Ten Good Ideas for Teaching L2 Reading

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Ten Good Ideas for Teaching L2 Reading

• William Grabe
• Northern Arizona University
• william.grabe_at_nau.edu

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PowerPoint Guides

• Research Implications
• Curriculum Principles (Temple of Learning)
• Demo Task
• 10 () Ideas for Teaching Reading
• Additional Information

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Implications from Research What L2 Students
Need

• Decode forms for efficient word recognition
• Access the meanings of a large number of words
  automatically
• Draw meaning from phrase and clause level
  grammatical information
• Combine clause-level meanings to build a larger
  network of text comprehension
• Recognize discourse level relationships that
  build and support comprehension
• Use reading strategies with more difficult texts

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Implications from Research What L2 Students
Need

• Set goals for reading, adjust them as needed
• Make inferences of various types and monitor
  comprehension in line with reading goals
• Draw on prior knowledge as appropriate
• Evaluate and synthesize information from a text
• Develop fluent reading processes and read
  fluently for an extended period of time
• Develop and maintain motivation to persist in
  reading, and recognize the benefits of reading

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Curricular Principles

• Engage students in extensive practice and
  exposure to print (extensive reading)

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Curricular Principles

• Engage in extensive practice and exposure to
  print (extensive reading)
• Use reading resources that are interesting,
  varied, good-looking, abundant, accessible

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Curricular Principles

• Engage in extensive practice and exposure to
  print (extensive reading)
• Use reading resources that are interesting,
  varied, good-looking, abundant, accessible
• Provide some degree of student choice

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Curricular Principles

• Engage in extensive practice and exposure to
  print (extensive reading)
• Use reading resources that are interesting,
  varied, good-looking, abundant, accessible
• Provide some degree of student choice
• Introduce reading skills by examining and using
  the primary texts in the textbook

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Curricular Principles

• Develop lessons structured around pre-reading,
  during-reading, and post-reading
• Pre-reading focus on vocabulary, a key idea, a
  difficult paragraph
• During-reading focus on predicting, clarifying,
  summarizing
• Post-reading focus on comprehension, vocabulary,
  evaluation, information transfer

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Curricular Principles

• 6. Provide opportunities for students to
  experience success in reading

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Curricular Principles

• Provide opportunities for students to experience
  success in reading
• Build expectations that reading occurs in class
  every day or in every lesson

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Curricular Principles

• Provide opportunities for students to experience
  success in reading
• Build expectations that reading occurs in class
  every day or in every lesson
• Incorporate teaching practices that support the
  research implications above

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Trans Fats in Trouble

• (From Anderson, 2008)
• Read the text for 90 seconds to prepare for a set
  of tasks.

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1 Select Vocabulary for Instruction

• Select a small number of key words (5-8 words)
• Note 30-50 words from a text to use for
  vocabulary practice activities
• Gloss uncommon words (fuss attention)

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1 Select Vocabulary for Instruction

• flavor proven revolving
• ruled out staples texture
• attributed to medical study allowed
• process chemically changed the addition of
• a greater chance linked to controlling
• proven heart disease cancer
• requires obesity to alert
• health conditions restrict forced
• mandatory labeling created
• ban resulting heating
• critics switch adhere to
• abundant validating correlating

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2 Use Large Sets of Words

• Working with large sets of words provides a
  vocabularyrich environment to support learning
• Sorting
• Using continua

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2 Use Large Sets of Words

• Based on the text, sort words into 3 categories
  (problems, processes, solutions)
• attributed to medical study allowed
• process the addition of validated
• a greater chance linked to controlling
• proven heart disease eliminate
• requires obesity to alert
• health conditions restrict forced
• mandatory labeling created
• ban resulting heating
• adhere to personal freedom strict rules
• allowed intrude into choice

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2 Use Large Sets of Words

• Sort solution (control) words along the continuum
  below
• Minimal control Maximal control

adhere to, allow, ban, eliminate, willing,
forced, mandatory, voluntarily, control, not
intrude into, restrict, choice
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2 Use Large Sets of Words
mandatory

• Sort solution (control) words along the continuum
  below
• Minimal control Maximal control

not intrude into
restrict
eliminate
adhere to
voluntarily
willing
allow
choice
forced
control
ban
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3 Collect Words Own Them

• Mature words on the board (during text unit)
• attributed to abundant
• texture ruled out
• mandatory adhere to
• intrude into critics
• Words chosen by students for their word journals.
  Four words they like and want to learn. (Add
  definitions)

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4 Practice Comprehension Skills

• Engage students in discussions about text
  information (questions on how to understand the
  text, use of why questions)
• Identify main ideas in the text

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4 Practice Comprehension Skills

• Finding main ideas in Trans Fats in Trouble
• Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 states the problem,
  connecting trans fats to heart disease.
• Paragraph 2 Trans fats repeated in first
  sentence. Sentence indicates a comparison
• Paragraph 3 First sentence uses trans fats in a
  general statement followed by supporting examples

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5 Identify Signals for Discourse Organization

• Find patterns of discourse organization and word
  signals in a text
• cause-effect
• comparison-contrast
• problem-solution
• process

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5 Identify Signals for Discourse Organization

• Look at Trans Fats in Trouble
• What is the problem? (problem, cause effect,
  para 1) attributed, linked to, proven
• How are trans fats made? (process, para 2)
  created, process, change, resulting
• Why are they so useful? (comparison contrast,
  para 2) longer, higher, cheaper
• What are solutions to the problem of trans fats?
  (solutions, para 3-5) restrict, allow, requires,
  forced, ban

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6 Build Awareness of Text Structure

• Fill in graphic organizers that highlight
  discourse structure
• They are relatively few in number
• They need to be repeated for multiple texts
• They need to be simple and consistent

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6 Build Awareness of Text Structure

• Fill in the graphic organizer for solutions (para
  3-5)

Problem
Solutions
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6 Build Awareness of Text Structure
Solutions (para 3-5)
Problem (para 1)

• Countries restrict TF
• Denmark, Canada
• Foods labeled for TF
• Canada, US
• City requires ban on TF
• in restaurantNYC
• City voluntarily eliminates
• TF Tiburon, CA
• States ban TF CA, MA,
• MD, VT

Trans fats affect health (para 1)
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6 Build Awareness of Text Structure

• Cause and effect (para 1)

Cause
Effect

• Heart disease
• Obesity
• Cancer
• 18,000 deaths under 65 (para 4)

Trans Fats
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6 Build Awareness of Text Structure

Definition of trans fat (para 2)
Trans Fat is a component of oil that
results from hydrogenation
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6 Build Awareness of Text Structure
Process definition of hydrogenated oil (para 2)

• Heat
• Add hydrogen atoms

Hydrogenated oil
Natural oil
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6 Build Awareness of Text Structure
Comparing hydrogenated oil and other oil (para 2)

• Other Oils and Butter
• (Spoils faster)
• (Melts at lower temps)
• (Less useful in baking)
• (Less rich flavor/texture)
• (Butter more expensive)

• Hydrogenated Oil
• Lasts longer
• Melts at higher temps
• More useful for baking
• Richer flavor/texture
• Cheaper than butter

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7 Use Important Reading Strategies

• Plan and form goals before reading
• Form predictions before reading
• Reread as appropriate
• Monitor reading continuously
• Identify important information
• Fill in gaps in the text through inferences and
  prior knowledge

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7 Use Important Reading Strategies

• Make guesses about unknown words
• Use text structure information to guide
  understanding
• Integrate ideas from different parts of the text
• Build main idea summaries
• Evaluate the text and the author
• Attempt to resolve difficulties

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7 Reading Strategies Teachers Role

• Introduce a strategy, talk about how, when, and
  why to use it
• Add the strategy to a class list
• Model strategic reading with teacher think-alouds
  
• Provide extensive practice

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7 Reading Strategies Teachers Role

• Encourage student modeling and use of strategies
  
• Make strategy instruction a part of everyday
  instruction, and not separate lessons
• Gradually automatize student strategy use for
  fluent reading over time

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Demo Teacher Modeling Strategic Reading

• Think-aloud modeling demonstration
• Trans Fats in Trouble
• What strategies do I verbalize?

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Teacher Modeling Strategic Reading

• Student strategy list
• Call up background knowledge
• Form a question
• Note text support (the glossed word)
• Guess a word meaning
• Use a dictionary
• Predict
• Summarize

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8 Guess Word Meanings in the Text

• Look at Trans Fats in Trouble
• Guessing word meanings in context is a good
  strategy
• The goal is to maintain comprehension, not learn
  precise vocabulary meanings
• Practice strategy with words in main texts when
  appropriate, not with separate made-up exercises

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9 Develop Word Recognition Skills

• Practice word recognition exercises
• Timed matching activities
• Timed resorting activities
• Reading word lists as timed activity
• Use flash cards and computer word-recognition
  activities

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9 Develop Word Recognition Skills

• obesity produced
• created health condition
• attributed related to
• correlate linked to
• abundant choice
• alternative many
• eliminate accept
• adhere to ban
• restrict required
• mandatory prevent

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9 Develop Word Recognition Skills

• eliminate produced
• created related to
• abundant ban
• correlate linked to
• restrict required
• obesity many
• attributed accept
• adhere to health condition
• alternative choice
• mandatory prevent

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9 Develop Word Recognition Skills

• Sort words quickly into 3 categories (problems,
  processes, solutions)
• attributed to medical study allowed
• process chemically changed the addition of
• proven heart disease eliminate
• requires obesity to alert
• health conditions restrict forced
• mandatory correlating created
• ban resulting heating
• adhere to personal freedom strict rules
• validated intrude into choice

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10 Recycle Texts for Fluency Practice

• Recycle and reread texts used in class for
  multiple purposes
• Reread text quickly to begin post-reading
  discussion
• Reread to work with a graphic organizer
• Reread to connect to information from a previous
  text
• Reread to make a summary or fill in an outline

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10 Recycle Texts for Fluency Practice

• Read 3-4 times as rereading fluency practice
• Read text while taking a different position from
  author
• Read to look for text structure signals
• Read to look for signals for main ideas
• Read to create a radio report script
• Read to find 5 words they still dont know or
  want to own in their vocabulary journals

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11 Practice Paired Rereading for Fluency

• Students in pairs read a short passage multiple
  times for fluency practice

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Demo Paired rereading of Trans Fats in Trouble

• Get in Pairs and you need a pen or pencil
• Person A read for 30 seconds aloud (low voice),
  then stop and mark after the last word read.
  Person B listen and help if needed.

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Demo Paired rereading of Trans Fats in Trouble

• Get in Pairs and you need a pen or pencil
• Person A read for 30 seconds aloud (low voice),
  then stop and mark after the last word read.
  Person B listen and help if needed.
• Person B read FROM THE BEGINNING for 30 seconds,
  then stop and mark after last word read. Person
  A listen and help if needed.

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Demo Paired rereading of Trans Fats in Trouble

• Get in Pairs and you need a pen or pencil
• Person A read for 30 seconds aloud (low voice),
  then stop and mark after the last word read.
  Person B listen and help if needed.
• Person B read FROM THE BEGINNING for 30 seconds,
  then stop and mark after last word read. Person
  A listen and help if needed.
• Person A again read FROM THE BEGINNING for 30
  seconds, then stop and mark.

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Demo Paired rereading of Trans Fats in Trouble

• Get in Pairs and you need a pen or pencil
• Person A read for 30 seconds aloud (low voice),
  then stop and mark after the last word read.
  Person B listen and help if needed.
• Person B read FROM THE BEGINNING for 30 seconds,
  then stop and mark after last word read. Person
  A listen and help if needed.
• Person A again read FROM THE BEGINNING for 30
  seconds, then stop and mark.
• Person B again read FROM THE BEGINNING for 30
  seconds, then stop and mark.

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11 Paired Rereading Fluency Practice
Teachers Role

• Keep passage practice short
• Ask students to read texts they have already
  worked with or texts with at least 98 vocabulary
  knowledge
• Have students read for a set number of seconds
  (40, 60, or 90 seconds)
• Student can usually work with a reading partner,
  but they can also read with a tape recorded
  version, read with a teacher, or read by
  themselves with a clock

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11 Paired Rereading Fluency Practice
Teachers Role

• Students who have great difficulty should be
  given easier texts
• Pronunciation is not the issue for repeated
  reading unless the word is not intelligible
• Reading the same passage three-four times is
  usually the limit for a session
• Students should keep a record of how well they do

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Ten Good Ideas for Teaching L2 Reading

• William Grabe
• Northern Arizona University
• william.grabe_at_nau.edu