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TEACHING READING 1. How do we read? 1. We need to perceive and decode letters in order to read words. 2.

We need to understand all the words in order to understand the meaning of a text. 3. The more symbols (letters or words) there are in a text the longer it will ta!e to read it. ". We gather meaning from what we read. #. $ur understanding of a text comes from understanding the words of which it is composed %xamining how we read& 'tage 1 & (reliminary thin!ing. 'tage 2 & 'hort experimental readings. 'tage 3& )rawing conclusions.

2. Types of reading activities. * conventional type of reading activity or test consists of a text followed by comprehension +uestions Thin!ing of alternative reading activities ,a!e a list of further possible reading activities using different !inds of texts. These can be for different !inds of learners or for a specific class you are ac+uainted with. * locallyused textboo! may be one source of ideas as well as your own and your colleagues. experience and creativity. T/%0% *0% 1)%*' 2$0 0%*)134 *5T161T1%' 1. (re-+uestion. * general +uestions given before reading as!ing the learners to find out a piece of information central to the understanding of the text. 2. )o-it-yourself. 7uestions 8earners compose and answer their own +uestions.

3. (rovide a title. 8earners suggest a title if none was given originally or an alternative if there was. ". 'ummari9e. 8earners summari9e the content in a sentence or two. This may also be done in the mother tongue. #. 5ontinue. The text is a story: learners sugges what might happen next. ;. (reface. The text is a story : learners sugges what might have happened before. <. 4apped text. Towards the end of the text four or five gaps are left that can only be filled in if the text has been understood. 3ote that this is different from the conventional clo9e test (a text with regular gaps throughout )which tests grammatical and lexical accuracy and actually discourages purposeful fluent reading. =. ,ista!es in the text. The text has towards the end occasional mista!es (wrong words: or intrusive ones: or omissions). 8earners are told in advance how many mista!es to loo! for. >. 4omparison. There are two texts on a similar topic: learners note points of similarity or difference of content. 1?. 0esponding. The text is a letter or a provocative article: learners discuss how they would respond or write an answer. 11. 0e-presentation of content. The text gives information or tells a story: learners represent its content through a different graphic medium. 2or example& - a drawing that illustrates the text - colouring - mar!ing a map - lists of events or items described in the text - a diagram(such as a grid or flow chart ) in dicating relationships between items 5haracters or events. 3. Improving reading skills Reading skills need to be fostered so that learners can cope with more and more sophisticated texts and tasks and deal with themefficiently: !ickly appropriately and skillf!lly. "##I$I"%& '%( I%"##I$I"%& R"'(I%) %* 1 +ang!age , $ontent Efficient &he lang!age of the text is comprehensible to the learners. &he content of the text is accessible to the learners: they know eno!gh abo!t it be able to apply their own backgro!nd knowledge &he reading progress fairly fast: mainly beca!se the reader has .a!tomat /ed0 recognition of common combinations1 and does not waste time working o!t each word or gro!p of word anew. Inefficient &he lang!age of the text is too diffic!lt. &he text is too diffic!lt in the sense that the context is too far removed from the knowledge and experience of the learners. &he reading is slow: the reader does not have a large .vocab!lary0 of a!tomatically recogni/ed items.

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'ttention

Incomprehensible vocab!lary

&he reader concentrates on the significant bits1 and skims the rest3 may even skip parts he or she knows to be insignificant &he reader takes incomprehensible vocab!lary in his or her stride: g!esses its meaning from the s!rro!nding text1 or ignores it and manages witho!t3 !ses a dictionary only when these strategies are ins!fficient. &he reader thinks ahead1 hypothesi/es1 predicts &he reader has and !ses backgro!nd information to help !nderstand the text &he reader is motivated to read: by interesting content or challenging task &he reader is aware of a clear p!rpose in reading: for example1 to find o!t something1 to get pleas!re &he reader !ses different strategies for different kinds of reading

&he reader pays the same amo!nt of attention to all parts of the text &he reader cannot tolerate incomprehensible vocab!lary items: stops to look every one !p in a dictionary1 and5 or feels disco!raged from trying to comprehend the text as a whole.

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7rediction 9ackgro!nd information ;otivation 7!rpose

&he reader does not think ahead1 deals with the text as it comes &he reader does not have or !se backgro!nd information &he reader has no partic!lar interest in reading &he reader has no clear p!rpose other than to obey the teacher0s instr!ction &he reader !ses the same strategy for all text

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