reading1

PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING READING

Reading is a transaction between the text and the reader. As students read, they search for and construct meaning based on what they bring to the text and what the text brings to them. Teachers can encourage students to become active participants in the classroom by using instructional strategies and methods to the needs of the students.

Instructional activities such as the following might be considered.

Help students pre-reading by:

* helping them activate what they already know about situations, events, characters and ideas in the text
* expanding their knowledge by providing important background information related to the text
* explaining the conventions, techniques, and vocabulary employed by the writer
* helping them set purpose(s) for reading.

Help students employ effective reading strategies while- reading by:

* helping them become involved with the text
* modelling the strategies that effective readers use as they read
* guiding the reading process with questions and activities that help them build their own understanding of what
   they are reading.

Help students understand and respond post- reading by:

* encouraging them to share their learned knowledge through discussion and other activities
* helping them develop more meaningful interpretations and connections
* expanding their reading experience
*clarifying and extending their thinking about language through related writing,   speaking, viewing, listening, and          further reading activities.

Pre-reading

Reading begins before a book is opened. Pre-reading strategies: ... help students to activate what they know about a topic and anticipate what they will read or hear. Such strategies also direct students' attention to the major points in the reading. Teachers can also use pre-reading strategies to point out how a text is organised, to teach unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts, and to provide students with a purpose for reading or listening.
                                                                                                                      (Irvin, 1990, p. 96)


"Pre-reading" activities introduce students to a particular text, elicit or provide a background knowledge, arouse their interest and help them approach the text in a more meaningful and purposeful manner .

Pre-reading activities include:

* discussing author or text type,
* brainstorming,
* reviewing familiar stories,
* considering illustrations and titles,
* guided questions,
* skimming and scanning (for structure, main points, and future directions).
* prediction
* Telling stories
* Using pictures
* Songs
* Games
* Topic Discussion
* Last night (etc.) experience
* Problem Solving


There are 2 distinct kinds of pre-reading instructional strategies:

Using the teacher-directed approach, the teacher directly explains the information the students will need-- key concepts, important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual frameworks.

A teacher-directed preview should have 3 components:

1. A framework for understanding the text to be read.
2. discussion about the topic of the reading.
3. Specific and general information about the content of the upcoming text.

Using the interactive approach, the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information students already have and links additional information necessary to an understanding of the text to be read. The interactive strategy is more engaging of the students and more dependent on their prior knowledge. The discussion is centred on what the students know already rather than on what they need to know.

Activating What Students Know

During the pre-reading phase, students may need assistance to activate what they already know regarding the ideas they are about to encounter. Teachers need to do more than inform students of the topic of the text. For example, in a selection dealing with the theme of "courage" students might:

* Describe a person they know who is courageous. Why do they think that person is courageous?
* List several everyday tasks that they think required them to show courage.
* Create a chart representing a courageous moment.
* Brainstorm the images associated with the word "courage".
* Guided questions

THE WAYS OF PRE-READING VOCABULARY TEACHING

There are numerous ways to help students prepare for the words they will encounter in their reading:

1. Activate their prior knowledge.
   e.g., if the word "rejuvenate" is a key word in a selection, students can
           associate this word with "juvenile".
2. Define words in multiple contexts.
     e.g., "He is a juvenile. He is a juvenile delinquent. Stop acting so juvenile."

3. Alert them to context clues.
     e.g., How would a judge use the word "juvenile"?

4. Show students a context-clue attack system.
* Look before, at, and after the word.
* Think about what is already known and what is in the text.
* Predict a possible meaning.
* Try steps again or consult a source of authority (e.g., a dictionary).

5. Help students recognise the structure of words-prefixes, roots, and suffixes (morphemic analysis).
     e.g., "Re-" as in "reproduce, renew, rejuvenate".

6. Show the relationships among words using semantic mapping.
      Individually, in pairs, in small groups, or as a class, students can cluster   associations around central nodes
      that form general categories.

7. Teach students how to use the dictionary and show them the extent of its
    information.

Other useful pre-reading vocabulary strategies include analogies (e.g., young is to old as juvenile is to....), listing, sharing the etymology of a word, encouraging wide reading, vocabulary self-collection, and games.

While- Reading
"While reading" activities help students develop reading strategies, improve their foreign language, and decode passages. The teacher can pinpoint different strategies, following the pre-reading activities.

There are several approaches to the first reading of a selection.

-teachers read the selection to the class;
-students read it silently;
-students read it aloud (but only after they are given rehearsal time).

Such while-reading activities might include:

* guessing word meanings by using context clues,
* word formation clues,
* considering syntax and sentence structure by noting the grammatical functions of unknown words
* recognising function and discourse patterns, and markers
* analysing reference words,
* predicting text content (trying to figure out what will happen and verifying it in the text)
* reading for specific pieces of information
* inferring opinion and attitude   (determining the author's intent by reading between the lines and inferring what         the author does not actually say)
* critical reading (responding to what they have read and passing judgement).
* Answering comprehension questions