Module twelve 75

MODULE 12

Reading or Text Comprehension

Just as listening is the main source of language when pupils start to learn a language;
print is the second main source. As pupils become bett er and bett er in the foreign
language, the printed word becomes the main source of expanding and strengthening the
language. Reading is also the language skill which is easiest to keep up — many of us can
sti ll read in a foreign language that we used to be able to speak as well. Books open up
other worlds to young children, and making reading an enjoyable acti vity is a very
important part of the language learning experience

I. Approaches to start reading

Many five to ten year olds are in the process of learning to read in their own language. Whether
or not they have mastered the skill in their own language, and whether or not their own language is
written in the Roman alphabet, will have an effect on the initial stages of teaching reading in English.
For example, a German child of nine will already be familiar with most of the techniques of reading
— with word divisions, sentence links, paragraphs, how letters relate to sounds, how the illustrations
help him or her understand what is going on. A Japanese child of nine will also be aware of much the
same things, but he or she may not be very familiar with the Roman alphabet or relate sounds to
individual Roman letters. Clearly, children whose mother tongue is not based on the Roman script
have more stages to go through when they are learning to read in English.

There are a number of different ways to approach the introduction of reading in a foreign language.

1. Phonics

This approach is based on letters and sounds. Basically, we teach the pupils the letters of the
alphabet, and the combination of letters, phonically — as they are actually pronounced — so that the
letter a is pronounced /ae/, the letter b is pronounced /b/, c is pronounced /k/, ph is pronounced /f/
and so on. It is best to start off with three or four letters that can make up a number of words, like c,
a, n, t. You can then show pupils how to pronounce /kaen/, /kaet/, /kaent/ and /taen/.

Although phonics can become very complicated as all the pronunciation rules are introduced, it can
be a very useful way into reading for those learners who are not familiar with the Roman alphabet or
who do not have a one to one relationship between letters and sounds in their own written
language. It is not to be recommended as the main way into reading for those pupils, who are
already reading in their own language using the Roman alphabet, and it should not be taught to
pupils who are learning to read using phonics in their own language — this could lead to great
confusion in pronunciation.
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2. Look and say

This approach is based on words and phrases, and makes a lot of use of flashcards — words written
on cards like this:
a book my book the blackboard

It is usual to start by teaching everyday words which are already familiar to the children. The
teacher shows the children the word and says it while pointing to the object. The children repeat the
word. This happens several times with each word. The introduction of the words only takes a short
time, and goes quite quickly, so the teacher may spend five minutes of a thirty minute lesson on four
new words. There are a lot of word recognition games which can be done at this stage — matching
words and pictures, pointing to the object on the card, guessing which card Teddy has picked out of
the hat — and so this approach encourages recognition of a range of words and phrases before
“reading” a text.

3. Whole sentence reading

Here the teacher teaches recognition of whole phrases and sentences which have meaning in
themselves. This often means a story which the children read for the first time themselves after the
whole text is familiar to them. The words are not presented in isolation, but as whole phrases or
sentences. Since we think that reading for meaning should be encouraged as soon as possible, we
will look at this approach in more detail below.

4. Language experience approach

This approach to reading is based on the child's spoken language. The teacher writes down a
sentence for the child to read which is based on what the child has said. For example:
This is me.
My sister is nine. She is in class 3F.
This is a postcard from my uncle in Milan.
Again, since we think that this is a good, pupil-centered approach to reading, we will go into it in
more detail below.

Which method to choose?

Clearly, if there was one correct method for teaching all children to read, then only one method
would exist. We favor an approach which concentrates on meaning from the beginning However, if
your pupils have a mother tongue which is not based on the Roman script, you will probably find that
you will have to spend quite some time teaching phonics and word recognition first.

No matter which approach to reading you take as your basic approach, you should remember that
all these approaches are a way in to reading and are not an end in themselves. You will probably
want to make use of all the methods described at some stage in the process of learning to read.

II. Reading with five to seven year olds

 Five to seven years olds are likely to take longer to learn to read in a foreign language than eight to
ten year olds. Some children starting school are not familiar with books or what they are used for
They have to go through the process of doing reading-like activities first — 'reading' from left to right,
turning the pages at the right place, going back and reading the same pages again, etc. Picture books
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with and without text are invaluable at this stage.

 If your pupils have not learnt to read in their own language, many will not yet have understood what
a word is, nor what the connection is between the spoken and the written word.
 Sentence structure, paragraphing, grammar — none of this means anything to most pupils at this
stage.
 Decoding reading — making sense of what we see on the page — is a very involved process, and
adults make use of all sorts of clues on the written page — punctuation, paragraphing, use of special
words, references to things which have happened, hints as to what can happen. What five to seven
year olds have instead is often a visual clue and this clue is vital to meaning.

Take, for example, Belinda's Story by Margaret Iggulden, a story written for four to seven year olds.
The story is about an elephant called Belinda who goes around looking at animals of different colours.
The text of the last three pages of the story is:
I'm an elephant and I'm grey.
That's an elephant. It's super.
I'm an elephant and I'm super.

Without the drawings, you don't know that the elephant is unhappy about being grey. Here are the
last three pages taken from the book, with the accompanying illustrations:

I'm an elephant and I'm grey.

That's an elephant. It's super

I'm an elephant and I'm super.

One of the conclusions to be drawn from this is that the illustrations in a book for young children matter
78 Second language Didactics for the Primary level

almost as much as the words themselves.

III. Reading with eight- to ten-year-old beginners

The majority of eight to ten year olds will already be able to read a bit in their own language and
most seem to have little difficulty in transferring their reading skills to English. This means that you
can spend much less time teaching the mechanics of reading, and concentrate more on the content.
Children whose mother tongue is not based on the Roman alphabet will still have to spend more
time on the mechanics of reading, but they know what reading is about, and this speeds up the
process.

IV. Starting off the teaching-learning process of reading

Let us take as our example a class of six year olds who have English for three short lessons a week.
Let's look at four possible starting points.
1 Reading a story from a book
Some of the stories which you read aloud from a book will become the stories that your pupils
read. Let's take Belinda's Story as our example. The whole text of the story is as follows:

That's a bird. It's green.

That's a butterfly. It's red.
That's a fish. It's blue.
That's a crab. It's yellow.
That's a cat. It's white.
I'm an elephant and I'm grey.
That's an elephant. It's super.
I'm an elephant and I'm super.

a) Creating a routine for story reading. This is not a big book, so you will have to read with quite a
small group.
b) Read the book so that all the pupils can see it, and point to the words as you say them. This is
important if your pupils are to understand the connection between the spoken and the written
word. It also helps these beginners to understand what a word is. Some children may think that
'butterfly' is two words. Read at just under normal speed the first time, keeping your intonation
correct.
c) Let pupils point and ask questions if they want to, but not so much that it interrupts the flow of
the story.
d) Encourage the pupils to talk about the story. Ask them questions in their own language, like,
“Why was Belinda unhappy?” “Were the other animals unhappy?” “Which animal did you like
best?” “Do you think Belinda is super?”
e) Leave the book in the book corner. Tell the group they can read it on their own if they want to.
f) The next week, read the story again. Let them give you some of the words.
Teacher: “That's a ....”
Pupils: “Cat.”
Teacher: “It's ….”
Pupils: “White”.
Teacher: “Yes. That's a cat. It's white.”
g) Give all the pupils their own copy if possible and tell them to follow it while you read to them.
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Encourage them to point to the words as you read, but don't slow down.
h) If you see pupils pointing to the wrong words, sit with them and point with them.
i) Let them read the book silently for themselves.
j) Tell them they can read the book whenever they have time. Go back to it from time to time and
read it with the whole class. Pupils don't usually get tired of good stories, and this is a good,
simple story.

2. Reading a class story

Instead of reading from a book, you might want to use a class story as your starting point for reading.
This has the advantage that you can photocopy freely, making sure that everyone has a copy, and the
pupils can colour their own copies. There's also the point that shared stories are always a good
starting point simply because they are shared.

In a class where Teddy is used, build up a short story about Teddy using the story-telling techniques.
If you have already read the story about Belinda, you and the pupils could make up a story about
Teddy who doesn't like being brown/white/beige or whatever colour he is. This allows you to keep
the same structure, but bring in more colours and animals:

That's a bird. It's orange. That's a fly. It's green. That's a frog. It's green too. That's a zebra. It's black
and white. I'm Teddy and I'm beige. He's Teddy and we love him. He's great. I'm Teddy and I'm great.

When you make the book ask pupils to help you with the illustrations if they can. Your story can now
be treated in the same way as above, but you can give the pupils their copies quite quickly.
Remember that Teddy's story must look like a book with pages to turn and pictures to look at.

3. Reading texts based on the child's language ,

This approach has proved effective with beginners in both age groups. The idea is that each
individual pupil has his or her own written text which says what he or she wants it to say, and is used
for both mother tongue and foreign language learning. When working in the foreign language, it is
important that the teacher does not set the pupil a task which he or she does not have the words for
in that language. For example, there's no point in pupils bringing in a picture of the place where they
live, if they have no words to talk about it.

This type of reading is often based on a picture, but can be about something which has happened, or
just about how the pupil is feeling today. It is easiest to start off with a picture.

a) Ask the child to tell you about the picture.

b) If he or she gets stuck, ask either/or questions. “Is she tall or small?”
c) If this still doesn't work, let the child tell you what he or she wants to say in his or her own
language. If this translates into something familiar, talk about it, make sure the child understands.
Do not write words which are new or unfamiliar.
d) Write a sentence in the child's book based on what the child has told you. It can be very simple.
“This is me at home.”
e) Let the child see you writing the sentence, and say the words as you write them.
f) The child repeats the sentence after you, pointing to the words as he or she says them.
g) This is now that pupil's reading task, which he or she can read aloud to you.
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h) It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to do this - you have a lot of pupils in your class.
i) This sentence can gradually be built on. “This is me at home. It's my bedroom. It's blue. It's nice. I
have fish in my bedroom.”
j) As the child's vocabulary increases, you can gradually build up stories.
The same technique can be used for making up group/class reading books. This technique of writing
down what your pupils say or the stories they tell you helps the five to seven year olds to see that
print is a means of communication, and that there is a relationship between the amount of talking
that is done and the amount of writing on the page. For both age groups, it is important that the
pupils see themselves as writers with something to say.

4. Reading familiar nursery rhymes or songs

Most children learn nursery rhymes in their mother tongue and in English without having a
complete understanding of what they're saying. Some nursery rhymes are produced as books, so the
children can “read”' what they already know off by heart. While you might say that this isn't real
reading, the pupil can behave like a reader, and it helps to build up confidence. As we have said
before, there is also a very narrow dividing line between knowing something off by heart and actually
reading the words.

V. Reading aloud
Let us now move on to look at various reading techniques. When we went to school, most of the
reading done in class was reading aloud. Reading aloud is not the same as reading silently. It is a
separate skill and not one which most people have that much use for outside the classroom. But it
can be useful, especially with beginners in a language.
Traditionally, reading aloud is often thought of as reading round the class one by one, and although
many children seem to enjoy it, this type of reading aloud is not to be recommended:
 It gives little pleasure and is of little interest to the listeners.
 It encourages stumbling and mistakes in tone, emphasis and expression.
 It may be harmful to the silent reading techniques of the other pupils.
 It is a very inefficient way to use your lesson time.
However, reading aloud is a useful technique when used slightly differently:
 Reading aloud to the teacher should be done individually or in small groups. The reader then has
the teacher's full attention. Reading aloud from a book lets the teacher ask about meaning, what
the pupils think of the book, how they are getting on with it, as well as smooth out any language
difficulties which arise. High priority should be given to this kind of reading aloud, especially at the
beginner stage for all ages. By the time pupils progress to level two, this kind of reading is not so
necessary.
 The teacher can use it as a means of training and checking rhythm and pronunciation. The teacher
can read a sentence or a phrase and the class or parts of the class can read in chorus after. This is
particularly useful if the text is a dialogue, but should only be done for a very short time. Choral
reading can easily become a chant if there are a lot of children in the class.
 Reading dialogues aloud in pairs or groups is an efficient way of checking work. The pupils can
help each other with words they find difficult to pronounce, and you should try to get them to be
a little critical about what they sound like: “You don't sound very friendly, Michelle” or “Are you
angry, Heinz?”
 Listening to a pupil reading aloud should be a treat for the whole class. If pupils are going to read
aloud for the rest of the class, they must be well prepared and the others should want to hear
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what is going to be read.

“Maria is going to read you a story she's written with me. It´s about a princess and a bird”.
“Peter has written about his trip on board his uncle´s boat and he wants to read it to you”
VI. Silent reading
Reading aloud can be a useful skill to have in the classroom, and one which teachers make good use
of, but silent reading is what remains with most people for the rest of their lives.
Nobody can guarantee that all your pupils will love books, but a positive attitude to books and
reading from the beginning will help. Make as much use of your English corner as possible: have print
everywhere, put up jokes on the notice board, give your pupils messages in writing, try to give them
their own books, even if it is only a sheet of paper folded over to make four pages, make books
available to them, and listen to what they are saying about their reading. Use the textbook to
concentrate on conscious language development, but let your pupils read books for understanding
and for pleasure.

Building up confidence
 Some children are natural readers and will want to read books as soon as they can, but you should
spend some time building up confidence with the whole class about silent reading. Give them all a
story that they have listened to before and give them, say, two minutes to see how far they get.
Talk about the story with them in the mother tongue after they've read it. Clear up any difficulties.
The emphasis is on the content and the language shouldn't be a stumbling block. Let them finish
the story at their leisure.
 Give pupils only half the story, and discuss what happens next in the mother tongue. See how
many different endings are possible, and then let them read the rest of the story to see if they
were right. From the beginning encourage this type of anticipating. Good stories put the reader in
the mood of wanting to know what happens next.
 For the eight to ten year olds who are beyond the beginner level, you might want to use silent
reading as the starting point for role play for the whole class or for a smaller group. If the book is
written in dialogue form, then they may want to act some of it out for the rest of the class. If the
book is a story, then the pupils will have to work out their own roles and what they say.

VII. Different reading materials

Once your pupils are on the road to reading, it is important that there is as wide an individual
choice of reading materials available to them as possible.

Reading cards
You may want to start off with reading cards in a box or a book pocket. It is very simple to make a
collection of reading cards which tell a story and can be read quickly. A one-page story still gives a
sense of achievement. You might have different stories with the same characters either from the
textbook you're using or characters which your pupils have invented during class story time. Some of
the reading cards can have nursery rhymes on them, but try to choose the easier ones.
You may want to add questions on the back of the cards. These may be questions about the story in
the child´s first language to begin with, but in English later.

Home-made books
These may be different verses of a song the children are already familiar with. Or they may be class
stories written down by you. In addition to teacher-made materials, you also have pupil-made books,
82 Second language Didactics for the Primary level

which are an essential part of any class reading corner/library.

Books for native speakers of the language

Children with English as their mother tongue are learning to read at the same time as your pupils and
so there is a wide choice of books available. This is particularly true if your pupils start early. If your
pupils start learning English at ten, then you should make sure that the books at their level of
language are not too childish.

Easy readers for foreign language learners

Most of the major publishing companies publish series of easy readers. Many are aimed at the adult
market, but there are more and more series for younger learners. The age range and the word level
is often specified in the publisher's catalogue.

Picture dictionaries
To begin with, pupils can just look at picture dictionaries in the same way as they look at picture
books. Later on, they will learn to use them to find words, check spelling, expand their vocabulary,
etc.

Books with tapes

Some books for native speakers of English and some easy reader series have accompanying tapes.
These can provide useful listening and reading material both for slow readers and for those who
progress quickly. However, you should encourage pupils to try reading without the tape as well.
Some pupils become lazy readers if they listen to too many “speaking books”, and stop trying to
become real readers.
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VIII. A) Activities to develop reading skills at primary level

Activity type Purpose Materials

1. Sequencing letters, parts of words,  Learning to read: building up letter and word Flashcards or worksheets with letters,
whole words or sentences and recognition, morphemic and syntactic prefixes, words.
sequencing them to make words, awareness.
phrases or sentences. The pupils  Reading to learn: checking understanding at Moveable cards are good for a
read sequence items. sentence level. kinesthetic learning style
 Reading physically “settle” or calm pupils.
 Reading to encourage mental activity and
problem-solving.
2. Matching or mapping pictures and words  Learning to read: developing syntactic awareness. Pictures and short texts, e.g. speech
or two halves of a sentence so that they  Reading to learn: developing concepts of, e g. bubbles. Cards or worksheets with cut up
make sense. The pupils read and match cause and effect/problem and solution if these are sentence parts.
the parts so that they make sense. The the examples provided.
extracts can be on tape also to reinforce  Reading to physically “settle” or calm pupils. Moveable visuals and written cards are
listening skills.  Reading to encourage mental activity and problem- good for a kinesthetic learning style.
solving.
3. Speaking using written prompt cards or  Learning to read: developing syntactic awareness. Flashcards with words and/or pictures.
language in a graphic organizer. The  Reading to learn: understanding how markers like
pupils read the cue cards, tickchart, flow but, or first, then next organize discourse. Graphic organizer such as a tickchart or
chart, etc. to remind themselves of  Reading to “stir” pupils. flow chart to say, e.g. I can swim but
words and sentence patterns and  Reading to encourage mental activity and problem- Maria can't. Or First we wash the fruit,
practice using them. solving. then we peel it, next we cut it, etc.
4. Completing details/taking notes in a  Learning to read: developing syntactic Graphic organizers, some with partial
graphic organizer. The pupils read a awareness. notes to provide support through
text, e g. simple description, set of  Reading to learn: practicing study skills when example, others can be left blank to
instructions or a story and transfer using graphic organizers.
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information to a chart with clear  Reading to physically “settle” or calm pupils. provide differentiated activities.
headings.  Reading to encourage mental activity and
problem-solving.
5. Reading and using a graphic  Learning to read: developing syntactic Graphic organizers, examples of
organizer to make statements or ask awareness. statements or questions as a model.
questions. The pupils refer to a flow  Reading to learn: practicing study skills when
chart, a life-cycle chart, etc. To using graphic organizers.
practice describing something or  Reading to physically “settle” or calm pupils.
asking questions.  Reading to encourage mental activity and
problem-solving.
6. Classifying words to make lists or  Learning to read: practicing understanding the Lists of words. Categories or story 1,
sets of various kinds. The pupils read meanings of words and sense relations story 2, etc.
lists of words which belong to 4 (inclusion).
different sets and sort them into  Learning to read: practicing comprehension;
groups under headings. Classifying using simple discourse markers to understand
mixed up detail from 2 stories. The texts.
pupils read sentences from 2 stories  Reading to physically “settle” or calm pupils.
which have been jumbled up. They  Reading to encourage mental activity and
write them out separately. problem-solving.

7. Checking written statements. The  Learning to learn: consolidating spelling,

pupils read sentences or short texts comprehension. Sentences or texts with deliberate
which have deliberate mistakes in  Reading to physically “settle” or calm pupils. mistakes.
them to do with language, the ideas,  Reading to encourage mental activity and
the layout, the organization, and so problem-solving.
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on. The pupils correct mistakes.

Good for faster pupils.

8. Understanding genre or text types.  Reading to learn: to develop awareness of text Different examples of text type + 2 sets
The pupils learn words for different types, their layout, purpose, etc. of card, one with the text type name
kinds of text, e.g. manual, TV guide,  Reading to encourage mental activity and on, the other with the purpose which
menu, brochure and match text type problem-solving. pupils match.
to their label and purpose, e.g. this is
a kind of sign it gives us a warning.
86 Second language Didactics for the Primary level

B) Reading skills to find out the meaning of the text

1) PREVIEWING. - Preview what we are going to read. It is a very specific reading technique which
involves using the table of contents, the appendix, the preface, the chapter and paragraph headings
in order to find out where the required information is likely to be.

2) ANTICIPATING. – anticipate what we are going to read. It is often worthwhile to spend some time
getting the student ready to read a given text, motivating him. Before the students start reading a
text, they can always be asked to do one of these activities:
o Using the title and pictures to talk about the various ways the text may develop.
o Looking for the answers to specific questions.
o Thinking about the subject of the text and
o ask themselves questions.
o Using the key-words of the text.

3) PREDICTING. – It is a reading skill. It is the faculty of predicting or guessing what is going to come
next, making use of grammatical, logical and cultural clues.

4) SKIMMING. - Skill that helps the student read quickly and selectively to obtain a general information
of the material, to know how it is organized, or to get an idea of the tone or intention of the writer.

5) SCANNING.- Skill where we only try to locate specific information and often we do not even follow
the linearity of passage to do so. We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what we
are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or any specific piece of information.

6) TRANSCODING/TRANSFERENCE. - It deals with graphs, tables and illustrations. We transfer

information to other activities e.g. read and match, read and label, read and complete, read and
draw, etc.

7) ASKING/ANSWERING QUESTIONS. – The ability to interpret the questions distinguishing the

different question words.

8) BASIC REFERENCE SKILLS. – Using dictionaries and encyclopaedias to find out information.

9) DEDUCING THE MEANING OF WORDS I. – Deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words from your
knowledge of the world, from context or by recognizing words that are similar in Spanish.

10) DEDUCING THE MEANING OF WORDS II. – Deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items
through WORD FORMATION and CONTEXTUAL CLUES.

11) DISTINGUISHING THE SYNONYMS, THE ANTONYMS AND REPHRASING EXPRESSIONS.

12) WORD ORDER. – Understanding relations within the sentence (syntaxes).

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13) REFERENCE. – Words that refer back to a thing or person mentioned before, e.g. which, who, that, a
pronoun. Understanding relations between parts of text through cohesion devices especially
grammatical cohesion.

E.g.: Gian Marco is a singer. He is Peruvian. He is married with Claudia Moro. She is a politician.

14) RECOGNIZING INDICATORS or connectors or signal words in discourse especially for introducing,
development, transition and conclusion of ideas.

15) Understanding the function of sentences or paragraphs: Definitions, examples,

classifications/listings, comparisons/contrasts, descriptions, explanations, chronological
sequence/sequence of ideas, generalizations, hypothesis, inferences/implications, analogy,
following instructions, cause-effect relationships, others.

16) Understanding conceptual meaning, e.g. comparison, means, cause, result, purpose (relative
clauses)..

17) Recognising punctuation clues.

18) Questioning as reading that is to say deliberately asking questions as go along to check on meaning
and personal relevance of what reading.

19) Finding the TOPIC and the TOPIC sentence.

20) Identifying the main point or important information in a text

21) Distinguishing main ideas from details.

22) Recognizing the function of different parts of the text (e.g. introduction, development, conclusion)

23) Drawing inferences, understanding non-explicit information.

24) Note taking, extracting information to summarize

25) Distinguishing facts from opinions.

26) Finding out the writer’s approach, attitude, opinion, intention or purpose

 Approach: How does the writer present his message or problem? Does he begin the article by
directly stating the problem? Or does he introduce the topic by using a sequence of examples?
How does he develop his ideas? How does he conclude?
 Attitude: Does the writer show bias or prejudice? Is he objective or critical? Humorous or
serious? Sympathetic or scornful?
 Opinion: Does the writer have any opinion on the subject? For example, what does he say or
predict about extraterrestrial life or solar energy?
 Intention: What is his purpose? Does he want to inform, explain, argue, persuade or advertise?
88 Second language Didactics for the Primary level

27) Interpret the text by going outside it (using your knowledge of the world)

28) Doing a critical evaluation of the text.

IX. Styles for reading. - How do we read?

Involuntary reading
No conscious reason for reading as seeing and reading occurs at the same time.
One word reading. E.g. signs, notices.

Rapid reading
Reading quickly to get a general idea of a text (skimming) or to look for specific information
(scanning)

Extensive reading
It means reading long texts for one’s own pleasure. It involves global understanding. It is a fluency
activity.

Intensive Reading
When you read short texts to extract specific information, it involves reading for details. It is an
accuracy activity.

X. THE THREE PHASES OF A READING LESSON

A reading lesson can be divided into three phases: Pre-reading, while-reading or actual reading of
the text and post-reading or follow-up activities.

Pre-reading. - Pre-reading activities provide students with background information which makes
the while-reading easier. What the pre-reading phase tries to do is:
 To introduce and arouse interest in the topic.
 To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading.
 To provide some language preparation for the text.
In order to help preparing for the pre-reading work, useful questions that the teacher can ask
himself are:
 What knowledge, ideas or opinions might the learners already have on the text topic, and how
can this knowledge be drawn and used?
 Why should anyone want to read this text?
The answers to these questions will give clues to ways of introducing the text, motivating the
learners, and at the same time will incorporate language preparation. Visuals (e.g. diagrams, maps,
photographs) drawing up of lists, or the setting or answering of questions (oral or written) may all
play a part in pre-reading.

While-reading. - This phase is to get information from the text itself. The aims of this phase are:
1. To help understanding the writer’s purpose.
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2. To help understanding the text structure.

3. To clarify text content.

The sorts of questions that the teacher can ask himself as a guide to while-reading work are the
following:
a) What is the function for this text?
b) How is the text organised or developed? (e.g. narrative, an explanation with various examples,
an argument etc.)
c) What content or information is to be extracted from the text?
d) What may the reader infer or deduce from the text?
e) What language must be learned from the text?
f) What reading styles may be practised?

Question ‘a’ deals with the first aim of while-reading, question b deals with the second aim,
while answers to questions c, d and e will help to clarify the text content. Depending on the
answers to these questions, the teacher can select or devise appropriate exercises.

As a rule, while-reading work should begin with a general or global understanding of the text,
and then move to smaller units such as paragraphs, sentences and words. The reason for this is that
the larger units provide a context for understanding the smaller units – a paragraph or sentence,
for example, may help to understand a word.

Post- reading. – Post reading activities reinforce concepts previously introduced. The aims of post-
reading work are:

1. To consolidate or reflect upon what has been read.

2. To relate the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interests or views.

The teacher may get ideas for post-reading work by asking himself the following questions:

a) Do the learners know of a similar situation to that presented in the text?

b) Does the text present a situation that calls for recommendations?
c) Does the text present a situation that invites completion?
d) Does the text present views that might need to be counter-balanced?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then there is an opportunity for post-reading
work. The work that the questions lead to may be writing, interaction, drawing a diagram or any
combination of these, etc.
Obviously, this three phase approach is not to be carried out mechanically on every occasion.
Sometimes the teacher may wish to cut out the pre-reading stage and get learners to work on the
text directly. Sometimes post-reading work may not be suitable. However, the advantage of the
three phase approach is twofold. First it respects and makes use of the student’s own knowledge of
language and of the world and uses this as a basis for involvement, motivation, and progress.
Secondly the three phase approach leads to integration of the skills in a coherent manner, so that
the reading session is not simply isolated.
90 Second language Didactics for the Primary level

Examples of a reading lesson

EXAMPLE ONE

1. Capacity. - Text comprehension: Read and solve arithmetical problems.

2. Time: 90 minutes

Procedures Activities Time

Teacher Students
Before reading Get ready to the students Listen carefully to the teacher’s
teaching them the new instructions and practice with
vocabulary the teacher’s help the 90’
vocabulary.
Give photocopies about arith- Read the arithmetical problems
While reading metical problems and and solve them.
encourage the children to
solve them.

3. Appendix: Arithmetical problems:

4. COMMANDS
 Listen to me
 Repeat after me
 Pay attention
 What is the answer?
 How many ........ he/she’s got?
 How much ........ he/she’s got?
 How many there is/are?
 Module twelve 91

EXAMPLE TWO2: READING ACTIVITY

1. Capacity: Text comprehension: Read and make a Mother’s day greetings card.
2. Procedures & activities & time
1) Before reading

Teacher Student Time

- Show flashcards with the words draw, color, cut, stick and - Pay attention to 10’
the English names of colors on. the teacher’s
- Ask children in their native language about mothers/carers: actions.
What do you do on Mother’s Day?
- Show them your own card that you have made and tell
them they are going to make one like that.
- Put up a big copy of the picture on the board and check that
the children know the English vocabulary.
- Check that the children know how to read the colors by
holding up flashcards with the English words on them.
- Give each child a piece of card and show them how to fold
it in half.

2) While reading

Teacher Student Time

- Give each child a worksheet. Read - Answer to the teacher’s 35’
through the instructions together. questions.
- Let the children start. Go around the - Try to read the colors by holding
class helping put where necessary. up flashcards.
- Show them how to write ‘To...’ and ‘With - Make the greeting card.
love from…’ on the inside. - Read the worksheet’s
- Finally, give out the envelopes and instructions with the aid of the
show the children how to write an teacher.
address.

3. Appendix : WORKSHEET
 Colour the mouse’s head brown
 Colour his tail brown too.
 Colour his shirt green
 Colour his trousers red
 Draw flowers on the ends of the sticks in the mouse’s hand. Colour them yellow,
orange, red, blue, and pink.
 Draw the sun in the sky. Colour it yellow.
 Cut out the picture and stick it on the front of your card.
92 Second language Didactics for the Primary level

XI. Transcriptions to practice reading activities

1. Speaking to reading- helping sound and word recognition

Before you practice this extract, read this summary of Jane’s class activities.
 First she sticks up pictures of the six words on the board.
 Then she uses a tambourine to beat out the rhythm of the new words.

Using a tambourine for rhythm and syllable work

TEACHER: Good. Now, thank you. Ok, one more thing … Let’s see who can tell me … Who can tell
me this one? Listen (The teacher beats twice on the tambourine)
TEACHER: Ok, hands up. Listen. Now listen (The teacher beats twice on the tambourine again)
CHILDREN: Planet
TEACHER: Yeah yeah … plan … et. Could be planet, couldn’t it? Anything else? … star?
CHILDREN: No
TEACHER: Rainbow? Yes?
CHILDREN: Yes
TEACHER: Yes look … plan … et … rain … bow … (The teacher beats twice on the tambourine)
TEACHER: Or how about this one then? (The teacher beats once on the tambourine)
TEACHER: Moon?
CHILDREN: Yes … yes
TEACHER: Star
CHILDREN: Yes … yes
TEACHER: Yes and it could be sun and it could be cloud. Now I’m going to choose one and you have
to guess which word this is … (The teacher beats once on the tambourine)
CHILDREN: Star
TEACHER: Could be … What else?
CHILDREN: Moon
TEACHER: Yes. Now, Laura you come out and choose one. Ok.
(Different children take turns to choose a word and give the correct number of beats on the
tambourine)
Jane with seven to eight year olds

2. Matching words to pictures

The children are now matching the written word to the picture on the board . Jane asks the children
to look at the words on cards and to put them beside the matching picture on the board.
TEACHER: Now put everything away. We’re going to do something else. We’re going to do
something else. Ok … sh … sh …
TEACHER: Now what do you think this is? Mm … hm …
CHILD: Planet … planet
TEACHER: Ok, then, Irene, come and get it. Let’s see where it’s going to go. Ok, where are you going
to put it? (The pupil puts the word beside the matching picture)
 Module twelve 93

TEACHER: OK. Beside the picture of the planet. Very good. Now what about this one? (They go
through all the words and each word is put beside the matching picture.)

Jane with seven to eight year olds

3. Recognizing the correct word
Jane holds the cards in front of them so that the children can see them, she doesn’t look at the cards.
She says one of the words. The children have to say if she is right or wrong.
TEACHER: Now do you want to help me? Em … this is rainbow?
CHILDREN: No
TEACHER: Erm … Moon?
CHILDREN: No
TEACHER: Erm… Cloud?
CHILDREN: Yes Jane with seven to eight year olds

4. Reading words
The pupils are playing the game “clever parrot”. The children have to repeat like a parrot. But they
must be clever parrots and only repeat the word on the card. The teacher shows a card to the pupils.
She doesn’t look at the car. She repeats all the words. The children have to look and listen carfully
and repeat the word that is on the car when they hear it.
TEACHER: Now let’s see if we can do … Do you remember the game “clever parrot”? If it’s the same,
what should you do?
CHILDREN: Say it
TEACHER: Say it (Some children comment in their mother tongue also)
TEACHER: Ok, now look at the card … Ok? Rainbow, moon, sun, star …
ALL THE CHILDREN: Star! Jane with seven to eight year olds

5. Helping children recognize phrases: Building a phrase

TEACHER: Ok, everybody, look carefully. Here are all the things in Red Riding Hood’s basket. But the
words are all mixed up. So we’re going to sort them out. Ok, right, right who can remember what she
had?
CHILDREN: Strawberries
TEACHER: Strawberries … good. Who can come out and find the word for strawberries?
CHILDREN: Me, me …
TEACHER: Ok, Leah. Ok. Yes, good. And what were the strawberries like? They were lovely …
CHILDREN: Sweet … sweet …
TEACHER: Yes. They were lovely sweet strawberries. So who can find these words?
CHILDREN: Me
TEACHER: Ok, Ali. And where do they go? Put them next to the strawberries. Which one goes first?
That’s right? That’s right. Good, let’s read that phrase together …
CHILDREN AND TEACHER: Lovely … sweet … strawberries
TEACHER: Lovely sweet strawberries. Mm. Yes
Brian with eight to nine year olds
6. Reading and transferring information
TEACHER: Ok, now em … page …Ok please open your workbook … page twenty -two.
Now, can you read it on your own and tell me what you have to do? (Children reading on
94 Second language Didactics for the Primary level

their own)
TEACHER: Ok, Ana can you explain what you have to do in this activity? (Ana explains in her
mother tongue)
TEACHER: Do you all understand?
CHILDREN: Yes
TEACHER: Ok, do it on your own and when you’ve finished compare your work with your
partner’s. When you’ve finished, but not before. Ok … em … perhaps five minutes, that’s all.
Emi with eleven to twelve year olds

XII. Reading Assessment

Good readers enjoy reading, get better at it, read more, and consequently improve both
their reading skills and their general language ability. When children have difficulties with
reading, however, they start to dislike it, read less, don’t improve, and consequently have
more reading problems and grow to dislike it even more. To prevent spiraling negative
attitudes, we need to help children to improve their reading skills and learn to enjoy reading
from the very beginning.

One way to help children improve their reading skills is to train them to use the sub-skills
involved, such as skimming and scanning. Poor readers have often learnt only one style of
reading, usually intensive reading. The inability to differentiate between reading skills
usually makes readers slow and dependent on every single word they read, whereas good
readers are fast, and are able to predict context of the passage. These are skills that can be
developed by training.

Because we believe that assessment should be a continuation of the work done in the
classroom, we recommend that reading assessment be done in an interesting,
contextualized, fun, and authentic way. We have also included assessment of extensive
reading should not be assessed because it diminishes the children’s enjoyment and can
eventually put them off reading altogether, our argument is that it is an important skill and
an invaluable learning resource. If it is assessed in a positive and child-friendly way it will
not create negative feelings in children. On the contrary, it can help them realize that it is
important and may result in more extensive reading in the English lesson. Let’s see two
examples:

Messages on the fridge

Description The children match instructions with pictures

Language Giving instructions: use of imperatives
Skills Read “Messages on the fridge” and comprehend written instructions
Assessment Criteria The children should be able to understand short written
instructions
 Module twelve 95

Capacity Indicator Procedure Instrument

In class:
 Give out the following worksheet for each child 8PAGE 96)
 Tell the children to imagine that the go home and there is nobody there. They find a lot of
messages on the fridge. They manage to do everything, so a friend draws pictures of what they
have done to show their parents. They have to match each message with the right picture.
 Collect the worksheets for checking.

Variation 1
If you want to assess the children´s ability to form the imperative, you could erase the
messages on the fridge and ask the children to come and write up the missing messages.

Variation 2
If you want to assess the children´s ability to form the imperative, you could erase the
messages on the fridge and ask the children to come and write up the missing messages.

Assessment of Outcome: Use a discrete-point marking scheme. Assign two points out of ten for
each correct match
96 Second language Didactics for the Primary level
 Module twelve 97

Grandma’s garden

Description: The children complete a picture based on a written passage.

Language Prepositions: in, on, under, in front of; there is; there are.
Skills Intensive reading; writing (in Follow-up).
Assessment Criteria The children should be able to comprehend a short written passage in
detail.

Capacity Indicator Procedure Instrument

In class
 Give out the worksheet in the next page
 Ask the children to read the passage and draw the five things missing from the picture.

Variation 1 The text can be adapted to the level of the class or the prepositions you want to
assess by adding or eliminating items.

Variation 2 The children can prepare similar texts and exchange them with their peers. Each
child completes his/her partner’s picture

Assessment of Outcome
Use a discrete-point marking scheme. Allocate two points for each correct addition.
98 Second language Didactics for the Primary level