Teaching Second Language Reading

T. Hudson
Oxford University Press 2007, 350 pp., £17.00
isbn-13: 978 0 19 442283 3

Reviews 89
The book is an essential contribution to the already rationale for their development. The discussion is
large reservoir of works on reading in the second in plain English and thus makes it easy for
language context. However, an initial response must comprehension especially if the reader is a N NS .
surely come from the titling of the book. The word
Chapter 3 introduces the main focus of the
‘teaching’ in the title may not be appropriate, as this
book—second (and foreign) language reading. The
book mainly leads readers (presumably the majority
multitude of relationships that can possibly take
being teachers or trainee teachers) towards an
place in learning–teaching situations in second/
understanding of reading processes (and of course
foreign language classrooms when reading
all that is necessary in terms of a proper
instruction takes place are addressed. This chapter is
understanding of that phenomenon). The teaching
appropriately written for undergraduate students as
aspect of it is not heavily represented for if it were,
the writer, while introducing a barrage of research
classroom applications would be more evident, and
done into second/foreign language reading, leads the
the reader would be provided with samples of reading
reader slowly into the far reaches of research, which
activities and tasks, and perhaps even types of
are complex by design and quite challenging to
assessment.
understand.
The structure of the book in terms of content is
Chapter 4 provides a comprehensive overview of
cohesive, the author starting with issues in reading
reading skills and the writer helps with identification,
and ending with issues in the teaching of reading. The
listing, and illustration of what these skills are in
book covers the usual topics covered in most books
relation to second language learners and their
on reading offered to the second language teacher:
development as readers in the target language. Most
theories and models associated with first and second
writers who deal with this topic assume that there are
language reading, skills, strategies of readers,
clear-cut meanings of skills and related terminology
schema and background knowledge, genre and
in the literature. The writer of this book clearly
contrastive rhetoric, vocabulary and reading
addresses this problem by tackling the issue of
associations, and reading–writing relationships.
overlap of terms and concepts.
In the Introduction, the author describes personal
Chapter 5 deals with strategies and metacognitive
experiences he had growing up with reading
skills. Again the strength of this book lies in its ability
difficulties, and this nicely weaves into the issues
to help the reader (especially one who is new to
which revolve around questions such as ‘What is
reading) face up to the reality of the eccentricities of
reading?’ and ‘Are language problems and reading
writers who use terminology too freely. The writer of
problems linked?’. The writer does make the
this book illustrates how writers dealing with reading
Introduction audience-friendly by providing the gist
interpret terminology and helps the reader come to
of the contents. Although the writer claims that the
a better understanding of the terms ‘skill’, ‘strategy’,
book is for an ‘extended audience’ (for use by
and ‘metacognitive skill’. Useful ideas for teaching
undergraduates in teacher training, researchers, and
metacognition are also suggested.
practitioners), a deeper reading would place it as one
which is essentially a textbook for undergraduate Chapter 6 deals with the topic, ‘content schema’ and
TE SL programmes or a reader-friendly text for N NS s background knowledge, one that is a major area of
of English in post-graduate programmes. discussion in books about the teaching of reading.
This chapter is also very well written with the writer
Chapter 1 of the book is titled ‘Issues in reading’.
developing the major issues with clear illustrations
Although it is well written and, as the writer says, lays
from research findings such as from the ‘sounding’
down the ‘concerns that will continue to be the meat
study.
of discussions throughout the remainder of the book’
(p. 29), some of the important ‘issues’ discussed Chapter 7 discusses formal schema and its role in
could have been the subject of a stand-alone chapter. second language reading. The writer, in a very
I really feel this chapter is all about ‘Reasons and interesting manner, discusses such things as the
requirements for reading’ and not about function of script, how syntax operates, and how text
issues—because issues are wide and deep, and many structure influences the second language reader’s
issues, which are quite diverse in nature, cannot performance.
obviously be accommodated in a book of this type.
Chapter 8 deals with genre and contrastive rhetoric.
Chapter 2 gives an overview of theories and models of The writer aptly starts the discussion with a lengthy
first language reading processes, providing good but clear illustration of what genre is. He then moves
illustrations of the workings of the model and the on to a discussion on contrastive rhetoric. The

90 Reviews
phenomenon of ‘discourse communities’, which is excellent reference for graduate students in second
a major issue of discussion in books dealing with the language/foreign language situations who may find
teaching of reading and writing, is introduced other reading books not very reader-friendly,
towards the end of the chapter. extremely heavy on theory, and lacking entirely in
classroom applications.
Chapter 9 provides discussion of the importance of
vocabulary in reading. The writer acknowledges the
huge range of research findings already available that The reviewer
show that vocabulary strength does have a significant Jayakaran Mukundan worked as a language teacher
impact on reading performance. In this chapter, the in schools before working as a teacher trainer at the
writer gradually introduces key concepts such as Universiti Putra Malaysia. He has had an interest in
breadth and depth of word knowledge and their reading and the teaching of it for a long time and
relationships. The use and relevance of dictionaries in worked as materials consultant for the Ministry of
second language reading classrooms is an Education’s Class Reader Programme in the 1980s.
interesting discussion point in this chapter. The writer He published a book on Class Readers (on the
discusses the research which addresses this issue in
Malaysian experiences) with Longman in 1998. He
reader-friendly language.
is currently a Director on the Extensive Reading
Chapter 10 covers the reading–writing relationship Foundation board. He has also written readers for
which has been discussed widely in ELT. The writer children and young adults.
confronts the ‘read to write’ and ‘write to read’ issues Email: jaya@educ.upm.edu.my
in a manner suitable for undergraduate students. doi:10.1093/elt/ccn061
More complex issues such as the theoretical bases for
reading–writing relationships in curriculum
development, especially in tertiary settings, are also
discussed.
Chapter 11 summarizes the main issues explored in
this book. Like the tone of the writer throughout, he
emphasizes again that research on reading is
dynamic and people in the field are still in the process
of discovery.
This is a great book for an undergraduate TE SO L
teaching of reading course. It lays a strong foundation
for further discussion of key issues in the teaching of
second language reading.
The book, however, is not without its fair share of
inadequacies. While it claims to explore key issues, it
leaves out one major topic area, which is the
development and uses of reading programmes.
Second language reading development of late has
had a strong focus on supplementary reading
programmes, and the success and failure of these
should also be accounted for. Also, key aspects of
reading like extensive reading programmes are not
discussed at all.
Another problem is that while it claims to provide
‘practical strategies’ for the teacher (in the blurb), it
does not keep that promise. There should be a link
between theory-backed approaches and actual
classroom material and procedures. But as a first
read for undergraduates on a T ES OL /TE SL /TE FL
programme, this book is excellent and can be
supplemented with another that focuses on practical
strategies and materials/procedures. It is also an

Reviews 91