TEACHING READING AND WRITING

ABSTRACTION
A. Teaching Reading
What is reading?
Reading is a process of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among the readers
existing knowledge, the information suggested by the written language, and the context of reading
situation.
What are the factors that influence reading in a second/ foreign language?
1. Cognitive development and learning style orientation at the time of beginning second/ foreign
language study
2. Language proficiency in the first language
3. Metacognitive knowledge of the first language structure, grammar, and syntax
4. Language proficiency in a second/ foreign language
5. Degree of differences between the first language and a second language/ foreign language
6. Cultural orientations
(From Farrell, T.S.C., 2002)
What are the concerns of teaching reading?
1. Schema Activation.
For students to make sense of what they read, they need to be able to grasp and make sense of new
information in light of what they already know. When readers activate and use their prior knowledge,
they make the necessary connection between what they know and the new information.
Basic Pre- reading Techniques
Brainstorming ideas that a topic brings to mind;
Previewing a passage, noting headings and bold print;
Constructing a graphic organizer, web, or outline from passage headings for use in note taking.
2. Vocabulary Development.
Words are labels we use to structure our perceptions. Consequently, the more words students know,
the easier it is for them to make connections in their reading. Research studies conducted in the past
few years reveal that vocabulary knowledge is the single most important factor contributing to
reading comprehension. Studies conducted on the importance of vocabulary instruction demonstrate
that it plays a major role in improving comprehension. This instruction can be done through
Wide reading approach
Direct instruction
Superficial instruction
What are the principles of vocabulary instruction?
Be enthusiastic about content area language and the power it can offer to students to
understand how to use these words effectively.
Remember that learning involves making connections between what we already know and the
new information. Relate new vocabulary words to experiences and concepts that students
know.
Limit the number of words taught in each unit; concentrate on key concepts.
Teach concepts in semantically- related clusters, so that students can see clearly the
associations among related concepts.
Use mental imagery and symbolic representation techniques to help students think about new
words.
Model how to use graphic organizers.
Allow students enough practice in working with strategies and graphic organizers so that their
use becomes a habit.
Use dictionaries and glossaries appropriately.
Repeatedly model how to determine words meaning I text materials,
From Gunning, T.G., 2003
What is the basis for choosing words for explicit vocabulary instruction?
High frequency words
Academic words/ content words
Technical words
Literary words
Low frequency words
3. Comprehension Development

Comprehension is the main purpose of reading. Without it, there is no reading since reading is the
process of constructing meaning from print.
Three factors involved in comprehension
The reader
The text
The context
4. Understanding text Organization
A text has both content and organization, so students have to develop schema for organization
patterns. This is because knowledge of structure provides a blueprint for constructing a situational
model of a story or informational piece.
5. Application
This is part of the lesson that helps readers see the relevance of learning to their own life, or
appreciate the nature of their environment and understand the significance of knowing about lessons
discussed in the classroom. This provides a ground for making students remember and value insights
learned in the class. Reading instruction can end by:
Valuing
Appreciating
Relating lessons to own life
Linking lesson to explain real-life contexts
Responding creatively using multiple intelligences
What are the instructional objectives for secondary/ foreign language reading program?
1. To develop an awareness of reading strategies necessary for successful reading comprehension.
2. To expand vocabulary and develop techniques for continued increase of vocabulary
3. To develop an awareness of linguistics and rhetorical structures found in reading texts.
4. To increase reading speed and fluency.
5. To promote interest in different types of reading materials.
6. To provide individual feedback on progress in improving reading skills.
7. To provide practice in extensive reading skills.
(From Farrell, T.S.C., 2002)
What are the principles for designing effective and interesting reading lesson?
1. The reading materials are interesting to the students.
2. The major activity of the reading lesson is when students read the text.
3. Activities and exercises reflect the purposeful, task- based interactive nature of real reading.
(predicting, hypothesizing,, and revising ideas about what was read)
4. Activities and tasks allow the learners to bring their knowledge and experience to the reading passage.
5. Instructional activities have a TEACHING rather than a testing focus.
6. Lessons should be divided into pre- reading, during reading, and post- reading phases.
(From Farrell, T.S.C., 2002)
B. Teaching Writing
Writing is the most complex human activity. It involves the development of a design idea, the capture of
mental representations of knowledge, and of experience with subjects. It can be viewed as involving a
number of thinking processes which are drawn upon in varied and complex ways as an individual composes,
transcribes, evaluates, and revises. (Arndt, 1987; Raimes, 1985 as cited in White 1995)
In first language settings, the ability to write well has a very close relationship to academic and professional
success.
Writing, as compared to speaking, can be seen as more standardized system which must be acquired through
special instruction. Mastery of this standard system is a pre- requisite of cultural and educational participation
and the maintenance of ones rights and duties.
-Grabowki, 1996
Brown (1994), as cited in Weigle, 2002, pp. 15-16 provides the following list of characteristics that ordinarily
differentiate written language from spoken language:
Permanence: oral language is transitory and must be processed in real time, while written language is
permanent and can be read and reread as often as one likes;
Production time: writers generally have more time to plan, review, and revise their words before
they are finalized, while speakers must plan, formulate, and deliver their utterances within a few
months if they are to maintain a conversation.
Distance: between the writer and the reader in both time and space, which eliminates much of the
shared context that is present between speaker and listener in ordinary face-t-face contact and thus
necessitates greater explicitness on the part of the writer;

Orthography: which carries limited amount of information compared to the richness of devices
available to speakers to enhance a message (stress, intonation, pitch, volume, pausing, etc.)
Complexity: written language tends to be characterized by longer clauses and more subordinators,
while spoken language tends to have shorter clauses connected by coordinators as well as more
redundancy ( repetition of nouns and verbs)
Formality: because of the social and cultural uses to which writing is ordinarily put, writing tends to
be more formal than speaking.
Vocabulary: written texts tend to contain a wider variety of words, and more lower- frequency words
than oral texts.
Principles of Teaching Writing
To make every student progress from a struggling novice writer to a skillful writer, you need to understand
the nature of students writing process. To achieve the best results, you should be guided by the fundamental
principles of teaching writing which include the following:
1. Writing literacy starts in the early years of child development.
2. Writing is a creative act.
3. Writing experiences should be child-centered.
4. Writing for meaning is paramount.
5. Reading and writing, like speaking and listening, are inseparable processes.
Marking Written Composition
There are different techniques that may be used in evaluating students writing.
Impression Marking. The simplest and quickest approach to the holistic grading of student papers is to read
them quickly without circling errors or suggesting editorial changes. The reader scores the paper and marks it
based on some general feelings about the papers effectiveness.
The Holistic Approach. This approach provides opportunities for students to respond to peer writing. The
focus is more on developing imaginativeness and inventiveness in the first draft, then fluency and fine-tuning
during revision stage. Consider the following guides to help students recognize and value excellence and
experimentation in any aspect of the writing process:
Impact
The readers interest is engaged.
The writer has something to say and is imaginatively involved.
The writing is convincing, has a sense of immediacy and completeness.
Inventiveness. The reader is surprised finds that the writer has not followed the common or the trite but
has introduced elements that are new and unexpected. Writers inventiveness may include:
Coined words (onomatopoeia, etc)
Tag names (allusive or symbolic)
Unusual point of view (Often to add humor or irony)
Figurative use of language (to clarify meaning, not to adorn)
Significant titleone that augments the meaning of the writing
Evaluation by Peers. Grading by peers teaches students a lot of sensitive things. Students use peer papers as
creative sources for borrowing ideas, rhetorical and syntactic strategies, and even vocabulary.
Cooperative Grading. Specific criteria are discussed prior to the grading. Surface conversations,
arrangement, illustrations, and examples and the care the writer took are considered in the evaluation. After
each reader has assigned the paper a grade, the three grades are averaged for a final one. Your grade counts a
third of the final grade.
Self- Evaluation. Gramer (1984) suggests that student writers look carefully at the first draft, asking
themselves two questions:
a. What is the piece about?
b. What am I trying to do?
Conferencing. A studentteacher conference is a meeting to discuss workin progress. As you listen to
students talk about writing, you can learn how to help students work through the process.
Submitted by
MR. CEDRIC M. RAYLA
MAEd-ELT

Submitted to

ARACELI RADA- SALMORIN, Ph.D, CESO V

Professor