Teaching Reading
Traditionally,
the purpose of learning to read in a language has been to have access to the
literature written in that language. In language instruction, reading materials
have traditionally been chosen from literary texts that represent
"higher" forms of culture.
This approach assumes that students learn to read a language by
studying its vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, not by actually
reading it. In this approach, lower level learners read only sentences and
paragraphs generated by textbook writers and instructors. The reading of
authentic materials is limited to the works of great authors and reserved for
upper level students who have developed the language skills needed to read
them.
The communicative approach to language teaching has given
instructors a different understanding of the role of reading in the language
classroom and the types of texts that can be used in instruction. When the goal
of instruction is communicative competence, everyday materials such as train
schedules, newspaper articles, and travel and tourism Web sites become
appropriate classroom materials, because reading them is one way communicative
competence is developed. Instruction in reading and reading practice thus
become essential parts of language teaching at every level.
Reading Purpose and Reading Comprehension
Reading is an activity with a purpose. A person may read in order
to gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a
writer's ideas or writing style. A person may also read for enjoyment, or to
enhance knowledge of the language being read. The purpose(s) for reading guide
the reader's selection of texts.
The purpose for reading also determines the appropriate approach to
reading comprehension. A person who needs to know whether she can afford to eat
at a particular restaurant needs to comprehend the pricing information provided
on the menu, but does not need to recognize the name of every appetizer listed.
A person reading poetry for enjoyment needs to recognize the words the poet
uses and the ways they are put together, but does not need to identify main
idea and supporting details. However, a person using a scientific article to
support an opinion needs to know the vocabulary that is used, understand the
facts and cause-effect sequences that are presented, and recognize ideas that
are presented as hypotheses and givens.
Reading research shows that good readers
- Read extensively
- Integrate
information in the text with existing knowledge
- Have a flexible
reading style, depending on what they are reading
- Are motivated
- Rely on different
skills interacting: perceptual processing, phonemic processing, recall
- Read for a purpose;
reading serves a function
Reading is an interactive process 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
- Discourse
competence: knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts of
the text to one another
- Sociolinguistic
competence: knowledge about different types of texts and their usual
structure and content
- 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)
The purpose(s) for
reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge, skills, and
strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading
comprehension is thus much more than decoding. Reading comprehension results
when the reader knows which skills and strategies are appropriate for the type
of text, and understands how to apply them to accomplish the reading purpose.
Summarize
Reading
skills is very important skills one. Which teachers can be trained to learn the
skills and have the ability to gain more from learning a variety of students
have chosen to study, such as library, internet language, which students read
to help students learn and to understand
yourself.
