Reading is claimed to be most important academic language skill for Second Language Students; it is the main way of learning new concepts and interpreting information. A student can read for pleasure, to learn, to skim, mainly for general comprehension. However, they must learn to read to search for information, for general comprehension, to learn new information, to synthesize and evaluate information. Fluent readers, especially L1 readers, read rapidly for comprehension, draw on a large vocabulary store, and recognize words rapidly and automatically among others.
L2s are at a disadvantage when it comes to reading, but are more likely to be motivated to learn. Teachers must adjust their teaching and lessons to accommodate for students from different socioeconomic classes and cultural backgrounds. Although each teacher will face their own individual situation, there are six goals that should be taken into account when planning an EAP reading curriculum.
1. Conduct needs analyses to interpret institutional goals and expectations for learning (in order to best suit the students).
2. Plan reading curricula in relation to specific goals, topics, texts, and tasks (to fine-tune and focus each lesson).
3. Select appropriate text materials and supporting resources (to ensure they are at a proper difficulty level for the students).
4. Diversify students’ reading experiences (to mix up reading activities in and out of classroom).
5. Work with texts by mean so a pre-, during-, and postreading framework (to map out readings for easier comprehension).
6. Recognize the complex nature of reading though meaningful instruction (to help guide focus to the more important aspects of reading).
These six goals are discussed more in-depth in the article, however goal number six includes 9 meaningful ways to address said complexity.
1.Vocabulary Development helps the students with their reading skills and vice versa. Teachers should expose students to vocabulary words and encourage students to look on their own. A teacher must decide how many and which words to focus on; + + : words that are critical for comprehending the text and useful in other settings, + - : words that are necessary for comprehending the text, but not particularly useful in other contexts, - - : words that are not necessary for comprehending the text, nor particularly useful in other contexts.
2. Careful Reading of Texts pushes students toward a better understanding of texts, to learn information from them, and to be able to use the information for other tasks. There are many activities a teacher may use that require careful readings. If a text is difficult, extra support should be given from the teacher or through peer groups.
3. Awareness of Text Structure and Discourse Organization helps students understand more difficult or lengthier texts. Recognizing structures such as topic sentences or headings and subheadings will help students to see patterns and break down information more easily.
4. Use of Graphic Organizers to Support Comprehension and Discourse Organization Awareness focus on careful reading and discourse organization. This also helps with more difficult texts, so students are able to see the key information and organization in a text, and make relationships between ideas presented. Flow charts and Venn diagrams are two examples of graphic representations.
5. Strategic Reading allows readers to understand the goals of a reading activity, have a range of well-practiced reading strategies, apply them in effective combinations, recognize comprehension mistakes and fix them. The goal of a teacher would be to create reading routines through these strategies. One effective approach mentioned in the article is the Transactional Strategies Instruction.
6. Fluency Development is argued to be one of the central foundations for efficient reading, yet is not always promoted in L2 settings. There are activities such as re-reading and paced reading further discussed in the article.
7. Extensive reading is the practice of reading large amounts of text for extended periods of time, and should be a main component of any course that aims to enhance reading abilities. A student can not become a good reader unless they read a lot. Allow time for it in class and encourage students to use library resources.
8. Student Motivation is another key to successful reading. Each student is different, but a teacher can develop motivation by discussing the importance of reading and what interests them as readers and why. There are other ways to motivate readers in the article.
9. Integrated-Skills Instruction uses reading as a resource for integrated-skills tasks, such as writing and speaking. Examples include summaries, reports, outlines, and journals. This is important because reading is used in all classes for learning purposes.
TASK: Pick 1 or 2 of the 6 goals and explain why you think they are important and how they have helped you in your own reading experiences. Then, choose one of the 9 meaningful instruction techniques (listed under the complex nature of reading). Describe how you would use this instruction technique in your classroom, and what goals you would have as an outcome for it.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Grabe & Stoller: "Reading For Academic Purposes: Guidelines for the ESL/EFL teacher"
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I feel that goal number 5 is incredibly useful and beneficial for comprehensive reading. Mentally preparing students for a text, guiding them while reading and finally following up with them after reading are essential steps for effective guidance and instruction. I have had experience using his technique as a reader in the classroom and plan to implement it in my future teaching. Stemming from technique #2 (Careful Reading of Texts), a specific way in which I could meet this goal would be to use a graphic organizer. One section could be dedicated to what is known about a text/topic before reading, one section could include significant facts/notes from the text, which would be recorded during the reading, and the third section could consist of the intellectual response of the student to the reading through personal comments or by answering specific questions asked by the teacher. For this technique, I would ask students to write brief statements/sentences in bullet point form. Doing this will allow students to condense their responses into more concise and clear ideas that can be easily referenced for future assignments if need be.
ReplyDeleteI feel that goal number 3 is important and plan to make sure i keep up with this in my teaching career. I feel this is important because if the reading level is to hard or to easy for the student it could defer them from wanting to read in the future. With easy material they could get bored easily and could not find reading to be fun and interesting. If the reading is to hard though however it could make the student feel like the reading isn't worth it. It could also make them frustrated with reading and this could defer them from reading as a whole. They will feel that it won't be worth their time and they won't get anything out of it. That is why in the future i want to make sure i can track where each of my students are reading and give them the appropriate level since each student is different and ranges in ability no matter the grade or level. I have found that reading at your level is perfect because it makes you think about the reading, makes it easier to read and makes reading just more enjoyable over all.
ReplyDeleteAs for instruction techniques i would pick number 8. I feel student motivation is very important because teachers see every day how students aren't motivated to read or perhaps even learn. In my classroom i hope to find students interests to get them to read. I want them to get excited and interested in reading. I for one love to read and want to pass that love onto my students. For those students who do not seem motivated to read i would also like to figure out their reasons. Each student is motivated differently and i find that it is important to get to know your students as best possible so that you may help them excel in their academic career.
I think number 2. Plan reading curricula in relation to specific goals, topics, texts, and tasks (to fine-tune and focus each lesson) and 4. Diversify students’ reading experiences (to mix up reading activities in and out of classroom) are most important. Number 2 explains how reading is a teaching/learning tool that is tailored to enrich a lesson’s focus. This helps the student comprehend what the goal of the lesson is and what he/she should be able to understand afterwards. Relating this to my experiences, I appreciate a course that lays out the material being covered just so I have a heads up on what to expect. If I was taking a class and the reading material was not explicitly stated, say for instance this was an English class where 10-12 novels would be read over the semester I would have no idea what the premise of the class is. Therefore when reading each book I would not know what the aim or purpose of the novel for the class. I would be reading and not knowing what to make note of, remember, or formulate questions about. Number 4 is important I think because reading book after book can be boring. Enriching a students’ reading experience is important to keep them wanted to read. In my AP Literature class in high school, my teacher did not just concentrate on novels, but also poetry, plays, short stories, etc which made the class interesting. To only read one kind of literature would be a loss of all other forms of writing and therefore a teacher must engage all varieties of texts.
ReplyDeleteOut of the 9 meaningful instruction techniques, I chose number 2. I think this one is significantly important because reading carefully is difficult to do, even for myself. Sometimes I have the urge to sprint through a reading or just merely skim it and not get the whole message of the text. As a young child starting to read, I was an awful and I remember I had to stay inside for extra practice during recess in 2nd grade. I found that as I got older I would read quickly through texts, to keep up with everyone else, but not fully understand what I had. Especially with ELS, slowing down the pace and time spent with each reading is important because it will help struggling students. I would think that an activity such as using tables to organize information, writing summaries, formulating questions/answers or true/false, or a set vocabulary list with definitions would be useful for careful reading. Careful reading allows students to really comprehend the material because they are spending a little bit more time with it.
I think 2 and 3 are the most important. Planning curricula around certain goals, topics, tasks, and texts is important because it not only keeps the teacher organized but your activities will be more meaningful. I think it is a good idea to set your goals for your students and figure out what you want the studetns to learn by the end of the year. After you have that done, it will be easier to plan lessons and make activities based on those goals. It will keep the teacher organized in a way that will keep track of the students achieving those goals and which lessons and activities you will teach next. Selecting appropriate texts is also important because your students will be at different levels. In my ESL placement, my mentor teacher had two different texts of Mark Twain for the students. One text was a more simplified version than the other.
ReplyDeleteOne of the meaningful intstructional techniques that stood out to me was the first one about vocabulary devlopment. It is crucial to teach the students vocabulary to go along with any reading they might do. Vocabulary is important to know when comprehending a text. I will incorporate vocabulary by using graphic organizers or other worksheets that have the vocab or definitions for the students to figure out while going along with the reading.