Matakuliah
Tahun
: G 0444 / Material Design and Testing
: 2005 - 2006
ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING
Pertemuan 1.1
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There are various things we can do before reading a text
which will make it easier for Ss to understand the text and
help them focus attention on it as they read. They include :
1.
presenting some of the new words which will appear in
the text;
2.
giving a brief introduction to the text;
3.
giving one or two “guiding” questions ( orally or on the
board ) for Ss to think about as they read.
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1. Presenting new vocabulary
We do not have to present all the new words in a text
before the Ss read it; they can guess the meaning of
many words from the context. An important part of
reading is being able to guess the meaning of
unknown words. Only the words which would make it
very difficult to understand the text need to be
presented beforehand.

Try to understand the general meaning of the story which consists
of non sense words. See the next page.
3
Read the text. Try to understand the general meaning of the story.
All the words in italics are nonsense words.
A country girl was walking along the snerd with a roggle of milk on her
head. She began saying to herself, “The money for which I will sell this
milk will make me enough money to increase my trund of eggs to three
hundred. These eggs will produce the same number of chickens, and I
will be able to sell the chickens for a large wunk of money. Before long,
I will have enough money to live a rich and fallentious life. All the young
men will want to marry me. But I will refuse them all with a ribble of the
head – like this….” And as she ribbled her head, the roggle fell to the
ground and all the milk ran in a white stream along the snerd, carrying
her plans with it.
Can you guess what those nonsense words might mean ?
(TE,pg 60)
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You can guess the meaning of the nonsense words. What does
this tell us about reading a text ?
a. It is quite possible to understand a text without understanding every
word, and it is possible to guess many unknown words from the context
b. Asking Ss to try to guess the meaning of new words helps to focus
attention on them, and makes them want to know what the word mean.
2. Introducing the text
It is important to introduce the theme of the text before we ask Ss to
read it. The purposes are :
a. To help Ss in their reading, by giving them some idea what to expect.
b. To increase their interest and so make them want to read the text.
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3. Guiding questions
Before the Ss read the text, the T can give one or two guiding
questions ( either orally or written on the board ), for Ss to think
about as they read.
The purposes are :
a. To give the Ss a reason to read, by giving them something to
look for as they read the text.
b. To lead ( or “guide” ) the Ss towards the main points of the text,
so that after the first reading they should have a good general
idea of what it is about.
Guiding questions should be concerned with the general meaning
or with the most important points of a text, and not focus on minor
details. They should be fairly easy to answer and not too long.
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Matakuliah
Tahun
: G0444 / Material Design and Testing
: 2005 - 2006
READING A TEXT
Pertemuan 1.2
7
3 Possible Ways of Reading a Text
1.The students read silently to
themselves, at their own speed,
2. The teacher reads aloud, while the
students follow in their books,
3. Students read aloud in turn.
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POSSIBLE WAYS of READING A
TEXT in CLASS
( Demo )
Demo 1 :
(Technique 1 )
Guiding Question :
Only very few animal remains become fossils.
Why ?
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Reading Text
( to be read by Trainers )
How to get preserved as a fossil
I. Read the first part silently
Unfortunately the chances of any animal becoming a fossil are not very
great, and the chances of a fossil then being discovered many
thousands of years later are even less. It is not surprising that of all the
millions of animals that have lived in the past, we actually have fossils
of only a very few.
There are several ways in which animals and plants may become
fossilized. First, it is essential that the remains are buried, as dead
animals and plants are quickly destroyed if they remain exposed to the
air. Plants rot, while scavengers, such as insects and hyenas, eat the
flesh and bones of animals. Finally, the few remaining bones soon
disintegrate in the hot sun and pouring rain. If buried in suitable
conditions, however, animal and plant remains will be preserved. The
Same chemicals which change sand and silt into hard rock will also
enter the animal and plant remains and make them hard too. When this
Happens we say that they have become fossilized. Usually only the
bones of an animal and the toughest part of a plant are preserved.
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Demo 2 :
(Technique 2 )
Guiding Question :
How can soft parts of animals become fossilized ?
What kind of fossils are often found in caves ?
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II. T reads this second part. Trainers follow
The soft body parts of an animal or the fine fibers of a leaf may
occasionally become fossilized, bur they must be buried quickly for this
to happen. This may sometimes occur with river and lakes sediments
but is much more likely to happen with volcanic ash. One site near
Lake Victoria, where my parents worked, contained many thousands of
beautifully preserved insects, spiders, seeds, twigs, roots and leaves. A
nearby volcano must have erupted very suddenly, burying everything in
a layer of ash. The insects had no time to escape before they were
smothered.
Caves are another site where fossils are easily formed, and luckily
our ancestors left many clues in caves which made convenient shelters
and homes. Things that people brought is as food or tools were left on
the cave floor, and they were buried by mud, sand and other debris
washed in by rivers and rain.
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After the demonstrations, compare the two ways of reading a text :
Which technique :
• Makes it easier to understand the text ?
• Is more helpful in developing reading ability ?
See points to discuss in “Soal 1.3”
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i.
Understanding the text :
T may tend to help Ss by reading the text aloud to them, but it
can in fact make reading more difficult. In silent reading, Ss can
all read at their own speed, and if they do not understand a
sentence they can go back and read it again. If the T is reading
the text aloud, this is impossible – everyone must follow at the
speed set by the T.
ii.
Developing reading ability :
When Ss read English in the future ( e.g. for studying, reading
instructions, reading magazines), they will need to do so silently
and without help, so this is the skill they need to develop. We
need to give them practice in looking at a text and trying to
understand it, without always hearing it at the same time.
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iii.
Control of the class :
Ts often prefer to read the text themselves because it seems to
give them more control over the activity; but of course they
cannot be sure that the Ss are actually following the text at all. In
silent reading, nothing seems to be happening, but Ss are in fact
concentrating on the text and thinking about meaning.
Technique 3 : Ss read aloud in turn.
Point to discuss :
i.
Reading aloud can be useful at the earliest stages of reading (
recognizing letters and words ); it can help Ss to make the
connection between sound and spelling.
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ii.
For reading a text, it is not a very useful technique because :
1. Only one S is active at a time; the others are either not
listening at all, or listening to a bad model.
2. Ss’ attention is focused on pronunciation, not on
understanding the text ( and there are many other ways to
practice pronunciation ).
3. It is unnatural activity – most people do not read aloud in real
life.
4. Because Ss usually read slowly, it takes up a lot of time in
class.
iii.
Reading aloud is very difficult – many people find it hard to read
aloud in their own language. So if a T wants Ss to read aloud, it
should be the final activity at the end of a reading lesson.
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Matakuliah
Tahun
: G 0444 / Material Design and Testing
: 2005
READING ACTIVITIES
Pertemuan 1.3
17
READING ACTIVITIES: Reading the text
1.
Using questions on a text
2.
Completing a table
3.
Eliciting a Personal Response
Discussion :
See Task 1.1 ( “Soal 1”).
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Using Questions on a Text
There are two main aims in asking questions on a text :
1.
To check comprehension – to show the teacher ( and the Ss
themselves ) how well the Ss have understood the text, and what
needs to be more fully explained.
2.
To help the Ss read the text. If the questions are good ones, they
should focus Ss’ attention on the main points and lead them to
think about the meaning of the text.
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Completing a Table
 Good questions should help the Ss to read by leading them towards
the main ideas of the text.
 But answering questions is not the only way of doing this; we can
also give Ss a task to do as they are reading. For example :
they might read a text and label a diagram;
read sentences which are not in the correct order and
rearrange them;
read and draw a picture, etc.
 One of the simplest kinds of reading task is for Ss to read a text and
note down the main information in the form of a table or chart. This
helps Ss to organize the information in a text in a clear an logical
way. ( This is called “information transfer” ).
 Do Task 1.2 ( see “soal 1” ).
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 The main purpose of completing the table is to help
focus Ss’ attention on the main points in the text, and
make it easier for them to organize the information in
their minds.
 Completing the table does not replace asking questions.
Questions are still necessary to check detailed
comprehension, as Ss could fill the table in without fully
understanding the text. Trying to complete the table
should make the Ss more interested in answering the
questions and finding out the meaning of unfamiliar
words.
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Eliciting a Personal Response

3 possible ways of eliciting a personal response from Ss :
1.
2.
3.

By asking Ss to match what they read against their own experience
By asking Ss to imagine themselves in a situation related to the text
but beyond their own experience
By asking Ss to express feelings or opinions.
Value of asking questions of this kind as part of a reading activity :
1.
2.
3.
Because they are talking about themselves, Ss usually want to
answer questions like these; so it will also make them more
interested in reading the text.
An important part of reading in real life is comparing what we read
with our own experience. So questions of this kind are natural
questions to ask about a text.
Although personal questions go beyond the text, they also focus Ss’
attention on the text itself and make them read it carefully.
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