Methodology 2LG

READING
1 RECEPTIVE SKILLS

Both listening and reading are concerned with making sense of language that other produce.
Listeners and readers do not passively receive messages, but instead actively create meaning as they
interpret what they hear in the light of what they already know.

There are essentially two processes at work:

TOP-DOWN:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

BOTTOM-UP:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Observation

Neither type of processing can fully account on its own for how we process a text. Instead, it seems
that we continually …………………………………………………………………………, using the detail derived from
…………………………………………………………………………processing to either confirm or reassess our
expectations based on ………………………………………………………………………… processes.
How we balance the two processes may depend on several issues, including the reason we are
reading.
2. SOURCES OF MATERIAL

Advantages Disadvantages
Authentic texts:

……………………………………..

……………………………………..

Texts especially written for

teaching purposes

Is one type of material better than another? What is key?

 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. READING SUB SKILLS

- Worksheet 1 “Teaching receptive skills: reading and listening – Read all about it”

- SCAN reading - SCANNING:

- SKIM / GIST reading - SKIMMING:

- INTENSIVE/close reading:

- EXTENSIVE reading (infer textual or vocabulary meaning):

 Depending on the reason for reading, we read in different ways.

Here are some activities you can use to develop the different subskills.
(https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teens-reading-skills)

A: Scan Reading

When we scan for information our eyes move quickly around a text from side to side or up
and down. We don’t read all the information on the page but look for specific pieces of
information that we need. Such information could be a number, date, time, place, name or
price. Working on scan reading skills lends itself to exploiting authentic materials such as
leaflets, posters, tickets, timetables, flyers, what’s on guides or menus.

1. Noticeboard quiz
Put the authentic materials on a noticeboard and divide the students into teams. One
student from each team comes up to the board and the first student to find the answer to a
question you ask gets a point. Alternatively you could get students in groups to write a quiz
for another group based on the information on the noticeboard.

2. Remove a sentence
This activity helps students think about text genre and the likely content of each type of text.
Using the same texts as above, remove one sentence from each text. Students look at the
removed sentences and predict which text they think they have been removed from. Then
they scan the noticeboard and check their predictions.

B: Skim Reading

When we skim a text our eyes follow the text from start to finish. One of the aims of skim
reading is to encourage students to read a text quickly and comfortably in order to get an
overall understanding of it.

1. Time limit
Set a realistic time limit for your students to read the text and give them a general question
to answer before they read. A typical task could be to choose the best title for a text. To help
choose a realistic time limit, time how long it takes you to read the text comfortably and add
a bit more time, depending on the level of the students. You could ask students to raise their
hand as soon as they know the answer to the task. This is an unobtrusive way of seeing how
quickly each student reads the text and which students need to increase their reading speed.

2. Confirm predictions
After a pre-reading prediction task students skim the text and confirm which of their ideas
from the pre-reading task are mentioned in the text.

C: Intensive Reading (for detail)

1. Student-generated questions
Students work in pairs or groups and write a few comprehension questions based on the
text. They must know the answers. This is a great way of reviewing question forms and
helping students write questions correctly. Then, they give their questions to another group
and answer the other group’s questions. Finally, they give their answers to the original group
who correct them. Students love correcting each other’s answers.

2. Student-generated true and false sentences

After reading the text, students work in groups and write two true and two false sentences
about the text. They give their sentences to another group who have to decide which are
true and which are false, and correct the false ones. Finally, they give their answers to the
original group who correct them. Again, they love correcting each other’s answers.

3. Colour the text

For any intensive reading task, I encourage students to colour or highlight the part of the
text that gives them the answer. This trains them to always look for justification in the text
to support their answer and helps you see which students are able/not able to find this
information in a text. This is a technique they can be encouraged to use in a reading test or
exam.

4. Read and tweet

Asking students to summarise a text is a useful skill as it helps them to pick out key
information and to develop paraphrasing skills. Students highlight the key information in the
text with a coloured pen. A short written summary could take the form of a tweet. To
summarise a longer text, ask each group of students to summarise a different paragraph
from the text as a tweet. Then collect the tweets, put them on the board and the students
read them all and decide which order they go in. Rather than spending lots of time counting
a maximum of 140 characters, you could give them a maximum number of words e.g. 25
words. The same activity could be done orally.
4. READING IN THE CLASSROOM

A group of teachers were asked their opinion about teaching reading. Here are the things they did.
For each one, decide if you think it’s a useful strategy or not and why.

1. I never start with reading. I try to build interest in the text by talking about the topic first.

2. I usually ask the students what they think will be in the text, based on the title or something
like that.

3. I usually check some of the vocabulary in the text before the Ls read it.

4. I usually teach some of the vocabulary in the text after the Ls have read it.

5. I start by getting the learners to each read aloud a paragraph or so from the text.

6. I expect the learners to read the text more than one time.

7. I always set a task before the Ls read – some questions or something like that.

8. I usually get the Ls to compare the answers to questions with each other, before reporting
them back to me.
5. THE AIM OF A READING LESSON (source: teacher training essentials)

6. POTENTIAL OUTLINE OF A READING LESSON

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
7. REFLECTION ON AN EXAMPLE READING LESSON

Look at the example for the reading lesson and accompanying material and answer the following
questions:

1. Divide the plan into three blocks – before reading / reading / after reading. What activities
come in each?

BEFORE READING

READING

AFTER READING

2. How does the teacher link the vocabulary focus with the learners making predictions?

3. Why do you think a time limit is used in the gist reading task?

4. Why do you think the teacher asks learners what they find interesting or surprising?

5. What does the teacher do after giving the questions for intensive reading but before the
learners actually read?

6. What factors might influence which of the two extension activities is used?
 SUMMARY

Help learners develop flexible reading skills

Build interest in topic before starting the reading

Set a task before asking the learners to read. Questions

help to focus learners on the important parts of texts and
give them a reason to read

Ensure the learners read the text more than once by

setting different tasks -> guiding questions about the
general meaning (1st reading) followed by checking
comprehension (2nd reading)

Consider the advantages of using authentic texts, at least

some of the time

Consider whether it is necessary to pre teach any

vocabulary

Generally concentrate on developing silent reading skills

rather that reading aloud
-> Control of the class: even if nothing seems to be
happening, Ls are in fact concentrating on the text and
thinking about the meaning

Follow the reading with a post-reading activity that implies

another skill and is close to real life
9. SOME IDEAS FOR TEACHING READING

Sources: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teens-reading-skills , Learning to teach

English (Peter Watkins, 2015)

Here are some activities you can use with students before, while and after reading a text.

Before reading

• encourage your Ls to discuss the topic of the text and share what they already know
about it
• ask learners to predict the content of the text, based on titles, pictures or key words
that are in the text

There are lots of activities you can do before students read a text to help enhance their
comprehension, such as ones that activate the students’ schemata or background
knowledge, arouse their interest in the topic or prepare them linguistically.

1. A carousel of ideas
This activity helps Ss find out what they already know about a topic and encourages them to
share ideas about topics before they read a text.

Before Ss read a text, choose four topics that relate to the text that would be useful for Ss to
think about before reading.

Take a large piece of paper and divide it into four triangles by drawing diagonal lines from
opposite corners. Write one of the topics in each of the triangles in the centre of the piece of
paper.

Four students sit around the piece of paper and are given a time limit e.g. one minute. They
write as many ideas as possible relating to the topic in their triangle. When the time’s up,
they rotate the piece of paper and have another minute. This time, they read the ideas
already written down and add new ones to it. After a minute, they rotate the paper again
and add more ideas. Repeat one last time until all Ss have written in each triangle. They then
read all the ideas in each triangle.

2. Ideas continuum
This activity helps Ss think about how much they know about a topic and share ideas with
each other.

Draw a horizontal line on the board. At one end write ‘I know a lot about this’ and at the
other end write ‘I know very little about this’.

The teacher says topics or ideas that relate to the text. Ss decide how much knowledge they
already have about the topics and write them on the line in their notebooks, so if the topic is
Australian animals and the student knows quite a lot, they write ‘Australian animals’ towards
the ‘I know a lot about this’ end.
Students compare their existing knowledge and those who know a little about one of the
topics find someone who knows more than them and they tell each other what they know.

3. Sneak preview
Show the text on the IWB or with the projector for just 20 seconds. If your classroom is low
tech, students can open their books and look at the text for just 20 seconds. The idea is for
them to get as much information as possible in a short space of time so they scan the text
for key words that include the most important information.

Alternatively you could show students a few key words from the text, headings and
accompanying visuals and they guess their relevance in the text.

4. Words and pictures

Show students images related to the text and students work together to write down all the
words they can see in the images or related to the images. Then they swap their piece of
paper with another group and write synonyms or related words in a different colour next to
the other group’s words. This activity helps predict words that might appear in the text and
extends students’ vocabulary.

5. Peer pre-teaching vocabulary

This is a communicative way of pre-teaching tricky but essential vocabulary. Make a list of
words that appear in the text that students need to know in order to understand the text.
Write simple definitions for the words and cut them up on individual slips of paper. Divide
the students into three groups: A, B and C. Give each group a list of the words they need to
understand e.g. if there are nine words altogether, give three different words to each group.
Put the nine definitions around the classroom. One student from each group has to go and
find the correct definition for one of the group’s words. S/he brings the definition over to
the group and they all write it down. Another student goes to find the definition for word 2
and another for word 3. When the three groups have their three definitions, make new
groups of three with an A, B and C student in each. They teach each other their words and all
students make a note of the words and definitions.

The final stage is to check that all students understand all the words with a quick team game
that reviews all the new words.

While reading

• as a gist reading task, elicit learner’s prediction (top-down) and then ask the class to
read quickly (skimming) to decide whose prediction is closest
• offer 2 possible titles to the text and ask the Ls to choose the most appropriate
(skimming)
• provide two short summaries and ask the Ls which is the most accurate
• use Who? What? When? Why? Type of question (intensive reading)
• use multiple choice questions (so that the Ls don’t get sidetracked by the demands of
writing)
• ask Ls to sequence events in a story
 • use jigsaw tasks, where different Ls read different parts of a text and then share
information
• ask Ls to read the text in short sections and after each ask them if they wish to
change previous predictions they have made (bottom-up)
• ask Ls to mark bits of text they agree/disagree with, find funny, shocking etc. so that
they respond emotionally to the text
• give Ls a summary of the text that includes some factual errors. Ask the Ls to correct
those (intensive reading)
• provide Ls with a glossary of new words that they can use if they need to and
experiment with personalised glossaries (to cater for Ls with different needs within
the class) (extensive reading)

More about Scan Reading - Skim Reading - Intensive Reading (see previous pages)

After reading

After reading a text, students can integrate the skills by talking or writing about it or could
focus on specific language in the text.

• Discuss the Ls’ reactions to the text

• Role play a situation in the text
• Study the vocabulary, grammar or structure of the text

Drama
This is a fun activity that works with texts with a lot of action. In groups, students act out the
text. If necessary, one or two students could be narrators.

Roleplay
Choose two or three of the characters in the text and students imagine what they would say
to each other and carry out a roleplay. This is a good way of developing creativity and
imagination as the dialogue goes beyond what is in the text.

Vocabulary
A typical vocabulary activity carried out after reading a text is ‘Find the word in the text that
means...’. Students look for words in the text for these synonyms or definitions. This activity
can be taken one stage further by asking students to replace the words in the text with the
synonyms and make the necessary changes to the syntax and grammar. This helps students
develop their paraphrasing skills.

Language
Take a paragraph from the text and take out examples of a similar word type, e.g. all the
verbs, articles, prepositions or personal pronouns. Give the students the missing words and
they put them back into the text in the right place.

For extra reading material and activities to use in class see:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/britlit
10. What To Do With Reading Texts
http://busyteacher.org/2748-what-to-do-with-reading-texts-10-creative-ways.html

This list of 10 creative ways to work with reading texts was kindly shared by Churchill
House, and is available for public download on their website www.churchillhouse.co.uk.

EXPAND THE TEXT

With short, simple texts, get students to add an adjective in front of every noun / an adverb
to every verb etc.
For slightly longer texts - before class write (10) extra clauses or sentences that can be
inserted into the text. Write these up in jumbled order on the board and get students to add
them in the most appropriate places.

REDUCE THE TEXT

Get students to reduce the text to EXACTLY (100) words OR reduce the total number of
sentences by (50%).

RECONSTRUCT THE TEXT

Before class, write a list of key words from the text in jumbled order on a sheet of paper.
Make one copy for each group of students.
In class, give out the text to all the students. Get them to read it through. Now ask them to
turn over the text. Hand out the jumbled keywords. Ask students to put the keywords back
into the correct order WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE TEXT. When they get stuck, allow them to
reread to the text (but first get them to cover up the jumbled words again.)
When all the students have got the words in the correct order, take the text away. Get
students to reconstruct the text (orally or in writing) from the key words.

MATCHING
Before class, get a heavy black pen and cross out the first sentence of each paragraph. (If you
downloaded the page off the web, use your word processor to delete the sentences before
printing.)
In class, write the missing sentences up in jumbled order on the board and get students to
add them back into the text in the correct place.
Note: choosing the first sentence of a paragraph is particularly useful as these often
summarise the main idea of the paragraph. Students can use these sentences to help them
understand and structure the text.
 TRANSFORM THE TEXT
Students must transform the text in some way, for example:

• Retell a story in the first person not the third person

• Retell a story from the perspective of a different character in the story (e.g. from the
wolf’s perspective, not from Little Red Riding Hood’s.)
• Present a news story as a TV news item instead of a newspaper item.

DEDUCTION
Copy the text onto a piece of A4 paper. Tear off a column (say 4cm wide) down the left hand
side of the copy and a similar sized column off the right hand side. Photocopy and hand out
the remaining “middle” part of the story. Students must work together to deduce the whole
story from the bits they have. Hand out the original story for comparison at the end.

TEXT QUIZ
Hand out the chosen text to the class. Give them time to read it, check new words etc.
Now get the students in groups to prepare (15) questions about the text which another
group will have to answer from memory. Questions should be factual.
When the groups are ready, cover up all copies of the text, then get groups to swap their
question sheets and answer each other’s questions. The group that answers the most
questions correctly wins.

WORD PARTNERSHIPS
Before class, find (15) useful word partnerships in your chosen text. Write the first word of
each partnership down the left-hand side of a piece of paper.
E.g.
Solve …………
(Don’t forget that word partnerships can consist of two or three words, and also that
sometimes a word is partnered with another one in a completely different part of the text.
E.g. “The puzzle, which had baffled experts for well over 20 years, was finally solved by a 12-
year-old girl from Ramsgate.”)
In class, hand out the text. Allow students time to read and ask questions.
Now get the students to complete the sheet that you prepared by finding the partners for
each word.
As a follow-up, students can test each other by covering up one of the columns on their
sheets and trying to remember the missing word partners.
 REACTIONS
Before class, prepare a list of sentences along the following lines:
What I found most interesting about this text was…..
boring
shocking
amusing
irritating
baffling
incredible
etc.
In class, allow students time to read the text and check out any problems. Then ask them to
complete all / some of the sentences from your list.
When they have finished, put them in groups to discuss their reactions.

TALK ABOUT THE TEXT

One of the things we often do in real life is tell someone else about a story / news item /
magazine article etc that we read.
To do this in class, all you need is a text and a group of students. Get the students to read
the text. Now ask them to describe the text and their reactions to it to their partner. Get
them to start like this:
“I was reading this (story) the other day and it was really interesting. What it said was…..”
Variation: have two or more texts and get different students to read and talk about different
texts.

Let’s now experience some types of activities…

Sources – food for thought

Thane C., Teacher Training Essentials, Cambridge University Press, 2010

Watkins P., Learning to teach English, Delta Publishing, 2015

https://www.weareteachers.com/anchor-charts-that-teach-reading-comprehension/

http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies

https://www.sadlier.com/school/core-literacy/how-to-use-and-teach-reading-comprehension-
strategies-in-your-school

http://busyteacher.org/15985-7-must-know-reading-strategies-esl-students.html

http://busyteacher.org/2748-what-to-do-with-reading-texts-10-creative-ways.html