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TEACHING READING (Chapter 17) - Coggle Diagram
TEACHING READING
(
Chapter 17
)
CHARACTERISTICS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE
Permanence
Processing Time
Distance
Physical distance and Temporal distance
Orthography
In spoken language, most languages have phonemes, stress, rhythm, juncture, intonation, pauses, volume, voice quality settings, and nonverbal cues, all of which enhance the message.
Complexity
Spoken language tends to have shorter clauses connected by more coordinate conjunctions, while writing has longer clauses and more subordination.
Vocabulary
Formality
Writing is quite frequently more formal than speech. Formality refers to prescribed forms that certain written messages must adhere to.
The meaning of a good many unknown words can
be predicted from their context
A corollary to the above is the processing time that the reader gains.
Spoken language is fleeting.
STRATEGIES FOR READING COMPREHENSION
Identify the Purpose in Reading
Use Graphemic Rules and Patterns to Aid in Bottom-Up Decoding
Skim the Text for Main Ideas
Use Efficient Silent Reading Techniques for Improving Fluency
Scan the Text for Specific Information
Use Semantic Mapping or Clustering
Guess When You Aren’t Certain
Analyze Vocabulary
Distinguish Between Literal and Implied Meanings
Capitalize on Discourse Markers to Process Relationships
RESEARCH ON READING IN A SECOND LANGUAGE
Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processing
In bottom-up processing, readers must first recognize a multiplicity of linguistic signals (letters, morphemes, syllables, words, phrases, grammatical cues, discourse markers)
These data-driven operations obviously require a sophisticated knowledge of the language itself. From among all the perceived data, the reader selects the signals that make some sense, that cohere, that “mean."
Top-down, or conceptually driven processing in which we draw on our own intelligence and experience to understand a text.
the best way to teach reading is through bottom-up methodology: teach symbols, grapheme-phoneme correspondences, syllables, and lexical recognition first, then comprehension would be derived from the sum of the parts.
Schema Theory and Background Knowledge
A text does not by itself carry meaning
Content schemata include what we know about people, the world, culture, and the universe, while formal schemata consist of our knowledge about language and discourse structure.
Teaching Strategic Reading
A healthy dose of strategy based instruction, including metacognitive strategies of self-planning, monitoring, and evaluating one’s own reading processes.
Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is a key to student gains in reading ability, linguistic competence, vocabulary, spelling, and writing.
Reading Rate, Fluency, and Automaticity
"Fluency is a combination of both reading rate and reading comprehension.” And strategies of skimming, scanning, predicting and identifying main ideas as approaches to increasing fluency, or what might also be described as automaticity.
Focus on Vocabulary
There are findings that support a strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and later reading ability.
The Role of Affect and Culture
Just as language ego, self-esteem, empathy, and motivation undergird the acquisition of spoken discourse, reading is subject to variability within the affective domain.
The “love” of reading has propelled many a learner to successful acquisition of reading skills
Second Language Literacy
A significant number of immigrants arriving in various nonnative countries and cultures are nonliterate in their native languages, posing special issues in the teaching of an L2.
Micro- and Macroskills for Reading Comprehension
Microskills:
Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes and orthographic patterns of English.
Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-term memory.
Comprehend written language at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
Recognize a core of words, and interpret word order patterns and their significance.
Recognize grammatical word classes and systems.
Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different grammatical forms.
Macroskills:
Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses.
Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their significance for interpretation.
Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according to form and purpose.
Infer context that is not explicit by using background knowledge.
Infer links and connections between events, ideas, etc., deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification.
Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
TYPES OF CLASSROOM READING PERFORMANCE
Oral and Silent Reading
Advantages
Oral reading serves as an evaluative check on bottom-up processing skills.
It doubles as a pronunciation check.
It adds some extra student participation if you want to highlight a certain short segment of a reading passage.
Disadvantages
Oral reading is not a very authentic language activity.
While one student is reading, others can easily lose attention (or, if they are reading in turns, be silently rehearsing the next paragraph!).
It may have the outward appearance of student participation when in reality it is mere recitation.
Intensive and Extensive Reading
Intensive reading is usually a classroom-oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a passage.
Extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding of a usually somewhat longer text (for example, books, long articles, essays).
PRINCIPLES FOR TEACHING READING SKILLS
In an Integrated Course, Include a Focus on Reading Skills
Offer Reading on Relevant, Interesting, Motivating Topics
Balance Authenticity and Readability in Choosing Texts
Encourage the Development of Reading Strategies
Include Both Bottom-Up and Top-Down Techniques
Follow the “SQ3R” Sequence
Design Pre-Reading, While-Reading, and Post-Reading Phases
Build Ongoing (Informal) Assessment into Your Techniques