Makalah Teaching Students to Read for Meaning

Makalah Teaching Students to Read for Meaning

Teaching Students to Read for Meaning
       Comprehension may be regarded as relating what we attend to in the world around us-the visual information of print in the case of reading-to what already have in our heads. And learning can be considered as modifying what we already have in our heads as a consequence of attending to the world around us.

                                                                                                                        -smith 1994, 53

·         What does reading include?

·         How do EFL/ESL teacher teach beginner to read?

·         What kinds of reading activities do EFL/ESL teachers have as reading teachers?

What Does Reading Include?

Reading includes discovering meaning in print and script, within a social context, through bottom-up and top-down processing and the use of strategies and skills.

The social context of reading

As the following list of things we read shows, we read a great variety of things. We read some of these alone-for example, a newspaper over morning coffee or tea. We also read things and talk about them with others. For example, we might read the movie listings in the newspaper to a friend to choose a film to see, or we might read a menu item at a restaurant to the waiter to ask if he or she recommends it. We read some things while sitting, others while walking, others while driving. The point is, reading is not done in a vacuum. It is done within a social context.

 

Processing what we Read

In chapter, I discussed auditory bottom-up and top-down processes involved in listening comprehension, and these same processes active in a visual sense when we read. To comprehend written language, we rely on our ability to recognize words, phrases, and sentences (bottom-up or text driven processing), as well as on our background knowledge related to the content of what we are reading (top-down or conceptually-driven processing). These two process interact as we read, resulting in some degree of comprehension.

            Quit often, comprehension is difficult for EFL/ESL readers because of cultural factors. For example, a study by Kate Parry Shows that failure of Nigerian students to achieve high scores on the English language section of the West African School Certificate  (WASC) exam is due in large part to two cultural factors. First, the West African physical and social environment of the children is very different from that reflected in European-influenced passages in the English reading section of the exam. Second, the act of reading itself is cultural, as the Nigerian students live in an oral culture where complex thoughts and ideas are remembered and expressed orally.

            Another study that also shows how the lack of cultural knowledge can affect comprehension was done by Steffensen, Joag-Dev, and Anderson. They had subjects from India and the United States read two texts describing an Indian and American wedding, later asking them to recall the passages. They discovered that when readers have the background knowledge assumed by the writer, comprehension is high; correct inferences are made. If they do not have the background knowledge, they distort meaning as they attempt to adjust the writer’s intent to their own knowledge of the world. For example, while the American reader could make sense out of references to the engagement ring and stag party, the Indian reader could only guess, sometimes making wrong inferences.

Strategies Used by Readers to Comprehend Text

Here is what fluent readers say they do to be successful at comprehending reading materials.

·      Skip words they do not know	·      Make use of all information
·      Predict meaning	In the paragraph to comprehend
·      Guess the meaning of unfamiliar	unfamiliar words
words from the context	·      Try to figure  out the meaning
·      Do not constantly translate	Of a word by the syntax of The sentence.
·      Look for cognates	·      Read things of interest
·      Ask someone what a word means	·      Study pictures and illustration
·      Have knowledge about the topic	·      Purposefully reread to check comprehension
·      Draw inferences from the title

In addition to what readers say about their own strategies for comprehending reading materials, research on the eye movements of fluent readers shows another reason for success: they read most words on a page, including 80 percent of the  content words and 40 percent of the function words, they do not simply sample a small piece of text and try to guess what the rest of the text is about. Instead, they read in a very precise way. Even when reading fast, they identify the majority of the words. Also, readers who consistently read with success do not read once in a while but spend much time reading.

Skill Used to Read

In addition to the strategies readers use to make sense out of print, successful readers also learn basic reading skills. They can skim a text to get general idea of a passage. For example, most readers are able to read a newspaper headline and the first paragraph or two to determine what is about and whether or not they want to read the article. Successful readers can scan things they read to locate facts or specific information, for example, to locate a number in the phone book or a file from a list on a computer screen.

            Successful readers can also read for thorough comprehension. This means they read to understand the total meaning for a passage. This kind of reading is often done in academic and other settings where complete comprehension is necessary. In addition, successful readers can read critically. Critical reading requires that readers evaluate what they read, considering whether or not they share the author’s point of view or are convinced by the author’s argument or position. Finally, successful readers read extensively. This means they read broadly in areas of interest. Such as mystery novels, or in a field of study, such as history or cooking.

How Do EFL/ESL Teachers Teach

Beginners to Read?

Before being able to skim, scan, read for thorough comprehension, read critically, and do extensive reading in English, students need chances to build their bottom-up processing abilities in the language. In other words, they need time and practice building knowledge of sentence structure and vocabulary, as well as experiencing reading within meaningful contexts.

            There are a number of ways to have students build their knowledge of sentence structure and vocabulary. One way, of course, is to use texts, and there are a number of beginning-level grammar and vocabulary texts on the market. Most of these books include lots of exercises, charts, graphs, illustrations, and photos. Reading texts written for beginners also offers students tightly controlled grammatical structures and vocabulary while providing stories relevant to a particular reading audience (e.g., young adults).

            As discussed in chapter 5 on EFL/ESL materials and media, teachers often go beyond the text by creating their own materials and activities. As beginning readers, EFL/ESL students can greatly benefit from teacher-created vocabulary-building activities, aspecially if these activities are based on the students immediate, or at least felt, needs. Examples of such activities are offered later in the problem-solving section of this chapter.

            Some teachers also create activities that provide contextualized reading experiences. One way to do this is through pen pals. Students in one class can write to students in another, or the teacher can link students across schools, even countries. These letters can be handwritten, or, if available, electronic mail offers speed and often an exciting way for students to write to each other. The letters from students become the reading text, and when students truly connect, the letters offer students a valuable reading and learning experience. If students’ oral skills are more developed than their reading skills, they can generate their own reading texts by tape-recording their life stories, which the teacher (or advanced students) can transcribe and edit. These stories then become reading material for the students.

What Kinds of Reading Activities Do

EFL/ESL Teachers Use With

Post beginners?

As students gain in their processing abilities, teachers can have them do activities to develop their skills to skim, scan, read for thorough comprehension, read critically, read extensively, and read dramatically.

Skimming Activities

Readers skim to gain a general impression of a book, story, essay, or article and to determine whether or not to read it more carefully. The following activities illustrate ways that students can practice doing this. The first example of a skimming activity asks the reader to skim a passage and then identify the best title.

The Best Title

Instructions: Read the passage quickly. Then select the best title.

            Mary Ashworth couldn’t believe it! She had purchased a lottery ticked six months ago, put it in her wallet, and forgot about it. One day while at the store, she found the ticket and decided to see if she had won. To her amazement, she had won top prize of two million dollars! She remarked enthusiastically, “I really couldn’t believe it! I almost threw the ticket away without checking to see if I won anything!”

            Which title is best?

a)      “The Good Shopper”                          b) “The Lucky Lottery Winner”

a)      “Six Months Ago”                              d) “The Lost Wallet”

A second example of a skimming activity is more extended in that students are given atopic and expected to select relevant books, newspaper articles, magazine articles, and other reading materials from a library collection. To prepare, the teacher collects reading materials on a variety of narrowed topics, such as sports of Chinese origin, Italian fashion, computer games, and travel in Eastern Europe. The teacher also adds reading (comprising about half the total readings) on closely related topics, such as sports in Latin America, New York fashion, computer programs, used in business, and travel in western Europe. The teacher sets up the class library, has each student select a specific from a list, and has them locate and skim readings from the class library, searching for readings specifically on their topic. The idea is to see how many of the topic-specific readings the student can discover.

Scanning Activities

While skimming is quick reading to find the general idea, scanning is quick reading to locate specific information. For example, we scan telephone books, catalogs, dictionaries, event calendars, book indexes, menu-basically any source in which we need to locate specific information. Here is an example of a scanning activity that makes use of the classified ads.

Scanning the Classified Ads

Instruction: Scan the newspaper classified ads on page 204 to find answer to the following questions:

1.    What number would you call if you were interested in buying a car?

2.    If you wanted to house sit, which number would you call? Do you have to like cats?

3.    If you know someone who wants a student to do lawn work, who would you tell him to call?

4.    Imagine you would like to live in a house rather than an apartment. How many houses are for rent?

5.    How many apartment rentals include utilities? How many do not?

6.    Who would you call if you were interested in finding a new apartment?

7.    Could you buy a computer for less than $1,000? What would this computer include?

8.    Which employment listing seems like the best opportunity for a student? Do any of the jobs interest you?

9.    What is the phone number for the dormitory office at Moore Hall?

Another way to give students practice with scanning is to have a contest. Students form teams, and each student receives a handout that includes lots of facts. I sometimes use fact sheets on different countries-for example, on China’s fourteen coastal port cities. Equipped with a long list of questions and answer, the teacher throws a question out to the class. The first team to answer the question correctly, gets two points. If a team gets the answer wrong, they lose a point. The team with the most points wins.

Reading for Thorough Comprehension: Activities

Unlike skimming and scanning, activities that aim at having students read for thorough comprehension require students to read meticulously. The goal is for the students to understand the total meaning of a reading selection, and there are a number of techniques teachers can use to get students to interact with the reading material. Here are some of these techniques.

·      Students study the title and skim to capture the main idea

·      Students read two paragraphs and predict what will follow.

·      Students do several different scanning tasks, such as underlining past tense verbs in red and adverbs indicating sequence (e.g., first, second, next, etc.) in blue, circling words they do not recognize, and putting stars next to words that seem important. After each task, they briefly discuss what they underlined, circled, or starred.

·      After students have a sense of what the reading material is about, they read silently while answering true-false or multiple-choice questions.

·      Students meet in groups, consider the text, write down questions, and give them to another group to answer.

·      Students draw pictures of the main characters in a story or draw pictures that illustrate the story line.

·      Students, working in groups, reconstruct material previously cut into pieces (also called a jigsaw task).

·      Students read a story with the conclusion missing, then write their own endings.

·      Students give the reading material a new title

·      Students put a set of pictures or photos in order to show the story line or content.

·      Students meet in groups to summarize an article and to separate main ideas from supporting ideas and examples

·      Students listen to the teacher discuss how the piece of writing is organized.

The list illustrates some of the activities teachers use in readingclasses, and there are, of course, other way to teach reading, as well as ways to creatively combine a number of reading activities into a single lesson. And it is through such combination of activities that students have chances to read thoroughly. With this in mind, and as way to conclude this section, I provide here a reading lesson I designed for a lower intermediate ESL class, including a story I wrote and a combination of activities. Through this example, I encourage you to write your own stories and activities for students in your classes. Here is the story.

My wife, Yoko, and I got up very early on Saturday. We had a busy day ahead of us. Before leaving the house, we shout the windows. When we noticed our cat, Kiku, sitting comfortably on a chair. “This won’t do,” Yoko said. “We better put Kiku outside for the day.”

Yoko said goodbye to Kiku just before she got into the car. The cat didn’t look happy. He wanted to go back into the house to rest comfortably on the chair! But this was impossible. At least, this is what we thought!

We then drove to my mother’s place, a retirement home. But my mother wasn’thome. So we walked in the garden. Yoko spent some time at the small white fountain in the middle of the garden.

After we walked in the garden, we drove to the countryside to join relatives at a family reunion. Yoko talked with Uncle Gene, who always seems to be wearing white slacks and shoes.

We left reunion early to go to a wedding party. Our friend Agnes is from Poland, and she married her childhood sweetheart, Wojtek. they had a wonderful time, although they missed their families in Poland on such an important day.

Finally, late at night, we went home. And guess what! We found Kiku in the hall of the house! How did that cat do that!?

Here are the activities students did.

·      Students answered questions before they read (e.g,. how many of you have ever had a pet cat? What do cats like to do?).

·      Students studied a blown-up photo of kiku the cat next to a drawing of a chrysanthemum while listening to an explanation about the meaning of Kiku’s Japanese name, meaning chrysanthemum.

·      Students looked at the reading while tracing some of the script with their finger, spelling out words. As a class, they wrote the same words in the air using their index fingers.

·      Students looked for words they had studied the week before, such as “fountain,” “garden,” and “countryside.”

·      Students underlined verbs in the past tense, then counted the number of past tense verbs.

·      Students read the story silently and responded true or false to such statements as (1) Kiku is dog,(2) Yoko and her husband visited three places, (3) Yoko and her husband visited his mother after going to a picnic.

·      While in groups, students read each paragraph together, then had one person in each group summarize it.

·      After students finished reading and summarizing, they arranged seven drawings into the same order as the story.

·      As a group, students answered the following question: How did Kiku get back in the house? Then each group gave their answer to the whole class.

·      As a class, students gave the story possible titles while the teacher wrote them on the board.

Critical Reading

There are at least three things to remember when asking students to do critical reading. First, when students are asked to read critically, they still need to do the kinds of activities that lead to full comprehension, as discussed earlier in this chapter. Second, students are asked to make judgments about what they read: Do I agree with the author’s point of view? How is my view different? Does the author persuade me to change my view? Is the author’s evidence strong? Third, we need to be careful about what we ask students to make judgments on. In other words, we need to select content that is not only interesting to the students as readers but also something they can relate to. For example, young adults from Japan, mexico, and California will likely be more interested in reading and giving opinions about earthquake survival than will people in places not affected by earthquakes. Likewise, young students are apt to have more-informed opinions about popular rock stars and youth fashion than is the average adult.

Extensive Reading

The goal of extensive reading is to improve reading skills by processing a quantity of materials that can be comprehended and pleasurable. Teachers who implement extensive reading set up an open library (in the classroom or school library) where students can select from an assortment of reading materials. The teacher’s job is to guide the reader to materials that are comprehensible, letting the students make their own choices.

            As a part of the extensive reading experience, teachers often ask students to report on what they have read. One way to do this is to have students interview each other through the use of question prompts. For example, if a studentsread a short story, the question prompts might include.

·      What the story title is

·      What kind of short story it is

·      Whether the student liked the story

·      Why the student liked it, or why not

·      Whether the student would recommend the story

·      Who the story’s author is

·      What main message is in the story

What Problems Do Some EFL/ESL

Teachers Have as Reading Teachers?

Problems some EFL/ESL teachers face include the following.

The “I want to read faster” problem. Students want to read faster, but they do not know how to increasetheir reading speed.

The “vocabulary building” problem. It is not just beginner who need lots of vocabulary. All students need to work constantly on building vocabulary, and teachers can show students how to do this on their own.

The “background knowledge” problem. Most teachers recognize that before students read, it is important to build students’ background knowledge. And they can do this in interesting and creative ways.

The “getting students to read” problem. It is sometimes difficult to get young students to read outside class. Meeting students real-life interests could be the catalyst needed to spark an interest in reading.

The I Want to Read Faster” Problem

Some students, including some at an advanced level, complain that they read to slowly. One reason is because the material is too difficult. There are too many new words, the grammar is too complex, the reader does not have the background knowledge to process the intended meaning, or, more likely, the reader is faced with a combination of these problems. Another reason students read slowly involves the way they read. Some students read a word at a time and look up many words in a dictionary. Even words they know.

            Realizing these two reasons, how can we provide chances for students to increase their reading speed? First, we can select materials that are comprehensible to students. Second, we can teach students strategies they can use to read faster. For example, as I discussed earlier in this chapter, we can teach them to make prediction from the title and headings, as well as to begin my skimming the material to locate main ideas. We can also teach them to guess the meaning of a word from the context. Here is an example of an activity that addresses this last point.

Guessing Words from Context

Instruction: Work through each step.

1.    Read through the text once. Circle the words you do not know, but do not stop to look them up in a dictionary.

2.    Read through the text again, checking the underlined words that you can now understand.

3.    Locate words you do not yet understand and believe are important. Ask a classmate or the teacher what they mean or look them up in a dictionary.

Third, we can do activities that directly aim at increasing students’ reading speed. One such activity gives students chances to read fluently by rereading the same material. The teacher hands out reading material he or she predicts students will easily comprehend. The teacher then tells the students to read as much as they can for one minute, timing the reading. The students mark where they the stopped with the number one. Then the teacher tells the students to return to the beginning of the passage and to read again for one minute, and students then mark where they and fourth time, the idea being for students to read further each time, as well as gain a sense of how a fluent reader reads.

The “Vocabulary Building” Problem

Students quite often ask the teacher how they can increase their vocabulary knowledge, and there are a number of things teachers can have students do. First, as teachers, we can have students read extensively, as this is one way for students to acquire a larger reading vocabulary, especially if what they read is comprehensible to them and if they are good at guessing the meaning of words from the context.

            As teachers, we can also teach students how to use a dictionary, with an emphasis on word study. If the teacher emphasizes the dictionary as a source of knowledge about words, and not necessarily as a productive way to increase reading comprehension and speed, dictionary study can be a productive way for students to increase their word power. There are a number of English-English dictionaries on the market. One is the Longman Dictionary of American English. It is easy to understand and easy to use; provides cross-references to other words, such as synonyms (words with similar meaning) and antonyms (word with opposite meanings); separates noun, verb, and adverb forms of words into separate entries; includes a clearly written guide to using the dictionary; and includes a workbook through which students can learn about how to use the dictionary.

            Another way to have students work on their vocabulary development is to have them create their own dictionaries. As I have done this, students generate ideas for the layout and content of the dictionary, and these dictionaries can range from being simple to very elaborate. Students have included phonetic breakdown of words; the student’s own definitions; quick sketches; pictures cut out of magazines and newspaper; noun, verb, adjective, and adverb forms of words; translations; and sample sentences. They have kept their dictionary in three-ring binders, on index cards, or in a computer file. Students have reported that they learn much from keeping their own dictionary, including the knowledge that they are indeed increasing their lexicon, and a deeper discernment about the uses of words.

The “Background Knowledge” Problem

As I pointed out earlier in this chapter, students’ ability to comprehend the content of reading material depends in part on their knowledge about the topic of the reading selection. To increase students’ potential comprehension, the teacher can do a variety of prereading activities that build background knowledge.

            One activity is to have a short discussion about the topic. For example, the teacher might lead off discussion with the following set of question before having students read a article on the lifestyles of sumo wrestlers: How many of you have ever watched sumo on TV? What happens during a match? What are some of the rules in sumo? What do you know about the lifestyles of sumo wrestlers? If time is limited, written reading previews could be used. Similar to a movie preview, a reading preview introduces the student to the main idea of the reading, pictures, sketches, or photographs can also be used to introduce the topicof a reading.

            Another prereading activity is to take a field trip to a historical or cultural place or event or to watch a film or video clip about the of a videotaped sumo match and view a short documentary on the lives of famous contemporary sumo wrestlers.

The “Getting Students to Read” Problem

In some EFL/ESL teaching settings students do not necessarily value reading. It is a constant struggle for teachers to get students to attend to reading material in and out of class. In short, students, young and old, are not always motivated to read. And when faced with such an attitudinal or motivational problem, teachers are often at a loss about what to do.

            Although there is no single or simple way to change students’ attitudes toward reading, there are things teachers can try. First, we can begin with the following assumption: “people learn better when what they are studying has considerable meaning for them . . . when it really comes out of their own lives . . . when it is something that they can in some way commit themselves to or invest themselves in.” second, we can work at discovering what brings meaning to the life of each student in our classes. We can do this by observing students: what do they talk about? Show interest in? carry around with them? Some nonreaders will read if the reading matches their interest, such as learning how to develop photos or learning to cook. When given the right conditions, problem readers will spend time reading because they have an invested interest in learning something they consider to be important or useful.

            Third, we can do our best to introduce students to readings that match their interests, mostly through extensive reading activities. By putting together a library collection that includes the kinds of readings and content in which students express interest, we can most easily guide students toward materials that interest them and new attitudes about reading. Such as collection includes mysteries, how-to books, old letters, grammar books, catalogs, sports magazines, newspaper clippings, poems, application forms, menus, academic books, and more.

Teacher Self-development Tasks

Talk Tasks

1.    Meet with others who are interested in teaching reading. Ask each other questions about learning to read. Here are a few questions to get you started: How did you learn to read your native language? Have you learned to read a second language? How did your teacher manage the reading lessons? Do you think there were differences in learning to read your first and second languages? If so, what are some of these differences?

2.    Meet with a friend. Work through the following steps:

a)      Make a list of materials that students can use to practice scanning.

b)      Locate one of these materials.

c)      Create a scanning activity.

3.    Meet with a friend. Work through these steps:

a)      Locate a reading passage. If you are now teaching a reading class, you might want to select material you plan to teach or are required to teach.

b)      Study the list (given earlier in this chapter) of techniques teachers can use to have students interact with reading materials.

c)      Based on the list of techniques to have students interact with reading materials, and on your own creative ideas, generate a detailed reading lesson that contains at least five different reading activities, all which help students process the passage you selected.

d)      Find others who have done this same activity. Give each other copies of your lesson plans.

Observation and Talk Tasks

1.    Try out one of the reading lessons you created in talk task number 2 or number 3. Tape-record the lesson. Then select three two-minute sections from the tape to listen to. As you listen, jot down alternative ways you could teach the same aspect of the lesson.

2.    Study the following partial checklist. Add behaviors of your own. Then observe a reading lesson. Use the checklist. Add behaviors you observe that are not on the list.

Teaching Reading: A Partial Checklist

1.    Teacher introduced material to be read                                          Yes      No

a.    related it to students’ lives                                                          _        _

b.    discussed topic of the reading                                                     _        _

c.    used visual aids to introduce reading                                           _        _

d.   selected words from reading to discuss/define                             _        _

e.    selected structures from reading to practice                                 _        _

f.     other: -------------------------------------------                        _        _

2.    Teacher set goal(s) for reading                                                                  

a.       to read for literal meaning: words, ideas                                    _        _

b.      to read for inference                                                                   _        _

c.       to read critically                                                                         _        _

d.      to read for enjoyment                                                                 _         _

e.       other: -----------------------------------------                                      _        _

3.    Students read in class

a.       silently                                                                                        _        _

b.      orally                                                                                          _        _

c.       chorally                                                                                       _        _

d.      as a dramatic reading (like a play)                                              _        _

e.       other: ---------------------------------------                            _        _

Journal Writing Tasks

1.    study the activity types discussed in this chapter. Which do you like the most? Why? Which types have you used as teacher or experienced as a learner?

2.    Write about your experiences in learning to read a second language.

3.    Select one of the problems from the section “What Problems Do some EFL/ESL Teachers Have as Reading Teachers?” Write about why this is a problem from some teachers, and perhaps for yourself a teacher.

Recommended Teacher Resources

Reading on Teaching Reading: Concepts and Activities

Carrel, P. L., and J. Eisterhold. 1983. “Schema Theory and ESL Reading.” TESOL Quarterly 17:553-73.

Day, R. R., ed. 1993. New ways in teaching Reading. Alexandria, Va.: TESOL.

Grabe, W. 1991.Current Developments in second Language Reading Research.”TESSOL Quarterly 25:375-406.

Grellet, F. 1981. Developing Reading Skills: A Practical Guide to Reading Comprehension Exercises. New York: Cambridge University press.

Nation, P., ed. 1994. New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary. Alexandria, Va.: TESOL.

Silberstein, S. 1987. “Let’s Take Another Look at Reading: Twenty-five Years of Reading Instruction.” English Teaching Forum 25 (4): 28-35

Smith, F. 1994. Understanding Reading. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

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