ENGLISH

Modern methods
and techniques
of developing
reading skills
 Agenda
Easy steps to create a perfect reading unit
A .

Essential reading skills

B
How to teach a perfect reading lesson?
C Simple ways to make reading lessons fun

Conclusion
D References
 Introduction
Authentic, more difficult, with more
challenging vocabulary reading
D

Structurally simple and not weighed

D

down with vocabulary complexity for

beginner students
 Reading

“[Reading is] the action or skill of reading writte

n or printed matter silently or aloud.”
 Learning outcomes

Teachers will be able to:

- apply the principles and strategies of teaching reading effectively
- make reading a fun activity for their students
- evaluate the need for reading for students
Welcome!!
 Schema theory

Schema theory tries to explain how readers utilize prior knowledge

to understand and get new information from the text (Rumelhart,
1980). The theory claims that written text does not carry meaning
by itself. It only guides readers to retrieve or construct meaning
from the structures or patterns of this prior knowledge. These stru
ctures are called schemata (singular: schema).
 Example
A text about transportation, for example, would trigger our schematic knowledge
about the different types of transportation:

Transportation
Land Air Water
Bicycle Airplane Ship
Motorcycle Jet Cargo/container ship
Car Helicopter Sail boat
Van Hot air balloon Yacht
Bus Space shuttle Canoe
Train Drone Submarine
Subway Glider Aircraft carrier
Blimp
 Example 2
In addition, before reading a passage about airports, as readers, we know that:

o Airplanes can fly.

o They have wheels that they can land on.
o They can take passengers to different places.
o They have wings that make them fly.
o You have to check in before boarding…
Schema theory is closely related to two other important notions, namely top-down
and bottom-up processing.
 Cognitive processing
Top-down vs bottom-up processing
Top-down processing - the use of background
knowledge to predict the meaning of the reading
or listening text.

- develop hypotheses about the content of a text

The uptake of information related to prior
knowledge.
 Cognitive processing
Bottom-up processing

- actual words or sounds, construct meaning from the most basic units
of language, including letters, letter clusters, and words.

bottom-up processing, emphasize the decoding skills, not guiding

learners to recognize brought to the understanding of the text.

To use the metaphor of the wall, top-down processing, you see the
wall as a whole; you are not concerned with the different bricks that
constitute the wall. bottom-up processing, the focus is on the bricks
of the wall.
 Intensive and extensive reading

Intensive reading involves the deconstruction of a text. The aim is to get as

much information as possible. By reading intensively, we are concerned wit
h every detail related to the text. The learner is encouraged to deal with
vocabulary and grammar activities to get a closer understanding of the text.

Extensive reading- reading as much as possible, without concerning

oneself with every detail. Occasional unknown words not supposed to get
too much attention focus is on the overall meaning. Extensive readers look
up words only when absolutely necessary to their understanding of the text.
 Principles of teaching reading
Nation (2009), teaching grammar should follow specific principles that
help boost reading skills. Reading is a purposeful enterprise

Training students to develop their reading skills should be done to fulfill a range
of purposes:
To search for specific information through skimming and scanning activities.
To learn and gain knowledge about different topics
To be entertained
To react to a text and have a say about its content.
…
Appropriateness to students’ level

Vocabulary knowledge

Integration of skills
 Reading skills
The focus should be also on developing reading skills such as phonemic
awareness, spelling practice, vocabulary learning, and grammar study.

Reading strategies
o Previewing,
o Setting a purpose,
o Predicting,
o Asking questions,
o Connecting to background knowledge,
o Paying attention to text structure
o Guessing words from context,
o Reflecting on the text and reacting to it.
 Text type

Gaining knowledge about text type is another area

that learners should be trained at developing. They
should be able to differentiate between genres of
texts: emails, reports, stories, newspaper articles,
scientific texts…
Reading a lot

Learners must be also encouraged to read

a lot. Extensive reading helps them become
fluent and develop speed at reading different
texts, a competency much needed for academic
success and in students’ future careers.
 How to teach reading skills
objectives the teacher aims at developing in his/her students, how lesson
plans are structured. Teachers make decisions about the objectives of their
reading comprehension lesson. The following objectives guide teachers in
teaching reading skills:
o Reading for gist?
o Reading for specific information?
o Reading for detailed comprehension?
o Developing speed reading?
o Training learners in specific reading strategies?
o Inferring meaning from context?
o A combination of the above goals?
How to teach reading relies also on the way the lesson is stru
ctured. In fact, any reading lesson plan should include three s
tages:

o Pre-reading stage
o While reading stage
o Post-reading stage
Pre-reading activities are an essential part of the reading lesson because of
the following:

o They help students be more prepared for what they are about to read.
o These activities help learners anticipate the topic of reading.
o Formulating expectations about the content of the text help learners
prepare themselves for the kind of language, vocabulary, and even
grammar that might be used in the text.
o These activities create the need for reading the text to know more about
a topic.
o By creating the need to learn more about the topic, these activities
increase students’ motivation.
Teachers must activate students’ knowledge about the topic of the text they
are about to read using the following activities:
Brainstorming
This may be done following this process:

o In groups, students brainstorm ideas relating to the topic of the text.

o All members of the groups contribute to the generation of ideas about the
topic.
o All ideas are to be accepted.
o The teacher sets a time for the brainstorming process.
o After generating enough ideas, groups organize their ideas and form
sentences.
o Finally, they share their ideas with the whole class.
 KWL chart (Know, Want to Know, Learned)

Discussions K (Know) W (Want to Know) L (Learned)

… … …
Pictures … …
…
… …
Predicting …
Cloud of words While reading activities

o Connecting students prior knowledge with the content

Videos
of the reading,
o Helping them gain new knowledge,
o Training them to deal with similar text in the future.
The following are a few examples of while reading
activities
 Skimming

o Reading the title, the headings, and the subheadings.

o Reading the introduction or the first paragraph.
o Reading the topic sentence of each paragraph.
o Looking at pictures, charts, or graphs.
o Paying attention to italicized or boldface words or phrases.
o Reading the concluding paragraph.
 Scanning

Scanning refers to reading to find specific information such as a name,

a date, or a number. This is a technique used when one is interested in
finding specific information quickly.
o As a teacher, you may want to ask your students to scan a text to find
answers to (a) specific question(s).
o With these questions in mind, your students read the text to attempt to
find answers to only these questions.
o They may ignore irrelevant information.
o Students may use headings and any other clues that will help them
identify which part of the text might contain the needed information.
In other words, they will have to read selectively and skip through
irrelevant sections of the text.
Comprehension questions
Pronominal questions
Pronominal questions or WH-questions begin with who, what, when,
where, how, why, etc.
Commands

o Identify,
o Circle,
o Underline,
o Describe,
o Explain,
 Yes/no questions

True/false statements

Multiple-choice questions
Sentence completion

Graphic organizers
o Identifying the connectors (however, moreover, thus, etc)
Cohesion to see how ideas are linked within the text.

Vocabulary and grammar work

Post-reading activities

What I learned?

Discussion

Summarizing

Retelling the story

Think-Pair-Share

Drawing

Presentations
 Easy steps to create a perfect unit
Authentic, more difficult, vocabulary complexity

Check comprehension
Get ready
Students think Introduce Check
Read
Discussion questions vocabulary Written methods
Activating the schemata ( summary )
Communicative Answer questions
process Own questions
Guessing the meaning from the
Jigsaw reading Artistic and interactive
context
Assign students to approach
Give sentences with vocabulary
read the entire text at Retelling, small discussion,
No need to use dictionaries
home pictures, quiz, .
Ask about sentences to make
sense
 Apply skills
Understand the text
Point out specific grammatical structures, v
erb tenses, adjectives for beginners
More complex structures for advanced
learners ( relative clauses, )
Know the structures they are studying
Extend the activity
Analyze the stages( giving valuable judg
ment )
Students apply the information
Easy discussion questions
Surveys, debates and additional research to
extend reading
 Essential reading skills
Scanning
Reading is essential Reading for specific piece
More reading, better academic of information
success Looking over the selection
Fundamental reading skills to quickly but carefully
acquire Find information, stop
reading
Skimming
A quick type of reading
To learn the main points
Read the first, last paragraph
Read the first and the last sentence
Pay attention to italicized ,bold
words , headings, subheadings

1 2 3 4

Reading for detail

Careful reading or reading for detail .
Slower reading process
Read every sentence but not to
understand each word
80% information
Easy reading but specific strategies
 FUN! FUN! FUN!

How to teach a Introduction

perfect reading
lesson? Warm up activity
Ask to use some vocabulary in the sentences
Warm up Ask them to underline , highlight the new vocabulary
5-10 min warm up to move and
speaking
Generate interest
Discussions , giving related
vocabulary
Write the words on the board ,
bring a ball
 Practice, produce
Practice
Produce
Read aloud Prepare discussion questions to
Read the text/passage pausing use key phrases
Pronounce the difficult words For beginners very simple
questions
Share viewpoints
Agrees/disagrees

Practice more

Understand the material Review

Ask synonyms, antonyms, or
pictures Ask summarizing questions
True/ false questions Ask students search topic
Ask why a statement is true/ sentences
false
Fill in the blanks sentences
 Praise students

Simple ways to make

reading class fun
Inspire them

Decorate the class

Take a photo
Take the photo of star
students
Create a star studded
bulletin board Read log (show )
Take a photo of a Review the log each
student week , month

stick stars near the

Host a book
picture
exchange
 When time is over, send it to the place

Students pull

Choose what to read

Fill a wagon
Create a classroom wagon (fun, functional,
reading wagon )
Decorate together
Keep books, chapters, passages
.
 Series, sound effect, design a place
Round off
Add sound effect
Students make
sounds for specific
words, stages

Serial stories Design a place

Students remember a reading Provide a comfortable place to read
teacher Make several little houses with a
Read a short selection every day door, window
Students continue at home
Get it covered
“Shh, someone is reading“

Students design covers

Engage the listeners, magic carpet

Play music

Play classical, jazz music during reading

Create a magic
carpet to read
Make reading fun
Students read
there in a circle
 Conclusion

Language acquisition by reading

Model for future writing
A good opportunity for language study
Genuinely selected authentic materials (for native speakers )
Differentiate scanning and skimming
Read for different purposes : pleasure , detailed information
Content engagement, prediction, matching tasks to the topic
•
Thank you!
Implement what you have learned