TEACHING READING
(Gültekin Boran)
PROBLEMS
???
Students don’t like reading
Lack of purpose
Texts (topics of the texts) don’t fit
students’ needs, interests and wants.
The language level of the texts are too
much higher or lower than the students’
language level (i+1) (Krashen)
The teacher does not bring various
genres (text types)

The teacher does not have the
necessary methodological
knowledge about how to teach
reading.
It is a national problem. Reading
has little value in the culture.
Students’ read ‘‘word by word’’.
Students don’t know useful
reading strategies.
REAL
LIFE READING VS.
EFL
CLASSROOM
READING
 What
did you read in the last 48 hours?
 Where
 Why
did you read it/them?
did you read it/them? (purpose ??)
What did your students read in your last
reading class?
Where and why did they read it/them?
WHAT IS READING ?
(READING THEORIES)
1) BOTTOM-UP THEORY
Reading starts from the
smallest unit, that is, the letter
and goes to the largest, that is
the text.
The r eader puts the letters
together to make words and
words to make phrases and
phrases to make sentences and
sentences to make the whole
text .
2) TOP-DOWN TEORY
The reader has expectations
about the text. He makes
predictions using his background
knowledge about the text. He
makes guesses about what the
auth o r will say next. Reader’s
background knowledge, world
knowledge take active role in the
reading process.
3) INTERACTIVE
MODEL
The Reader uses both bottom-up and
top-down strategies. The message goes,
letter by letter, into the reader’s brain
then the message is matched with the
existing knowledge in the brain in order
to facilitate the further processing of new
information.
HOW SHOULD WE TEACH READING?
THE THREE STEPS
PRE-READING
2) WHILE-READING
3) POST-READING
1)
1) PRE-READING
Why is “PRE-READING” important?
What do we do in this phase?
Reasons for PRE-READING
1) In pre-reading phase, students are
motivated and a relation is set
between their real lives and the topic
of the reading text.
Reasons for PRE-READING
2) In pre-reading, students’ background
knowledge (what they already know
about the topic) is activated. (This is
necessary for them to do top-down)
Reasons for PRE-READING
3) There may be some grammar or
vocabulary problems that may hinder
students’ comprehension of the text.
These problems should be solved
before the students start to read the
text.
Reasons for PRE-READING
4) You motivate your students. You make
them want to read the text by increasing
their curiosity
5) You create expectations about the
topic of the text so that they can do
better top-down
TECHNIQUES TO APPLY IN
PRE-READING PHASE
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Brain storming (The teacher asks what vocabulary
or ideas they remember about the topic)
Personalization (The teacher asks students real life
experiences about the topic of the text)
Introducing the topic by using visual aids (pics,
vids, graphs, .etc)
Class discussion (The teacher and the whole class
discuss the topic)
Groups or pairs discussion
Listening to an audio recording related to the topic
of the text.
2) WHILE-READING
WHY IS WHILE-READING IMPORTANT?
WHAT DO WE DO IN WHILE-READING
PHASE?
REASONS FOR WHILE-READING?
Students read and comprehend the text.
2) Students improve their reading sub-skills
during this phase by the help of questions or
other types of exercises.
3) We give a purpose to students for reading with
while reading tasks.
1)
‘‘ Don’t put the cart before the horse ’’
READING SUB-SKILLS
1)
2)
Gist or Skimming (Global understanding)
Scanning (Reading a passage to find specific
3)
Guessing unknown vocabulary (contextual
information)
guessing)
4)
Making inferences (reading between lines,
6)
6) Understanding coherence (Putting the
pieces of a text in the correct order .)
understanding implied ideas, understanding what is meant
but not stated in the text),
5) Understanding cohesive links (“It” refers to ……,
“They” refers to………, “She” refers to…….
3) POST-READING
Why Post-reading?
What do we do in this phase?
Reasons for POST-READING
1) In post-reading phase, reading is
integrated with other language skills.
Because reading is a receptive skill, it is
integrated especially with productive skills
(i.e., writing and speaking). Students find a
chance to practise and improve their
writing and speaking skills.
Reasons for POST-READING
2) Students have more practice for the
vocabulary or grammar items which they
learn in the while-reading phase and they
internalize them in speaking or writing
activities in the post-reading phase.
SOME TIPS
Never skip PRE-READING PHASE…!
2) Always start with a gist (global
understanding) and encourage your
students for global understanding. Then
you can encourage them for finer
comprehension.
3) Always try different genres such as
booklets, poems, letters, (love letters),
articles, diaries…etc.
1)
SOME TIPS
4)
Use Authentic materials whenever
possible.
5)
Play music (soft music), while they are
reading. Music activates both
hemispheres of the brain.
6)
Always encourage your students to read
for pleasure.
7)
Internet is a nice tool. Encourage your
students to surf on the English web-sites.
SOME TIPS
 8) Get your students to do extensive
reading.
 9) Elicit ideas from students about how to
make reading more enjoyable.
 10) Build a a classroom library and ask
your students to donate books for that
library.
 11) Give prizes to those students who do
much reading.
 12 Give communicative reading tasks.
CEF AND ELP BASED
READING
 Reading
has certain indicators in
accordance with the criteria of the
Common Reference Levels.
 In
a CEF (Common European
Framework) and ELP (European
Language Portfolio) - based reading
programme, certain features fulfil
the requirements concerning selfassessment and learner autonomy,
as well as cultural diversity
AUTONOMY IN READING
THE MAIN AIM IS TO PREPARE
LANGUAGE
LEARNERS
FOR
REAL-LIFE
READING IN THEIR TARGET LANGUAGE.
Table 1. Reading Skills in Accordance
with the Common Reference Levels
SKILLS
U
N
D
E
R
S
T
A
N
D
I
N
G
R
E
A
D
I
N
G
A1
I can understand
familiar names,
words and very
simple sentences,
for example on
notices and
posters or in
catalogues.
A2
I can read very short,
simple texts. I can find
specific, predictable
information in simple
everyday material such
as advertisements,
prospectuses, menus
and timetables and I can
understand short simple
personal letters.
Skills
U
N
D
E
R
S
T
A
N
D
I
N
G
B1
R
E
A
D
I
N
G
I can understand
texts that consist
mainly of high
frequency
everyday or jobrelated language. I
can understand
the description of
events, feelings
and wishes in
personal letters.
B2
I can read articles
and reports
concerned with
contemporary
problems in which
the writers adopt
particular attitudes
or viewpoints. I can
understand
contemporary
literary prose.
Skills
U
N
D
E
R
S
T
A
N
D
I
N
G
C1
R
E
A
D
I
N
G
I can understand
long and complex
factual and literary
texts, appreciating
distinctions of style.
I can understand
specialised articles
and longer technical
instructions, even
when they do not
relate to my field.
C2
I can read with
ease virtually all
forms of the
written language,
including
abstract,
structurally or
linguistically
complex texts
such as manuals,
specialised
articles and
 In
European Language Portfolio, there
is a self-assessment grid,
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