1

WORKSHOP 1

HOW TO TEACH READING1

DISCUSSION 1

1. Think of a definition of reading.

2. Why do you think reading in a foreign language is so important?

3. Do you like reading in English? What do you normally read in English?

4. What is your favourite written genre? Why?

WHAT IS READING?

Reading is one of the four basic skills needed to gain competence in mastering a language. It is a

written receptive skill which activates a chain of cognitive processes in making sense of the text. In

this making sense readers draw inferences, construct interpretations and respond actively to written

texts. Recent research on reading supports that to achieve full comprehension an interaction

between the information given and the readers expectations is necessary.

REASONS FOR READING AND TEXT SELECTION

The ability to read effectively is fundamental for survival in our western society. It enables the

person to access a great deal of information and to perform daily functions. Our society, being a

literate one, offers a great range of written texts for the practice of the reading skill. However,

whenever we read, we have a specific purpose in mind. Sometimes, we read simply to get the gist

of the text or to locate a concrete piece of information. A text is a tremendous source of learning

which enriches the reader and constantly transforms his/her expectations. In the following chart

(adapted from Hedge 2002:207), we give a selection of reasons for reading and the kind of texts that

we can use in the Primary classroom to achieve our goals.

1 Disccussion and theory are based on the work by Elena Garca Snchez, Sagrario Salaberri, Javier

Villoria, Chapter 6: Reading. Madrid D and McLaren (eds). Univesidad de Granada 2005

2

As regards text selection, the teacher should bear in mind the following principles:

- Texts should be adapted to the learners cognitive development.

- Texts should cover a wide variety of topics in order to reflect the diversity of interests

present in the classroom.

- Texts should enhance motivation and promote self-esteem.

- Texts should reflect situations where the learner can activate his/her schemata and enrich

Reasons for reading Text selection

To get information or search for

information

Travel brochures

Train timetables

Bus schedule

Public signs

Weather forecasts

Menus

Internet: web sites

To satisfy to curiosity about a topic

Magazine articles

Newspaper editorials

Advertisements

Internet

To follow instructions

To know how to use a game

Recipes

Maps

For pleasure and enjoyment

Poems

Short stories

Jokes

Plays

Cartoons

To keep in touch

Postcards

Letters

Notes

Messages

Invitations

Emails

To find out when and where

Announcements

Programmes

3

the interpretation.

- The selected texts should be the result of a needs analysis. By means of a needs analysis

the teacher can gather a great deal of valuable information which will result in a more

accurate selection of the reading material.

DISCUSSION 2

1. Why do you read in English? Select reasons from the chart above.

2. Discuss with your partner the principles for text selection considered above. Rank them in

importance, from your point of view.

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO MAKE SENSE OF THE TEXT

The readers final goal when reading a text is to make sense of it. Depending on the purpose of

reading and the readers competence in the foreign language, he/she will bring to a foreground

different types of knowledge. Hedge, (2002:189) mentions six types of knowledge likely to help the

reader to make sense of the text:

Types of knowledge Examples

Syntactic knowledge

Position of articles

Position of auxiliary verbs

Position of adjectives and adverbs

Morphological knowledge

Word formation (affixation, compounding)

Cohesive devices

General world knowledge

Background knowledge

Sociocultural knowledge

Cultural references

Topic knowledge

Previous ideas related to the content

Genre knowledge

Science fantasy novel

Tale

Poems

The interaction of these types of knowledge will contribute to a more precise interpretation of the

written text.

DISCUSSION 3

4

1. Of the types of knowledge Hedge mentions, which is likely to be most important in your

reading process? Why?

DISCUSSION 4

1. What are the main differences between spoken and written discourse?

DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN DISCOURSE

Some of the main differences between spoken and written discourse can be summarised as follows:

Written language is syntactically more complex than spoken language.

Speakers often use incomplete sentences.

The vocabulary of written texts is usually more specific than that of spoken discourse.

Information is packed more densely in written language than in spoken discourse.

Pauses and features like stress and intonation play a very important role in spoken language.

Even though there are significant differences between speech and written discourse, sometimes they

overlap, even more nowadays with the development of new technologies. Currently, spoken

discourse is not influenced by limitations in time and space. Speech recordings in different

modalities (answering phone, video player, etc.) allow interlocutors to listen to the same message

many times and messages to be sent far away. In the same way, the use of new technologies means

that many written texts (e-mails, chat, fax, etc.) have a short life. There are modes of interaction,

like conversation on the Internet, in which features of spoken discourse and written discourse are

mixed together.

This leads us to think that nowadays we can think in terms of a continuum (Johnson and Johnson,

1998) between both types of discourse so that we do not focus on the extremes of this continuum,

informal conversation and written narrative, for example.

In the process of trying to understand a written text, the reader has to perform a number of

simultaneous tasks that have been described by Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000:119). (S)he has

to:

Decode the message by recognising the written signs.

Interpret the message by assigning meaning to the string of words.

Understand what the author's intention was.

In the process described above, there are at least three participants: the writer, the text and the

reader. Therefore, reading is interactive and involves the three participants.

READING STAGES

5

Three main stages can be identified in the process of teaching reading and the micro-skills

associated with each of them.

1 Pre-reading stage

Pre-reading tasks have tended to focus primarily on preparing the reader for possible linguistic

difficulties in a text. However, more attention has been paid recently to conceptual or cultural

difficulties. One way of stimulating the students' interest and identifying their previous knowledge

is to elicit information about the topic, characters, events and actions in the text. The learners may

be asked to find answers to the questions provided at the beginning of the text, or to questions

embedded throughout the text.

The main purposes of this stage are:

Make use of the students' background knowledge about the topic.

Elicit some predictions and anticipate the content of the reading passage.

Create expectations about the text.

Improve the students' interest in the topic and motivate them for reading.

Strategies to be developed at this stage are:

Predicting, guessing.

Setting the context.

2 While-reading stage

It is advisable to begin while-reading work with a general understanding of the text, and then move

to specific information. The main reason for that is that global comprehension provides a context to

grasp the meaning of smaller units.

The aims of this stage are to:

Evaluate previous hypotheses.

Develop an understanding of the writer's purpose as well as the structure and organisation of

the text.

Improve comprehension of the text content.

Focus the attention on contextual clues to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Make use of inferring and judging abilities.

Looking for general information (skimming).

Looking for specific information (scanning).

Stimulate the development of cross-cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge.

6

The strategies used at this stage belong to one of these categories:

Annotating: Focus on content and language of the text through questioning and organising

information.

Analysing: Focus on arguments, characters, setting and use of language.

3 Post-reading stage

Work at this stage does not refer directly to the text, but it develops out of it. The work includes

personal reactions to the text and the tasks carried out in the previous stages. Learners can express

what they liked and disliked, whether the reading was useful or not, etc. Post-reading tasks provide

opportunities for skill integration and are a springboard for further knowledge and abilities in

content based learning.

This stage aims to:

Use information for further purposes.

Transfer acquired knowledge to similar readings.

Integrate reading skills with other communicative skills.

Make a summary of the reading passage.

This involves the use of the following strategies:

Summarising.

Evaluating.

Reflecting.

This three-stage approach is not meant to be carried out with each particular text. We may find that

the post-reading work is not suitable or we may want to work with the text directly. Nevertheless,

there are advantages in following this approach: it makes use of the student's knowledge of the

world, and it leads to the integration of skills.

The typical stages that may be used in a reading or listening lesson can be summarised as follows:

Build interest

Pre-teach vocabulary (if necessary)

Set a gist or scanning task

Learners read

Learners compare their answers

Learners check answers with the teacher

Set and intensive reading task

Learners read

7

Learners compare answers

Learners check answers with the teacher

Set an extension activity

4. A guide to prepare tasks for the three stages

The following questions may guide the teacher's preparation of tasks for the three stages:

Pre-reading

-What knowledge, ideas or opinions do learners have about the topic?

-How can that be elicited and used?

-What's the purpose of reading the text?

While-reading

-What is the function of the text?

-How is the text organised?

-What information is to be extracted from the text?

-What may the reader infer from the text?

Post-reading

-Can the reader use the information for further purposes?

-Does the text demand completion?

-Can the learners evaluate or reflect upon what they have read?

MICRO-SKILLS AND STRATEGIES INVOLVED IN READING

1. Reading Aloud

There may be occasions in the language classroom praxis that require the students or the teacher to

read aloud. In the first years of Primary education, storytelling plays an important role in the

process of learning. This activity is usually more effective if the story is told (or read) aloud due to

the fact that learners become more involved and consequently more motivated.

Besides this, from the educational point of view, reading aloud is an activity teachers usually ask

their students to do because in this way students can show that they recognise written and spoken

forms and the relationship between form and meaning.

Reading aloud at early and intermediate levels can be used to check bottom-up processing skills or

simply pronunciation. However, there will be some shortcomings if this practice becomes an

everyday activity. Brown (2001:312) considers three pitfalls:

8

a) It is not a very authentic activity.

b) It is a boring activity because while one student is reading, the others can easily lose

attention.

c) It is not an interactive activity because students only have to recite.

2. Silent Reading

This is the most common and natural type of reading. Readers have a period of uninterrupted

reading without depending on anothers help. During that time, they enjoy the activity while at the

same time increasing their reading skills. However, different goals can be pursued depending on the

predetermined purpose of reading which is normally set out by the teacher. This leads to a

subdivision into the following types:

2.1 Skimming

This style of reading is very common in everyday life and is used to get a global impression of the

content of a text (the gist of the text). Techniques used for skimming are reading bold letter, italics,

capital letters, repeated ideas or conclusions. Skimming is a strategy that requires a definite reading

competence because it implies an overall view of the text. On the other hand, it develops students

self-confidence since they obtain a lot of information without needing much reading.

Task 1: Read the test. Decide the best heading for it2

When people think of food in the United States, they think mostly of fast food like hamburgers and

hotdogs. In fact, in U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles, there are thousands of different kinds

of restaurants with foods from all over the world.

So if you like to try different foods, the United States is the place for you. The United States has

people from all over the world, and they bring with them typical foods from their countries. You can

eat tempura in Japanese restaurants, tacos in Mexican restaurant, paella in Spanish restaurants,

Yes, pizza Pizza is originally from Italy, but today it is an important part of U.S. menu. There are

about 58.000 pizzerias in the United States thats about 17% of all restaurants in the country, and

the number is growing.

The United States has eating places for all tastes and all pockets. You can buy a hotdogs in the

street and pay one or two dollars. Or you can go to a four star restaurant and pay $ 200 for a

dinner.

2 Spratt, M. Et al (2005) The TKT Course. Cambridge University Press (pag 24)

9

2. 2 Scanning

Scanning is more concerned with the search of specific information within a text. Typical scanning

activities may include: looking for names, relevant dates, numbers in a directory, times on a

timetable or key concepts in an academic text.

2. 3 Intensive

Intensive reading usually focuses on linguistic and content accuracy. It is very important in

educational contexts because it is used to exemplify different aspects of the lexical, syntactic and

discourse systems. That is, it draws the students attention to surface structure with the objective of

gaining a full understanding of the literal meaning presented in the written passage. Texts used for

intensive reading are usually short and they are studied in depth.

Task 2

1 My house is beautiful. It has got four rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. In the kitchen

2 there is a table with some chairs, a cooker and a fridge. In the bathroom there is a

3 toilet, a bath and a washbasin with a mirror. My bedroom is very cosy. I have many

4 books on the shelf b

5 very nice but he only has toys because he is three years old.

1. What does the word he (line 5) refer to?

2. What is the meaning of cooker (line 2)?

3. What is the opposite of beautiful (line 1)?

4. Write the name of pieces of furniture under the following headlines: Kitchen, Bathroom,

Bedroom, Sitting room.

The main features of intensive reading can be summarised as follows:

It is a slow, careful reading procedure that is appropriate for difficult texts.

It is really more of a language study method than a form of reading.

It is useful for study purposes because its slow speed allows students to stop and look new

words up in the dictionary; it also allows students to pause and study long or difficult sentences

carefully to get a better understanding of their grammar.

However, intensive reading alone will not make students good readers.

In fact, too much intensive reading may actually cause students to develop bad reading habits

like paying more attention to the vocabulary and grammar of a text than to its overall meaning

or reading very slowly.

Intensive reading tends to be boring, so students who fall into the habit of reading everything

intensively often come to dislike reading in English.

10

2. 4 Extensive

Extensive reading, on the other hand, is more oriented towards grasping a general understanding of

the text for the purpose of enjoyment or learning. Texts used for extensive reading are usually long

texts such as books or articles and reading them takes extended periods of time.

Extensive reading is not usually performed during class time but it is known that this activity helps

students to improve their reading abilities. This idea is supported by Green and Oxford (1995), who

consider that reading for pleasure and reading without looking up all the unknown words are both

highly correlated with overall language proficiency. Other studies, such as Krashen (1993) or Day

and Bamford (2000), also support the importance of extensive reading in educational contexts

because it helps to develop reading ability, linguistic competence, vocabulary, spelling and writing.

Day and Bamford establish ten top principles for the teaching of extensive reading (2000:7-8):

1) Students read as much as possible

2) A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available

3) Students select what they want to read

4) The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding

5) Reading is its own reward

6) Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students in terms of

vocabulary and grammar.

7) Reading is individual and silent

8) Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower

9) Teachers orient students to the goals of the program, explain the methodology, keep the track

of what each student reads, and guide students in getting the most out of the program.

10) The teacher is a role model of a reader for students

Reading comprehension involves the development of both intensive and extensive reading skills. In

order to become good readers, students need to practice reading extensively as well as intensively.

It is good for students to read intensively if a text is very difficult or for study purposes. In addition,

the development of comprehension skills must be part of the reading process and extensive reading

provides opportunities to read skilfully and with pleasure.

The chart below shows the main concepts associated with both intensive and extensive reading:

INTENSIVE READING EXTENSIVE READING

PURPOSE Language study General understanding and enjoyment

LEVEL Often difficult Easy (graded readers)

AMOUNT Not much A lot

SPEED Slowly Fast and fluently

11

DISCUSSION 5

1. What are the main purposes of intensive reading?

2. What can students learn through intensive reading?

3. What are some bad habits intensive reading may encourage?

BOURNEMOUTH

ADVERTISER

The weekly newspaper

___________________________________________________________________________

FUR ALARM

Polly the cat saves couple from blaze

Reported by David Haith

A CAT which saved her owners from

death in a fire last week is to be nominated

for a RSPCA award.

Polli, a 13 year old tortoiseshell, could have

escaped out of a cat flap as thick smoke

engulfed the rooms of a house in Kimberley

Road, Southbourne, as Jean and 64 year old

John Pegg slept.

But Polly stayed on the couples bed pawing

and scratching 62 year old Jeans face.

The more Jean ordered her to stop, the more

the puss persisted with her alarm tacics.

Finally Jean awoke and switched on the light

to find the first floor back bedroom filled

with black smoke.

She rouses her husband who was able to

escape down the stairs.

DENSE

From a bedside phone Jean called the fire

brigade but found the smoke was too dense

for her to leave the bedroom.

The couple were both taken to hospital and

treated for the effects of smoke.

The fire started by an electrical fault in a

freezer gutted the chicken and caused

smoke damage to the rest of the house.

Polly was found outside by firemen, coughing

and spluttering, but unharmed.

Said Jean: Theres no doubt that Polly saved

our lives. She had been sleeping on our bed

but in the early hours kept banging her paw

very hard on my face. She kept doing it with

her claws out do Id wake up. She was also

making this yak, yak sound a noise she

makes by banging her teeth together when

she sees birds out of the window.

Jean added: The firemen told us that the

smoke was so think we were within five

minutes of dying. Polly is a heroine and Im

putting her name for an RSPCS bravery

award

http://www.google.es/imgres?q=tortoiseshell&hl=es&sa=X&rlz=1T4SUNC_esGB378GB378&biw=1280&bih=519&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=9CjQpLhiQSDczM:&imgrefurl=http://www.freewebs.com/stormclan77/seaclancats.htm&docid=2I8WgYKNw_WOdM&imgurl=http://www.freewebs.com/stormclan77/Autumnfur.jpg&w=225&h=246&ei=QGkmUL2RNsfk4QSo_YGoBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=546&vpy=2&dur=172&hovh=196&hovw=180&tx=89&ty=66&sig=116034609482546079388&page=4&tbnh=155&tbnw=142&start=46&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:46,i:245

12

Task 3 FUR ALARM: AN EXAMPLE READING LESSON3

A: Firs think about which animals you think make the best pets

B. Look at the following words: blaze, cat flap, nominate (for award), gutted (the house)

You are going to read a newspaper story called Fur alarm. Consider for a few moments what the

story may be about.

When you are ready, read the article below very quickly (2 minutes maximum). Was your

prediction correct?

C: Look at the following numbers: 64, 62, 13, 5. Find to what they refer to in the text as quickly as

possible.

D: Look at the following questions. Read the text again and answer them

1. Could Polly have escaped without waking up Jean and John?

2. How did Polly wake Jean?

3. How did Jean react to Polly trying to wake her?

4. Why couldnt Jane go downstairs?

5. How did the fire start?

6. Were Jean and John badly hurt?

7. Was Polly badly hurt?

8. In what way is Polly a heroine?

E. What are the advantages and disadvantages of keeping pets?

REFLECTION ON THE LESSON

1. Look at the section B, C and D. Which type of reading skills is practised in each section?

2. Why is it a good idea to order the reading activities in this way?

3. Do you think the learners should read silently or aloud? Why?

4. What is the purpose of the final question? (What are the advantages and disadvantages of

keeping pets? What skills may be practised here?

5. If you were teaching this lesson to a group of students and some of them volunteered de wrong

answers, what would you do?

FOLLOW UP WORK

For the next workshop remember to:

3 Activity taken from the book Learning to teach English by Peter Watkins. Delta Publishing 2005 (pages 59,

60 and 140).

13

1. Provide two handouts containing each the description of with one activity you implemented

in your class using ideas from the reading workshop. Briefly explain the objectives,

content(s), detailed steps followed in the pre-reading, while-reading, post-reading. Analyze

briefly sub-skills implied in the activity.

When sharing that information dont forget to point out the advantages and difficulties you

faced when using those activities or techniques.

2. Based on your experience, how did you feel when applying those activities and techniques:

How did your students react?

Which activities worked better? Why?

Which activities were not very useful? Why not?

Based on your own needs, what else would you like to learn about this topic?

EVALUATION OF THE WORKSHOP

1. Qu parte del taller te ha sido ms til?

2. Qu parte te ha resultado menos til

3. Valora de 1 a 5 los siguientes aspectos del taller:

Teora sobre Reading

Discusiones

Actividades

Tareas

4. Valora del 1 al 5 la utilidad general del taller

5. Qu sugerencias daras para los futuros talleres?

READING WEB PAGES

Title Web Address

ESL Independent

Study Lab-Reading

www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/reading.html

Adult Learning

Activities

www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm

ESL Reading www.gradereading.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html

Longman English

Interactive 3

www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/multimedia/programs/lei3_4.htm

Issues in English www.proteatextware.com.au/iie.htm

14

Dilemma www.ea-software.com/reading5.shtml

WebLadder www.readingenglish.net/students/

Readers Digest www.rd.com

TOPICS www.topics-mag.com/readers/cheating-forum.htm

Click into English www.clarity.com.hk/program/clickintoenglish.htm