TRADITIONAL AND ALTERNATIVE READING TECHNIQUES IN TEFL

CERNEI CRISTINAELT, MAEP, 1ST DD

“ONISIFOR GHIBU” TLCHISINAU

ETRC Spring School6-8 March, 2014

Pre-Reading• Activating students’ background

knowledge on the topic Discussion about schooling, vocabulary

learning, some idioms and word combinations work.

This activity is mainly done before any text reading for students acknowledgement of the vocabulary used. Before reading the text students already know the vocabulary and the teacher just revise it with the students.

• Establishing a very clear purpose for reading the text

Students are asked to pay attention to the point that the teacher has planned for the lesson. For example, the lesson is based on a grammar task, the students are asked to pay attention to the tenses used in the text.

• Making predictions about the text

The students are asked to make up the whole of the text by predicting the actions of the text. The students are made clear about the fact that all predictions are good.

The students are informed of the situation in the sequence and are asked to predict the dialogue and behavior of the characters: What are some words and phrases they expect to read? What are some things they expect to read?

The teacher may write some key – words on the blackboard and the students try to make up the idea of the text with the help of the words.

• Student-generated Questions Students are informed of the situation in

the text and they are asked to make up questions of their own about the possible content of the text.

•Reading in English is a great way to improve learners’ English. Here are some specific suggestions for ways to use reading to work on specific English skills.

•To get the most out of reading, it's important to know the difference between different types of reading which include: scanning, skimming, intensive and extensive reading.

Scanning • Reading is an important part of learning

English. This guide to how to improve your reading skills will help you improve reading by using skills you use in your own language. In other words, one of the best tips on improving reading is to think about how you read in your own language. Start by thinking about how you read different documents.

• How do you read the newspaper? How do you read novels? How do you read train schedules? and so on. Taking time to think about this will help give you clues on how to read in English - even if you don't understand every single word.

•Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. Run your eyes over the text looking for the specific piece of information you need. Use scanning on schedules, meeting plans, etc. in order to find the specific details you require. If you see words or phrases that you don't understand, don't worry when scanning.

•Examples of Scanning•The "What's on TV" section of your

newspaper.•A train / airplane schedule•A conference guide

•Ask yourself this question: Do I read every word in your own language when I am reading a schedule, summary, or other outlining document?

•The answer is most definitely: No! Reading in English is like reading in your native language. This means that it is not always necessary to read and understand each and every word in English. Remember that reading skills in your native language and English are basically the same.

• Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or 'gist'. Run your eyes over the text, noting important information. Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a current business situation. It's not essential to understand each word when skimming.

• Examples of Skimming:• The Newspaper (quickly to get the general

news of the day)• Magazines (quickly to discover which articles

you would like to read in more detail)• Business and Travel Brochures (quickly to

get informed)

Teaching reading can be an arduous task as it is often difficult to know how to improve student skills. •I have often noticed that students insist

on understanding every word and find it difficult to take my advice of reading for the general idea, or only looking for required information. Students studying a foreign language often feel that if they don't understand each and every word they are somehow not completing the exercise.

•In order to make students aware of these different types of reading styles, I find it useful to provide an awareness raising lesson to help them identify reading skills they already apply when reading in their native tongues. Thus, when approaching an English text, students first identify what type of reading skill needs to be applied to the specific text at hand. In this way valuable skills, which students already possess, are easily transferred to their English reading.

Extensive reading

•Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books. Use extensive reading skills to improve your general knowledge of business procedures. Do not worry if you understand each word.

•Examples of Extensive Reading•The latest marketing strategy book•A novel you read before going to bed•Magazine articles that interest you

Intensive reading• Intensive reading is used on shorter texts in

order to extract specific information. It includes very close accurate reading for detail. Use intensive reading skills to grasp the details of a specific situation. In this case, it is important that you understand each word, number or fact.

• Examples of Intensive Reading• A bookkeeping report• An insurance claim• A contract

Reading Activities Students are introduced the text. This activity may be executed in five different ways; it all depends on the teacher’s purpose for the activity or on the level of the students.

silent readingloud readinggroup readingteacher’s readingcassette – recorder listening

• Chorale Reading

The teacher and student/small group/class read a story together and aloud. This builds reading comprehension and fluency.

• Cued Reading

A teacher utilizes introductory discussion about a story before reading. This builds student comprehension and interest in reading.

• Echo Reading

A teacher reads a text, one sentence at a time, as the student follows along. The student then attempts to imitate or "echo" the teacher. This technique builds fluency and confidence in oral reading skills.

• Group Dynamic Reading

In a small group, the teacher and students take turns in reading the text. At first, the children follow what the teacher reads with their fingers. After this, the students read while the teacher listens. This builds oral reading skills and fluency.

• Guided Reading

A student reads with the assistance of an instructor as it is needed. When an unfamiliar word appears, the instructor either tells the student the word or assists the student in decoding the word. During the story, the teacher stops at certain points and questions the student in order to determine/guide comprehension. This helps build practice in comprehension, decoding, sight word vocabulary, and oral reading.

• Lap Reading

A student sits on a parent’s or teacher’s lap and listens to high interest stories. The goal of this technique is to build a student’s interest in reading, while creating a good oral reading model. This nurturing environment can be replicated in a story corner or anywhere that the child feels comfortable.

• Repeated Reading

A student chooses a challenging text and listens to the instructor read it. The student then reads the text by him/herself. This process continues until the student can fluently read the text. This method can be woven into many different literacy approaches and adapted to different circumstances. It builds decoding, reading fluency and student confidence.

• Shared Reading

The teacher reads a text while the student observes and follows along silently. This method helps build reading fluency and comprehension.

•Silent Reading

Students read silently for a specified period of time. This method builds confidence in reading skills, but should only be used when students are ready.

•Tape-Assisted Reading

A student reads along with a tape-recorded passage. Students continue at their own pace while building decoding skills, sight word vocabulary and fluency. It is important to use taped readings that are short in duration (3-4 minutes at the most) and read in phrases to ensure that students do are not lost or confused.

•Theatrical Reading

In a small group, students take turns reading a story while an assigned student acts out what is read. This builds interest in reading and may break up the monotony in a lesson.

•Whisper Reading

While a student reads a text aloud, the teacher whispers assistance in the student’s ear as needed. This builds reading fluency and oral reading confidence.

Post - Reading ActivitiesFill in the gaps/ vocabulary work Students are given the same text with some words missing that they are asked to fill in either on their own, basing on memory skills, or under the teacher’s or another student reading.

Students may be given the same task as the previous one, only that instead of the missing words, are given the Romanian or Russian equivalent, and the students have to translate them.

Setting questions:Students are parted in three groups. Each of the

subgroups is given a part of the text – the beginning, the content, and the ending of the text. Students are asked to make up as many questions as possible, asking for as many details as they can remember to find out the other parts of the text, basing on their information acquired from the part they received. Afterwards students are grouped to form subgroups containing students who worked with the beginning, the content and the ending of the text. The students answer the questions and then read the text again.

The students may also be given the text in sequences which they have to rearrange according to the memory. Afterwards they are asked to read the text, and determine if any mistakes occurred.

• Checking predictions. Students read the text and check to see if the predictions they made in the predicting activity were correct.

• Focusing on a character. The following questions are written on the blackboard:

What was the most important thing the character does in the text?

Do you like or dislike the character?

What are the character’s good points and bad points?

Would you act the same way in the same situation?

Students may focus on any of the characters in the scene they are about to read. After reading the text, they write their answers to the questions.

• 5 W’s and H. students read the text and answer the main points in the text: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?

• There are four different types of questions:

• "Right There" Questions found right in the

text that ask students to find the one right answer located in one place as a word or a sentence in the passage.

Example: Who is Frog's friend? Answer: Toad

• "Think and Search" Questions based on the recall of facts that can

be found directly in the text. Answers are typically found in more than one place, thus requiring students to "think" and "search" through the passage to find the answer.

Example: Why was Frog sad? Answer: His friend was leaving.

• "Author and You" Questions require students to use what they

already know, with what they have learned from reading the text. Student's must understand the text and relate it to their prior knowledge before answering the question.

Example: How do think Frog felt when he found Toad? Answer: I think that Frog felt happy because he had not seen Toad in a long time. I feel happy when I get to see my friend who lives far away.

•"On Your Own" Questions are answered based on a

students prior knowledge and experiences. Reading the text may not be helpful to them when answering this type of question.

Example: How would you feel if your best friend moved away? Answer: I would feel very sad if my best friend moved away because I would miss her.

•Matching. Students match the names of characters, places or things with related information. For example the students are asked to match names of the characters with lines of dialogue or match names of places with descriptions

•Students are asked to determine the ending of the text and provide another one different from the style of the text.

•Students are asked to find the key words in the text and use them in sentences of their own.

•Students are asked to analyze the text for story grammar, or story structure, elements including narrative story parts, such as character or events, as well as the ways that content- area texts are organized.

•Automatic decoding. Students are asked to recognize a word at a glance, taken out of a context.

•Guessing the meaning of unknown words from the context. Using such clues as knowledge of word parts, syntax, and relationship patterns.

•Paraphrasing. Re-stating texts in the students’ own words in order to monitor one’s own comprehension.

▫ Stating the main idea of a sentence, a paragraph or passage. Knowing what the author is expressing about the topic.

▫ Summarizing. Students are asked to shorten the material by retaining and re-stating main ideas and leaving out details.

▫ Drawing conclusions. Students are asked to put together information from several parts of the text and including new or additional ideas.

▫ Visualizing. Students are asked to picture, or actually draw a picture or a diagram, of what is described in the text.

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▫ Drawing inferences and using evidence. Reading between the lines; using evidence in the text to know things that are unstated.

▫ Follow – up discussion. Students relate the situation in the text to their own lives or their home- country or culture.

▫ News – Articles. Students write a newspaper article reporting the events in the text sequence.

▫ Letter Writing. Students pretend they are a character in the text sequence and write a letter to another character.

•Gender-bender Rewrite a scene and change the gender of the characters to show how they might act differently (e.g., Lord of Flies). You can also have a roundtable on gender differences.

▫Oprah book club Host a talk show: students play the host, author, and cast of characters. Allow questions from the audience.

▫ Fictional friends Who of all the characters would you want for a friend? Why? What would you do or talk about together?

▫ What if Write about or discuss how the story would differ if the characters were something other than they are: a priest, another gender or race, a different age, or social class.

▫ Write into Find a "hole" in the story where the character disappears (off camera) for a time and describe what they do when we can't see them.

▫ P.S. After you read the story, write an epilogue in which you explain – using whatever tense and tone the author does – what happened to the character(s) next.

• Second chance Talk or write about how it would change the story if a certain character had made a different decision earlier in the story (e.g., what if Huck of Huckleberry Finn had not run away?)

•Day in court Use the story as the basis for a court trial; students can be witnesses, expert witnesses called to testify, judge, jury, bailiff, reporter; great fun for a couple days.

•Censorship defense Imagine that the book you are reading has been challenged by a special interest group. Students must write a letter defending the book, using specific evidence from the book to support their ideas.

•Call for censorship In order to better understand all sides to an argument, imagine you are someone who feels this particular book should not be read and write a letter in which you argue it should be removed.

• Open HEART Draw an empty HEART and inside of it draw any symbols or words or images that are bouncing around in the HEART of the character of a story. Follow it up with writing or discussion to explain and explore responses.

• Magnetic poetry If working with a poem, enlarge it on copier or computer and cut all words up into pieces; place in an envelope and have groups create poems from these words. Later on discuss using the same words for different texts. Heavier stock paper is ideal for this activity.

•Daily edition Using the novel as the basis for your stories, columns and editorials, create a newspaper or magazine based on or inspired by the book you are reading.

•Recasting the text Students rewrite a poem as a story, a short story as a poem or play. All rewrites should then be read and discussed so as to understand how the different genre works

Thank you for your attention!