Anita A.

José

Diocleciano
Boaventura Amada

Edson Lúcio
Estévão Mussoma

William Fidelix

Teaching Reading

(Licenciatura em ensino de inglês)

Universidade Rovuma
Nampula
2023
 Anita A. José
Diocleciano
Boaventura Amada
Edson Lúcio Estévão
Mussoma
William Fidelix

Essay to be submitted to the department

of Letters and Social sciences in
fulfilment of the subject: Didactics of
English II.

Lecturer: Bernabé Cachele, MA

Universidade Rovuma
Nampula
2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................4

1. TEACHING READING..................................................................................................5

1.1. Definitions................................................................................................................5

1.3. The nature of reading for comprehension and vs decoding symbols.......................5

1.4. Encouraging students to gather and infer meaning..................................................5

1.5. Silent reading............................................................................................................6

1.5.1. Advantages of silent reading vs. reading aloud knowledge through pre-reading
questions..............................................................................................................................6

1.6. Guiding questions.....................................................................................................7

1.7. Pre-teaching of vocabulary.......................................................................................7

1.7.1. Teaching steps......................................................................................................7

1.8. Comprehension Questions........................................................................................8

1.9. Practicing reading activities.....................................................................................8

1.10. Designing reading activities.................................................................................8

CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................10

REFERENCES......................................................................................................................11
INTRODUCTION

Reading is a complex “cognitive process” of decoding symbols in order to construct or

derive meaning. Reading is a means of language acquisition, communication and of sharing
information and ideas. The purpose for reading also determines the appropriate approach to
reading comprehension.

Reading as a receptive skill, deserves a special attention in order for a teacher of language
to enhance an effective reading. This attention roots out from general reading finding to its
direction to subsets of them. By subsets of reading, it is meant to considering scanning,
skimming, rapid reading, reading for pleasure, critical reading, in-depth reading. In
language teaching, it is not a surprise to hear people say that students learning a foreigner
language are always hampered by reading skill. As such, this paper is an attempt to shed the
light on the methods, principles and techniques that are used when dealing with reading.
Not only that, but the paper also focuses on some stem sentences dedicated to get the
students doing many different activities of different focuses of a given reading text, poem,
play, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, journals, dairies, etc.
 1. TEACHING READING
1.1. Definitions

Widdowson (1979, p. 56), defines reading as “the process of getting linguistic information
via print”. By talking about “getting information”. Widdowson appears to imply that this is
a fairly one-way process from writer or text to reader, although Widdowson would not want
to appear to be implying this, since he has been an important advocate of the view that the
reader interprets and contributes to incoming messages.

Harmer (2007) states that reading is useful for language acquisitions; the more the students
read, the better they get at it. In addition, reading also has positive effect on students’
vocabulary knowledge, on their spelling, and on their writing. Furthermore, reading
comprehension as “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning
through interaction and involvement with written language”.

1.2. Reasons for teaching reading

HARMER, (1997: 80), points out that there are many reasons why getting students to read
English texts and is an important part of the teacher's job. In the first place, many of them
want to be able to read in English either for their careers, for study purposes or simply for
pleasure. Reading texts also provide a good model of English writing. When the teacher
teaches the skills of writing, the teacher will need to show students models of what the
teacher is encouraging them to do. Reading texts also provide opportunities to study
language: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and the way the sentences are constructed.
To sum up, good reading texts can introduce interesting topics, simulate discussions, excite
imaginative responses and be the springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lessons.

1.3. The nature of reading for comprehension and vs decoding symbols

1.4. Encouraging students to gather and infer meaning

 1.5. Silent reading

Moss (2016) defines silent reading as a time for readers to develop their fluency skills
through choosing a book to read quietly in class. This author emphasizes the importance of
providing students with a variety of literature to choose from within an accessible library in
order to maximize the silent reading experience. Silent reading is widely discussed as a
critical piece of literacy instruction in the elementary school classroom because it provides
time for students to build a love for reading.

1.5.1. Advantages of silent reading vs. reading aloud knowledge through pre-
reading questions

Grubaugh (1986) points out that an important outcome of silent reading time is that
students gain a positive attitude toward reading and is not just about test scores. In his
work, suggests that researchers have found that silent reading can lead to students building
reading skills while also developing a positive attitude toward reading. This combination of
growth can lead to improving a student’s reading score and overall successful
comprehension outcomes.

Silent reading gives students opportunities to hold themselves accountable for determining
the meaning of text, growing their vocabulary, seeking further information about questions
that they have, and building their reading stamina.

The Silent reading allows the students to read at his/her own pace and to go back and read
parts that are difficult. The problem for the teacher is that she has no evidence that the
students are actually reading. That’s why my teaching lessons are slightly different. We
usually negotiate meaning socially. "Silent" reading time shouldn't be entirely silent.
Teachers can allow part of the time for reading in pairs, including pairs of different abilities
and ages; and provide regular opportunities for readers to discuss their reading with the
teacher and with one another. Conversation not only raises the status of independent silent
reading from a time filler to an important part of the reading program; it also gives students
another opportunity to practice and build comprehension skills collaboratively.
 1.6. Guiding questions

1.7. Pre-teaching of vocabulary

The primary consideration for pre-teaching vocabulary should be which words need to be
clarified for students so that those words don’t get in the way of comprehension (Beck, et al
2008). Teachers can introduce both the more unfamiliar specialised content area words that
will be used in the lesson as well as non-specialised academic words used when talking
about the content or during or after the reading of a text.

According to Beck et al (2008), pre-teaching vocabulary is an instructional method

employed by the teachers to ease comprehension of a reading text by the students. The
increased morphological awareness achieved by learning unfamiliar words allows the
learners' cognitive function to focus on understanding the text without being distracted by
decoding the meaning of new words. This technique is employed by the teachers to help
their students create a ‘vocabulary fluency’ for spontaneity and accuracy in understanding
the text by making a connection between vocabulary and comprehension.

Pre-teaching vocabulary facilitates the reading of new text by giving students the meanings
of the words before they encounter them. This practice reduces the number of unfamiliar
words encountered and facilitates greater comprehension.

1.7.1. Teaching steps

Teacher previews text/topic to select words to pre-teach (as well as words to be taught
during and after reading). Usually no more than three to five words should be selected for
pre-teaching.

The following guidelines can be used when selecting vocabulary to pre-teach:

 Importance of the word for understanding the text.

 Students’ prior knowledge of the word and the concept to which it relates.
 The existence of multiple meanings of the word (e.g., metre in poetry, mathematics,
and science).
  Opportunities for grouping words together to enhance understanding a concept.

Once vocabulary words have been selected for pre teaching the attention they get before
reading should be brief. The kind of work that is needed for students to ‘know a word’ may
distract student’s attention from the text that is about to be read. Also, when words are
taught before reading, instruction cannot take advantage of the context in which the word is
used. If too many words are presented without being contextualised they may appear to be a
random set of words (Beck et al, 2008).

1.8. Comprehension Questions

Teachers often use comprehension questions to test whether students have understood what
they have read. In order to test comprehension appropriately, these questions need to be
coordinated with the purpose of reading. If the purpose is to find the specific information,
comprehension questions should focus on that information (Beck, et al 2008).

1.9. Practicing reading activities

1.10. Designing reading activities

A reading assignment is any activity or assignment that requires your students to read and
assimilate written information before completing the activity in question. It may be an
essay assignment, a discussion that requires your students to read an article or a website, or
it may simply be the required activity of reading various journal articles, the textbook or
your teaching points (Moss, 2016, p. 78).

 Ensure that readings are relevant to the course topics and written at an accessible
level for your students. For example:
- Keep your reading list manageable (applying a “less is more” strategy).
- Outline which readings are required and which are optional.
- Provide guiding questions on the required readings to help students focus their attention as
they read.
- Provide short summaries or reviewing the main concepts of the readings in your teaching
points or course notes especially if the readings are more complex (i.e., aimed at specialists
in the field).
 Make the readings clearly applicable to

- Course goals
- Unit learning objectives
- Assignments and activities
- Their own lives and work situations.
CONCLUSION
For many years, comprehension is the only reason for reading. Without comprehension,
reading is a frustrating, pointless exercise in word calling. It is no exaggeration to say that
how well students develop the ability to comprehend what they read has a profound effect
on their entire lives. Comprehension instruction followed what the study called mentioning,
practicing and assessing procedure where teachers mentioned a specific skill by completing
work book pages. It is plausible that preparation in the nature of the foundational reading
skills and research- based instructional approaches would improve teacher’s practice to a
degree that would be evident in earning outcomes for their students.
REFERENCES
Beck, I.., L.,et al (2008). Creating Robust Vocabulary: Frequently asked questions and
extended examples. The Guilford Press: NY.

Grubaugh, S. (1986). Initiating Sustained Silent Reading in Your School. The Clearing

Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Oxford: England Ocelot Publishing.

House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas. USA.

Moss, B. (2016). Making independent reading work. Literacy Daily Blog. International
Literacy Association. https://literacyworldwide.org/blog%2Fliteracy-daily
%2F2016%2F02%2F18%2Fmaking-independent-reading-work accessed on March 31st
2023, 1 pm.

Widdowson, H. G. (1979). Explorations in applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.