Transcript Slide 1
Creating Meaning from the
Written Word
Presented by Carrie Purcell and
Heather Buchansky
Oxford University Press
Friday, December 4, 2009
Presentation Online
Introduction to Reading Theory
Introduction to Intensive Reading
Research, benefits, resources
Introduction to Extensive Reading
Research, benefits, resources
Think About…
Why do we read?
Why do we teach reading?
What reading strategies work with your
students?
What do your students enjoy about your
reading lessons?
Second Language Reading
“Reading is to the mind what exercise
is to the body.” - Joseph Addison
Recently, the term ‘interactive’ has been used
to describe second language reading process
Refers to the way the reader ‘struggles’ to
make sense of the text
Second Language Reading
My Father’s Watch
In our village, there were only six good clocks. The biggest clock was
in the church stram where everybody could see it. My father owned
one of the others. It stood in the kitchen. He wound it every night
before he went to bed.
Once a year, the clockmarret came from Winchester. He came on his
horse. He cleaned the clock in the church stram first. Then he cleaned
ours…
My father was a barlim and he was a busy man. When the clock had
been cleaned, he always left the room. ‘Women can taddle their time
with stories,’ he said, ‘but men have work to do.’ And he went back to
his barl.
Second Language Reading
It is likely that you used at least six types of knowledge
to help you make sense of the text:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Syntactic
Morphological
General word
Sociocultural
Topic
Genre
“Creating Meaning”
How we read depends on what we read
(i.e. – newspaper article, information text)
Learners need to be taught to read for meaning
They must learn to read in different ways and
read different texts for different purposes
Different types of literacies
Reading government documents
Reading signs
Reading instructions
Reading schedules
What else?...
Intensive Reading Overview:
What is Intensive Reading?
Reading a short text with attention to detail
Performing a series of tasks to unpack the text
Completing tasks during class time
Teacher is on hand for questions and feedback
Intensive Reading Overview:
Why Read Intensively?
To build basic reading strategies
To focus on fluency and competence in the
areas of vocabulary recognition and critical
thinking
What are some intensive reading activities?
Intensive Reading Skills
Knowledge
Vocabulary
Grammar
Idioms/collocations
Descriptions
Fact vs. opinion
Scanning for info
Survival
Organization for
writing/note-taking
Comprehension
Summarizing
Revising and editing
Critical thinking/analysis
Discussions
Communication
Current issues
Making inferences
Genres
Culture
Intensive Reading Activities
Pre-reading purpose:
Stimulate what they know about the topic
Provide them with background info they need
to know
Help with vocabulary/phrases they need to
know
Intensive Reading Activities
Pre-Reading teaching ideas:
Guess the topic of the text from heading/
illustration
Skim for topic sentence/thesis
Scan for 2-4 items of information
Predict what text will say
Ask questions that may be answered in the
texts
Intensive Reading Activities
Creating Meaning – Upper Intermediate
Chapter 1 – Reading 1
Pre-reading activities
Intensive Reading Activities
While Reading approaches:
1. Teacher – learner interaction activities
2. Learner – learner interaction activities
3. Text only activities
ordering paragraphs
jumbled paragraphs
note-taking
checking pre-reading activities
Intensive Reading Activities
While Reading teaching ideas:
Identify main/general idea
Answer questions/complete sentences
Complete a table/map/picture
Make inferences
Fact vs. opinion
Intensive Reading Activities
Creating Meaning – Upper Intermediate
Chapter 1 – Reading 1
Vocabulary in Context
Comprehension Check
Intensive Reading Activities
Post-reading purposes:
Check, give feedback and follow-up work
Can/should involve other skills – writing,
speaking or further vocabulary development
Intensive Reading Activities
Post-reading teaching ideas:
Discuss significant points in the text
Discuss/debate controversial topics/characters
Develop other skill areas
Writing
Grammar
Intensive Reading Activities
Creating Meaning – Upper Intermediate
Chapter 1 – Reading 1
Writing – Grammar
Page 18 - 25
Intensive vs. Extensive Reading
Intensive
100% understanding
Limited reading
Difficult texts
Word for word
Use dictionaries
Reading to create and
analyze meaning
Extensive
Overall understanding
(gist)
Widespread Reading
Easy texts
Fluent reading
Infer the meaning of
unknown words
Reading for pleasure
Extensive Reading Overview
Reading a long text (i.e. short book to a full length
novel) for pleasure, with attention to overall meaning
Learners read on own time for enjoyment
Helps increase reading fluency
“What are the benefits of extensive reading?”
(http://www.oup-bookworms.com/successfulreading.cfm?qid=2)
Why Read?
Research has shown that reading for
pleasure will…
Improve vocabulary
Improve grammar
Improve listening skills
Improve spoken fluency
Improve writing skills
Increase motivation
Extensive Reading Skills
Knowledge
Vocabulary
Grammar
Collocations
Descriptions
Comprehension
Summarizing
Pleasure/entertainment
Current issues
Making inferences
Moral of the story
Genres
Culture
Discussions
Extensive Reading in the Classroom
“How can I get my students to read when they
don’t read in their own language?”
Set up a novel study time in class
Read the first page(s) of a story aloud to your
students
Stop at an interesting or exciting point
Begin discussion: “What comes next in the story?”
Wait until next week’s novel study session to find out
Next week, continue with the story or start a new
novel
After a few weeks, bring in the books …
Extensive Reading in the Classroom
How do you start an Extensive Reading
programme?
http://www.oup-bookworms.com/top-tips.cfm
http://www.extensivereading.net/er/start.html
Extensive Reading in the Classroom
Choose an appropriate level
Choose from a list of genres
Create a Book Club!
Incorporate expansion activities
Final project
Extensive Reading in the Classroom
Bookworms Online Activities
http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/b
ookworms/?cc=global
Questions and Comments…
Thank-you for attending our presentation!
Carrie Purcell
[email protected]
&
Heather Buchansky
[email protected]