ERC411_C7_BI

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ERC411 READING IN SECOND LANGUAGE CONTEXTS

DESIGNING THE

READING COURSECHAPTER

LEARNING OUTCOME

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. explain the aims of a reading programme;

2. describe at least two approaches to the teaching of reading;

3. discuss the criteria of material selection in the teaching ofreading;

4. assess the readability levels of a text; and

5. discuss the criteria of evaluation for the content of the readingtexts.

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………………………………… DESIGNING THE READING COURSE CHAPTER 7

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INTRODUCTION

In the last chapter, the COMPETENT framework has been discussed as mean to bridge the gapfrom theory to practice. This will be carried on further in this chapter which starts with a sectionon identifying students’ needs. It is followed by the aims of the reading programme and thedifferent approaches to the teaching of reading. Lastly, it looks at the criteria of material selection.

7.1 DESIGNING A COURSE

Designing a course involves a continuous process. Basically when you want to design a readingcourse the following tasks are involved:

Figure 7.1: Tasks involved in designing a reading course

This chapter will discuss tasks involved in analysis and designing phase.

7.2 STUDENT’S NEED

Answer the following questions before you continue reading:

(a) Who are your students?

(b) What levels are they in?

(c) What will they use their L2 reading for?

(d) What types of books do they read?

(e) Will they learn to read textbooks in other subjects such as science or mathematics in

English?

(f) Will they read newspapers or magazines in English?

(g) Will they need to read instructions or procedures in English?

(h) Are they going to read literary materials in English?

(i) Will they need to read pamphlets, forms, schedules or brochures in English?

(j) Will they need to read personal messages or letters in English?

(k) Are there any other types of materials that they will need to be able to read?

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CHAPTER 7 DESIGNING THE READING COURSE ..........................

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The questions you have just answered are actually your analysis of your target students. Why doyou have to analyse? Identifying your students’ needs is important before dealing with thepractical task of designing a reading programme. You need to know what kind of readingstudents will need to do in their real life.

Other questions that you can ask before designing are as follows:

You will realise that by asking these questions you are actually addressing the real problem inreading according to your target students. Thus, you can design a reading programme that catersto your students’ needs.

In the Malaysian classrooms, you have the curriculum and the syllabus to guide you. You also

have other existing and on-going projects such as the various extensive reading projects (NILAM,BUKTI) that will require students to read for different purposes and for you to teach usingdifferent approaches. You also have the national exam to focus on.

Other than the curriculum, syllabus, projects and the national exams, you must always thinkabout the real life needs of your students when you decide what, how, when and why you aregoing to teach them. In the case of reading, what would your students do with their L2 reading,currently and in future? Once your students’ needs are identified, you can begin to think aboutthe aims of the reading programme.

7.3 AIMS OF THE READING PROGRAMME

What should reading in the ESL classroom be focussed on? Davies (1995:122-123) provides alist of goals that a reading programme should seek to fulfill. They are as follows:

(a) Are the students going to read materials written in English only in the ESL class?

(b) Are they also going to read textbooks written in English for other subjects too? If so,

what are they?

(c) In that case, do you also have to teach reading for English for academic purpose (EAP)

or English for specific purpose (ESP)? Or perhaps, English across the curriculum (LAC)?

(d) Do they need the reading skill to read other reference materials written in English?

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Figure 7.2: Goals that reading programme seeks

Based on the goals above, the syllabus, the curriculum and the exam, teachers should design theaims of the reading programme.

Figure 7.3: Four components to consider when designing aims of a reading programme

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For this module, let us consider Nuttal (1996:13) who has provided for a well-balanced readingprogramme:

Let us discuss the above aims in detail and what they imply for the teaching of reading.

(a) To enable students to improve reading

Reading is a private process. Comprehension not only differs from one individual to another,it also differs from one reading to another for the same individual. It is not a skill that canbe passed on from the teacher to the students. Students themselves need to read to improvereading. There is no other way about it. A teacher’s task is to provide the necessaryencouragement, create adequate opportunities for students to read extensively, and organisea conducive environment for the reading skill to develop.

(b) To enjoy (or at least feel comfortable with) the material

Interest is an important element. Interesting materials should be chosen so that students

enjoy what they are reading. An important question that needs to be addressed here is“Whom should the materials be interesting to? The teacher or the student?” The answer isthe “students,” of course.

It will be a bonus if one can find materials which are interesting to both the teachers and thestudents. The elements of interest and enjoyment are important in reading, especially inextensive reading.

Developing reading competency in the intensive reading class require hard work. This isespecially so when students need to read materials for academic purposes (EAP) or specificpurposes (ESP). Examples are reading science or business textbooks written in English.

Good teaching practice will always inject the element of interest in teaching so that students will not feel that ESL reading is an impossible mountain to be climbed.

(c) To read without help

In real life situation, students read on their own. Teachers are not there when students arereading the manual on how to fix the play station, the label on the cereal box at thesupermarket, or the recipe of the cake they are going to bake in the kitchen. Teachers arenot at their students’ side whenever students are reading in real life contexts, outside theclassroom. Thus, the task of reading teachers is to develop students’ skills as independentreaders and eventually, making the teachers’ help unnecessary.

“To enable students to enjoy (or at least feel comfortable with)

reading the foreign language, and read without help unfamiliar

authentic texts, at appropriate speed, silently, and with

adequate understanding.”

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(d) To read various unfamiliar texts

Relying solely on the textbook or workbook employed in class is never enough. Extractingmeaning from the texts has been done partly by you, the teacher or by other fellow students.Learners need to read other texts that have never been read inside the classroom so thatthey are familiar with a wide variety of texts. What do you think? Try answering thefollowing question before you continue reading.

According to Nuttal (1996) on aims of reading, for extensive reading, variety is alsoimportant. Students need to read different variety of books. This may include differentforms of discourse structures, genre, subject matter or materials — magazines, newspapers,tabloid, journals, readers, abridged readers, young adult readers, novels, etc.

Therefore, it is better to invest in two different texts than buying two copies of the sametext. It is also useful to read two different texts than to read the same text twice, unless youare closely studying a text.

(e) To use authentic texts

Reading materials in the foreign or second language classrooms have been criticized asboring. In fact, some writers went as far as saying that foreign language texts are texts thatnobody wants to read except for students who are forced to do so in the foreign languageclassroom.

Therefore, the use of authentic materials such as newspaper cuttings and brochures areencouraged so that foreign language reading may be more interesting. It is also importantfor teachers to use texts that students will be reading in real life.

Authentic target texts or target texts that are authentic in nature should be employed toprepare students for what they are to read outside the classroom. The subject onauthenticity will be further dealt with later in this chapter.

(f) To read at appropriate speed

A reading programme should seek to develop students’ flexibility in reading. Students should not read all texts with the same careful speeds neither should they read everything asfast as possible. Competent readers are able to adjust their reading speed and approach

according to their purposes of reading and the type of text.

Do you think will it be better to invest in two different

materials or two copies of the same one?

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Therefore, to produce competent readers, training in adjusting readers strategy and speed ofreading for different purpose of reading and different types of texts need to be provided.Readers need to learn to read with some degree or irreverence, skimming and scanning

when necessary, skipping words that they do not need to know and focussing critically only when it is required.

(g) To read silently

In real life, most of our reading is done silently. People in real life seldom read aloud. Mostreading aloud seems to take place in the classroom. Reading aloud may be important in theearly stages of language learning, at the KBSR level where learners learn to identify wordsand practice their stress and intonation. However, this practice seems to “persist for longerthan is desirable” (Nuttall 1996:32).

Therefore, at the KBSM level, more emphasis should be given on silent reading. This is the

type of reading that will be used more in real life. Furthermore, previous studies seem toshow that comprehension correlates with silent reading rather than reading aloud.Remember the phrase “barking at prints?” This means, readers understand better when theyread silently rather than when they read aloud.

(h) To read with adequate understanding

Students do not need to achieve total understanding of all the texts that they read. Thisprobably surprise many teachers. Flexibility in reading is important. There are times when

we need to read critically, there are also times when we need to skim and scan for specific

information such as finding a phone number or a specific address.Depending on the purpose of reading, 100% understanding may be unnecessary or evenundesired. Therefore, students should be taught to read according to the level ofunderstanding which is appropriate. To further elaborate on this, we will move on to thepractical implications of teaching where we will begin with a discussion on text selection.

What should be the aims of a reading programme?

Discuss.

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7.4 APPROACHES TO THE TEACHING OF READING

There are different approaches to the teaching of reading. Two will be discussed here. They are:

(a) intensive; and

(b) extensive reading.

7.4.1 INTENSIVE READING

Intensive reading reigns in most ESL classrooms. It requires close reading with thoroughunderstanding. Teachers provide guidance before reading, during reading and after reading.

Students are usually required to do tasks to develop different reading strategies, and to

understand different aspects of the text. Examples of reading strategies are as follows:

• distinguishing main ideas from supporting details

• inferencing

• predicting

• identifying the author’s stance

• understanding implied information

• understanding the organisation of the text

• monitor comprehension

• adjust strategies to the purpose of reading

• use contextual clues to guess meaning of words

• use textual features

• use prior knowledge

• evaluate guesses and make new guesses if necessary

• analyse unfamiliar words

It is easier to begin teaching intensive reading using short texts and progressively moving on tolonger ones as reading improves. Intensive reading can be skills based or text based. Thedifference between the two will be discussed later in the module.

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There are many roles of the intensive reading teacher. Some are as follows:

• help students discover how language is used to convey meanings

• help students understand how texts are organised

• develop vocabulary skills

• develop a tool kit of reading strategies

• employ non-text information

• develop students ability to plan, evaluate and evaluate reading

7.4.2 EXTENSIVE READING

Since the aim of the reading programme is to develop students’ ability to become independent readers, extensive reading is very important. Most extensive reading will be done out of theclassroom where students will read on their own.

Therefore, the readability of the reading texts must be within the learner’s language proficiency.Students also will have more freedom on choosing the books that they want to read. In extensivereading, the quantity of books read is important. This is because reading can only improve byreading. Because students need to read as many books as they can, the level of comprehensionrequired is lower than that of intensive reading.

There will also be no guidance given by the teacher during reading. The guidance provided

before reading is mostly confined to helping the students select an appropriate text with them.

After reading, the teacher may want to ask the students reaction to the books read. Among themany roles of the extensive reading teacher is to be a good role model and to encourage studentsto read.

Name the two approaches to the teaching of reading.

Compare and contrast them.

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7.5 TEXT SELECTION

In selecting a reading text, two factors need to be considered. One is the readability of the textand the other is the complexity of content. These factors will be discussed here.

Figure 7.4: Two factors for text selection

7.5.1 READABILITY

In the last chapter, we have discussed the importance of prior knowledge in reading. Thissuggests that evaluating and developing on the students’ prior knowledge related to the su bjectmatter are important considerations in reading.

In the aims of the reading programme, the element of interest has been elaborated. To motivatestudents to read the texts, it is important that texts that are reasonably readable by the studentsare provided. One of the ways to ensure this is by matching students’ reading ability with thereadability level required by the texts. Students’ proficiency of the language may affect theirreading competency.

Therefore, teachers need to know the language competency of their students and match it to thelinguistic complexity that is appropriate for them. What level is appropriate depends on thepurpose of reading. For intensive reading, teachers may want to use texts at the students’ currentreadability level or a level above it. For extensive reading, you may want your students to readtexts which are about one linguistically simpler level for them.

Readability refers to the linguistic complexity of the text. The readability of a text can bemeasured in several ways. Three will be mentioned here. They are the SMOG index, Fryreadability index and Cloze procedure.

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Figure 7.5: Three ways of measuring readability of a text

(a) SMOG Index

The first way to measure the readability of a text is by using the SMOG index. To calculatethe SMOG index, the following steps need to be taken:

1. Choose 3 passages of 10 sentences from the beginning, middle and end of the text. You will have 30 sentences altogether.

2. Count all the words which have 3 or more syllables in the 30 sentences. These areconsidered difficult words.

3. Get the square root of the difficult words. Assume that the value is “x”.

4. Add 3 to the value “x” and you get the index.

5. Compare the index to the SMOG index that is appropriate for your students.

Table 7.1 is an example of SMOG index that you can use. For further reading, you cancheck the website stated as the reference:

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Table 7.1: An example of SMOG Conversion Table in Testing Readability

(b) Fry Readability Formula

Another way of measuring readability is by using Fry readability test. This test seems to bemore popular among ESL teachers than the SMOG index. To do the Fry readability test,you need to:

1. Choose 3 typical passages of 100 words from the beginning, middle and end of the text.

2. Find the average number of syllables in 100 words. This will be “A”.

3. Find the average number of sentences in 100 words. This will be “B”.

4. Plot graphs “A” and “B”. You can put a dot where the two lines intersect. The area where the dot is plotted will give the appropriate grade level.

5. Use this as a yardstick to compare the readability indexes of others texts.

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Figure 7.6: An example of Fry’s readability graph (plotted)

(c) Cloze Procedure

Another readability measurement is by using a cloze test. This can be easily done in alanguage classroom. You need to do the following:

1. Delete every nth. word beginning from the second sentence. Ideally it should be everyfifth to tenth word.

2. Do not delete anything from the first sentence. Readers need this sentence to sample thetext.

3. Use synonym scoring when you mark the test. As long as the answers are similar inmeaning, accept them.

4. If the score is less than 38 per cent do not use this text. It is too difficult. If it is morethan 60%, the text is very easy and suitable for independent reading. If the score is closedto 45%, the text is appropriate for teaching. This scoring guide is summarized in Figure7.7.

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Figure 7.7: An example of scoring guide (for cloze procedure)

7.5.2 CONTENT

The content that is to be selected should have the following criteria in Figure 7.8.

(a) Authentic

As asserted before, it is recommended that authentic texts be used. Other than the reasonsalready given, authentic texts can also be related to readers real life experiences.

However, when dealing with authentic texts, a question should be addressed. Should theauthentic texts be simplified? There are different opinions on this. Some people say thatsimplification does not affect authenticity as the text is still authentic in nature. If you dodecide to simplify a text, follow the steps in Figure 7.9:

Figure 7.8: Criteria of selecting content of the text

What are the criteria of material selection for a reading

class? Discuss.

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Those who oppose simplification thinks that something is always lost if a text is simplified,however good the simplification might be. Therefore, as much as you can, try to findauthentic texts which are at the appropriate level of the students.

Figure 7.9: Steps for simplifying test (to maintain authenticity)

(b) Meaningful

Texts need to be intrinsically motivating for the students to read. The texts need to have areal message that students perceive as relevant or purposeful to their life. Teachers may also

want to use texts which deal with current issues so that language classes are dynamic and intempo with the contemporary events.

The teacher may also help by creating the purpose of reading. The more purposeful orrelevant the text to the students, the more the students will persevere in reading. Activitiescan be developed to make the tasks relevant to the students and thus, creating their interests.

This takes us to the next point.

Can you suggest materials dealing with current issues that teachers can efficiently employ intheir classrooms?

Can you name some examples of authentic materials you

may use in your teaching?

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(c) Interesting

It is important for reading teachers to know what interest their students to read. Find out what books they bring to school or exchange with their friends. A visit to the school library will provide teachers with some ideas of what are the popular books among students.

Aebersold and Field (1997) discuss about three different types of interest – individual, peergroup and community group. Firstly, there are topics that students have personal interest in(for instance Doraemon) and they will read anything and everything about this topic. Theygenerally have a lot of prior knowledge on these topics and are willing to work hard atgetting meaning out of texts which may be linguistically difficult for them.

Secondly, there are other topics which interest students because their social peers areinterested in them too. Such topics may relate to music, movies, artistes or entertainment.Learners may want to be up-to-date with what their peers know as peers play a major role ininfluencing the life of teenagers.

Finally, it is about the community. Topics that play a big role to the larger community willalso influence the learners' interest. Examples are smoking, cancer and AIDS whereinformation has been disseminated through billboards, radio, television, magazines,newspapers etc. With the abundance of information from the environment, the interest hasbeen created for the students by the community. Just like the purpose of reading, interest inreading can also be created by the teacher. The teacher can sell ideas which are completelynew, recreate new ideas about old topics, challenge certain views or expand on existing priorknowledge.

(d) Focus on Language or Content?

Should the text selected be used to teach the language or the reading skill? This is animportant question that needs to be addressed as it influences the text selection.

If the purpose of the reading class is to teach language, the selection must be based primarilyon the linguistic forms and structures. This type of texts will focus on the grammar pointand usually place less emphasis on meaning and interest.

If it is for developing the reading skill, more emphasis is placed on appropriacy and interestof the content. In Nuttall's (1996) view, the main objective of a reading class is to improvethe reading skill. Language improvement is a bonus that comes along with readingproficiency. Therefore, text selected should be catered for the teaching of reading instead ofthe development of language skills.

What do you seek to develop in the reading class –

reading skills or language skills?

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(e) Cognitively Challenging

Texts chosen should also encourage students to think critically. Use texts which do not telleverything so that students can make guesses, draw inferences and make their conclusions.For instance, do not just use texts which are narrative or descriptive, also use argumentative

texts where students are required to think about different point of views. They should alsobe asked to make a stand and justify their decisions.

(f) Moral Values

Inculcating good moral values has always been emphasised by the Ministry of Education.Make sure that the text promotes good moral values and not otherwise. This is importantbecause teachers carry the responsibility of molding students to become considerate,responsible and caring individuals.

(g) Consists of Non-text Information

Non-text information not only makes text more appealing, they also help to clarify thecontent. A bar chart, a pie chart or a graph makes figures easier to interpret, and a diagramor a picture makes manuals easier to be understood. Non – text information and textualinformation complement each other.

Therefore, find text which is accompanied with a variety of visual information so that theskill of utilising non-text information can be developed.

(h) Variety of Genres

Variety is the spice of life. Provide students with a variety of genres so that students can

read for various purposes. Davies (1990 in Davies 1995:130-131) provides a comprehensivelist of the various classifications of genres with reference to social function and readerpurpose. They are as follows:

Figure 7.10: Various classifications of genres

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(i) Instructional

Transactional genres intended to enable readers to do something, to take action, to negotiatethe real world.

• Transport timetables

• rule-books for standard outdoor games

• Safety notices

• travel brochures

• Laboratory and technical instruction

• Job advertisements

• Manuals for domestic appliances

• Job descriptions

• The highway code

• University and college brochures

• Computer and word processor manual

• Institutional guide lines and regulations

• Instructions for popular indoor and computer games

• safety regulations

(j) Informative

Transactional genres intended to, or with the potential to, enable pupils to study and learnacross the curriculum as shown in Table 7.2.

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Table 7.2: Transactional Genres’s Curriculum

(k) Persuasive

Genres directed at specific audiences (either narrow or wide) intended to persuade readersto buy, to adopt a particular socio-political viewpoint, or to take a certain course of action,necessarily requiring critical evaluation by those audiences.

• Printed advertisements of different kinds

• Government and political party propaganda

• 'special offer' leaflets or notices

• letters to the editor in local and national newspapers

• newspaper reports from different newspapers

• transcripts of television news/radio programmes

• editorials

• transcripts of per group persuasion

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(l) Literary/Poetic

Genres developed within a literary tradition and intended to be evaluated either within theterms of reference of this tradition and/or those of the wider literary/social/political milieuof the period. (Refer to Table 7.3).

Table 7.3: Genres Developed within a Literary Tradition and Intended to be Evaluated

(m) Popular/Entertainment

Genres evolved from, or for, the community and intended primarily as an expression ofshared experience and/or for popular entertainment, distinguishable from literary/poeticgenres only through the gradual development of appreciation of these forms together withthe opportunity to critically evaluate the popular genres:

• Nursery rhymes

• Popular magazines

• Playground rhymes and riddles

• Comics

• Popular adventure

• The detective novel

• Romantic novels

• Thrillers

• Historical romance

• Humorous fiction

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• Science fiction

• Stories about animals

(n) Social Interaction

• Personal letters

• FAX messages

• Postcards

• Greeting cards

• Notes

• Telegrams

• memos

(o) Exploitability

The final criterion that can be used for selecting text is exploitability. As mentioned before,the aim of the reading programme is to develop readers who are able to read at varyingspeed, employ different reading strategies, and know when, where and how the strategiesshould be used. Effective reading is gained not only by employing task-specific strategies,but also by the ability to use the strategies which are appropriate to the situation.

The texts selected should cater for the development of reading flexibility in order toproduce the competent reader. There should be a variety of texts where intensive andextensive approaches of reading can be developed which takes us to the next discussion onthe different approaches to reading.

Discuss how texts for the beginner readers should be

similar to or different from the advanced.

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SUMMARY

Students taking this course are commonly headed for a career in education or related areas.

You will probably be designing or running reading courses or courses of similar nature. This chapter explores some of the more common variables to be accounted for whendesigning these courses and running them. Beyond the approaches and the frameworks,the teacher or course designer needs to account for the most important factor that theaudience are potential learners whose experience will either be an educational one or a lessfruitful one depending on how well the teacher/designer embrace the variables outlined inthis chapter.

GLOSSARY

Evaluating examine worth/to determine worth.

Extensive getting more breadth.

Implementing put to use, put into action.

Intensive getting more depth.

Readability degree of reading ease.

(a) Fill the elements to take into account when

designing a reading course.

(b) Why is it important to have students enjoy the

material?

(c) What is an authentic text?

(d) What is the difference between intensive and

extensive reading?

(e) How can we make a text intrinsically motivating

for the student to read?

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ERC411_C7_BI