Teaching advanced students to read effectively Guy Brook-Hart XIII NATIONAL FENAPIUPE CONGRESS
25th September 2009
This talk will cover • why we should be teaching reading skills to students in class • what reading skills we should expect advanced students to acquire • different classroom reading activities to deal with different types of reading task. • examples are taken from Complete First Certificate (Cambridge University Press 2008) and Complete CAE (Cambridge University Press 2009).
Why do reading activities in class? • To ensure that all students have read the text(s) • To teach and practise different reading techniques and strategies • To explore texts on different levels • To limit time.
Some features of advanced reading texts • • • • • • •
‘Advanced’ / lower-frequency vocabulary Complex grammar and syntax Complex / unfamiliar ideas and subjects Opinion, not just fact Ideas which are implied, not stated explicitly Longer texts Stylistic features such as irony, humour etc.
Some advanced reading skills • Self-sufficiency strategies for dealing with vocabulary • Ability to understand complex / unfamiliar ideas and subjects • Ability to distinguish opinion from fact • Ability to understand implications • Ability to recognise and react to features such as irony, humour etc. • Ability to make connections between ideas / information expressed in different parts of the text
General considerations • What are ‘natural’ reading activities? • What outcomes do we want from reading activities?
‘Natural’ reading activities • • • • •
Skimming Scanning Reading in detail Note-taking Oral summarising, re-expression and reacting to the text
Outcomes (Common European Framework of Reference C1) • I can understand fairly long demanding texts and summarise them orally. • I can read complex reports, analyses and commentaries where opinions, viewpoints and connections are discussed. • I can extract information, ideas and opinions from highly specialised texts in my own field, for example research reports. • I can go beyond the concrete plot of a narrative and grasp implicit meanings, ideas and connections. • I can give clear, detailed descriptions of complex subjects.
Some frequent course book / exam reading tasks: • Multiple choice • Multiple matching
Multiple choice tests ability to read: • in detail • and infer opinions and ideas rather than distinguish fact
• deduce meanings from context
Questions • are likely to deal with more than one part of the text • should focus on the main ideas of the text
Suggested approach: • read the title (if there is one)
• skim the text for a general overview • read stem of first question and underline the key idea • scan to find where the question is dealt with in the text. • read this section of the text carefully to find the answer to the question. • read each of the 4 alternatives with the stem.
• match the correct one with the text. • underline the evidence in the text supporting your choice • repeat procedure for question 2 etc. (answers appear in the same order)
Classroom activity 1: • Give students the text with a skimming task and a strict time limit. • Give students the stems of the questions, but not the alternatives. Ask students to locate where the answers occur. Objective: scanning
Classroom activity 1: • Give students the text with a skimming task and a strict time limit. • Give students the stems of the questions, but not the alternatives. Ask students to locate where the answers occur. Objective: scanning.
• Ask students to note answers in their own words. • Give them the alternatives. They choose. Objective: to encourage students to go from the text to the alternatives, rather than vice versa, note-taking
Classroom activity 2: • Ask students to work in pairs. Give one pair questions 1, 3 and 5. Give the other pair questions 2, 4 and 6.
• Ask them to read the text and answer their questions with their partner. • Students then change partners, show their new partners their questions and explain the answers, justifying their choice with evidence from the text. Objective: to find and justify evidence in the text / communicative activity
Classroom activity 3:
• Ask students to work in pairs. Give them either the first half of the text or the second half. • Ask them to read and orally summarise together.
• Students then change partners and work with someone who had the other half. Give each student the questions corresponding to the other half. • Students must explain what they have read. Their partner must answer the questions depending on what they have been told. • Students then check with complete text + all the questions. Main objective: advanced communicative activity; minipresentations; asking questions
Multiple matching tasks test ability to • scan for details
• read at speed • locate information/opinions There will always be concrete evidence in the text which produces the answer.
What problems do students have with Multiple Matching tasks? • understanding the task and how to approach it
• dealing with a lot of information in a short time • distinguishing between texts
Suggested approach: • First read the questions carefully underlining key ideas. • While reading the questions, think how the ideas may be expressed in the texts. • Read texts carefully one by one to locate where the ideas are expressed.
• Underline evidence in texts for your choice. • Make sure each text provides at least one answer.
Classroom activity 1: Ask students to focus on the questions without looking at the texts: They should
• underline main ideas in each question • spend 2 minutes studying and ‘memorising’ the questions • with questions hidden, brainstorm in pairs how many of the questions they remember They then read the texts once only and with a strict time limit (perhaps 8 – 10 minutes) to locate the answers.
Main objective: to teach scanning for pre-determined information.
Classroom activity 2: Give students the questions and 1 text each.
Ask them to • find the questions which correspond to their text • work with 3 or 4 other students and explain why the questions they chose correspond to their text. Main objective: class-based communicative activity, oral summarising, uncertainty about how many questions they should answer.
Classroom activity 3: Give students the texts without the questions.
Ask them to • work alone and write 1 question for each text which is only true for that text. Students should be careful not to repeat the exact words of the texts. • work in pairs and combine their questions • give their combined questions to another pair to answer.
Objective: students read varied texts in detail to find how they vary.
General considerations • • • • • • •
Use all the clues on the page Work on the example Raise interest Negotiate a time limit Avoid vocabulary explanations Make students do the work (not you!) Discuss strategies
• www.cambridge.org/elt/ • guybrookhart@gmail.com