The Main Principles of Developing Reading Activities

Developing Reading Activities

Developing reading activities involve more than identifying a text that is "at the right level," writing a set of comprehension questions for students to answer after reading, handing out the assignment, and sending students away to do it. A the fully-developed reading activity supports students as readers through pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities.

As you design reading tasks, keep in mind that complete recall of all the information in a text is an unrealistic expectations even for native speakers. Reading activities that are meant to increase communicative competence should be success-oriented and build up students' confidence in their reading ability.

Construct the reading activity around a purpose that has significance for the students

Make sure students understand what the purpose of reading is: to get the main idea, obtain specific information, understand most or the entire message, enjoy a story, or decide whether or not to read more. Recognizing the purpose of reading will help students select appropriate reading strategies.

Define the activity's instructional goal and the appropriate type of response

In addition to the main purpose of reading, an activity can also have one or more instructional purposes, such as practicing or reviewing specific grammatical constructions, introducing new vocabulary, or familiarizing students with the typical structure of a certain type of text.

Check the level of the text difficulty 

The factors listed below can help you judge the relative ease or difficulty of a reading text for a particular purpose and a particular group of students.

·      How is the information organized? Does the storyline, narrative, or instruction conform to familiar expectations? Texts in which the events are presented in natural chronological order, which have an informative title, and which present the information following an obvious organization (main ideas first, details, and examples second) are easier to follow.

·      How familiar are the students with the topic? Remember that misapplication of background knowledge due to cultural differences can create major comprehension difficulties.

·      Does the text contain redundancy? At the lower levels of proficiency, listeners may find short, simple messages easier to process, but students with higher proficiency benefit from the natural redundancy of authentic language.

·      Does the text offer visual support to aid in reading comprehension? Visual aids such as photographs, maps, and diagrams help students preview the content of the text, guess the meanings of unknown words, and check comprehension while reading.

Remember that the level of difficulty of a text is not the same as the level of difficulty of a reading task. Students who lack the vocabulary to identify all of the items on a menu can still determine whether the restaurant serves steak and whether they can afford to order one.

“To learn to read is to light, a fire, every syllable that is spelled out is a spark”

Victor Hugo

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Reading Comprehension Strategies

Reading Comprehension Guidelines

 Build background knowledge.

• Draw on students' existing knowledge. Students may already possess content knowledge that they cannot yet demonstrate in English. Look for opportunities to make associations between students' experiences and new content. Allow students to use their native language with peers for a quick brainstorm to discover what they know about a topic before presenting their ideas to the whole class.
• Build students' background knowledge. Students with limited or interrupted schooling may not have the same level of knowledge as their peers, especially when it comes to historical or cultural topics. When starting a new lesson, look for references that you may need to explicitly explain.
• Take students on a tour of the text. Each time you hand out a new textbook, take students on a "virtual tour." Show them different elements of the text, such as the table of contents and the glossary, and discuss how these sections can be helpful. Explain how the text is organized, pointing out bold print, chapter headings, and chapter summaries. Once students learn how to recognize these elements, they will be able to preview the text independently. Remember that students need to know how to use a tool in order for it to be helpful.
• Use a "picture-walk." You can use this strategy for fiction or nonfiction books. Walkthrough the book with the students, pointing out photographs, illustrations, and other graphic elements. Ask them what they notice about the pictures and how they think those details may relate to the story or content.
• Use outlines to scaffold comprehension. Provide a brief, simple outline of a reading assignment or an oral discussion in advance of a new lesson. This will help ELLs pick out the important information as they listen or read.

2. Teach vocabulary explicitly.

• Focus on key vocabulary: Choose the vocabulary that your students need to know in order to support their reading development and content-area learning. Provide student-friendly definitions for key vocabulary.
• Include signal and directional words: Remember that students may also need explicit instruction in signal or directional words ("because" and "explain"), in addition to key content vocabulary ("photosynthesis" and "evolution").
• Use a "picture-walk" for vocabulary: Once students know a new word's definition, ask them to connect those new words to the pictures they see in the text.
• Teach students to actively engage with vocabulary: Teach students to underline, highlight, make notes, and list unknown vocabulary words as they read.
• Give students practice with new words: Ensure that your students can
  • Define a word.
  • Recognize when to use that word.
  • Understand multiple meanings (such as the word "party").
  • Decode and spell that word.
• Incorporate new words into discussions and activities. For students to really know a word, they must use it—or they will lose it. Use new words in class discussions or outside of class, in other contexts such as on field trips. Give the students as many opportunities to use and master the new vocabulary as possible.

3. Check comprehension frequently.

• Use informal comprehension checks: To test students' ability to put materials in sequence, for example, print sentences from a section of the text on paper strips, mix the strips, and have students put them in order.
• Test comprehension with student-friendly questions: After reading, test students' comprehension with carefully crafted questions, using simple sentences and key vocabulary from the text. These questions can be at the:
  • Literal level (Why do the leaves turn red and yellow in the fall?)
  • Interpretive level (Why do you think it needs water?)
  • Applied level (How much water are you going to give it? Why?)
• No matter what the students' proficiency level, ask questions that require higher-level thinking: To probe for true comprehension, ask questions that require students to analyze, interpret, or explain what they have read, such as the following:
  • What ideas can you add to...?
  • Do you agree? Why or why not?
  • What might happen if...?
  • How do you think she felt...?
• Use graphic organizers: Graphic organizers allow ELLs to organize information and ideas efficiently without using many languages. Different types include Venn diagrams, K-W-L charts, story maps, cause-and-effect charts, and timelines.
• Provide students with many different ways to show what they know: Drawings, graphs, oral interviews, posters, and portfolios are just a few ways that students can demonstrate understanding as they are beginning to develop their reading and writing skills in English.
• Summarize: Ask students to use the following strategies to summarize, orally, or in writing, what they have read:
  • Retell what you read, but keep it short.
  • Include only important information.
  • Leave out less important details.
  • Use keywords from the text.

It may be challenging to improve ELLs' comprehension skills, but it is well worth the extra effort to put them on the path to becoming successful readers.