TEACHING READING: SKILLS,

STRATEGIES, METHODS

Cem Balcikanli
Gazi University
English Language Teaching Dep
balcikanli@gazi.edu.tr
Topics for discussion:

How do people read?

What do people read?
What are the skills involved in
reading?
Principles for teaching reading
Common types of activities in
teaching reading
 Effective readers

 have a clear purpose in reading;

 read silently;
 read phrase by phrase, rather than word by word;
 concentrate on the important bits, skim the rest,
and skip the insignificant parts;
 use different speeds and strategies for different
reading tasks;
 perceive the information in the target language
rather than mentally translate;
 guess the meaning of new words from the
context, or ignore them;
 have and use background information to help
understand the text.
 What we read…

 We believe ESL/EFL reading textbooks should

have a great variety of authentic materials, as
much as the coverage allows. Of course,
textbooks should always be supplemented by
extra materials.:
Calendars Clothes size labels Magazines
Addresses Graffiti on walls Radio/TV guides
Phone books Children’s scribbling Advertisements
Name cards Informa1 letters Posters
Bank statements Business letters Travel guides
Credit cards Rules and regulations Cookbooks
Maps Electronic mail Repair manuals
Anecdotes Telegrams Memos
Weather forecast Fax messages Time schedules
Pamphlets Junk mail Street signs
Product labels Postcards Syllabi
Washing instructions Credit cards Journal articles
Short stories Comic books Song lyrics
Novels Newspapers Film subtitles
Plays Diplomas Diagrams
Poems Application forms Flowcharts
Handbooks Store catalogues Name tags
(adapted from Gebhard 1996:189)
 It
is important for EFL teachers
to bear in mind what we read in
real life, so that when we select
reading materials for our EFL
classroom, we not only have a
greater variety but also meet
the needs of different students.
The Bottom-up Model

The Top-down Model

The Interactive Model

In the _______________, the teacher
teaches reading by introducing
vocabulary and new words first and
then going over the text sentence by
sentence. This is followed by some
questions and answers and reading
aloud practice.
 Discourses
Sentences/
Linguistic knowledge Phrases
is used. Words
Morphemes
Phonemes
In ________________, it is believed that
in teaching reading, the teacher should
teach the background knowledge first, so
that students equipped with such
knowledge will be able to guess meaning
from the printed page.
 Discourses
Linguistic Knowledge Sentences/
& Phrases
Background Words
Knowledge Morphemes
Phonemes
 According to the ______________,
when one is reading, the brain receives
visual information, and at the same
time, interprets or reconstructs the
meaning that the writer had in mind
when he wrote the text.
 Discourses
Schemata to be activated
Sentences/
the schema of
Phrases
language;
Words
the schema of content;
Morphemes
the schema of forms Phonemes
 Browsing
* Work individually.

* Read the quotes from experienced teachers

around the world.

* Underline any ideas that appeal to you.

 Browsing
*Work in pairs.

* Answer the focus questions on page 61.

 Stages in Reading

The three stages are

pre-reading,

while-reading

post-reading.
 Pre-reading
* To facilitate the actual reading
process.
* To motivate ss to read the text
* To activate the schemata

 predicting,
 setting
the scene,
 skimming
 Predicting will get the reader’s
mind closer to the theme of the
text.

Ways of predicting:
 predicting based on the title,
 predicting based on vocabulary,
 predicting based on the T/F questions.
 A Nation of Pet-Lovers

Save the Jungle: Save the World

Police Hunt for Child

Text 1: What is a pet? What are pets for? Why
do people love pets? Are there any
problems with pets?
Text 2: What is a jungle? Where can you find
jungles? What do you think has happened
to the jungle?
Text 3: What happened to the child? How do
you think the parents would feel? What
could the police do?
 Setting the scene

Setting the scene means getting

the students familiar with the
cultural and social background
knowledge relevant to the reading
text.
 While-reading

While-reading activities focus on the process

of understanding rather than the result of
reading.

 Deciding on sub-skill to practice

 Reading comprehension questions
 Understanding references
 Making inferences
Making inferences means “reading between the
lines”, which requires the reader to use
background knowledge in order to infer the
implied meaning of the author.
 Post-reading
 Post-reading tasks should provide
the students with opportunities to
relate what they have read to what
they already know or what they feel.

 In
addition, post-reading task should
enable students to produce language
based on what they have learned.
 Do you think he was a good doctor?
 How do you think the young man felt?
Tell part of the story from these
prompts:
 A doctor – village – annoyed.
 People – stop – street – advice.
 Never paid – never – money –
made up his mind – put and end
1. Act out the conversation between
the doctor and the young man.
2. Act out an interview between a
journalist and the doctor.
One day the doctor ________ by
a young man. The doctor
_________ to be interested. He
left the young man __________ in
the street with his tongue ______
out.
Writingbased on what the
students have read, e.g.
producing a tourist
brochure, an advertisement,
a short summary, etc.
 Reader’s choice
Work in pairs.

Read through different reading techniques on page

63, 64, 65.

Match those reading techniques with reading

activities
 Reading techniques involved
Skimming ---- K, G, H
Scanning ---G,H
Contextual guessing---C
Cloze exercise ---I, J
Outlining ---- J
Paraphrasing ---- A, E
Scrambled Stories--- F, J
Information Transfer---D, F, J
Making Inferences ---K, D
Intensive Reading ---D, H,E
Extensive Reading--- A
Passage Completion--- A, B
 Upside down, Inside out
Work in group.

Re-order the reading lesson depending on the

principles we have covered.

Identify pre, while and post-reading activties.

 Let’s prepare a reading lesson
Work in groups.

Write an outline of a reading lesson.

Make sure the following is covered in your lesson.

a) Three stages
b) The specific aims of each activity
c) Logical transitions from one stage to another
 The teaching of reading should focus
on developing students’ reading skills
and strategies rather than testing
students’ reading comprehension.
 We should view reading as an
interactive process.
 Reading in the classroom can be
divided into 3 stages: pre-reading
activities, while-reading activities, and
post-reading activities.
If the shoe doesn’t fit…
Thank you!