Teaching Reading Comprehension to EFL Students
Applying effective
strategies for teaching reading comprehension will go a long way in
improving the reading skills of EFL students. All too often many people
erroneously think that by only knowing all of the words in an article or
story they will be able to completely understand its meaning. Nothing
is farther from the truth. This hub suggests reading strategies that I
have successfully used in my EFL classrooms.
Traditional Way of Teaching Reading
It's amazing how so many reading teachers today
insist that students must know the meanings of all words in an article
or story before they tackle it. I have seen so many reading textbooks in
both Taiwan and Thailand which have long lists of English vocabulary
followed by Chinese or Thai translations preceding each article or story
in the books. What's more, there are examples of new grammar or
sentence structure followed by lengthy Chinese or Thai explanations.
Before students even begin to read, teachers are making sure that
everyone understands the new words and grammar. Oddly, there isn't much
discussion about the background of the subject matter which the students
will read.
An Alternate Strategy for Teaching Reading Comprehension
When I was learning to read Chinese and Thai, my
teachers often used the traditional strategy. I dreaded having to learn
60-100 words before starting to read a news story. Most of the time, I
never had really internalized the meaning of the words, and hence could
not understand how they were used and what they meant in the story.
Since I began teaching reading comprehension to middle school EFL
students, I have employed an alternate strategy which I have introduced
through the following steps:
Pre-reading Activities
1. Activate Previous or Background Knowledge
Before my students begin reading an article, I activate their
previous or background knowledge about a subject through pictures,
voices, and any other aids which stimulate their senses. For example, if
an article is about a food like bacon, the class will see pictures of
it, hear it sizzling in the pan, and hopefully taste and smell bacon.
Pupils will be asked to share their experiences of eating it, and
knowledge of where bacon comes from.
2. Read Similar Articles in the Students' Native Language
I utilized this activity when I was teaching newspaper Chinese to
native English speakers. As an example, when we were reading a news
article about Taiwan politics, I made sure that my students read
articles about this topic in English. We then discussed Taiwan politics
in English noting vocabulary, personalities, places, and ideas which we
might encounter in the article. This is an excellent way to get
background knowledge which is so useful when you are trying to predict
or guess the meaning of unknown words in a text. The teacher obviously
must know his students native language before engaging in this activity.
If the teacher doesn't, an EFL teacher speaking the native language of
the students should be engaged in team teaching.
3. The Need to Answer Information Question Words
In reading any news article or story, it is necessary to answer the
important information question words of who, what, when, where,
how and why. It is important to constantly remind students that
the purpose of their reading is not to understand every word in a
passage, but rather to answer all significant question words.
Reading Activities
1. Get the General Idea and Summarize
I tell my students that the summary of most news articles is found in
the first sentence. Here the most important information question words
of who, what, when, and where are answered. In the
headline of a newspaper story, the answers to the most important who
and what questions are revealed.
2. Look for All "Whos," "Whats," "Wheres," and "Whens" During
the First Reading
During the first reading of an article, I have my students make a
list of all "whos," "whats," "whens," and "wheres." Students are
discouraged from using a dictionary to look up words they don't know.
3. Map Associations of Words, "Whos," and Sequence of Actions
During the second pass through an article, I instruct my students to
make associations among all of the "whos" and other nouns in the story,
They also begin mapping the sequence of actions after the teacher guides
them in understanding key unknown verbs through associations and
context.
4. Answer How and Why Questions
During the third reading of an article, students are usually ready to
start answering the more difficult how and why
questions .At this point, the teacher introduces cause and
effect relationships, and also answers any questions about elements of
the story still not understood.
Knowing all of the words and grammar of a text is not essential for
comprehending its meaning. What's more important is utilizing the
reading strategies which I have introduced in this hub. In my next
article on this subject, I will illustrate and explain how reading
strategies are used on a sample EFL news article.
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