In this article, I try to shed a light on the modern trends that are used to improve the ways to teach reading to students who learn English as a foreign language.
You will learn more about the latest 5 trends in teaching reading. They are as follows:
1. Reading-Writing Relationship
This trend supports the idea that we read to do something with what we read. This trend emphasizes writing-based reading saying that students usually read to write.
The assumptions of this trend are as follows:
- Better readers are better writers.
- Both reading and writing involve similar cognitive mechanisms.
- Reading is connected with writing in the classroom.
- Students are asked to write as a pre-reading activity.
- Students do writing-based activities after reading.
- Writing-based activities after reading help students become good readers.
- Writing gives students a purpose to read.
2. Content-Based Reading
This trend supports the idea that we build on what we know and integrate our prior knowledge of a specific topic with our current reading.
The assumptions of this trend are as follows:
- Students usually read for a purpose.
- They become rapid readers as they focus more on a certain subject matter than language forms.
- Students usually interact with the reading text.
- They comprehend as they build knowledge on a certain topic.
3. Task-Based Reading
This trend specifies what a learner needs to do with a reading text. Here, teachers focus on doing some reading-based tasks not on developing reading skills.
The assumptions of this trend are as follows:
- Tasks provide a purpose for reading.
- Doing tasks help students interact with the reading text.
- Students comprehend the reading text better by doing tasks.
4. Sustained-Silent Reading
This trend is called free reading or reading for pleasure.
In sustained-silent reading, students and teachers engage in free reading for short periods daily.
5. Social Reading
This trend supports the idea of cooperative reading which is reading in a social context. It deals with students as members of a group when engaged in reading.
Final Word
Whatever the trend is or their assumptions are, students should be encouraged to use some strategies while reading to build knowledge and develop reading skills as well.
A strategy is a specific method used to approach the reading text and process information in it.
There are three main reading strategies:
1. Local strategies to understand the language units in the text:
- Guessing the meaning of a word.
- Solving vocabulary problems.
- Paraphrasing.
- Rereading.
2. Mental strategies to understand the content
- Anticipating information.
- Integrating information.
- Interpreting the text.
- Skimming.
- Scanning.
3. Technical strategies to
- Writing notes in the margins.
- Underlying important parts.
- Highlighting certain parts.
Thanks For Reading
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Thanks for all the interesting articles about teaching strategies and techniques. I have already tried some of them with my students and they really work.
Micaela – British Institutes Alessandria ( Italy )