Reading

“Reade not to contradict, nor to

believe, but to waigh and
consider.” Francis Bacon
– What do we know about the process of second language
Reading?
– In what ways is Reading an interactive process?
– In what way is Reading a critical process?
– What is the role of extensive Reading?
– What criteria do we use to select Reading texts?
– What kind of tasks help people to develop Reading ability?
Defining reading

–What is reading?
Have you included …?

– Decode, decipher, identify, …

– Articulate, speak, pronounce, …

– Understand, respond, meaning, …

What have you been
reading?

Now categorize the items on your list

according to the language they were written
in.

How many were directly concerned with

studying and teaching?
Let’s play

How long does it take you

to read this?
XPTA QEJWT
jam hot pin call did
tap son tick
How quickly can you
read and understand
this?
Making sense of a text

– Syntactic knowledge
– Morphological knowledge
– General knowledge of the world
– Socio-cultural knowledge
– Topic knowledge
– Genre knowledge
Yesterday I saw the plagish flester gollining
begrunt the bruck. He seemed very
chanderbil, so I did not jorter him, just
deapied to him quistly. Perhaps later he will
besand cander, and I will be able to rangel to
him.
Yesterday I saw the new patient
hurrying along the corridor. He
seemed very upset, so I did not follow
him, just called to him gently. Perhaps
later he will feel better, and I will be
able to talk to him.
Types of questions

Questions
 of literal comprehension
Involving reorganization or reinterpretation
Of inference
Of evaluation
Personal response
Concerned with how writers say what they mean
Assessing questions

– Can the questions be answered without Reading the text?

– Are there several questions on every part of the text?
– Are there enough questions?
– Are the questions varied in type?
– Do some questions try to make students aware of strategies a reader
needs?
– Do the questions attempt to help students understand?
– Are the questions written in language that is more difficult than the
text?
– Do the answers require language that is beyond the students’
proficiency?
 Task 1

– Select a text from a textbook and analyse what knowledge

students would need to understand the text.

– You have 10 minutes and we will check.

To understand a text the reader
must be able to distinguish
between:
 Important and unimportant points and suporting ideas
 Fact and opinion
 Relevance and irrelevance
 Sound and unsound conclusions; adequate and inadequate
evidence; valid and invalid inference
 Hypothesis, evidence, inference and conclusion
 General(all), restricted (some) particular (reference to
particular case)
 Certainty, probability, possibility, necessity and their absence
 Causes, effects , purposes, conditions.
Ways of processing a text

Top –down processing

– We draw on our own intelligence and experience -
predictions we make based on the schema we have
acquired.
– This kind of processing we use when we interpret
assumptions and draw inferences
– We make use of them when we want to see the overall
purpose of the text.
Bottom-up processing

– The readers builds up a meaning

from the black marks on the page:
– recognizing letters and words,
– working out sentence structure
Top-down processing

Bottom –up processing

Types of reading

Receptive reading
Reflective reading
Skim reading
Scanning
Intensive reading
Getting the general picture
Extracting specific information
Predictive skills
Inferring opinion and attitude
Deducing meaning from context
Recognizing function and discourse patterns and
markers
Task 2

Select a textbook

 Choose a Reading activity.

Analyse the type of questions that are included in the

activities

Write alternative questions or activites.

Criteria for selection of
reading texts

 To get information
 To respond to curiosity
 To follow instructions
 For pleasure & enjoyment
 To keep in touch
 To know what is happening in the world
Criteria

Interest
Variety of topics
length

rhetorical organization

reading purpose
Teaching sequence

• Before reading
• First reading
• Second reading
• Feedback
• Follow up
Pre-reading
Pre-text
Before reading
Providing a reason for reading
Introducing the text
Setting top-down task
Breaking up the text
Dealing with new language

Introduction lead in
First task (pre reading)
While reading
Text

• Tasks to focus on fast reading for gist(skimming)

• Task to focus on fast reading for specific details (scanning)
• Tasks to focus on meaning (general points)
• Tasks to focus on meaning (finer points, more intensive
comprehensive understanding)
• Tasks to focus on individual language items.
Post reading
Post text

Follow on task e.g. :

role play
debate
writing task
personalization
Task 3

 Find a piece of authentic reading matter that you could use with the
class you are watching: for example , a magazine article, a menu, a
holiday brochure.

 Consider which skill aims you could achieve.

 Design an activity (or activities) for the reading materials which will
fulfill these aims.(Consider which reading strategy or strategies the
students should employ to do the activity.

 Show the reading matter and the activity to your classmates and
invite their constructive criticism.
 Try out the material.
Prof. Ingrid Sühring

ISFD Nº 41
ISFD Nº 35