Mohammed Kheidher University of Biskra
Faculty of Arts & Languages
Department of Languages
Branch of English Language Arts & Education
(Grade) Post-Grad Master’s 2
(Option) Sciences of Language
(Major) Education
Teaching Reading to EFL Classes
1. Define reading and relevant concepts ;
Reading sets you free.
2. Plan a reading lesson for your EFL/ELL
students ;
3. Read and think critically about your reading teaching method(s) ;
4. Identify strategic (and poor) learners/ readers ;
5. Discuss pertinent issues to teaching reading to EFL/ ELLs.
Food-for-Thought Questions :
1. What is reading ?
2. Why is reading a receptive skill ?
3. Why is reading less engaging for beginner EFL students ?
4. What do good readers do when they read ?
5. What do poor readers do when they read ?
6. In what way is reading in L1 and L2 similar and/ or different ?
7. How can teachers work out the ‘‘learning to read’’ and ‘‘reading to learn’’
dilemma ?
Terminology Used in the Tutorial
Intensive and extensive reading- skimming- scanning- critical reading- reading skill- reading
strategies- phonemic awareness- alphabetic knowledge- emerging readers- developing
readers-independent readers- vocabulary building- Reading comprehension- strategic
learners- surveying- learning to read-reading to learn.
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
Objectives : By the end of this tutorial, you will be
able to :
Introduction
they read to improve ; they read as part of their jobs or studies ; and they read to evaluate their
beliefs. Peoples of different cultures and civilizations have been reading since writing
symbols and pictograms were created some 5, 000 years ago. The first word of the first verse
of the divine inspiration which was revealed to
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was ‘‘Read ..’’. Clearly,
reading is at the crux of the teaching-learning process.
Language is an instinct,
Billmeyer 1996) echoes ‘‘Every teacher must be a
but reading is not
reading teacher’’ (emphasis added). However, EFL
Pinker 2007
teachers frequently face a dilemma : Would they assist
their English language learners (ELL) to ‘‘learn to
read’’ ? Or would they help them ‘‘read to learn’’ ?
The following tutorial concerns itself with introducing
Master’s 2 students to the teaching of the reading skills to Algerian EFL/ ELL students. It is
within the scope of the current tutorial to enhance your critical thinking about pertinent issues
in teaching reading and reading strategies to ELLs. It is worth of note that the content of these
hand-outs is composite in nature, and therefore, you may feel that certain materials are
reproduced here and there. Your instructor urges you to discuss with other peers and read
extensivelly to dispel any ambiguities or confusion (if any !).
Definition of Reading
It is widely acknowledged that reading is a complex act. Multifareous factors such as biology,
cognition, culture, emotions, family, and socio-economic status (SES) intertwine to a large
measure to either enhance or impair reading skills. Broadly speaking, reading refers to the
decoding of graphic symbols to recreate meaning. Differently stated, readers attempt to
decipher (i.e., interpret) as faithfully as possible (based upon prior knowledge) what the writer
has encoded through a writing system (Bashar, 2012). The term 'reading' means a complex
system of deriving meaning from print that requires all of the following:
(A) The skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes, or speech sounds, are connected
to print.
(B) The ability to decode unfamiliar words.
(C) The ability to read fluently.
(D) Sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension.
(E) The development of appropriate active strategies to construct meaning from print.
(F) The development and maintenance of a motivation to read.
Reading : An Historical Overview : Over the last decades, reading has either been a part of
the curriculum or ignored altogether.
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
People read for various reasons ; they read for entertainment ; they read to know things ;
Grammar-Treanslation Method (GTM): It focused only on written skills of the learners
thus teaching through translation method under specified techniques of deductive style.
2: Direct Method Approach (DM): It focused more on spoken skills and teaching
inductively with no use of L1. However, it had its own flaws, e.g., trained teacher and other
necessary equipment like realia, pictures were hard to acquire in every situation.
4: Audio-Lingual Method/ The Army Method (ALM): It enhances the DM and again
depreciates the Reading Approach. Still, it demanded, as well, a trained teacher. Else, it was
more mimicry than fresh learning. Therefore, reading was ignored in ALM.
5: Oral or Situational Approach: A cousin of the ALM. Thus, it ignores reading.
6: Cognitive Approach: It may be said to be a modern approach for it views language
learning to be a natural process. It centers on teaching all four skills: in a natural process, it
overlooks errors as inevitable happening. Unlike ALM, CM perceives students’ errors as an
indicator of what occurs in their brains (i.e., how they process information).
7: Affective Humanistic Approach: It is actually a modification of Cognitive Approach.
8: Comprehension Based Approach: It tried to teach through a more natural process, i.e., it
offers a great deal of listening and does not force to activate speaking from learner. In fact, it
is a step forward on the Cognitive approach. Differently stated, CBA focuses on receptive
skills.
9: Communicative Approach: One fairly modern approach, it views language learning more
as a system thus revolving to teach as a system, i.e., authentic material and practical situation.
Reading in FL is as essential as any other skill.
Components of Reading : Reading has five components :
1. Phonemic Awareness : It is the ability to notice, think about, or manipulate the
individual phonemes (i.e., sounds) in words. Phonemic awareness refers to an
understanding about the smallest units of sounds that make up the small speech
stream : phonemes. It also encompasses large units units of sound as well, such as
syllables, onset (first letter/ sound of a word), and rime (Ar. ‫ (القافية‬.
As a teacher, you can ask your students to identify the number of syllables in the
word ‘‘Algeria’’.
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
3: Reading Approach (RM): It is like GTM since it also stressed on written skills. But, it
was flexible approach as far as the teaching is concerned. It also centered its approach to
teaching around the acquisition of vocabulary through reading graded books.
As a teacher, you can ask your students to identify whether the word endings
rhyme or not such as in (batch-catch) or in (late-page).
a. Consonant digraphs are phonemes that are represented by two graphemes, or if
you like, one sound that is represented by two consonant letters such as the SH in
ship, the CH in chop, the TH in math, the NG in king, the CK in duck, and the LL
in hill.
b. As a teacher, you can ask your students to read the words in the box on the right
fill, fall, pale,till, tale, pall and choose words that rhyme and write then down
together on the left/ space provided.
3. Fluency : Fluency is characterized by reading orally with speed, accuracy, and
proper expression (the American National Reading Panel NRP), 2000). Fluency
can also be defined as the ability to read smoothly with appropriate intonation.
Students can achieved that with the following strategies :
a.
Phrasing : It is the ability to read several words before pausing.
b. Pacing : It is the ability to increase or decrease speed at which students
read.
c. Re-reading : Students need to be encourage to go over what they read.
d. Expressing : Improve students’ fluency through oral readings.
e. Accuracy : It is identification and application of sound-letter relations).
4. Vocabulary : It is all the vocabulary stock of a given language.
5. Comprehension : The act or fact of being able to grasp and interact with a reading
material.
Types of Reading : By and large, reading is purposeful. People read specific reading
materials in school or workplace to extract specifc information of interest. They also have the
habit of reading for intellectual growth personal gratification, and enjoyment. In Arabic, the
second purpose of reading is known as ‫المطالعة‬. Overall then, there are two types of reading :
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
2. Phonics : It is the study of the relationships between letters and sounds that they
represent. Also, it is taken to mean the description of reading instruction that
teaches sound-symbol correspondence. Phonics refers to a method for teaching
speakers of English (in our case) to read and write that language. In short,
phonics is the relation between specific printed letters (or combination of letters)
and specific, spoken sounds. The following examples may help grasp what is
meant by phonics and how it affects reading in L1 and/ or foreign language.
1. Extensive Reading : Extensive Reading (ER) is a language teac‫ا‬ing procedure where
learners are supposed to read large quantities of materials or long texts for global
understanding, the principal goal being obtaining pleasure from text (Bamford).
2. Intensive Reading : Intensive Reading (IR) refers to careful reading (or translation) of
a shorter, more difficult foreign language texts with the goal of complete and detailed
understanding (Ibid.).
1. Skimming : Christine Nuttal (1996) defines skimming as ‘‘ glancing rapidly through
the text to determine its gist for example in order to decide whether a research paper
is relevant to our own work (…) or in order to keep oureslves superficially
informed’’.
2. Scanning : Christine Nuttal (ibid.) states that scanning refers to the rapid glancing
through a text either to search for specific information (e.g., a name, a date) or to get
an initial impression of whether a text is suitable for a given purpose.
3. Surveying : You can have students preview the title, pictures, graphs, or captions,
then read the first and last paragraph of the article.
The Reading Process : Reading is an interactive process (i.e., a series of inteconnected
operations) that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension. The text
presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses
knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is. Reader knowledge, skills,
and strategies include
Linguistic competence: the ability to recognize the elements of the writing system;
knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences.
b. Discourse competence: knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts
of the text to one another.
c. Sociolinguistic competence: knowledge about different types of texts and their usual
structure and content.
d. Strategic competence: the ability to use top-down strategies (see Strategies for
Developing Reading Skills for descriptions), as well as knowledge of the language (a
bottom-up strategy).
a.
The teacher needs to present his/ her reading lesson in a systematic way. Differently stated,
s/he needs to follow the three- phase pattern : Pre-Reading, While-Reading, and Post-Reading
phases. A detailed analysis of the three phases is laid out below.
1. Pre-Reading :
Brown (1994) suggests that students should be involved by introducing the topic, and
preparing students for the text. What readers bring to the printed page affects their
comprehension. Some insist that the prior knowledge of readers is the single most
important component in the reading process. Because current theories of
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
Reading Skills :
comprehension recognize the importance if not the primacy of prior
knowledge, activation of this must be included in the comprehension
process. Prior knowledge refers to all the knowledge which readers have
acquired through their lives. Some theorists use the term prior knowledge
synonymously with world knowledge, background knowledge, memory
storage, or experiential background.
It is very important that teachers utilize various strategies in the pre-reading phase to
motivate and involve students. What follows are some strategies that might help you
reach for your EFL students.
of the selection they are about to read. The teacher lists on the board all the
information that comes to mind as students read the title. These pieces of information
are then used to further recall, and in the process considerable knowledge will be
activated.
Class Discussions: Class discussions and informal talks in and out of class all serve
as techniques to discover more about what students bring to their reading. Over a
period of time, teachers can begin to get some idea as to what their students know
and can adjust how much time needs to be spent on background information.
Semantic Mapping: Students still use brainstorming strategies in semantic mapping;
however this strategy is organized and controlled by the teacher. As students offer
their personal ideas about a topic, the teacher writes these ideas on the board. In
brainstorming, all ideas are written on the board. In semantic mapping, ideas are
organized on the board underheadings. The diagram represents the information
elicited from the students but created in such a way that qualities and relationships
are evident. During active reading, students may also use semantic maps. As they
read, they include new information on their maps. During postreading, students can
use
their
maps
as
a
review
of
information
gained.
Prequestions: Whenever teachers or students decided on questions to be answered
by reading, they are activating prior knowledge. These questions tend to focus
attention and provide for purposeful reading. Teachers can accomplish this by
preparing questions in advance of reading. This will help in guiding students as they
complete their reading assignment. The teacher can also help students develop their
own questions which will help them establish purpose and focus attention.
Visual Aids: Pictures and other visual material can activate a students' prior
knowledge. If a student has some schema for fossils, a simple picture may serve to
retrieve appropriate knowledge. Thus a teacher may share this photograph of a fossil
before students read a science textbook chapter on fossils. The picture serves to
activate
the
students'
schemata
on
fossils.
Advance Organizers: Advance organizers are specific types of cognitive organizers.
They are a means of helping students relate the new reading material to something
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
Brainstorming: In these sessions, teachers ask students to examine together the title
they already know. If material can be related to the learners background and
experiences, it can be meaningful. Whense these organizers are skillfully prepared,
these help to activate knowledge students possess while at the same time helping
them to see it in relation to the material they are about to read. Many textbooks
provide well-written advance organizers within their books to guide students. If these
are not available, teachers may create their own. Several ideas of uses of graphic
organizers have been included within the various strategy sections.
2. While-Reading Tasks: Brown (ibid.) recommends that students be provided with a set
of instructions to give them the drive, direction, and purpose for reading and to serve
as a guide for them as they read. There are six strategies that can be applied in the
While-Reading Phase :
a. Making connections : readers make personal connections with the text. There
are three types of connections :
1. Text-to-Self (T-S) : It refers to the connections between the text and the
reader’s personal experiences.
2. Text-to-Text (T-T): It refers to the text being read to a previously read
text.
3. Text-to-World (T-W) : It refers to a text being read and an event that
occurs in the world (e.g., social turmoil in the Arab world, global
warming, and oil prices, etc.).
b. Questioning : Different types of questions (auxiliary, Wh-questions, embedded
questions, etc.) give a sense of directions to students.
c. Visualizing : Mental pictures reel like a movie in the student’ minds, hence
engaging and engrossing them in reading. Reading becomes memorable.
d. Inferring : Students need to be encouraged to read between the lines through
forming educated guessing, predicting, drawing conclusions, and finding
meaning for new words from the context itself.
e. Determining Importance : Students need to be encouraged to consider
important information from unimportant one. Also, they need to be made
aware of different genres (fiction and non-fiction).
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
Wordsplash: Assemble a collection of keywords for a certain reading assignment.
Arrange the words on a piece of paper or on a projector in a random way. The
random arrangement makes the collection of words a wordsplash. Consider using the
following website (www.wordle.net) to create the wordsplash. Have students make
predictions about what they will be reading based on the wordsplash.
3. Post-Reading Exercises : Brown (ibid.) urges teachers to give students short
comprehension questions, vocabulary work, opportunity for discussion of the topic,
the author’s reasoning, and/ or summary
writing assignment. Post-Rreading strategies
(exercises, activities, tasks, games, etc.) require
The best way to improve
that readers to actively transform key
your knowledge of a
information in text that has been read.
foreign language is to go
a. Summarizing/ Writing Précis : Students
and live among its
should be trained to slim down the texts to
speakers. The next best
the basic information. Teachers can come
way is to read extensively
to the assistance of the students by
in it.
providing cues (or prompts) to help
Nuttall
students connect sentences.
b. Retelling : Students ought to be
encouraged to report orally and/ or
inwritten form the main ideas of the text.
c. Follow Up: Many times teachers set up useful pre and active reading strategies but
do not follow up on them. Following up in the post reading phase is critical to
comprehension. Students should have ample time to share and discuss the work
they have completed. This enables the students to tie up loose ends, answer any
remaining questions, and to understand the interrelationships of topics covered.
d. Discussions: When readers are called on to communicate the ideas they have read,
it is then that they learn to conceptualize and discover what meaning the
assignment has to them. Give students enough discussion time - either in groups or
as a class.
The students must have special opportunities to orally discuss their conclusions. Some of the
ways to do this would include:
a. Students can pretend to be television reporters with two minutes to sum up
the highlights of the "story."
b. Have students list the five main ideas of the assignment beginning with the
most important to the least.
c. A discussion with the students in small groups or as a class covering the
ideas: Who did what? When? Where? Why? How?
d. Have a student become the "teacher" and explain what was covered in class
with a student who was absent.
e. The students can take specific sides of a topic and debate an issue.
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
f. Synthesizing : Expanding students’ knowledge through various readings,
discussions, and research. Students need to be resoureceful. Students need not
be content with one source of information.
Justification for Reading : EFLachers frequently aims at leading students to grasp the gist of
the text without leading to notice specific information about the text, diction, and author.
1. Reading for Comprehension : Most teachers indulge in teaching their ELLs to grasp
the gist of the reading material. Comprehension is their primary concern. They usually
call this phase Reading Comprehension. Reading comprehension is defined as the
level of understanding of a text. This understanding comes from the interaction
between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text.
2. Reading for Acquisition : ELLs seem to show more interest when they notice
something about the text organization, captions, diction, punctuation, and thoughts.
Good and poor readers use different strategies to grasp the meaning of the material being
read. Unlike poor readers, good readers approach reading with a sense of purpose. Teachers
need to identify good and poor readers in their classes and try to encourage the former and
assist the latter in a supportive way.
Good Readers
1. They read rapidly and accurately.
2. They set goals for reading.
3. They note the structure and
organization of the text.
Poor Readers
1. They lack the automatic reading skills
of good readers.
2. They are slower readers.
3. They are less accurate.
4. They monitor their understanding
while reading.
4. They rarely monitor their
understanding.
5. They create mental notes and
summerizing.
5. They use few of the effective
strategies.
6. They anticipate what their thinking as
they read.
7. They are active processors of text.
8. Read extensively .
9. Integrate information in the text with
existing knowledge .
10. Have a flexible reading style,
depending on what they are reading .
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
Features of Good & Poor Readers :
11. Rely on different skills interacting:
perceptual processing, phonemic
processing, recall.
Teaching reading to ELLs is not an easy task. It requires considerable amount of teachers’
commitment and preparation both in and outside of the class. For better or worse, teachers
need to devote a great deal of time to reading. In the 21st c, literacy, the ability to read and
write, has gained more and more importance. It is
absolutely necessary to teach students to read and
Research has identified
then teach them to read to learn. Reading defines
students’ academic achievement, commitment to
the skills of phonemic
lifelong learning, engagement in research,
awareness,
phonics,
intellectual growth, self-esteem, and motivation.
fluency, vocabulary, and
Hence, reading is not an ancillary skill that can be
comprehension as crucial
ignored at the teacher’s whim. Instead, teachers’
need to participate actively in promoting the reading
to the attainment of
habit in order to make strategic learners out of
early reading abilities
schoolchildren and university students. Again to
(NICHD, 2000)
labor the point, teachers need to set about
prioritizing learning to read and then reading to
learn. As a final note, the strategic benefits of reading cannot be underestimated under any
pretext.
Quiz : In essay form, comment on the following :
‘‘Reading is the coalescence of various abilities’’.
Project : Plan a visit to a middle (or high) school of your choice and attend reading sessions.
Report to your instructor or any member(s) of your class. Afterwards, organize a seminar
wherein you discuss the findings of your report.
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.
Conclusion :
Teaching Reading to EFL Students/ Tutorial 2/Master’s 2/Bashar, A.