‘Authentic’ reading materials

Elementary• Simple timetables• Entertainment pages• Menus• Diary• Rules• Simple adverts• Underground map• Shopping lists• Forms• Tickets

How could these be exploited?

‘Authentic’ reading materials

Intermediate

• Magazine adverts• Short stories• Newspaper articles• Information booklets• Letters• Questionnaires• Brochures

Authentic reading materials

• Desire to read(you make a conscious decision to read, reading for fun)

• We have a purpose to achieve(e.g. to find out how a machine works, to apply for a job, to find out about current events, to find out what’s on TV)

– Importance of task!

Why do we read?

• silent reading (2)• set detailed comprehension task• lead-in• check answers / results of task (pairs – class)• provide a reason for reading• silent reading (1)• task-based follow up• more detailed analysis of text• check understanding of gist (pairs – class)

How would you order this lesson?

The communication process

TEXT

SENDERencoderwriter

RECIEVERdecoderreader

message?

Do we receive the intended message?

Is the reader’s role

passive?

Shared assumptions

Writer Reader

Area of shared assumptions

What makes a text difficult?

Istuin eräänä tammikuun loppupäiväna Tiitin kanssa Kokkolasta Jyväskylään kulkevassa linja-autossa.

You must share the code.

What makes a text difficult?

In the first example, a carbon anion is formed that is stabilized by the resonance (electrons delocalized over the carbonyl group and the a carbon atom).

Previous reader knowledge.

What makes a text difficult?

Ideas imprinted on the senses are real things, or do really exist, this we do not deny, but we deny that they can subsist without minds which perceive them, or that they are resemblances of any archetypes existing without the mind…

Complexity of the concepts expressed.

What makes a text difficult?

Cavorting in the vicinity of the residential area populated by those of piscatorial avocation, the miniscule crustacean was enmeshed in a reticulated object with interstices between the intersections.

Vocabulary.

Shared assumptions

• Code – the language • Similar level of language • Shared views on the way the world works

Schema theory

• A schema is a mental structure or model which we use to understand the world

• Schemata are built up from our experiences• They are our knowledge• We use them to make assumptions

Example

The bus careered along and ended up in the hedge.

Several passengers were hurt.The driver was questioned by the police.She was later congratulated on her quick

thinking and skilful handling of the bus when the brakes failed.

Problem

Readers may• not have the schema to cope with the text• have the different schema

Interactive reading

The reader is actively involved in• understanding and making sense of the the

text• reconstructing the writer’s meaningThis process is helped along with prediction

Prediction

• At sentence level• At paragraph level• At complete text level

Top-down processing

Intelligence and experience are used to by the reader:

• to understand the text• interpret assumptions• draw inferences

Top-down processing

The reader tries to work out:• the overall purpose of the text• a rough idea of the writer’s arguments

Top-down processing

The overview shows:• the nature of the terrain• the text’s general pattern• relationships between parts

Top-down processing

The framework this gives can be used to:• predict the writer’s purpose• see trends in the argument• interpret difficult parts of the text

Bottom-up processing

• Recognising letters and words• Working out sentence structure• Scrutinising vocabulary and syntax to grasp

the plain sense of a text

Reading Skills: Top Down

SchemataReal world knowledge

Socio-cultural knowledgeHypothesis

Hypothesis vs contents

Reading Skills: Bottom Up

Pragmatic meaning Grammatical meaning vs hypothesis

Grammatical meaning Meaningful units

Effective reading…

… demands an interactive synthesis between top-down and bottom-up processing

Why use texts?

• to introduce or reinforce language?• to introduce a structure?• to introduce a function?• to introduce vocabulary?

Why use texts?

• For interest/topicality• As input for a discussion/debate• As a model for writing practice• To introduce students to literature• For their survival

Why use texts?

• To develop reading skills

Two Reading Strategies

• Strategies Approach

• Task-based Approach.

Strategies Approach

• Skimming• Scanning• Search Results• Careful Reading• Browsing.

Strategies Approach

Positive Features• It can lead to efficient reading• Strategies do improve with training• Strategies may develop into skills• Students/teachers are comfortable with strategy

training– it is tangible and ‘clear cut’.

Strategies Approach

Negative Features• Mechanical application – not guaranteed• Appropriate use – not guaranteed• Artificially successful (IELTS)• Does not ‘mirror’ real-life classroom contexts• Real-life strategy use is:

– highly flexible– idiosyncratic– complex.

Strategies Approach

Negative Features• Unpredictable nature of individual acts of reading:• Natural text processing is dependant on:

– reader variables– textual variables– contextual variables.

Task-Based Approach

Classroom reading should mirror

• authentic reading demands

• authentic purpose.

Task-Based Approach

Involves getting information to fulfill an academic purpose:– to complete an assignment– to synthesize information– to develop an overview– to deepen knowledge– to store information– reading and thinking.

Task-Based Approach

Different texts pose different problems:– Different mother tongue– Different culture– Different ‘prior knowledge’– Different motivation– Different purpose for reading

• Reading instruction should be ‘context-sensitive’.

Task-Based Approach

Information required is:• Directly specified by the reader’s purpose,

so, the strategy is subservient• Reader must make an autonomous decision

about the best strategy• The end product can be compared with a model,

and an evaluative decision can be made by the reader about the degree of success.

Strategies Approach

• Information required from the text is decided by the strategy.

Task-Based Approach

Positive Features• Reading conditions mirror natural academic

reading• Students read to learn (not learn to read)• Strategies are determined by the reader.

Task-Based Approach

Negative Features• Can deep-end approaches cause problems?• What if readers cannot complete the task?• Does failure to complete the task improve a

student’s reading?• How can students who fail to complete a task

stay motivated to improve?

Middle-Way Approach

Students are encouraged to:

• ‘Bridge the gap’ between approaches• Discuss and explore strategy• Self-monitor.

Middle-Way Approach

Students are monitored at three stages:

• Pre-reading• While reading• Post-reading

Middle-Way Approach

• Pre-reading:“How am I going to carry out the task?”

• Reader is encouraged to make decisions regarding:

• Purpose for reading• Time available• Prior knowledge (conceptual & linguistic).