Reading aloud in the ESL classroom

=====Journal of English Language Teachers’ Interaction Forum (Vol. XII.3 April – June 2021) ISSN 2230-7710===== Journal of English Language Teachers’ Interaction Forum Volume XII.3. July-September, 2021 ISSN 2230-7710 Contents From the Editor’s Desk Jacob Tharu Paul Gunashekar Teachers who ‘don’t teach’ Assessment as an opportunity to learn more about students as persons “Twenty years of teaching experience or one-year experience repeated twenty times?” CPD revisited and redefined. 02 04 08 Reports of the Online Lectures 17. K. Elango Learners,autonomous learners & lifelong learners 18. Geetha Durairajan & Shree Deepa English as a window to India: Traditional Vs modern 19. B. Kerala Varma Appreciating contemporary poetry 20. M. Raja Vishwanathan Relevance of soft skills in teaching and learning ESL 21. P.N.Ramani Theorizing from reflective classroom practices; A step towards indigenizing approaches to ELT 22. Punnapurath Madhavan On the referential theory of meaning 23. K. C. Muraleedharan Rethinking curriculum: Changing perspectives on English literary studies in the context of globalization 24. Revathi Krishnaswamy Truth & Reconciliation as Method: Toward a Transformative Pedagogy 25. A. Khyrunnisa Building Language and Character: The Importance of Children’s Literature 26. Lal. C.A This queer language called English 10 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 26 28 Report of ELTEP Workshop C. Praveen Reading aloud in the ESL Classroom 30 The importance of perceptions of interpersonal communication competence Portrayal of the Dalit in the select writings of Dalit and Non-Dalit writers Deconstruction of Israeli Perception of Palestine in ‘Exodus’ and ‘The Haj’ by Leon Uris 32 Papers 1.T. Sunand Emmanuel 2. Lois Sara Joice I 3. M. Zarine Sumaiy & S. Saira Banu 35 42 Parenting Dhanya Bhaskaran Helping pre-schoolers with what they need 44 Engaging children creatively and productively during the pandemic 45 Report from the field P. V. Vasudevan Namboothiri It works in my classroom P.Bhaskaran Nair “How did I manage to do it?” Metacognitive inquiry into the processes of learning 47 1 =====Journal of English Language Teachers’ Interaction Forum (Vol. XII.3 April – June 2021) ISSN 2230-7710===== English Language Teacher Empowerment Programme (ELTEP) Workshop 1 Reading Aloudin the ESL Classroom Dr.C.Praveen Former Principal, Institute of Advanced Study in Education, Thrissur [email protected] At the outset, let me thank ELTIF and the members of the Online Programme Committee for giving me an opportunity to do a workshop on behalf of ELTIF. Whether leading a workshop or attending one, it has always been an opportunity for professional development. In fact. there are several avenues for professional growth. Teachers can attend conferences, seminars and in-service courses. Perhaps it is worth recalling a remark made in the inaugural address by Prof.Jacob Tharu: “Adult learners with self-concept make decisions/choices consciously”. Why reading? Reading still remains the mainstay of second language instruction all over the world—its priority varies. Beginning with the primary skills of listening and speaking, and then moving to the literacy skills of reading and writing may be the right sequence. But, unfortunately, many Indian ESL courses begin with reading, then moving to writing, and thereby neglecting the aural-oral skills However, this workshop focuses on the significance of one sub-skill, namely reading aloud. Why do learners find it difficult to read? Difficulties that a learner faces in the struggle to read can be attributed to several causes. It could be related to a failure to have studied aspects of a word- its spelling, its pronunciation and its meaning in different contexts. From a cognitive perspective, it could be attributed to a difficulty resulting from memory, in paying attention or even in organizing information. What does reading involve? * Reading is a cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning from the text. * While reading aloud,the reader incorporates variations in pitch, tone, pace, volume, pauses, eye contact, questions and comments to produce a fluent and enjoyable delivery. (Google) * In reading aloud, it is also worth noting that English has stress-timed rhythm. That is, stressed syllables approximate at regular intervals and unstressed syllables, shorted to fit this rhythm. And some sounds in Indian language are not available in English and vice versa. In brief, reading aloud implies : * Ability to read in sense groups. * Ability to read with proper pronunciation. * Ability to articulate words properly. * Ability to read with proper stress, pitch and intonation. * Ability to capture the spirit of the text, and convey emotion verbally and non verbally too. How can we help learners to read? * It is possible to provide models to enable the learner to read, following the principles of Behaviourism which includes imitation and repetition. * Weaver(1988) interpreted Vygotsky’s take on reading as follows: “…learning to read would be better approached as a whole-topart or whole-language process which encourages understanding and pleasure in the written word”. * Teachers can help learners improve the ability to read aloud through modeling and assisted reading and drilling and practice are vital! Comments by Prof.PaulGunashekaron Reading Aloud During the interactive session in the end, quite a few participant interacted with the RP. Additional points were contributed by Prof. Paul Gunasekar, an authority on ESL reading instruction. There are a whole lot of other aspects from the student’s perspective which are linked 2 =====Journal of English Language Teachers’ Interaction Forum (Vol. XII.3 April – * * * * * to the methodology we adopt in the classroom while reading aloud: The average teacher, even the trained teacher will insist on reading aloud a story as part of the ‘reading of a lesson’. And what the teacher normally does we all know is to read the first sentence…explain it… then move to the next sentence...explain it… Obviously there is something awfully wrong with that methodology. So we need to think when students need to be taught to read aloud while calling students at random to read aloud. When learners have no idea of the meaning of the text they are reading, how are they going to give a meaningful rendering in terms of reading aloud. It is linked clearly to the methodology. Talking about ‘Bottom up’ scales of reading in English Vs the ‘Top down’ process of reading texts…In other words ‘Bottom up…is moving from shape to sound to sense.’ In Top-down, a student might confront a sentence like ‘Bhaskaran is my friend’… but it will remain a sentence carrying no meaning unless Top down processing happens. Reading aloud can be used to check formal aspects of spoken English: Pronunciation, Word stress, Sentence Stress and Intonation. But it is best done after the reading of the lesson is over. Students would have understood the content * * * * * * June 2021) ISSN 2230-7710===== of the reading text and therefore will be able to meaningfully operate the suprasegmental features of spoken English. A story may lend itself to dramatization and it is best done as a way of rounding off the reading lesson. Can be done with planning… bringing all the students into the play… the teacher as facilitator…reading in sense groups not just in reading aloud but in silent reading too. Mark a small portion of the reading text into sense groups before asking students to read it aloud. Our job is to mark it for them.. A course called ‘Ordinary English’… doesn’t exist anymore…in the 1980’s… only course where each of the reading texts were presented in sense groups. But the idea didn’t take off. A follow up of that unique way of presenting through a workshop…It didn’t reach as many teachers.. Marking it up is crucial and we need to demonstrate this live… Good old Michael West said in ‘English in Difficult Circumstances’ deals with reading aloud…a famous phrase is “read and look up” Read a few sense groups and establish eye contact and carry on… A Hindi teacher of mine used to hide his face behind the text not allowing his learners to see it…so the teaching fell apart. a demonstration too is required in an elaborate fashion …an extremely practical session like this one. 3 =====Journal of English Language Teachers’ Interaction Forum (Vol. XII.3 April – June 2021) ISSN 2230-7710===== 4