From Singhal, M (2005). Teaching Reading to Adult Second Language Learners: Theoretical Foundations, Pedagogical Applications, and Current Issues. Lowell, MA: The Reading Matrix.
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Chapter 5
Process, Practice, and Pedagogy
This chapter specifically takes the reading instructor through the unconscious and conscious processes that readers often use and the ways teachers can make students more aware of their processes and reading strategies. This chapter begins by providing a basic outline of reading strategies. The chapter also covers reading activities, skills, and strategies that can be employed during the pre-reading stage, the during-reading stage, and the post-reading stage. These sections describe methods for knowing and improving reading comprehension and strategies as well as specific activities and tasks that a teacher can implement in the reading class.
What is Reading?
In a general sense, reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that text. The text and the reader are both necessary for the reading process to begin. It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that constitutes actual reading. Reading is an interactive process in which readers interact with the text in order to make meaning. This process involves the use of comprehension or reading strategies. Readers bring to each text, areas of knowledge (content, formal, and linguistic schema), plus reading strategies that are crucial in shaping what happens in the reading process. While the text remains the same, the information the reader brings to the text fluctuates as comprehension grows. Content schema refers to systems
of factual knowledge, values, and cultural conventions. It provides readers with a foundation or a basis of comparison. For example, a reader may be very familiar with how a marriage is performed in his or her own culture but may not be aware of these cultural conventions in another culture or context. Formal schema, which is also referred to as textual schema, has to do with organizational forms and rhetorical structures of texts and genres (mystery novels, recipes, advertisements, autobiography, plays, letters, short stories, journal articles, newspaper articles, etc.). Schooling and cultural experiences provide a knowledge base of formal schemata.
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their first language, they might be able to make use of that information to decipher the meaning of a word, phrase, or sentence. In essence, to read effectively, readers must make use of reading strategies and various types of schemata. The following section outlines those various kinds of reading strategies. It is important that students become familiar with the terminology related to such strategies and that they learn how to effectively implement such strategies before, during, and after the reading process.
General Reading Strategies
Research has shown that all students can benefit from instruction in learning strategies. Chamot and O'Malley's (1994) work with second language learners reinforces the idea that students who learn to consciously monitor their own learning, and who have a storehouse of strategies to use when learning becomes difficult, fare better than students who do not have such strategies. The same notion holds true for reading
strategies. Reading strategies indicate how readers conceive of a task, how
they make sense of what they read, and what they do when they don't understand. Such strategies are used by the reader to enhance reading comprehension and overcome comprehension failure. Therefore, teaching readers how to use strategies should be a prime consideration in the reading classroom to assist students in becoming more effective and efficient readers (Anderson, 2003; Chamot, Barnhardt, El-Dinary & Robbins, 1999; Janzen, 2001; Weaver Cohen, 1997a, 1997b). When teaching a reading strategy, teachers should identify the strategy, explain why it is useful, demonstrate its use, give students practice in applying the
strategy, and show them how to evaluate its effectiveness and what to do if
it does not work. Chapter 2 discussed the extensive research in the area of reading strategies and second and foreign language learning, which clearly shows the relationship between reading strategy use and knowledge, and reading proficiency. Based on previous work on learning strategies (O'Malley Chamot, 1990; Oxford Crookall, 1989), Singhal (2001) has compiled the following list of specific reading behaviors or reading strategies successful readers use when reading. While this list is not exhaustive, it addresses the general domain of reading strategies used by effective readers.
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Description of Reading Strategy
e reader rephrases content using different words bu rune sense. he reader predicts what content will occur in succeed fthe text.
he reader analyzes word structure, grammatical struc xpressions, text format, or author's argument and stra etermine the meanings of these words/sentences/expr ext overall. e reader divides the words into arts to make it com
e reader uses titles/headings to facilitate understand ext. he reader uses textbook aids such as glossaries, appe
· dexes to aid com rehension.
e reader rereads parts of a text several times in orde om rehension. he reader can identify topic sentences, thesis stateme nd im lied main ideas, ma·or and su ortin details. e reader uses prior knowledge such as context, text
in istic schema to make sense of text.
e reader guesses the general meaning of a word by lues.
e reader places the new words in a group with othe own words to determine meanin .
e reader associates a word with a known word in or etermine meanin . e reader remembers a new word by identifying it w
eir first language.
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he reader recognizes specific textual features such as literary evices and/or rhetorical strate ies.
e reader recognizes what is important and not important and can
ki those words or information.
e reader draws a conclusion about the text in terms of theme, uthor's messa e or inte retation of text.
Figure 1 Reading Strategies Used by Successful Readers
It is imperative that teachers take the time to help their students become familiar with such terminology as it enables them to better understand the reading process and the skills facilitating text comprehension and critical thinking. Writing teachers, for example, spend a great deal of time teaching their students the terminology related to the writing process and strategies resulting in effective writing, and the same should be true for reading. Eventually, it is hoped that such skills are applied automatically without much conscious thought. While the above strategies are not used together, or in any particular order, but rather are dependent on the reading task at hand, some strategies can be useful before, during, and after reading. The following part of this chapter describes Pre-reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading activities and the specific kinds of strategies that can be most helpful to students at each stage.
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Pre-Reading
Pre-reading activities involve establishing expectations so th
readers can better comprehend more of the text and how the inform will be organized. Teachers can accomplish this by making student aware of why they are reading a text selection. Students can also be provided with a framework for making sense of information which include previewing titles, sub-titles, sub-headings, illustrations, gra tables, text organization and style. In addition to focusing attention features, teachers can assist students in becoming more aware of pr reading techniques such as reading introductions and identifying ke issues, reading the concluding paragraphs, skimming the text to get gist, reading the first sentence of each paragraph, and scanning the specific information. The following section considers some of these approaches in more detail.
Establishing a Purpose
Students often are unable to state why they are reading a tex what they are supposed to do with the information later. Without a
stated purpose, they are likely to read the information and quickly f
Teachers can prepare students for reading efficiently by clearly stat why they want their students to read a text and what they will do wi information later. While this takes only a few moments, doing so al
students to understand the point of the reading and enables them to
remember information they have read. In any case, regardless of th assignment or reading task, students must be clear about the expect and must be provided with the adequate background knowledge nee access the information in a text.
Activating and Building Background Knowledge
It is important that readers have an introduction to the topic text before they begin to read. Doing so can help students recall an
information that they already know about the topic, namely content schema, either from personal experience or other reading. This kno
will help students make sense of the information they encounter in as they read. Some kind of introduction to the topic can also arouse
interest, thereby enhancing the motivation to read. An introduction
also bring to attention the cultural factors, or vocabulary relevant to topic. There are several activities that can help students activate pri knowledge. Students can brainstorm, that is engage in free recall ac that encourage them to list everything they know about the topic. T
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some short scenarios and assigns characters; they can go on field trips, or teachers can provide more structured activities including short reading and writing assignments related to the topic. Such activities can build a foundation allowing students to better understand the text. Students should also be made aware that they can use self-questioning techniques to activate their prior knowledge. (See Figure 3 for a list of questions). Teaching students to consider these kinds of questions can be useful as it provides students with a strategy to use in any academic context.
Using Subheadings, Headings, and Visuals
Another strategy that can be used before actual reading of the text is to preview text. Readers can use a number of features of the text to help
them predict what the text will be about and to gain a general sense of its content. Such features include the title, the author, subtitles and
subheadings, and photographs, graphs, charts, and other visuals. Teachers must emphasize that such features often provide important clues which
can aid readers in predicting content and in determining the framework and organizational structure of a text.
Structured Overviews
Structured overviews are visual displays of information that provide readers with a basic outline of a text. Structured overviews can
take the form of graphic organizers, flowcharts, maps, or formal outlines.
Structured overviews emphasize important information and represent the interrelationship of ideas within a text, assisting students with
comprehension and memory of key concepts. Teachers can also use
structured overviews, specifically outlines, to represent the rhetorical organization of the text which will allow students to better understand the organization of ideas.
Explicit Instruction in Text Structure
Teaching text structure can lead to improved comprehension and more effective storage, retrieval, and retention of concepts. Text structure refers to the organization or sequencing of ideas. Text structure such as compare and contrast, problem-solution, cause and effect, argumentative, narrative, etc. differ in their patterns of organization and in the types of cohesive ties and signal words that are used. Making students more aware of text structure allows students to remember information they have read,
but also provides a conceptual framework for organizing the information presented. Teachers can use a variety of visual/spatial charts to teach text organization. For example, teachers can use form templates which are
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blank or which are partly filled in so that students can make predictions about the ideas in a text. Venn diagrams can be used for compare/contrast essays, while maps or structured overviews can be used for more complex structures. Some research also suggests that different cultures structure texts in different ways (Connor Kaplan, 1987; Hinds, 1983; Peregoy Boyle, 2001) and therefore explicit instruction in text structure may benefit students who are less aware of common text structures found in English.
Anticipation Guides
Anticipation guides can help students to predict what will happen
in a text (Holmes Roser, 1987; Peregoy Boyle, 2001). Teachers can use anticipation guides before so students can engage in predictions, but
they can also be revisited after reading to confirm predictions. The following chart illustrates a prediction guide for a reading about food safety.
,(A.ft t Reading)
TexfWonnatiol1
Figure 2 Anticipation Guide for Threat o/Sickness Lurks in Street Vendors' Smorgasbor
Pre-reading Techniques
Finally, students need to learn the techniques that can create
expectations about text content. Reading the introduction and conclusion, as well as the first sentence of the body paragraphs can provide an overview or gist of the text. Students can also skim the text and visuals to obtain information before reading or scan parts of the text for specific information. In sum, pre-reading strategies help students establish a purpose and build background knowledge, in tum allowing them to better comprehend text and retain information. Students can ask themselves the following questions, and with teacher assistance can engage in the following strategy-building activities.
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• What subject is this passage going to be about?
• What do I already know about this subject?
• Have I read any other articles or watched any TV shows related to this topic?
• Have I learned about this topic in any other class?
• What have I experienced in this area?
• What opinions, thoughts, or beliefs do I have about this subject?
• Do I know anything about the author's credentials and background?
• Based on my quick read, how would I classify this piece in terms of genre? What features characterize a text of that genre?
• What is the main idea of the text?