Litreview-Carrillo Cuevas

Ped.
en Ingls
EFL Methodology
Theoretical principles on how to teach

reading and vocabulary
Students:
Javiera Carrillo Ibez
Natalia Cuevas Pereira
Teachers:
Roxana Correa
Theresa St John
October, 2017
Theoretical principles on how to teach reading and vocabulary

In this paper, it is going to be presented the theoretical principles on how to
teach reading and vocabulary. Reading is one of the skill of English that teachers
need to help students to develop in classes, among with vocabulary to have a better
understanding of what students have been reading.
To teach any language, teachers need to know the principles on how to teach
the skills and systems that are necessary to communicate effectively. Skills in
English are four to be developed, and those are speaking, writing, listening and
reading, which are necessary to be acquired for any person who wants to learn the
language. Systems are integrated into the skills, and they are related to
pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
This paper main focus is how to teach reading and vocabulary in an L2
environment, according to three authors, which are Patricia Amato, Paul Nation and
Jeremy Harmer. Furthermore, they research about those aspects of the
language, and on how to teach them effectively.
According to Amato (2005) reading should be taught through three phases.
Firstly the pre-reading phase, allow students to think about what they know about the
topic and to predict what they will read. Therefore, the aim of this stage is to reduce
any possibility of students giving up on the readings due to the lack of knowledge
that they might acquire before reading any text. Secondly the during-reading phase,
here the teacher should plan activities to help students to have a better
understanding of the text, also teachers can use multimedia materials as videos,
audios or movies to set a context for students. Additionally, those activities are
mostly use when students may read by their own. Thirdly the post-reading phase, the
purpose is to check and enrich the comprehension of the text and the topic of the
lesson. To accomplish all the previous stages, Amato indicates that teachers should
plan the reading lessons. Another author who refers to the topic is Harmer (2001,
p.210) which states that students need to be involved in both extensive and intensive
reading; in other words, he wants to express that students need to know the two
reading styles, and which of them prefer as a reading task. Moreover, reading should
follow a sequence, and that sequence depends on the task the teacher gives to the
students.
Related to vocabulary, Amato (2005) wrote that the acquisition of vocabulary is
neither simpler nor fast, due to students need to be exposed to the words many
times. Moreover, she states that
Students know a word best by trying it out for themselves, explaining its meaning in
their own words, experimenting with synonyms and antonyms, and connecting it to
their own storehouse of knowledge in a variety of ways, including writing and
speaking. (p. 268)
As it was stated before, if teachers want to teach vocabulary, it would be an
outstanding idea to use more than once all the words in context, just to be sure that
students would acquire the words. Another author related to teaching vocabulary is
Nation (2009, p. 38), he state that vocabulary should be taught only in intensive
reading and its focus should be on high frequency words. Furthermore, he states
three principles to teach vocabulary in intensive reading, the first is that high
frequency words should be the focus, the second is that low frequency words should
be taught quickly, and the third is that teachers should teach vocabulary through
strategies as guessing from context, repeating, and so on and so forth.
Consequently, for Nation, it is better to teach words that students will use frequently.
On the one hand, Amatos (2005) view on how to teach vocabulary is related
to her own reading stages. In the pre-reading stage, it is better to teach vocabulary in
context to prepare students for the reading. The during-reading stage is the most
useful way of teaching vocabulary, because students are actually reading the text, so
they may have some vocabulary issues that can be solve in the moment. The post-
reading stage is for students to reinforce those words which were difficult for them.
Besides, Amato state that vocabulary teaching should be mainly for papers related to
science or maths, those whose vocabulary is specific and necessary to reach a full
understanding of the reading. On the other hand, Nations (2009 p.37-38) view on
how to teach vocabulary is related to his language-focused learning strand, but
including activities as multi-word cards, intensive reading, etcetera.
Overall, it may be said that reading and vocabulary teaching can be taught as
an integrative process, thus they complement each other. Knowing vocabulary in
context it is going to help students to understand better any text, even more if they
are facing specific vocabulary as in scientific texts. However, when students are
facing texts which vocabulary that is not difficult to understand, it is better for
teachers to not teach this system of the language, because students can infer the
meaning using tools as a dictionary. Moreover, it is essential for teachers to have in
mind that their role in classes is to help students during the reading process. Also,
reading according to the authors is not an one step process, because teachers need
to create the correct pre-, while and post- environment or context for students to
reach an overall understanding of their readings. Finally, the writers of the literature
review agreed on what Amato state at the very beginning of her paper, that the main
goal of teaching reading and vocabulary is for students to become independent
readers.
References
Amato, P. Snow, M. (2005) Academic success for english language learners. New
York:
Harmer, J. (2001). Reading. In The practice of English language teaching (pp. 210-
227) (Third edition ed.). Edinburgh: Longman.
Nation, I.S.P. (2009) Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. New York: Routledge.
171 pages. ISBN 978-0-415-98968-8

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Ped.

Theoretical principles on how to teach

Theoretical principles on how to teach reading and vocabulary

understanding of what students have been reading.

pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

This paper main focus is how to teach reading and vocabulary in an L2

Jeremy Harmer. Furthermore, they research about those aspects of the

language, and on how to teach them effectively.

According to Amato (2005) reading should be taught through three phases.

Related to vocabulary, Amato (2005) wrote that the acquisition of vocabulary is

times. Moreover, she states that

their own storehouse of knowledge in a variety of ways, including writing and

speaking. (p. 268)

As it was stated before, if teachers want to teach vocabulary, it would be an

strategies as guessing from context, repeating, and so on and so forth.

how to teach vocabulary is related to his language-focused learning strand, but

including activities as multi-word cards, intensive reading, etcetera.

an integrative process, thus they complement each other. Knowing vocabulary in

meaning using tools as a dictionary. Moreover, it is essential for teachers to have in

227) (Third edition ed.). Edinburgh: Longman.

171 pages. ISBN 978-0-415-98968-8

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