Developing Reading Skills Approaches to Learning and Teaching

Underlying principles 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 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: To lead learners into the text To motivate them to read it To provide a context for the reading 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 role-play – pretty much anything!

Task Design a post-reading task for the languages text.