Teaching Reading in a Second Language

Teaching Reading in a Second Language

1. Reading is a conscious and unconscious thinking process

2. Reader processes text in light of mental schemata: Background knowledge, Knowledge about language, and literacy Cultural values and beliefs

3. Text provides new data to be processed: The shapes and sounds of the letters, The meaning of words/phrases Grammatical information

4. In order to read well in English, then, students need to do the following

   • 1. Develop a schema of the reading process that includes the idea that reading is more than translating—reading is thinking. 2. Talk about their reading, and explain how they make sense of a text. 3. Read extensively for pleasure in English, and discuss their reading with someone who can model the literate behaviors expected in an English-language context. 4. Break the habit of reading every word by reading faster. 5. Learn to vary their reading rate to suit their purpose in reading. 6. Employ top-down processes effectively by learning to make connections between what they already know and what they are reading. 7. Learn reading and thinking skills that fluent readers of English employ unconsciously to strengthen both top down and bottom-up processing abilities. 8. Enhance bottom-up processing by acquiring the most useful vocabulary and by learning strategies for guessing meaning in context. 9. Master the basic 2,000 words that constitute approximately 80 percent of texts in En