`TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH ENGLISH',

Jane Willis, ( Longman)

TEACHING READING

READ - WHY?

• PLEASURE:

Magazines, holidays brochures, letters from friends…

• STUDY:

Dictionaries, textbooks indexes, glossaries, bibliographies, library catalogues, abstracts…

• WORK:

Reports, articles, catalogues, workshop manuals, notice boards, minutes of meetings, professional journals, advertisements, business letters…

• SURVIVAL:

Forms, official notes, bills and receipts, labels, directions, bus and train timetables, place names, street signs…

READ - WHAT?

• Headlines, newspapers, photograph captions… PLEASURE AND SURVIVAL

• Literature, novels, plays, poetry… PLEASURE AND STUDY

• Charts, diagrams, reference lists, graphs… STUDY AND WORK

• Job adverts, instructions for use, contracts, phone directories… WORK AND SURVIVAL

READING SKILLS:

• Recognising words and phrases in English scripts.

• Using schemata to make predictions about and interpret a text.

• Retrieving info stated in a passage.

• Distinguishing main ideas from subsidiary info.

• Deducing the meaning of the unknown, ignoring the redundant.

• Understanding the meaning and implications of structures.

• Recognising discourse markers.

• Recognising functions.

• Understanding relations within a sentence and a text.

• Extracting specific info for summaries and notes.

• Skimming to obtain the gist and recognise the organisation within a text.

• Understanding implied info and attitudes.

• Knowing how to use an index, etc.

• Understanding layout, use of headings, etc.

A DIFFICULT TEXT? - HELP STUDENTS BY:

• More background info.

• Pre- teach key words the day before.

• Divide text into short chunks.

• Sign- post questions for main points.

• Add discourse markers where helpful.

• Ask easy questions.

• Paraphrase difficult ideas.

• Set easy tasks.

• Praise and encourage.

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