Developing Reading Skills
Approaches to Learning
and Teaching
Underlying principles
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Reading approach should match reading purpose.
There is a difference between a reading text used
to present new grammar and vocabulary and one
used to develop reading skills.
Learners do not need to understand every word to
get the meaning of a text, but they do need
understand a lot of words.
Sophisticated readers transfer reading skills from
one language to another; less sophisticated
readers may not.
Key Vocabularly
Skimming – for gist
Scanning - for particular pieces of information
Intensive reading – reading closely to find out as much as possible
Extensive reading – reading broadly for general interest or fun
Schemata – information an individual stores which can be drawn
upon to understand texts (Schema Theory)
Top down – reading holistically, using prediction, schemata and
genre (amongst other things) to understand the text.
Bottom up – understanding each word, sentence, paragraph so
that the text is understood
Teaching a reading skills lesson
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Decide on the reading purpose
Decide what skill(s) you are trying to improve
Think about activating learners’ schemata
Remember that if the text is too difficult,
learners will struggle
Think about introducing top down and bottom
up activities.
Lesson Flow
Reading skills lessons are often divided into the
following stages:
Pre-reading
While-reading
Post-reading
Pre-reading
Purpose:
a. To lead learners into the text
b. To motivate them to read it
c. To provide a context for the reading
d. To reduce anxiety about the text.
You might:
 Show the title/headline and ask for predictions of text
content
 Elicit what learners know about the theme/topic
(brainstorm)
 Show some pictures and ask the learners to guess
what order they go in in the text or ask students to
predict the story
 Pre-teach difficult vocabulary
 Give an outline of the text or some useful information
about it.
Task
You are going to use the text with an
intermediate class to practice scanning skills.
What pre-reading activities would you set?
While reading
Activities for while reading are usually in three stages:
activities to encourage students to get an overall
understanding of the text; those which encourage
students to work out more detailed meanings; and
those which focus on particular grammar or
vocabulary.
First stage questions might include skimming or
scanning questions.
Second stage questions might include comprehension
questions, questions of interpretation, evaluation and
personal response.
Third stage questions might include finding synonyms,
looking at grammatical patterns, identifying discourse
markers.
Task
Look at the text again.
Write some first stage questions to develop scanning
skills.
Write some second stage questions which include:
comprehension, interpretation, evaluation and
personal response.
Write some third stage questions to develop
vocabulary.
Post reading
Post reading activities go beyond the text to
encourage students to make connections
between what they have read and their own
experiences and to other areas of learning
English.
Post reading activities might include a
discussion, a task, a writing activity, a roleplay – pretty much anything!
Task
Design a post-reading task for the
languages text.