Reading is considered one of the most important skills that EFL students need to acquire. According to Bowman, Levine, Waite, and Gendron (2010), reading is important not only in developing language intuition and determining academic success, but also for completing certain task. However, one measure which is used to make the process of teaching and learning effective is related to selecting and adapting reading materials so that they can improve students' comprehension and vocabulary acquisition when they read. Thus, the teacher should provide the students with the texts that can encourage them to keep reading.
Acquiring reading skill requires one to be able to comprehend the text itself. The role of input comprehension has been of the prime
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Too often, foreign language reading texts are either too difficult or too easy for students. Students’ performance varies according to the type of reading texts given to them. Moreover, many published reading textbooks in Iran, at present, often include the recorded materials of written language in standard and formal English. As a result, the content of these materials is outdated with no contact with the life reality. Students will feel bored if they always read the outdated materials, whose content is far away from their real life (Martinez, 2002). Reading tasks should provide learners with a high level of independence when reading in a foreign language in a real life context, which in turn means, using actual authentic materials (Larsen-Freeman, …show more content…
The use of authentic materials in ESL teaching and learning appears to be worthwhile (Porter & Roberts, 1981; Rings, 1986). If the goal of an ESL/EFL program is "to prepare our students to cope with English outside the classroom" (Hafernik & Surguine, 1979, p.341), it is suggested that teachers try to provide students with the kind of language that they are likely to encounter in real-life situations (Bacon, 1992; Ur, 1984). In addition, it has been recommended that teachers use reading materials that consist of samples of natural language from different sources so that students have experience with varieties of topics and
The type of reading that is on the decline, is that which requires thought, the assimilation and accommodation of ideas, and effort—close reading. This form of reading involves the careful, sustained interpretation of literary text that comes from observing a pieces minute detail. In accordance with the definition of reading provided by the Princeton dictionary, “the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message”, the methods used other than closed reading are not truly reading. Many have argued that the creation of new technology has actually enabled more people to read, but when compared with reading’s definition, this is not true. Reading in not mindlessly skimming articles and not knowing what they mean afterwards, but being able to comprehend the material that one has read, including its many facets.
Lesaux, N., & Siegel, L. (2003). The Developmental of Reading in Children Who Speak English as a Second Language. Developmental Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.39.6.1005.
The teaching strategy focuses on the student’s engagement to create reading with meaning. This reading strategy allows students to have more freedom to make their own decisions in what they read and how they read, without the teacher forcing materials upon them. As well, more time is allotted during the school day for students to engage in reading activities, instead of using traditional methods of writing paper and answering questions on a worksheet after reading a book. The Daily Five teaching strategy also strongly develops oral communication skills within students and their peers. By doing so, it creates a sense of community in the classroom that traditional teaching methods did not have. This teaching strategy allows the student to question the material they are reading, which includes their interests, ability to comprehend, and understanding vocabulary. Through the Daily Five teaching strategy, students are also able to find books that interests them, without the teacher giving them group of “leveled” books students may not personally
Reading: According to the teacher’s data, work samples and classroom observations, Danica has made program towards her reading goal. She is able to decode through unknown words, recall details and to answer questions from short passages; however she struggles with comprehension question for lengthy reading selections. Progress monitoring shows that she is averaging in the 30-40% proficiency for reading comprehension. Danica has shown improvements towards her reading fluency, according to the Mclass DiBels assessment, 51wpm from 21 wpm at the (BOY) beginning of the year. Informal observation made by the teacher notes that Danica demonstrates weakness in comprehension and fluency. The difficulty in the area of comprehension impacts the general education setting in the
Each year as I grow old, I tend to discover and learn new things about myself as a person as well as a reader, writer and a student as a whole. My educational journey so far has been pretty interesting and full of surprises. Back in Bangladesh where I studied until high school, my interest for learning, reading or writing was so very different compared to how it has become over the years. I could relate those learning days to Richard Rodriquez’s essay “The lonely Good Company of Books”. In the essay the author says, “Friends? Reading was, at best, only a chore.”(Rodriguez, page 294). During those days I sure did feel like reading was a chore for me and how I was unable to focus and I could never understand what all those jumbled up words ever meant. It was quite a struggle for me in class when the teachers used to assign us reading homework. I felt like reading a book was more difficult or painful than trying to move a mountain. Just like how moving a mountain is impossible, trying to find an interest in reading was
Nichols, W. D., Rupley,W. H., & Rasinski, T. (2009). Fluency in learning to read for meaning: Going beyond repeated readings. Literacy Research and Instruction, 48, 1-13.
As indicated by Ziegler and Goswami (2005), reading is the process of understanding and making sense of speech or written down thoughts. The initial goal of reading is to gain access to the meaning of sentences. To achieve reading student must learn the letters used by their society for representing speech or thoughts as series of visual symbols and they also found that the critical characteristic to develop reading depends on phonological consciousness. Ziegler and Goswami (2005) focused on the psycholinguistic grain size theory, reading acquisition and...
To obtain a complete understanding of the word knowledge of students who are learning English, it is important their reading abilities (WTW, 2012). There are many ways to assess the reading abilities for ELL’s. For example, spelling inventories help explore the literacy knowledge of an ELL; however, the test should be first administered in their primary or first language. According to Words their way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling instruction, “a spelling inventory in students’ spoken language can indicate their literacy levels in the primary language, and more specifically, show which orthographic features they already understand” (WTW, 2014). Bilingual learners rely on knowledge of their primary language to spell words in a second language (WTW, 2014). Teachers can also assess ELL’s reading comprehension through sequencing activity (Ada, 1990). For example, teachers can have ELL’s write individual sentences from the text on separate sheets of drawing paper; then read or have the students read each sentence and illustrate it (Ada, 1990). Teachers can also informally test students’ ability to sequence material from a story by printing sentences from a section of the story on paper strips, mix the strips; have students put them in order (Ada, 1990). According to Spanish-Language Children’s Literature in the Classroom, teachers should “read to newcomers every day” (Ada, 1990). Appropriate reading material for beginning English Language Learners (ELL) should include numerous illustrations that help clarify the text, story plots that are action-based, little text on each page, text that contains repetitive, predictable phrases, high-frequency vocabulary and useful words, text that employs simple sentence structures (Ada, 1990). When you read to beginning ESL students, be sure to make language comprehensible to them (Ada,
There are also cases when texts written in readers’ first language fails to enlightened them. This is because they have no prior knowledge on the ideas or facts written. A student majoring in Arts will have problem comprehending a text written on Chemical Engineering and vice versa. This inevitably causes ‘tunnel vision’ to resurface. They could go on reading till the last page of the text without understanding the content.
As globalization is on the rise, so is the diverse student population rising in schools all over the United States, including students who are learning English as a new language. These students are English Language Learners (ELLs); they are learning English for the first time in addition to their native language. They’ve either had little or no knowledge of English before entering the school environment. According to the National Center of Educational Statistics (2013), an estimated 4.7 million or ten percent of the public school population are ELL students (NCES 2013). When formally entering the classroom for the first time, and depending on their prior experience with English, there are many ELL students who have a difficult time fitting into the American context of their classroom due to cultural conflicts and language barriers (Hakuta, 1986). Due to the language barrier and cultural conflict, it makes the ELL’s process of learning English challenging therefore affecting their literacy learning. Moreover, it becomes difficult for the ELL to do academically well in school. A study done by National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2011 shows there is a significant achievement gap between the reading scores of ELLs and non-ELLs, with the non-ELL’s scores being much more higher than the ELLs( NAEP 2011). There have been many ways argued to help improve ELL’s literacy skills in order to raise their reading scores, one way being is using multicultural literature. Multicultural literature can be used to create a motivating environment for the ELL student to help them feel included in the classroom context therefore improving and increasing their literacy skills.
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
It is important that when selecting complex text educators look for specific factors that would meet each reader’s needs. These factors include language proficiency, background knowledge and experiences, and level of motivation. Depending on the factors mentioned, the educators can differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of the students where they could read a text and apply strategies learned. It is important to understand the text complexity because we do want readers to read text which are not challenging enough or that are extremely challenge that would make their self-efficacy low. Therefore, when Fisher & Frey (2012) stated the factors to take into consideration when selecting a text are established, readers would interact with the text. Moreover, the use of comprehension strategies like question and answer relationships (Reutzel & Cooter, 2016) would help the readers comprehend the text as they read
In this information–driven age, preparing students to read a variety of texts with complete understanding should likely be one of our educational system’s highest priorities. Understanding is more than just the ability to produce information on demand (knowledge) or the ability to perform learned routines (skills). “Understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows.” (Active Learning Practice for Schools, n. d.) A review of the literature in the area of reading comprehension of elementary-age students shows two principle areas of focus. There is a body of literature that examines the development of proficient vs. struggling comprehenders and another body of literature that compares methodologies for teaching reading comprehension.
Good reading skills are very important in learning languages. Reading improves spelling because as students learn to sound out letters and words, spelling comes easier. It helps to expand the vocabulary, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read. Students learn new words as they read and put them in their mind for later use. . They also unconsciously absorb the information about things like how to structure the sentences, how words are used in different contexts, and it gives a better understanding of the word usage and definitions than the cold facts of a dictionary. It improves a person’s vocabulary and knowledge without the person even knowing it. Even if students do not understand every word, they will hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments and detect implications. Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. Krashen (2004) found that reading is extremely important in learning English, since it is the only way to “become a good reader, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammar” and the only way to “become a good speller”.