Urquiart, $-& Weir C. 19%. Reading ja Secorcl Leupeage’ Focose , Product and facie: Jongman 4 The teaching of reading 4.1 TEACHING AND TESTING A few years ago its a commonplace tater tat a great deal of ng reading went on but ite teachhag, Wik slot of juthce twa held that typical reading lesson conte of the teacher, with Bele or no prior duciion or any other Kind of Preparation, presenting the saden with tex which the x tena then read. Alter this age, the teacher asked questions nd thesuadens answered, Feedback wos imited tothe tants ing tol that tei newer were right or wrong, Vavions exited te teacher might read the tex lo, while the students fllowed ‘on the page or the sadens might be ake ora aloud The teacher might wea textbook which contained the quatios, id TFich» depiction ofthe typical eading lemon is valid, and it is our experience that not only was i vitally ubigions woe eats ago but ill prevalent many pars of dhe word then {he accinaon Ua eading was ested bu not aug sued The sequence of ecthlesdemsibed above amount to a8 informal ssvooment of aden reading peformance, ea est. Teahing ould inva, among other pec, ane svuctred feedback 1 to why repontes were acceptable or ot, some instruction i how co atrive at the desired response, in alton to more global insrucon in how wo set about the sk, alternative strategies which ‘might prove help, et the past fe years, a great deal of work has been done on ese and oder axpects of teaching, as opposed to testing of read ing. This work wil be reviewed below. Before we proceed toi,172 Reading in a Sond Language Dowever, we shall look mare clotey at siniarites and differences Dbenseen testing and teaching. lait Both testing snd teaching involve students being given a writen text or text, and being required to vead i Usually, they are alo tepected to respond ener to some atk requirement (hough in {auroom “silent reading’ this requirement may be dropped) lap, che fllowing similares can ‘Apart om auch an obvious oe be dacerned ‘We noted in Chapter 3 that a feature of the Brith approach to communicative testing a that the turks and the conditions under Vehich they are performed should approsimate to real hfe per formance at clorely ax possible (McNamara, 1996; Weir, 1993) We fel that she sume should apply othe teaching of reading ss far a8 comprehension activites are concerned ‘Consideration ofthe types of task dsctnsed for tesing reading fn Chapter 3 and the performance condions under which they te permed, ach at * purpose 1 ature of the texts * length of tex rhetorical stcrre * tople area + bacyround knowledge * wrter/reader relationship 1 speed of processing 1 ange of vocabulary grammatical complexicy are of equal relevance in the reading claeroom in determining acties and selecting text, For example, as far as purpose and texts are concerned, rea tng genuine texts for authentic prposes is held to he ert 2 ‘motiatng leamers o read (Nutall, 1096). In both teaching and testing. coping wath genuine text i Ukely to be an imporant tbjectve at a certain Stage for many learners hey objective for both the materia writer and the test developer should be to give the stents a realistic purpose for every reading acti (ace Moran The aching of roading 17S and Wins, 190368). Personal intrest maybe ial cate {or in a courte hook oF tot, but Sasrumental purpses are Teaively easy o simul in infomation ng texte Faan 1991 an 195, for examples ofthis. Such purpose enable the acti to move Beyond the ubiqitons posta! comprehension Guesion(s) demanding anita show of understanding be) “Afeature of modern textos on reading wo yt provide 2 lear purpone for reading sex and Pra 1998) provies some nce examples of how ths ight bese up through presesting activites sch a: an intial questionaire followed by reading to Compare findings qui and reading to check how much fou low prediction of conten fom tie wordy, Mhatradons, ce ain checking texto se ov it you ae casing oon pi ‘ons and comparing with opinions in the text The qvesion ots length canoer aopect share by tetng and teachings clear that people learnt ea by teading not jum by doing exerdaes Lesrners nist therfore read enous in 2 Droganme nna fence (ne Man 1980) Su Dralion reading wo too lating to ead. The tendency to ‘Employ shor tet in tert and cours hooks meant © cower he Tange af eadng sls and sratgis le quentonabe (or capt note the Knited length of tests n McGovern et ls 1991) Ob ‘uy, a teaching stain the length of te dat tay be ponnble to wei fr greater, especial it outofclaw werk ca be fren. Ar iis point aierency betes tcachew and eong begin w emerge ‘Actcies and performance condisons discussed in Chapter 3 axe ceria for both teaching aed ten: sin the we wade of he data generated by the reader ntcrctng wh hese that ifr pee Differences eis univesaly accepted that, in testing, relay of measurement is of crucl importance. Any factor that reduces reliability must be iaolated and, if possible, disinated or at leat minimised, the teaching situation, however, relly of measurement sf es important. This & dhe major eiffeence between testing and teaching rom which all the other derences, set out below, erie174 Reading a Second Language Interpretations ‘We have argued that traditional testing aimed a forming a reli able estimate of an individual reader's performance. In order to achiew this, a consensus as to what constituted an agreed stnd- aid performance in a particular context hat to be agreed in auvance by the esters. Alternatives to this standard had to be ‘liminated, In other words, the test had tobe constructed in sich a way that for eal task there was a right answer. Scenarios, even iteflecting tuations in the real world, where either there was mo agreed right answer (a in reading for enjoyment) or where difer tent answers were arguably equally valid, ht to be avoided, Tn Chapter 2 we dscused diferent styles of reading and con- taased the submisie vers the dominant reader. We argued it Chapter 8 that in testing there was litle room for dominant read ing oF challenging the texts av this would certainly defeat any attempts to asese such actives reliably. In addition, no account ‘ould be taken ofthe way in which the response offered had been aivived at In other word, testing at preent it concerned with product, and not process. Teaching, on the other hand, since Felablty of measurement snot as important, can take dillering products, interpretations, into account Alo, since it mus be con fered with how ane goes about soling a reading as, it i also permitted to encompass process, ‘Thus, realerapecfic responses t text are posible and to be encouraged inthe teaching station, whereas for reasons of tes felinbilty they were excluded from consideration in testing (sce Section 31). In Tearing to read, activation of relevant schemata is seen ab a key part ofthe reading proces. Pragmatic inferencing (Chikalanga, 1992) js also viewed a8 an important aspect of the -ading casroom, particularly xt more adanced levels (se See don 43 below fora discussion ofthis ype of reading, and Nuttall (0986: 131 and 167) for discussion of dassroom procedures and «xemplification). Inferencing may indeed promote effective learn ing (Pearson and Felding, 1901). Training « Recent texthooks (Para, 1901, 193) buildin cognitive and meta cognitive taining a cent part of each unit The exerci fp beyond mere answering of comprehension questions and temps to teach strategies for coping wa tous at the proveading, ‘Th aching of reading XT whilereatng and posereading stages. Sometimes leanings pid lip service i eating ea, iss nx common ests ve pact ruber tan accountability foncion ws dings ‘tte tenting for teaching oma testg inthe casroom is ciferet, however, in that the purpose ewe to whi he rear py ud be ie frome Teaching cannot proces yithow reuale Informsion nwt sndents an or camot de, Formative xing has cra tol in providing sch dats for dceopmentl purpore an, a8 ‘web, the dtincton between teaching and teting tak i Blurred in oech formate we of Tasks We have already said tha esting is fundamentally concerned with tasks The textoes mast perform overtly, in responte to tak se, and their performance is asiesied. Tass, of course, occur in the teaching casroom too, bat there are differences, While there are fumerous definions of ask in teaching (Nunan, 1989, 199 (Canlin snd Marphs, 1987; Crookes ad Gass, 19952 nd bi; Skehan, 1046; Skehan and Foster, 1995) we ate happy to take Willams and ‘Busden's (1907: 167 simple description a our working definition for teaching parpones: esc this nbn ht hres rgd st) {nh lnguage cameo fate pra of engage nang ‘We would want to extend uss to include such actives outside the classroom and limit for our purposes to reading, eg reade {ng book at home for please. We woul als se formative test tanks a fling under this umbrella, We also accept that Nunan's elements of task ~ input data, acces, goal, tole of learners Sind role of techers ~ ae all important sd al terat wih each other (Nanan, 1998). Consideration of one wil necessarily nvale ome consideration of the oer For ease of desripdon the role ofthe leaner and goals are considered in Section 42; nput dat, te tex and activites, are deued in Section 43; and we examine the role ofthe teacher in Section 4. Staging tasks Uke the testi the rating easroom asks may well be broken down, staged or saated to help dhe es able reader The teacher176 Roading in a Second Language provides help to enable students to complete tasks they would ot Freable to do on their ovn. In contrast tothe driving test sel learning to rire one would aot expect © do everthing in Single lesson atleast notin the ealy tages. So to with reading: tyme sage it might be necessary to focus on cevtain strategies Oral, or anajsis of sentence functions of text structures (lee otal 1908: 100-25) Microskills There may we bea necesito bring tome wens up wo # Uesbol Teve of tng iy whereby they ae cabled suit expeditonsy or erly, the macentrciteo text feu premaning bal conpethersion may not be mien for te Leasing the nporan sil of word scogaon and Alcon may ne les ec, lew lalate Wheres tinge have mugged thx succethlexpeisous tel ccf rend for gl comprehension mst tad minimal fequtemnoedge of es and satire and ta ake eng ike word lel unnecemryeacee for dagron’ placement ups, the ech doin dere We maybe po Jha tne oppor o pace ates promi word coy Tons dccoding sk seing cr although, so meh they may never appear In peatcensy or scent tx of coupecemion Cooperation Wie noted above that in summative tenting the teacher and fellow fadents ae removed from the interaction, and the Help that ean be pronded by bots in learning to read is aot available to the student The iterest in the test sitzaton isin what the student i Capable of comprehending unaided. In testing, vome students Inlght be expected to fail, whereas in teaching, the agenda i to tay to eae dat nobody does. In th teat siiation the reader i slated from contaminating sources suc as feip foun or scents or from the teacher, in fan atempe co measure his or her ability in 2 construct unmuddied by osher influences In the reading clwsroom pedagogieal input ‘css in ters of instruction and mediation that ie abvent from the text context. Le. advice on strategies and sls, practice in ‘Te aching of wading 177 thelr use and discussion of their vale. The aim here i t bring about undersanding raher than just measuring itn astaustelly reliable fishin. The agenda of the lasraom is more formative, cooperauve and developmental. Thus the methodology, the actity of the reading clasroom, can be wider and richer The tas avaiable foe leaning to sead are move divene and may invohe working vith thers students or teachers in both pair and groups. The Iearners are not being asked to demanstrate how well dey can use strategies orsils but rather to develop ad improve ter use fof these. The sis employed may be salir the reading lesson to those of the est but differ in the way they are used In the clasroom, comprehension questions set of texts are soften done in groups which promotes effective dicusson com ering how the answer was arrived together wilh feediack for Snide in 4 nonsummadve mane, By verbalsing about dhe ‘vm seading they come to under better the proceses nv [Nuva extols the value of buze groups (1996: 201): small groups work on the task fora short period, and report back in plenty Tollowed by whole group disctsion Conclusion While there are a number of similarities beeen teaching and testing there are alo marked differences which necenitate com Sdering teaching separately Background issues in the teaching of reading ‘Bemhardt (19012: 178), ina broad survey of L2 veading research, argues that henson (or for that mater whether iti eahable). Nether hae research provided suman nigh nt the proce of serad ee eee Research ito L2 reading i certainly a relatively new field. As we saw in Chapter 2, most ofthe serial models af reading were devel oped for Lt leamers by prychologire In 12 3 har mainly boen plied linguists who have been responsible for reearch, nd thie clear from their focus on componential models with «direct178 Reading ina Second Language link to pedagogy, a8 aginst serial models which are more com cemed with internal workings Of Ue bra, ‘Given the instaions of our understanding ln his eld we com centrate below on reading activities and accompanying cognitive behaviour which research hae indicated as leading to measured improvement in cempreheasion, Obviously any actin the right hands in te right eeunstance may result beter performance However, we are interested in consistency of ezpiical evidence and we have wed Barr etal. (1991) and Berard. (3991a) to fide our selection, as thet reviews of reading research in LI snd Ti pronide a wide empirical and dheoretial base for selecting teaching/learning sees forthe reading easroom. The compare lack of resarch in 12 reading has encour aged us to draw on research in LI setings where this seems appre- phate, In addition, we have had (© rely on examining methods tnd elasroom tenibooks to inform us about what goes om in the 12/EFL dawroom i the comparative absence of observational statics of 12 reading taining (ice Siedow et al, 1985). To teach or not ‘Acar sticker in Britain carries the message: “if you cn read this ‘hank ther” The implication is clear: i you are not taught ead You wil ot learn Is, however, perfect Ukely that some TH dhllren, at leas, learn to read with Tite oF no formal teach ing. and i is cetainiy the cave that L2 readers lear to ead the Second Tangeage without formal iniracdon. Whether explicit instrucsion i any more elective than simply encouraging students to read and form their own rules remains unproven. We would hhomever, agree with Peanvon and Feiding (1991), in their exee- Tent review of comprehension inction fm Li, chat the danger of the nomntervendniat approach is thatthe good readers get better and the poor do not: The gap widens Tn some clases students will not lack ability in the skis and suategis discwsed below, and until probleme Become evident in ‘hese areys they may well be avoided. The time to practise these Skills and strategies in response to needs or lacks that become ‘ident ‘What abo clear is that comprehension teaching effecvencst nay dif from content to context and there are no generic clase oom (Bernhardt 11a: 173); thore of young iinguals wil he ‘The teaching of wading 179. very diferent fom a second language readers prepaig for Fovtpadone sly tno orem come: Boone of Ue fet Lily of ready conte tal not be prokng snip Ccnmpis of enn acies an txt three rmtting Co tects of tae alten) sable to ehich we woul dee the fear (Grell, 1981; Nona 1905, Wallace 198 iin, 1984) We wil inncad focat on thc evidence fom principled reading trcnch sd arncon to formas perc opgentosbr acs ing We nll atempt below co deternine what escarh adicnes teeing the mon preducine ne ar dc ato The dacnon ble i therefore for the most pn ens oF principles riher than commentary on apeeiic examples of char oom tasks, Reference wil however be made sources he reader an consul for practical cxempliicaion 4.2. FOCUS ON METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES As we noted above, one of the major differences between teach ing and testing the presence in the former of teacher input in the form of ttlning, is which arategy reining fan become of Increasing importance in recent years (sce discussion in Secons 255, 24 and 32 on strategies and skill). Cohen (1998) provides a comprehensive and clear account of trategies for ising and lest nga second language. A weful distntion can be made berneen cognitive and metacognitive strategies. ‘Cogniive suateges are the more familiar mental process that cable a to read, ranging from working out the meaning of words fm context through to skimming a whole text quickly to extract thegist. Meucognitive strategies are more concerned with thinking bout the reading experience itself and are seen to invoke lene epigietei eing ai wre ing i dong and the sraeges one employing, well a knowlege out me acu proces of earming, They also inde an ah "niga eine concn he we apie arming ‘Wiliams and Barden, 1997: 148)180 Rending 0 Send Lenguage Cohen (1998: 7) describes metacogntve sates a dealing wl the cent Sich rateis low earner to control di ma ea ‘ison ty eoordeating the planing organizing, and eauning of the leasing proces There a rather extensive iterate demon: tig tha he higher proficiency siden are more kel to we tie nee lnerrobanny coc ane He details ditions that may be made between general apres ches and specife techniques or actions He naggests (1998. 10) Asoliton tthe problem would be to rele taf these sip as the broadest categories to the most sped o low level He abo acknowledges thar the distinction beween mesacogniive and cogultvesateyies may not away be clearcut and there may fon oceasion be some overlap (op. ct: 12) and both may be lei 1 interpretations of some actions ‘Willams and Burden (1997 155-6) dra attention wo de Import ance of knowledge of tasks (see also Cohen, 1908: 14) owls shout tk refer to an sates ofthe prpone and ‘lemand of the howell ean ality tones he information Provided, and to select what Teer from what ielrane Knowledge of sstegy involves an undertaning of what tees hon be wed for dierent pes of tak They also detail (1997: 145-6, 156) a number of preplanning and planningin-iction metacognitiv strategies draeing on the work 'f Nisbet and Shuckoth (1991) and Wenden (19876), namely = determining objectives * selecing methods 1 predicting dificuliee = Ssking questions * planning 1 Imonitonng 1 checking 1 revnng plane + evaluating outcomes, ‘Te aching of reading 181 aca (386 1) ones the aen of meta ae ‘shaman component whey he speakers (ens, readers (8) pling cemponnt, herby the espodents decide how to Ise their nowledge af the lope and thei angge knowledge From their perspective of edveaion af 4 Mfelong proces, Wik Jams and Burden we one ofthe main sims ofthe editor a belag TD help sudents cope with setfdirected, aitonomous learn. Teaching students to read effectively unaided would seem to be potentially powerfl conunbutin to thi, not the sngle most Important I've can help siden Yo read caefuly and exped ously on shir own for their own purposes, then this would be success Indeed. There is evidence tw support such metarognitive training. ‘Ajvermana and Moore (199) cite research studies which demon strate the value of learning strategies lnitated and dected by Students They detail how, through metcognitve timing and Self-quesdoning, students can be caught to monitor comprehension (Gce tuo Carrell etal, 1989; Cohen, 1996; Willams and Burden, 1997; 144-60). Oxford and Crookall (1989) report on a number ‘of studies where the experimental group teteied uaining in ‘ctacognitve strategies and snequerly outperforined a contrat ‘r0up who did not ‘As Tar as strategy ualning is concerned, Williams and Burden (1997: 156-66) offer sound adice on how best o go abou it (see alto Cohen, 1996: ch 4). They present (pp. 158-5) a strategic teaching model developed by Jones etal (1987), which has the fellowing guidelines 1 Ase seatgy we (Oough thnk aloud, nterew, questionnaire) 1 Explain strategy by naming or telling howto sei step by step 1 Model sratogy ty demonstration or verbalisaton of own thought proceses whe doing i «= Scaffold ivtruction by providing support while students practise; adjusting support to suit students needs; phasing ost sspport to encourage autonomous strategy we,182 Reading @ Sand Language + Develop motivation by providing successful experiences relat ing strategy use to Impeored performance Wiliams an Burden (1997: 162) mest that most of the pro eves for strategy tening dey surveyed ener invohe 2 sequence of fit helping stents deni or {nd epning a ne sey ih a rafonal or sig AL raining at fot sith sunt upper of 'xallotdng” but sty ing icc arom me ah This would seem appropriate ako for training in the cogmiine rweqies such skimming, earch reading and scanning, di fumed in Secon 43 below “Cohen (1908 ch, 4 afers a comprehensive discussion of the voriows forms that strategy taining can fe, and the reader i efecto this fora full discusion ofthis area. He also provides “tn informed considerstion of extending the role that teachers can Diy. Ta thas he develops 2 view of «role for teachers as learner Cranes as well a language instructors (p97): One potensay beneficial shift in teacher role ie om that of ‘a ecu) the manager, contol, and instructor to Ha of ei sgn litt of earning, whose role to help thse nee mor np re eps the learning proces, The chr nen one af ra win he Sheet ar sample, by reg comeing etlg Putte tnd ror (96) Zocrbeatecniqa alld eee She eaghet does oto he wrk ang ln co-operate ‘Sa ne! thy aes, ally ow tdependerty re thresh dence te longters otc or Dre eaching of nding 18S (sce Cohen 1008: 485 et seq. and eh 8). Dilerent readers wl have diferent perceptions oftheir weiss ad pare of the a ing would be enabling eamers o explore tis releance o ter. As Willams and Burden (1997: 161) pomt out they have hentifed ws wont (Cohen (2908: 12) rightly warns dha and suggests that a strategy may workin one particu cae but hot necessarily in all eases He alosindcats that strategies may need tobe related to learning ses and other personality related variables (op. cit: 15-10) ‘Some potentially useful metacognitive strategies Having briefly surveyed the nature of metacogniive strategies and how in general, to present thers in taining we would row ike to ‘examine in loser detail a numberof sich strategies that appear to be of some value. We adopt the now conventional ditinetion heaween prereading (planning) strategies, sermading (monitor ing) strategies and pactwading (eration) strates, ‘Peano and Fielding (101° 836-0), on the bass of a wide survey of the L1 reading research iterate, sent wo generic iulaeedng strategies and practices to upper student o engage independently and scnely with text These are selquestioning and elbenonitoring. ‘We wold lke to ada two premeding strategin: namely preview ing and predict which relste to Pearson and Fielding gener ative learning, Generate earning descibes how comprehension ‘curs wen learners build relationship between parts of the ext and beeen the text and their backgroud Inowledge:awocitions improve comprehension. The two proreading stategisdscissed below can help activate schemata por tothe vending procem and «an contribute this process We alo look at ponereading aetities184 Reading in Second Language ‘which involve evaluation ofthe text relating ito one'x own expert Previewing reviewing can be wsed 10 make a derision whether 10 read book an article ora text, Where appropriate to text type i might invoke: + thinking about the tide 1 Checking the edition and date of publication 1 ending the able of contents quickly 1 reading appendices quichy 1 reading indices quickly 1 reading the abaract creflly ‘tending the prefie, the foreword and dhe blurb carefully. Hamp:Lyons (1984: 905) ads that previewing heipa student r Comite the difficulty lee of a text and comparative dificuly Sith other texts inthe sve fed, helps them judge the relevance/ irelevance ofa text for a parcula topic, and helps them decide thick book from a set of pousibliies would be mare appropriate Tore fora specific purpose, I vale fr teaching is the amount of time it might save if prevents prolonged reading of some {hing of no value see Natel, 1906: 48-8), "ts of particular use in deciding whether textbooks or pats af atextbook are of valu, though Broveing dough a novel atthe “ieport bookshop before deciding to purchase another manifest tions The reason that seldon features im txts eon the grounds ttelfciency and reliably eis diffu in the exam situation 10 provide dhe same textbooks) For large aumbers of exndidats, Aaditonaly the numberof items that ean be uacfully waite are Gften Tinted wi implications for tex ecibiity, Similar, how trould ape evaluate »s deci on to purchase a particalar book? However, in the cassroom context, previewing may be very useful, particulary for English for Academie Purposes Stadens Previewing has obsious links with expedious reading strategie, particulary skimming for yi, dscused in Secion 43 on cognit Frese The teaching of reading 185 For exemplification of previewing, soe Grellt (1981 58-61), Hamp-Lyons (1984) and Traeciak and Mackay 1904: 5-10), Prediction After taking the decision to read a text, thi stategy is used to faniipute the content of a text > make bypodheses about Ue Iacroproposiions ie ight consi, eis a form of prychological senstsing thinking about dhe subject and asking oneself related ‘questions Tn theoretical terms it accords with the hypothesis advanced carlier in Section 3.3 that establihing/a macrontucture fo a text isan ai to move deuiled comprehension. One might alo hypo thesive thatthe actation of relevant schemata should facie the sealer’ interaction witha text (se Section 2.2). Finally this tivity has the potential to lay for the reader what the pur. poses for reading the particular text might be Tris often a ease of suppling ot actvaing appropriate back ground knowledge, and this might bet be done through pre Teading actives: lecture, dacusion, debate, reaife experiences, text previewing or introduction of vocabulary. It makes we of topdown processing to actiate afferent kinds of schemata in ‘common with many preveading activites. Haines (1988) uses surveys and questionnaires to encourage scussion and activate and build up background knowledge pre- reading, and Paran (1963) uses sureys to sini effec Tomlinson od Ellis (1988) fer a ange of preteadng actives aimed at activating formal knowledge of text. Wiliams nd Moran (1003: 65) suggest {aca informadon or prmnalroponse and ak he suet © In comparing teaching snd testing tasks curendy in se itis notice able that, whereas prediction aces are now a common feature in textbooks on the teaching of reading, they seldom feature n tests Part of the eaton for this i presumably that such data do not lend thenelves easly to asessment. The operended and ‘iosycratic nature of such prediction, based tf on alkeady ‘exiting construct, it obvious186 Reading in Second Language Wiliams (1084 86-51) provides useful advice and examples of preceading atvis that can be employed in the language clas oom. Svaflar (1981) and Carvll nd Eiterhold (1988) desribe Key word and key concept pre-reading actsties. See also Glendinning and Holistrtin (1922 201), Langer (1981) and McGovern eta (904: 11-13) for further exemplifeation While-reading strategies Self questioning “This is denied by research a8 a characterise of good reading wen t promotes cognitne process such as inferencing, monitor Ing understanding and atending to structure. Alverman and Moore (199 961) detail how general, iasuucton ia self ques tioning improves suident processing of teat’ and note that poorer readers tend to benefit most from such taining. Scaffolding of instruction leading to gral control appears #0 be benefical Nuttall (1996: 37) describes this ct a atervogating text ext talk For stdents unfanilar with tie atvy the teacher inter ‘ogiting the text aloud ean provide a valuable example particularly there the focus put on imporant problematic aspect o a text ‘Organised methods inlving slequestoning hare been in use fo some tne (see Nuttall, 1996 12%; and Richards, 1989 for de tals of SQSR),Palinear and Brown (1084) focused on teaching summarising, questioning, clanfying and predicting kills arguing that these ates, iengaged in wile reading, enhanced compre hension, and, atthe sme time, gave the student the opportnity to monitor whether comprehension vas euceseding. Selfmonitoring Monitoring one’s own comprehension ~ checking that compre henson is king place and adopting repair stateyies when it isn't ~isseen asa hallmark of silled reading tis important that sMudents are swe of how various strategies wil help them. Sell vesballaion was also seen as important (Pearson ane Felding 1891: 838), “The connection with schema theory i clear: by atking them selves whether they understand, learners are asking whether i fits The twahing of nding 187 in with what they know already. Thus they learn how to under Stand what they readin the proces: of Ieaming bow to moar their comprehension (Pearson snd Belding, 1991: 847). ‘Ahermann and Moore (1991; $62 et seq) sound a note of auton in that may of thete ses were achieved under expe Imental rather than Feld conditions with consequent threats (0 {het ecological valine they were decontextualsed; an experi ‘menter rather than the nomial dasroom teacher introduced the intervention; texts were specially prepared and were often shorter than normally met texts and seidents were often not prepared in the use of the strategy before the intervention. They argue (p.974) that we need to develop a research methodology which ‘would actively involve teachers and earefully document baseline data of the siuation preceding the decision to implement an innovation and alo collet data wo gonitor its effect. Postreading strategies Evaluation and personal response ‘Questions of evaluation and personal response are also seen by teachers and course book writers asa valuable postreading activ ips relating the text tothe ouside workd (Natal, 1996: 167, 188— 9}, The work may be done either orally or in writing, though ‘uta (p. 167) favours the former because ofthe importance of flscusson and exchange of views, Research suggests ati leat ing to make te ext their own the readers will beer comprehend it Readers can be encouraged to relate content to their existing schemata and to evalate iia the light of their ovm knowledge fad experteces. This promotes greater interaction with text and may lead to more success reading encounters. Orlek (1996) provides a thorough and stimulating ease for teaching readers {o challenge text rather than submissvely trying to recreate the author's intended message. Training in metacognitne strategies i a relavely new depar ture in L2 teaching of reading batt sems to have potential cash invalue for enbancing the reading of particular texts and, more importanty, canying over to future reading experiences. Cohen (998: ch, 4) provides a detailed and useful Feview of stategy training, focising primarily om strategies based instruction aimed188 Reading n 6 Send Language st increasing lenrner' rvarenci of the benefits that mich srt ‘pier might have for therm. More fala o teachers training in ‘cognitive rategies and sill and mart ofthe textbooks we surveyed ‘Stump to cover a range of those vadh veying degrees of vorcen 4.3 FOGUS ON COGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND SKILLS Introduction: purpose determines choice An awareness of topdown (readerdiven) and bottom-up (text driven) processing strategies can benefit teachers. It should help them tolncomporatecawroom actites which encourage L2 read fr to use appropriate combinations of mich srategies in reading for diferent purposes (Carell, 1988, Richards, 1980). lnformar Son on effeave and ineffective reading rateies can help inform ad improve stents reading efficiency, For example, we il argu below that some of the time devoted in clas to working out the seating of words in context might be beter spent on actives Promoting automaticity. An excessive foes on the former might Sctunlly impede developing Hoeney (Overseliance on either topdown or botiom-up processing to the neglect ofthe other may hamper readers efficient and effective ccond language reading require both topeown and botionap Mategie in diferent combinations for diferent parpoves (Ca Fal, 1088: 240-1; Rumethart, 1977, 1980) For example, it wos te mistaken only to rely on word by word bottom np procesing in a skimming exercie designed to extract quickly the gist fom a text However, some caeful processing of textial lace t9 overall meaning might he necessary once these are locate ongh more xpedivour strategies shimmning went qty for gts dows te micro octries, rach at working out the meaning of word in contest through cognates, [anlatod, ee (See menez etal, 1906 and Hosenfeld, 1961). Ac tre sain Section 23, strategies have the following characteristic * they are essentially problem soling on whatever level, macro * they are goal oriented The uaching of wading 180 they are purpoteil they involve ficiency and selection inthe cae of expeditions strategies, they aaa involve speed they ate conicitnly adopied (in contrat to subconscion se otal) Williams and Moran (199) point to an increasing eclectic inthe strategies in the couse books thy surveyed. A similar pic ture emerges in the more recent textbooks we surveyed. This has not alvays been the eae Following the introdsedon of top-down approaches there has been a tendency to overlook the ero importance of word recognition and decoding in the etl tages ‘of learning to eae and in traning those not brought up on the Roman script (see Paran, 1906) Wiliams and Moran (199: 67), in der review f reading course books, ange Individual tasks at the local level Word recognition: a neglected area Bemhardt (19913: 174) points out that an assumption is often nade in L2/EFL dasrooms tha students can already read and that One of the problems, especially inthe L2 teaching of reading, is that we are aceustomed teaching students who wil already have learned to readin their LI. As a consequence, the sil of word recognition may not receive as much attention 3 has global com prehension of text for example. This may mean that second lr ‘Zuage reading students who do not share a comnon orthographic Script maybe placed ata disadvantage (ce . 54), The adeona procesing time they zequire for word recognition may have 2 Inockon effect in other areas ofthe reading process190 Reading ina Sond Language Additionally we tend to have Hite experience of emergent Ii racy, early reading and writing development (Sulaby and Teale 1997) ae many of our students in the UK tend to be ads rather than very young children and an assumption is made either that gone through this sage, oF that accepinnce proced re af rerio sedeatect Gores presinbsieerh reomgelion problems, Williams and Moran, in their review of course books, Ec for more sesearh into inal reading in a foreign language ind refer to Wallace (1988) a8 one of the few serous pieces of ‘el (100%; 70) argues that we know fiom emergent to beginning Ll reading largely doe to a foeus on higher order’ veading processes by the research community aie ing inthe USA from a concem aver the poor performances of older students on national atesments of higher onder reading Skills She details how they already felt they were doing an adequ at job tracking lower order decoding ail. She then queries how gdm start cikdren in the USA are actually given with dhe dice consequences this may have for later development asthe Lt research evidence mounts that there is astro link between carly progres: in reading and later reading abil and comprehension. She alse note that most of the models we are ave for dhe wld reader and lite altenGon fa been paid to developing a eompec- hensive model of dhe reading acquisition process Automaticity We pointed out in Chapter 2 that a strong cram of socalled topdown models was tht they stsibuted to much importance t2 hypothesiing, or guessing, whether of lexical tems or larger units. ‘Stanovieh (1980) points t the implausibly of hypothesis texting time to recognise a word than to go dough a complex guessing same, In one of the mos important contributions by cognitive pychologsts to reading esearch (and potentially the teaching of Feading) in recent years, twas repeatedly found that good readers tied context much less often than poor readers when recognising printed words In fat they appear to be able to recognise words ‘without any conscious thought, Le atthe automate level Juel (1901: 771) cites important exidence that eaty attainment of decoding skl/ word recognition is avery accurate predictor of The taching fending 191 Iater reading comprehension in Li children, Those who do poorly inthe Bet year of learning to read are unlikely to mprove thei posiion as compared to thote who da well. Poor decoding sill thay delimit what the child can read and the differences are father compounded by out of tchool experiences Astomaicity in L2 ‘The increased importance atrbuted to automatic word recogni tion in L1 reading has ben extended, though wih less empiical suppor, tothe L? reading area. Previously in L2, a great deal of faith had been placed on decoding by means of context. Haynes (1981), however, pointe out that we need to get the level of automiticised wocabulary ip rather than focusing on decoding in contest, Haynes points out (48): + Rapid preci recognition of eters and words tht, boxe up nore input constned processing mst be mastered before er reaing can take place by lcreasing one’s bottom-up procemlng of print and decreasing semantic and syntactic uesework, though thi is nota yet proven for L2, She question the emphisis given in textbooks to gusting abating (of enone ood Ree earoaiaig Ce ‘ice prec Os Learaing decane: Goede etc pre inadequate to support accurate infercacing and encouragiag the gusting from context strategy might well lad to ustadon in thee cates, There is tome negative evidence for this posiéon in the LE svea, Bensouman and Laufer (1984) found no evidence tat be ter readers are able to ue context more effectively for lesial guessing than less proficient students. More crucially, they argue thacin many cases only a uinory of word meanings canbe recon cred from the context. Working ost the meaning of words in Context is only a part of the vocabulary skis needed for vent reading and i appears that st may actualy inerfere if a student ‘overrelles on this strategy ‘Beck (1081) argues that “basic recognition exercises to improve speed and accursey of perception may consitite an important Component ofan effective second language reading programme’192 Reading ino Sond Language 16,37 appear likely, automatic word recognition is more impor ant to fluent processing of text than context clues, the argescale ‘evelopment of recognition vocabulary may be eri to Teading development (van Dijk and Kinch, 1985, Perfeti, 1985). Poor readers have simply not acquired automatic decoding skill. Poor readers spend too much processing time thinking about words td relating them to the rurounding contest, rather than auto tatcally recognising them ‘Bernhardt (10813 235-6) angues that che ulate goa auto- matic Good L1 readers process language in the frm of written text without thinking consciously about i. and good L2 readers ‘mus also lear to doo, It sony this kind of attomatie proces ing which allows the good reader to think instead about te larger meaning of the discourse ~ on the one hand, to recover, the ‘message thatthe author intended to convey and on the or, t2 relate that new information to what the reader kaon and feels bout the subject, and to his or her reasons for reading about i In shor i is ony this kind of local procesing. that allows for slobal meaning wih true comprehension, 12 reading speed Bernhardt (1991a: 284) argues tat a major bottomp sil is reading at fst in that language as their knowledge of wil allow, in elation to their reading purposes Where appropriate we need to dedicate some time for rapid identification of lexical and gram matical form Joel (1991-771) quotes Chall (1979)",.. (eames) have to know enough about the prin in order to leave the print Te is noted inthe literature hat L2 readers often read texts more slowly than LI readers, One ofthe mos siking diferences beaween LI and L2 readers of English texs is their speed. Haynes (198K: 50) and others have identified the rot ofthe problem as the length of the fsation slowing down the reading rather than ‘number of fxaions or regressions. Haynes (1984: 50) nots: 1 seems likely that i takes longer to acces lexi meanings, remember whata word means, in 2 than i docs in Ll, 12 readers The teaching of mading 198 of English do not have large wel-practsed vocabularies and year fof experience of recognising words in print, Hence, ites thei Tonger to decide whether a word is known oF unknown and, in the latter case, whether to skip tor not Developi g nutomaticiy in L2 read Although the importance of automaticity in decoding i gaining ‘general recognition, there is less agreement on how to achieve the goal in 12 reading. Haynes (1984 59) angus that Te importance of word unit proces neds wo be recrgad In ESL teaching. Fine, precio of encoding speling ae prone so cin bene hough latin Haynes also advocates dictionary wor asa method of separating ‘words which look familiar. The aim iw help the student disin sguish new word efficiently in lexical memory. Nuzall (1996: 62) Iles sanguine about the tse of dictionaries and warns tacit can slow dawn reading considerably and reduce elfecivenes in tead- ing. Occasional rather than constant wie is advocated. She also cautions tha al ofthis does not mean that guesing from contex isnot ewentil but should be seen as one ofa numberof bottonm- ups well as topelown strategies that can help the student to reach Jue (1991: 788) points out that automatic in most skis comes {rom overlearning: repested practice fee up one’ stention so that it does ave to be though she does admit hat we do not know exactly what iti about wor recogation that becomes automatic, i. ist recogni tion of common sound spelling pattems, recognition of high fre ‘quency words, et? ?aran (1996), arecent article, makes strong cate for dese coping exercises to help EFL students recognise voeabalary more momatialy He pus the case fora greater focus on bottom-up processing (p25): "good readers do not ey on hypothesis forma tion and prediction as much asi commonly thought. Visual input and boom up processing dung reading are of great import ance.” He argues tha the top-down approach (Goodman, 1957104 Reding a Second Language 75, 78) has permeated ELT reading materials and teacher tai ing despite the advent of tore comprehensive interactive models and ites Grellet (1981), Nutall (1982) as important books ils trating this bias, While acepting the value of interactive compens story proaches which allow learner t compensate for ek of Sevloped automaticised sil, Param feel we need to go further. Though providing context or activating backgronnd knowledge it important to compensate for poor automaticity, readers need to ‘be weaned off tis suport and be tuined toda without it Param (1006: 20) clan one ofthe goal of 2 seading insti i to make readers ica reliant on ip down proces and help them progres toward geste relance’on bot up srategien a they Hecome more Guesting may well take place on a global level, but Paran argues ‘hat thi not an appropriate strategy for word or phrarerecogns ‘on; the lower levels of proceaing (p. 30). Topedown approaches would scem to be more suited to expeditions ending such ae Skimming or search reading where the focus is on the macro: ‘Mructure of the text We note along with Paran the absence of ‘ch activites from most course books on the teaching of reading, Paran also points out the limited variety i the excrese pes {or automaccy; baseally matching identical words in list a sigest that they night ot go down well t advanced level. Bloor (G85: 43) sees le use for ie beyond an elementary level. How te, we relate to he atvity of scanning dineued Iter under texpedisious rating, it may well be that protning this strategy has limportant spin offs for automatic and widens dhe hase of exe: tive pes that concerns Paran and Bloor, Scanning isan activy Suitable for advanced readers as well as elementary! nay also be the case that one major tale of extensive tea lng (ecep.215 betow) les in its value for developing stomaliiy ‘of word recognition, Famiiaristion wih a large number of words through extensive practice fs Ukelyto free up processing time. or barher exemplifcation the reader is advised t0 look at Mahon (1986) and Nutall (1996: 54-61) for useful suggestions ‘concerning building L2 reading rates and de Leeuneand de Leeuw (U0) for LI. For further aacueson on automatllty tn L2 read ing teaching, see Nuttall (1996: 45-61), Dubin etal. (1985) and Silbersein (1394), The wacing of wading 195 Vocabulary acquisition As we have discused so far, sttomaticisy has largely been com ‘ered with decoding. The L1 readers, given that they are read ing appropriate material, can be assumed to have lexical entries ‘eviouly established for the jiems encountered, In other words they “now the words; they just have to make automate recegn tion ofthe orthographic rendering ofthese words, This parc Tarp the eae with ator near adult readers. This sition ear ‘of coure be stsumed in the cave of L2 learners Here the readers ‘ay well frequently face iim which they not only have diticuly ecoding, but with which the are simply untailiar the item may pot yet havea place inthis lexicon. Thus except infty nial ‘asc where the L2 readers ae very fet in the spoken language before they are introduced to the wrgten form, 12 readers have (o acquire vocabulary items before they ean begin to make recog ‘tion of thee items automate How best to acquire a large stock of vocabulary i a problem. t thas often been argued that vocabulary fy best acquired Uhr reading. Thus Nutall (1006; 62) claims ‘An extensive reading programme is the single mos effective way of improving voeabu ny! Howerer, according to Nation (1997), extensive reading is unlikely 1o lead to large increases in our vocabulary knowledge tnless we read a very lage amoult 40 that new words are Te peated mlficienty in context for us wo learn them (apparent 12 times is the recommended done, bared om Saragh eta, 1978) Thus extensive reading may not be the panacea for vocabulary acquisition that itis often tought tobe. For aeqring vocabulary ‘we may have to zely als on instruction in intensive mode Many teachers sce one of their Key coes in the reading clase room a expanding vocabulary knowledge and developing learner? Aly to continue to increase their woeabulary. Ie i generally accepted (see Nuttall, 1986: 63) tha a vocabulary of 5000 words is needed to start independent reading, although the empirical cvidence for this i light (sce Laufer, 1989). If this figure were accurate it would scem to be beyond many of the stents we teach and we would need to be eatremely careful in selecting texts for the majors’ of our students (ie, ensuring the lescal load is below thes level) and/or focus on language work for longer period with those only possessing a resticted socabulary of, sy, less dhan 2000 words196 Reading 0 Sond Leonguage The desire to expand student vocabulary is supported by the 1 iterate on the effecs of woeabulary knowledge on compre hension. Correlations between knowledge of word measings and ably to comprehend passages containing these words are high ‘and wel exaished in LI realing studies (Anderson and Freebody, 1081) and inthe L2 literature (Laufer, 1980). Such correlational ‘exidence, ofcourse, fal to establish knowledge of word meanings asa cause of comprehension but suggests thatthe two are distr uted in a sine manner in the population. Stahl and Fairbanks (1986) provides metaanalsis of sides concerned with effects of ‘vocabulary instrucion on comprehension snd on learning of word seanings Clarke (1979, 1980/1988) and Caiko (1978) hypothesve that competence in the second language (grammar and vocabulary) ‘may place cling on second language reading ably. mplicaions are that ‘good reader’ topedown reading sills may be parasitic on language toa larger degree than in fist nguage reading. How exer, Hudson (1882: ch. 2) has found that schema pro tep-down processing, x very much implicated in the socalled short circuit of second language reading, and that schemata ca over Fide language profcenc) a a factor in comprehension. Tis woud accord with data we put forward from language testing stidies in Chapter 3 ‘Beck and MeKeown (1991) argue that before we can talk of the value of instrucon we need to havea clear idea of what it meats to know a word and how we are to measure vocabulary see and development. Like many before them, they wiggest that know ledge ofa word is not an abwhite but rather a continuum from not knowing to ‘ich decontextilived knowledge of a wor's Imeaning, its relationship to other words, and is extension 10 metaphorical uses’ (p. 792). The dstiaction between receptive and productive vocabulary bat long history, We nced to recognise that there is difference between becoming aware of a new wont and learning it Obviously sizeof vocabulary s determined by how 2 word i defined; what knowing ie means and what corpus (and sample fom that corpus) of words are used to test it (p. 795) Despite these problem i x clear that highabity staden's have much larger vocabularies than lower ability students Much of the research on vocabulary Knowledge is based on iuliplechoice question tests however, this format obviously si fers from the drawback sted in Chapter 8 and raises question The teaching of reading 197 uch of the research In particular suc te do not Aitinguich between words that are known well and those which axe only vaguely familia, et We need to develop meamures/take which sellect the point along the contin of word knowledge a which we wish cit daa and determine the measires to be inredaced optimally a fesch point Do we want to tex minimal degree of faaity oF discrimination among related concepts or completeness of word understanding a¢ in accurate definiion? It alo. seems ely according to Beck and MeKeown (1901; 808), thatthe effect of vocabulary instruction on comprehension may well be quaitaive rather than quantistive. Studies focusing on qualitative under Stanling may well demonstrate aver effects than the A case for direct instruction » Direct instruction cannot acount for ll dhe vocabulary acquired byleamersand «itis often argued that learning vocabulary rom context in writen tex is likely to promote vocabulary learning We expressed some reservations concerning this inthe presieus section. The research evidence on the value of attempting to each the abiliy to nse contest is mnned (eck and MeKewwa, 1091 802-3) but the ubiquitous finding i that earning word meanings from context does not scem to accu with particular ease Finding was to encourage learners inside aed outside the clas room to extend ther reading is another contend, although a ‘we pointed out above (Nation, 1997) this may not be the panacea for vocabulary deprivation twas once thought. Ceting students to read more snot likely to be a problem with the sled reader 2 nothing succeeds ike suevew. The problem les n encouraging less able students to do $0, and in recognising that wider reading ‘may simply not be enough for them to get their vocabulary knew ledge up to critical mss, For these sadents divert insrion may be neces. “This may involve casroom activites where word meaning information is imtentionally given to stdente either through de fnition from recourse to 2 dictionary (Nutll, 1N6- 62-8) or explanation in context. More recent, the Key word method semantic mapping and semantic feature anabsis have appeared in the literature (Beck and McKeown, 1991: 804). Again research Jui not indicated a best method acros studies. Part of the problem198 Reading n @ cond Language lies in Uhe way methods ae labelled but there is alo some degre of overlap which may interfere wth experimental enquiry. How ever, what i cleat is that instruction does bave an effect (Beck ana McKeown, 1991; 805) on word learning and ‘here is advant age from methods that use a yarieyy of techniques there is There is tle indication that vocabulary instruction leads to increaed comprehension, ie Hite evidence of eau link despite strong reported correlations between Use two. Beck and McKeown {p. 800) argue that this nay be because te seman proceses in reading comprehension required fluency of ace Word meaning and richness of semantic network connections, ildivon to accuracy of word meaning knowledge To have an effect, research indicates tha succesful instruction ‘provided more than one of two exposures 1 each word, pre sented both definitional and contextual information, and engaged students in deeper processing’ (bid. 806). Semanuc features ana Isis and semantic mapping involve active procesing by geting student to examine the relaionstip beoween words. Both imolve active processing, cg. comparing and combining with known in formation to establish meuning. They go beyond simply entering new information in memory a8 peruse of 2 dition. RudskirOntyn (1986) introduces students (© a range of teh niques, including semantic eles, componential and collocational nuts and semantic relationships such as syuonyany. Similary, Beck and McKeown (1991) advocate the use of emanie Feature sgrids to diciss the relationships between items. For a discussion ff semantichased vorabulary teaching methods see also Pearson fd Johnson (1978), ‘Such direct insriction cannot obviously teach all words A strat egy which focused on high-requency words in a mature vocab lary which abo have a high utility across discipline are, semitechnical vocabulary, might prove to be the most effective and efficent strategy. ‘Natal (1906: 64 et seq) offers useful advice on hav to gets dents to ignore unknown words and provides a series of practical techniques for helping inthis, eg. understanding gapped texts shows students they can get the gt ofa text without understand: ing every word, Natal alto prowides a number of valuable acti ies for developing word stack sil for dealing with words which are important for comprehension (pp. 69-77) The aching of reding 199 * ooking for structural cles * grammatial fonction: ie place inthe sentence * inferencing it meaning fom context * using a dictionary for unknown ley words not acesible by Paran (1961, 1988) offers a wide variety of exercises for helping learmers to understand strategies they might use for acquiring the meanings of words, for example * relating » new word to a uown word * contrasting 2 word with another word inthe sentence * understanding the tentence as a whole explo owed fhe wr relating a word waword in Lie Its noticeable that topdown techniques are being used here on ‘Ati all exercises we must be assre that we can never be sure that, onthe bai of mecting a word once, we know what means Bright (1065) stremes to stadents the maliple meanings of co mom words "The way a word fs into the language and lie of te people who we ict nota simple thing. Hardly any words except technical ones have one simple meaning.” Like many ethers, he recommends extensive reading a a method, not of acuring new Words, but of broadening one's Knowledge ofthe muiliple sea ing of aiready known items, While seemingly sensible aie, there in ele empirical support for this fn he lite ire, as isthe case for the other techniques mentoued here ‘The place of vocabulary teaching in the reading lesion Reading clases shoul principally be for reading and not language vwork. We recognise there iss paradox that enhanced vocabulary vil aid reading, so where should i occur? A conventional sl tion is offered by Paran in his Burlington Proficiency Series books, He saves the fist reading of text for comprehension actives, Towards the end ofa reading unit, after the second reang, he considers it legitimate to foci on linguistic features such alexis for cohesion as well ak Further avay activities such as appreciation or evaluation200 Reading no Second Language For farther reading on vocabulary in EFL the reader is referred to Garter and McCarthy (1988), MeCarthy (1900) and Nation (1990, 1997), Grammatical silts Surprisingly in the vast Iiterature on reading there is relatively Title on the relationship between grammatical knowledge and reading ability and we will make some suggestions in the nex! section om esearch ato how this might he rectified (see Section 52, p. 255). Undersanding syntax ean help the L2 readers to comprehend text more realy, Increasing *plactic knowledge nay help them to deal with more complex tentences and increar- ing thei automatic im recognising synactc structures should fee up procening tne itll (1986-78-90) argues the case for paying clove attention to language, particlaty syntax and cohesion m order to interpret Gifcat text She sets this im a wider context of tying ft with topdown sistegier to establish meaning and, if this does not prove sufficient, suggests resorting to the additional information Ich 2s examining the syntax and matching thi with top-down insight to consider difering imterpretations. Is problem-sosing fnature might make this a candidate for the tert stag rather ‘an sit ‘Notall suggests number of airy complex exercises designed to help stadent to remove optional cements from sentences gtematcally unt ‘only the core remains and the bare structure of a sentence is ‘lear «= paraphrase optional elements of complex sentences one by one, End fit them ino the whole structure to make sense of thea. Cohesion Chapman (1979a) found a relation beween reading ability and ability te complete anaphoric relations in a cloze test and com ‘ded that mastery of such textual features is 2 eenteal factor in fueat reading and reading comprebension. Weir (1988a) found that gaping test including items on cohesion, discourse markers and stmicture correlated well with general reading comprebension tests Mackay etal (1979) and Cowan (1976) have argued that The wching of ading 201 recognition of conjunctions and other interientential linguini esices is crucial 10 the information-gathering skills of second Tanguage reader Willams (1984) discusses the importance of recognising co- hesve ties and has suggested teaching mater for this Null (1982/1906; 86-08} prondesa numberof useful exercises for recog hiking and interpreting cohesive devies and discourse markers For exemplieation of grammatical work, ce Morrow (1080: 68-4), Natal (1996: 79-86), Silberstein (1994: 63-6) and Sim and Laufet-Dvorkin (1982: 50-61). For work on cohesion, see Willams 8s) Work on the place of micrlinguistic elements, in partinlar the role of grammar, hasan important rle, which has tended 10 De neglected inthe recent pat In class, we mast of course dis fuish between vocabulary and grammar work which i aimed at improving reading, and the use of texts to teach vocabulary and grammar. Boch are important aypects of teaching an L2, but we hive to concentrate onthe first. What we tur to ow ~ te recog nition of main ideas and important information in a text rough either careful or expeditious reading strategies ~ is more exchie ively apart of reading actites in the classroom, Individual tasks at the global level Comprehension instruction: the process of reading text carly In Chapter 3 we conskered Row we might test ome asec of reading tet carefully In tering ve felt contrsoed to Knit Sancta to arf reading for exc sated mai dea sd to [roponiona lnferencing. We fl that prgmate Inferencing was beyond the cenit ofthe tester a it gos Beyond tox ane com prehension. However, awtrong case canbe made forthe ale of “We trey expand on eur euler deoiptons of thee thre aspect of caret reading below av they ae all cata for cebpitg redingsbilty inthe Cameroon, We dere thm In teoordance ids txonomy developed inthe reedng recarch troup ofthe TEU at CALS Reading Unveriy, Pace tere Sctvticsshoold form the backbone of any cael reading pro- iqamme and should be parcalar effective when supplemented202 Roding in a Second Language by aetses for activating background knowedge and summaris- don shils discussed in the following section. We then focus on text 14a numberof acide whch we se a important for promoting atention to comprehension istructon inthe veading Reading carefully for explicily stated main ideas Careful and thorough reading of text for explicitly stated main ‘eas and important information ian important purpose for teal Ing We often need to decode the whole ofa text to undertand it oF to establish ts macrostructre. In this mode the reader as 10 read a text ata careful ate fom beginning to end ina linear and seaquential fashion wth regressions as necessary. This will mainly be'a bottomup sequental proces with some liited topdow processing, and might involve * separating explicitly sated main ideas from supporting detail by recognising tic sentences or by recognising lexical indicators of importance «generating a representation ofthe text as 2 whole “ tinderstanding the development ofan angument and/or logical Further exemplfiation i provided in Glendinning and Holmstrom (1982: 52-3), Grellet (1881) and Nua (1996: eh. 9). Reading carefully for ly stated main eae Tn some texts the ideas may not be expliily stated and students can be alerted to the nature of propositional inferences, These fre made when the reader uses expic statement in the text 0 form an inference without recourse to knowledge from outside the text (Chikalanga, 1990). This might involve making + proposiional informational inferences which are cither refer ‘ental, ypicaly anewering questone beginning with what and Which? oF spatiotemporal, Wpieally aanering questions begin ning with where and when * propositional explanatory inferences which ace concemed with Inotiation, cate, consequence and enablement and wil een answer qucttions beginning with why ned how. The waching of eating 208 Allee information required to make sch propositional inferences ‘5 recoverable fom the text. Reser acvies might inclade discovering writers intention Understanding writer's attitude tothe topic ‘endif the addrewee For exemplification see Elis and Tomlinson (1988: 71-2, 86-8), Glendinning and Holmstim (1992: 54-6), Grellet (1981; 48, 239 44) and Paran (191: 3-4, 44), Inferring pragmatic meaning related to a text Pragmatic nferencing takes place when readers rely mainly on their own schemata and/or opinions to inlerpret a text (Chikalanga, 902). This might vole malin + pragmatic informational inferences which ate ether referent ‘spay anewering questions beginning with what and which, or sgutenporal play storing quis Pegianing ih + pragmatic explanatory inferences which are concerned with ‘notation, cause, comequence and enablement and wil often answer questions beginning wth why and how orogenic eevee ie Feeder em fon on the basis ofthe content of text ‘ppying the main idea(s) inthe text into other coments ~ evaluating point of view = exprening own opinion con the subject With reference to their own background knowledge and expert imerpret, respond t, ealuate nd possibly apply the writer's message(s) contained in the text ed a calle ged (a device for preventing fs from crossing, contting of horizontal metal ary with hhow sheep had er aps beoween) by one of the flock ling acrom it and th ‘alking aver it to greener pastures The ie would be unintlgile to anyone who did not Hnow the motto of the Special Armed Services (SAS) ‘who dares win”(1992: 25-7), Greet (1981: 26-9, 1-8, 41-2, 40-6, 245-9) and McGovern et al (1994; 12-13) Promoting careful reading skills in the ESOL classroom First, we need to woid specilly writen texts constructed to ila tc apecic language points, The reading text i frequently seen as the conduit for lexeal and syntactic learning rather than the Text selection Williams (1964: 15) discusses the shortcomings ofthe types of text used solely for learning language and sees, its key fing He concludes (p. 125) Nuttall (1996: 90) argues in a similar vein for focusing.on using comveying language She offers a numberof eriteria for text selection inching + suablty of content i i exsentil that text shoul interest the + expletabiity:fulitation of learning. How well can it help de ‘elop reading abil language lu lesvon but rather ‘how language ie nocd In fora purpose (p. 173) Phe aching of ading 205 Appropriate texts, for example in terms of + intended audience * intended purpose * length teneal range + metortel structure * tople fami + relationship to background knowledge * Ghannel of presentation should be chosen to enable students to practise careful reading The same selection criteria apply to the other strategies and skills wwe discuss below. Ie seems that care reading can accommodate impicic text strucate and ideas, whereas expeditions reading is more dependent on expliclnes In text structure or ideas. This is that HampLyens (1981) called a “text strategie approach’. The Focus here ison exploiting gencralisble features of text "in order twhelp learners develop ails for approaching ay text This is an atea i eral need of stention by reading teachers. ‘What are the sallentfeatres of text selection which wil facta selecting texts to best pracne appropriate acviies? What is Principled set of procedures wo determite whether texts appropri tein terme of the above conditions actualy allow the practising fof intended activites, purpowes for reading An attempt to draw 'p a specification for text selection for an advanced reading test in China is presented in Appendix 1. The wame categories of description ae applicable to text selection for waching purposes Tn aldion, in Section 5:3 a textmapping procedure ls esesbed Which offers systematic method for the development of sks ‘once a text appropriate for the intended purposes of rein as portant tha students are exposed the range fof material they might Iter have to cope wi for eiaer ine formational or entertainment purposes. For example, itis no vue Dasing FAP reading materials solely on texts tien from newspapers, dhough olniously the introduction of target text val only occur when iti appropriate: wo do ae both in terms of Trckground knowledge and. linguitic readiness Hamp-Lyons (96H 808) cautionsAuthenticity was also discussed in Chapter 8 with regard to test ie characteris of ue icone: Bang womething to 8, beng ferent and clearly organized. Campored (Le. specall rites) (ripe tex aby Te ee les This is not to say that texts may not be modified with due eauion (ace Lewkowicr, 1996), For example dlfielt words ean be subst ‘uted or complex stax unsaveled. Willams and Moran (1995: 66) note thatthe claims for authenticity are not aken a iterlly a they once were and simplified or specially written texts have & place in the reading corse books they reviewed, Lewkowie (1097) ‘makes the point that as long a allent performance conditions 26: appropriate rhetorical structure, are present full suhentiiy ‘may not be eseential in the texts employed for teaching or testing specified skill and strategies ‘Willams (1984; 18-18) makes a number of points about the linguistic dificult of the tent alec pace of th eon wil be ow, ad boredom yl set nyo he pace [uutall (1996: 174-6) deals with this under the heading o read ability (see also diseusion of text cificlly in Section 3), She fees it a a combination of structural and lexical diel though recognising the influence of conceptual difficulyy and interest. Text selected should take the level of the stents in terms of inicture into account In multteve clases, self access work at different levels may be an exental supplement i the provision of differentiated reading materials i not availabe for regufarcasioom insticton tp. 174), ‘Nuttall (1906: 36) talks of the "next step” level, i, one se target for pating them on. The teacher provider saffolding’ to Tel them abe this extra step, Nuttall desriber thie ae never The teaching of wading 207 doing anything for them that they can do themselves wth ite support This escussed by Wilms and Burden (1997: 5-6) a8 the zone of proximal development frou the Reld of educaoual poychology the nest sep nasisted. Bruner and others have eed the tem "aderng' eo tle to this proce, Wiliams (198%: $4) alo advocates using 2 range of material selecting texs ‘that deal wth the same topic or theme, since this will result in consolidation and extension of language and lan sage use ina way that is comprehensible to the general learner’ ‘Vygovsky (1962: TS) is one of the eaves writers to dea! with mediation in the sense of using tools to achieve goals and his ‘work previews much of the current discussion in hi aca. eamers can choose thei own texts, thie ikely to be highly motivating; Br in thse cases where textbooks are prescribed, this may not be possible, and how the teacher aes texts becomes ‘ruca, Walker (1987) offers 2 proforma set of activites for st dents who bring their own texts to the classroom so that evel though the instruction is individvalised in terms of tex the acti ites being practised are common, Tn addition to work focusing on the careful reading activites etal atthe sartof this secon, there are a numberof other Interventions which should help to ground thew skills prope Interventions designed to build or activate background inoxledge The role of background knowedge in reading was discussed in Section 22 and is selasonship to testing wis considered in So tions 8.1 and 3.3. Whereas in testing we argued for trying to mine ‘mise its inflence, the reverse might be sid tobe traci teaching In the section on metacognitve strategies above we considered wayt in which the students might consider the relationship berween their exiting tate of knowledge and information tobe found ina text atthe pee reading, ule reading and postseading enges, Heve ‘we look more closely at how derstanding the structure of a text ‘cn aid main ideas comprehension in careful reading mode208 Reading in «Se ut Longoog We focus on two atte inthe classroom, andentonding txt cngenscion and writng summaries of main ideas, which appear to De particularly Henefial for sccesfl careful reading, Tent onganiation Students with varied profiles appear to benefit when teachers help them actvate or build formal knowedge of text structure: tru tural relations between man idea in atx. Pearson and Felling (1091) provide examples of story structure and expostory text structure instruction. They describe way of actiating knowledge of the structure ofthe text itself, eg. of a story grammar. This tight involve consideration of abstract hierarchical strctare: Setting. problem, gou, action, outcome; and giving practice in Identifying category relevant information ‘Compretiension, particularly inferenal comprehension, i also helped when connections are made between readers’ backround Knowledge and experience and the coment of the text under review (Pearson and Fielding, 199; 847). This may happen priot to reading. Imoking knowledge structures aids comprehension. Making predictions before reading and confirming them during reading, and asking inference questons during and after reading, Jmproves comprehension ~particulanly inferential comprehension As well as formal knowledge of text structure, owledge about specific topics and themes related to- sory i important. The Tule of preeading dincusions to generate expectations in this fespect has been shown to be effective (Pearson and Feding, 1091; 822), Other methads include using writing to anticipate story information and developing 4 shor Kat of key words, and ‘ich a cognitive engagement har been found to help poor readers (e828) ‘Longer texts, ora numberof texts on the same theme, are seen by Willams and Moran (1998) at another way in which authors have tied to build up background knowledge in certain area (ce Haines 1987, ad Tomaineon and lis, 198, for examples of these. Aaaltionally, inferential questions and prediction questions ~a ant ideas (central events in ##ory, om construc ingan interpretation anon summary ~are seen by hese reviewers ts useful techniques For improving the understanding of a ory Te teaching of ading 209 AX far as expository text structure {6 concerned, t has been suggested that vial iminary i useful fol. What wa ai eat term Sections 22 and 3.3 about the organaional structire of 8 text is relevant here. The imporance of summary (sce below) tehematic representation of a text, an rating the importance of ideas related o the text to comprehension, learning and remem bering, are noted by Pearion and Fielding (1991: 827) a8 they promote atention to lext structure The electivenes of teaching ident to use text src to identify main ideas i conirmed by Akermann and Moore (1991: students familar wit the topic appears to mediate ineructional ‘ffecivenes, Tes clear that readers who are knowledgeable about, and who ‘an follow the authors text structure, recall more ofa text than thove who lack these attributes (Pearson and Fielding, 1991; 827) and they note that nore good readers than poor follow the writers Structure in real of text. Hierarchical summaries using discourse ‘lus and visual representations (networking, loweharting, con ep frames) are also seen a wef in heiping real text infor 960), though they point out that mason beter and improving comprehension, particularly for lower bility sudents who need more help in developing strategies. Natal (1906: ch 12) offers a aviety oF information taser task ‘examples that might be used inthe reading class, Also the section fm information transfer in Section 8 on testing offers advice on the use of this ask pe, Pearson and Fielding (1991: 832) conclu how tutors acento relate dea to one another or aty sot of ‘premate aempt to pone cre upon a texe, especially in ‘ene srt of vical reprerenatn of Uns rate aacag tay appears dha while mot strategies are of value scros the bility range252 Reding in a Second Language rening, but we hve atiempeed to tncorporste their research findings and those of others where available in our overview of theory, testing and teaching of reading in the cartier chapters of this book. The literature on reading isso vas that we are sure to have minted a number of important pieces of research in the welter of references available on LI and L? reading in genera. We would be glad to be made avare of any omissions ‘Our aim in Chapter 5 isto identy some Key aress from ou review ofthe eld in Chapters 4 and suggest how these might be investigated through smallacale research studies to help shed Future research INTRODUCTION Throughout this book so far, we have tied to indicate or prefer ence for dais and conciisons based on Empirical data, rather than shetorie and good-hearted sentiment. We finish, therefor with a chapter devoted t0 considerations of some future resent Airectons for teaching ad testing reading in an L2. The relationship between research and teaching fs complex, worthy of 2 reid by ull A single publication by Goodanan (0967) had what some consider t be 2 disproportionate amount Dfinfluence on the teaching of reading both in the Land 12. It remains to be seen whether the work of Sanowich and others has anything Hke the same effec. The huge change in 12 from a was not motivated by empirical dala at normally understood by the term; ft sem o have 0 red at eat in prt by an upsweling of disatisficton among the hing community with the prev te jarci. The characerinics ofthe participants involved in teaching and interest Both sides have their virtues and viees Teachers and testers are usally in contact with real learners, and Ihunces regarding these learners based on eatened experience hich may well be vali even if elificult to substantiate, They soften ack, however, an explic theoretical framework agains which torelate these hunches, ad thus evaluate them and extend them, Researchers on the ether hand, usually operate within a Theoret. ical framework. However, hey may not bring experience to best fn this framework. Moreover, they sometimes rey unenialy on210 Reading in a Sond Language [Natal (1996; 100-24) provides useful advice and sound practical exemplification of a range of text attack skills recognising func tional value of senten ces recognising text organisation; recogni ing presuppositions undedying 4 txt; recognising implications and making inferences particularly interesting example f where students are given pars ofa chapter or ofa text and they have to pt the pare fa tle right order. This i beat done in groups. Ke ltwoles an integration of many of the sills and strategies dis cased in this chapter. Creating text diagrams to illustrate the way ideas and informa: tion are presented in a text is probably best dane by the students working in groups wih classroom discuson late Not all tex Tend themselves to this technique, so input tex need to be cho- sen carefully The section on mindmapping in Section 5.8 offers Some insights into how student might go about this process and learn something more about ski nd strategies atthe sane ime Nuttall notes of text diagrams hat they demand close sudy of the way the text i put together and promot text faced iscialon, They are wif ther to depay femmon patems of paragraph oegansaton orto elucidate the truce ot comple ex 108) Useful discussion of networking can be found ip Danserau eta (1970); floweharting in Ceva (1980, 1988) and for work on top level rhetorical structures see Meyer (1973) and Bavdett (1978) ‘who show how, through digram, Hens and thei relationshipe re Tepresented within the text Willams (JOB) provides a wuful Ise survey of text structure and somne ways of introducing it to student, Careful reading into writing: a product from the reading process Sumumaristion is perhaps the verbal equivalent ofthe visual dia sgrammaie representation of text srvctre discussed inthe prev fut section, which could easly be subrumed under the broad testrila of ommry. In contt ip cater work on aursssation, where research renilte were confounded by the mse of loeleel Tnuliplecheie lemas criterion coreg Pearson and Fielding ce posiive suppor for summarising including improved comprehen ion on the texts involved, increased reall and even improvement Te waching of ring 201 fon sandardised reading test scores by students involved in this fcuviy (1991: 833). There iy aso evidence tht summaristion taining transfers to new texts, They argue fori value as abroad thse comprehension training strategy. inthis warformaion proce that author's des bom rade’: eas rendering them more memorable ip) In Chapter Swe dacused the aim in tenting of measuring reading ‘unmuddied by the contaminating tnfluence of other ¥arabes, eg. writing, Measurement considerations sich a this donot loom fas large inthe teaching station. A good ease can be made for the frais interaction between reading and writing in the Ian ‘guage lasroom, both activites belng seen as potentially comple- mentary to each other. Zamel (1992) argues that reading and siting inttruction benefit each other in an integrated approach land argues fr ‘writing one’s way into reading” ierstein (199: "70-1 argues that by imegraing instruction sdents come to wn derstand the way in whic both readers and writers compose text. Smith (1988: 277) comments that "writing is one way of promot ing engagement with a text which leads o beer comprehension’ The stent has t establish the main ideas in a tent, extract them and reduce to note form and then rewrite the note in a ‘coherent manner in their own words. Brown and Day (2983) iden titled a number of rales for summarising which match the rules ‘of Kintch and van Dijk for exabishing macroproposiions (sce ‘Chapter 2 p. 80) delete eva aforsation 1 delete redundant ifecrnation 1 provide a superordinate term for members ofa category 1 create your om mai ideas when ming from the text Pearson and Fielding (1991: 884-5) report that sueb alning enhanced summarisition and increased scores on reading ters ‘when compared with control groups, Exemplifcaion of simmary tasks can be found in Greet (1981; 255-6), Paran (1991: 5,27, 41) and Traecak and Mackay (104 26-8, 3455) ‘We expressed concen about what actually happened a regards reading in the L2 classroom a the sat ofthis section. The evidence