively and using the text as evidence in their discussions.

 

Post Reading Stage : Learners respond to the text by discussing the topic, using evidence from the text to support their opinions. They consolidate their understanding and explore new ideas, demonstrating successful comprehension by connecting the text to real-world applications and reflecting critically on the content. This method ensures that both teachers and learners have a clear understanding of what successful post-reading looks like.

 

The above sequence demonstrates a cycle of steps which range from preparing learners linguistically and cognitively to progressively detect meaning and then consolidate or manipulate the understanding for a long term transferable use.

 

Reading as a Process

At this stage, reading acts as a strategic step that entails the use of problem-solving strategies to become strategic, flexible and able integrate contents into different familiar contexts. There are some criteria that merit to be mentioned in this regard such as: hypothesis creation, approving or disapproving this hypothesis and lastly confirming and revising.

Below are some steps that can be suggested by teachers:

a- Developing students’ awareness: Eliciting learners’ strategies that are likely used however with a careful orientation in order to avoid any failed transfer from their L1 to the S2 or Foreign Language. In selecting authentic texts, teachers should consider specific criteria to ensure these materials are suitable for students. Essential questions include: Does the text match the students' current vocabulary level? Does it include relevant cultural references that students can relate to? Is the context of the text broad enough to be applicable in familiar scenarios? A quick checklist of these considerations can aid teachers in choosing texts that engage without overwhelming learners.

b- Encouraging full practice: the teacher can effectively trigger and guide learners to some authentic text to serve as a reference for them.

c- Scaffolding through suggested strategies: This allows the teacher to share some practical strategies which go hand in hand with the type of text, aims and explaining reasons of choice.

NB: The authenticity of the text given not only develops learners’ linguistic competence but also their pragmatic and cross-cultural competence, thereby making achievement limitless.

1- Providing a visual aid: pictures, graphs, diagrams.

2- Referring to a title in order to trigger learners’ schemata and predict the meaning of the text.

3- Mentioning the author based on the source especially if he/she symbolizes prior knowledge to them.

4- Skimming through the text, can be done based on the topic sentence of the first paragraph.

5- Receiving a question/questions that may be answered well during the reading phase.

6- Constructing mind maps that connect words, meanings and relate them.

Pre-reading activities are simply those structured procedures and steps prepared by the teacher. They closely build an initiative chain of meaning construction route. These activities also decrease cognitive load of learners due to the mechanistic approaches followed.

While Reading Activities

They need to be designed in order to keep up track with the previous stages, by prompting learners’ attention and check their comprehension during this critical phase. While reading activities are designed to scaffold students’ systematic accomplishment of tasks. At the micro level, these activities lead learners beyond expected surface comprehension, though they also help them move towards fostering metalinguistic awareness.

Post Reading

This type of activity provides continuous extension beyond the classroom. Usually, the information tackled during previous stages can be further consolidated or discussed. They often involve encouraging students to reorganise, connect and re-construct new knowledge. Accordingly, post-reading shows that it is not a final stage but a transformative one, as evidenced by advanced reading performance.

Brown (2001, p307) Suggested Strategies of Teaching Reading

v Identifying the purpose: Learners need to identify why the text is worth reading before tackling this task. (Mainly knowing the mechanism used (reading for gist, for a task, for details…))

v Using graphic rules and patterns: This step provides students with some predictable cues before dealing with details and mainly referring to (title, headings).

v Using efficient silent reading technique: This strategy allows no vocalization of information. It is merely an internal binding cognitively.

v Skimming text for specific information: It denotes a glanced reading for general information. It enhances the construction of macro-structure awareness.

v Scanning for specific information: Reading aims at this stage to search for details. Scanning fosters efficiency and specific selection of content.

v Semantic mapping / Clustering: It serves as a visual organization of vocabulary items to a combined network. It is a twofold beneficial process: joining comprehension and vocabulary learning.

v Guessing: is crucial for advanced reading stages due to the contextual cues utilized.