Teaching techniques for effective reading

Why read?
most of us read because it gives us the pleasure of knowing, feeling, acting and learning, or of escaping from our own limited worlds. We are able to go beyond ourselves, to be other people, to be in other places, and to do other things. Through the projection of ourselves into the lives of characters in books, we learn about the general truth of being a human being. It is this knowledge that is the most important reward books have to offer; through it come compassion, sensitivity, insight, taste, and judgment

Experts agree that reading is the golden key to the world of enlightenment and enjoyment. In our daily lives, 80 percent of the things we do involves reading. We read recipes in cookbooks, instructions on how to do things, labels of canned food and other products , menus in restaurant , street signs and advertisements. To know more about places or things, we read periodicals and nonfiction books. For our relaxation, we read fiction, comic books , and light, humorous stories. When we study, we do a lot of reading.

Truly, through reading, we can ponder the mysteries of the world, explore accumulated knowledge, and contemplate the unknown. Form this search, we begin to uncover some answers to questions and are stimulated to raise more questions and to continue our pursuit of deeper understanding. Thus , reading is a valuable ingredient for blending our inner psychological world with the outer social world and for emerging into a new universe of thought, imagination, and reality.

What reading means

Reading experts define reading in many ways. Their views about reading can be summarized in the following paragraphs.

William gray ( 1950), known as the Father of Reading, defines reading as four- step process

1. perception of the word
2. comprehension of its meaning
3. reaction to he meaning in terms of prior knowledge
4. integration of the idea into one’s background of experience

Oliver Wendell  Holmes (1976) describes reading as reasoning. He believes that “power and speed of reading” can adequately explain the act of reading. Power of reading means the power to read, comprehend, and apply relatively difficult textbook material. It includes the ability to grasp the central thought and the details, to get an idea that is expressed in sever sentences, and to interpret content and draw inferences, all from single text paragraphs. Speed of reading denotes the rate of comprehension on fiction and factual materials.

According to Kenneth Goodman (1982), reading is a problem in language processing, a psycholinguistic guessing game. The reader selects enough cues from the printed page and predicts what word precedes or follows another word to trigger his/ her own appropriated language experiences. These may be graphic cues  from wherein the shape and size of letters that form words and the length of the word itself help in decoding it. This is also done with the aid of sounding or use of phonic clues. Word order, or syntax, and word meaning, or semantic cues, greatly help in comprehending the printed passage. Goodman believes that reading involves an “interaction between language and thought”. He says that reading processes are cycles of sampling , predicting, testing, and confirming.

Smith( 1978) described two types of information necessary in reading, namely :visual information, which is taken from printed page, nonvisual information, which includes our understanding of the relevant language, our familiarity with the subject matter, our general ability in reading, and our knowledge of the word. The more non visual information, we have when we read, the less visual information we need, and vice versa. According to Smith, “skill in reading actually depends on using the eyes as little as possible,….as we became fluent readers we learn to rely more on what we already know, on what is behind the eyeballs, and less on the page in front of us.

Some current theories about reading

Reading and cognitive development

Researches conducted by Jean Piaget an Lev SVgotsky ( 1981) have shown that language and thought interaction with and compliment each other, and that children go through five stages of development.

Stage 1. sensorimotor period (birth to 2 years)

Children learn by  adaptation to the environment. For examples, a child learns that it is impossible to go room one room to another if the door is closed- unless someone opens the door. The children are interested in picture books at this readiness stage.

Stage 2. pre operation or pre conceptual period (2 t0 4 years)

This is an active. Exploratory period, when children explore the world around them, experiment with things in their environment, and imitate adults in the use of things. They begin to develop concepts and associate words with pictures and images. Reading interests involve a growing visual discrimination of objects and symbols.

Stage 3. intuitive thought period (4 to 7 years)

Children are introduced to concepts of number, weight, length and height. They enjoy listening to rhymes and reading and reciting poems/ they begin to identigy sounds and associate these with letters and symbols; these skills are classified as reading readiness skill. Children can read simple words, phrases and sentences at ages 4 to 5. At this stage. They are still preoccupied with questions about the world of things around them, with discovering new relationships, and with classifying or categorizing things . At ages 6 to 7, ,ost children can read preprimers and basal readers.

Stage 4. concrete operational period(8 t0 11 years)

Children at this stage are capable of thinking about actions which they previously were able to carry out only at a sensori-motor level, actions have become internalized. They cam do a lot of reading with meaning, retell stories read, pick out key words or topic sentences that give the main idea, note supporting details, determine cause and effect relationships, and make inferences.

This stage coincides with the periods of rapid growth in reading and in the use of the reading tool.

Stage 5. formal operations period (11 to 14years)

At this final stage, preteeners are already capable of dealing with hypotheses and propositions. They are no longer tied to concrete reality and are capable of establishing and manipulating relations between things. They can cope with higher level critical reading skills such as drawing conclusions, making judgments, and evaluating plot and author’s style. For the bright pupils, reading has become truly analytic, interactive, constructive, and strategic. This stage is also the beginning of the period of refinement and wide reading.

Substrata factor theory

Holmes (1953) theorized that “a multiplicity of skills and processes underlie speed and power of reading”. The reader organizers them into working systems according to his/her purposes and the demands of the task. Holmes’s view explains why different methods of reading instruction work. Each emphasizes one or more subsystems necessary for effective reading.

Whole-to- part or schema theory

Researches by Weir (1962) and Brown (1964) suggest that language/reading of children moves from whole to part; that is , they perceive general schema before details. Intonation patterns of the native language tend to emerge before lexicalization, offering a clue that the word-sentence probably appears before the word. Oftentimes the child knows a word in a speech, writing, and reading context and yet not know the word in isolation. It also suggests that the teacher must help the child in interrelating newly acquired concepts with already existing or prior knowledge to help achieve the whole-to –part concept.

“Mathemagenic” behavior

Rothkoff (1970) found that learning is stimulatedly by such adjunct aids as directions given to the reader, questions embedded in texts, purposes and goals, means for achieving goals in the form of text information, and assessment of goal achievement based upon this information. Knowledge is integrated from four areas:

1. concept of reading as interaction between the reader and the text
2. learning theory and principles
3. criterion- referenced measurement,
4. role of adjunct aids or instruction

 Comprehension as interaction

Research findings of Rumelhart (1976) and Singer(1983) revealed that comprehension is the result of interaction between reader resources and text data. Readers allocate attention among their knowledge resources and go back and forth from their knowledge to the data base of the text. One resource that a reader brings to the text is world knowledge. An example is “the cigarettes caused the forest fire.” A particular type of world knowledge that readers bring is the sequence of events in everyday situations, such as procedures in a restaurant or supermarket. Schank and Abelson(1977)call this type of knowledge scripts. They concluded that a reader mobilizes a script or set of schemata for assimilating and recalling ingormation. However, readers vary in how their knowledge is structured and in their perspectives for interpreting stories. To apply the interaction theory, we have to take reader variation into account when we assess comprehension.

Hayes (1979) showed that analogies embedded in the text help students extend their knowledge structure which they can use to comprehend new information. Thus, from the interaction concept of reading comprehension, the teacher must

1. teach students the necessary knowledge structures, scripts, and cognitive framework for comprehending texts in the content areas of science, literature, mathematics, social studies, arts, and music;
2. consider that different cultural backgrounds will result in various kinds of interpretation; and
3. teach students to activate prior knowledge and intergrate it with new information

theory on text data

the theory on text data states that texts have objective properties Gray and Leary (1935) were the first to find that word frequency and sentence lengthe are determinants of text difficulty. To make texts easier to comprehend, one should use higher frequency words and shorter sentences. Note, however, that some complex sentences are easier to understand when they show clearly the causal relationships.

Van dyk and Kintoch (1977) found out that texts which were logically organized could be processed more rapidly even by average readers. These texts contain the following features

1. cohesion – a means of tying sentences together with the use of connectors and conjunctions
2. staging – a way of featuring information in the text
3. content analysis – separation of content into events (participants and episodes) and movements, setting, background, and evaluation.

Implications for teaching suggest that teachers must

1. select texts that are well organized and precisely elaborated with causal explanations;
2. use devices such as analogies for bridging prior and new knowledge; and
3. teach students to recognize and use the texts , organizational features and content categories in processing and recalling information.

Metacognition

John Flavell (1076)defines metacognition as an awareness of  and an ability to capitalize on one’s own knowledge and thought processes as they are applied to some specific task. It is that general knowledge that guides readers in monitoring their comprehension processes by selecting specific strategies to achieve goals.

Baker and Brown (1984) divided metacognitive activities into two different clusters:

1. student’s awareness of any incompatibility between available knowledge and the task to be done
2. active self –monitoring of cognitive processes while reading. The choice of strategies varies according to goals: to read for meaning ( monitoring comprehension), for remembering (studying), or for organizing important information in preparing for a test (eg,self checking and understanding of the material).

Psycholinguistic theory and model

 Goodman, Smith and Coady (1982) summarized their psycholinguistic model of reading as follows:

1. reader approach a text with expectations based on their knowledge of the subject.
2. They use only a minimal sapling of the text in deriving meaning by relying on their knowledge of the language, the subject, and the background as a substitute for all the redundant features of the text.
3. based on the sampling, they make predictions as to what message they expect to get from the text.
4. they test their predictions as they progress into the material. They confirm or revise these and make more predictions based on what they have been reading .
5. they recreate a replica of the textual message by using orthographic, syntactic, and semantic clues.
6. they test its accuracy against previous information
7. if the reconstruction agrees with their previous knowledge, they begin again the cycle of sampling.
8. if inaccuracy or inconsistency occurs, they will adopt some compensatory strategy such as rereading

According to this model, efficient reading is possible because the fluent reader does not read word by word but in meaningful units. By looking at a sample of the text, he/ she can predict the meaning of a larger part of it based on his/ her sampling and prior knowledge of the subject at hand. He/she then looks at another part of the text to confirm his/ her predition. The efficient reader is one who guesses correctly with minimal text sampling

Frank Smith’s Model

Frank smith ( 1982) believes that “ reading is primarily a meaning –making activity”.

Starting with materials written in natural language patterns, the teacher supplements them with flash cards and extra work on phonics while keeping the focus on meaning .

Smith places what the reader brings to the task as the center of his framework of ideas. He suggests that reading comprehension can be regarded as the “ reduction of uncertainly” when tacit questions have been answered. He believes that there is a reciprocal relationship between what the reader sees (visual information) and the reader’s knowledge of the world ( nonvisual information). If one can not construct this relationship, visual information can not be processed. “bottlenecks” occur when the reader has to resort to mediated word or meaning identification.

Smith is against any approach that does not give priority to meaning identification and which does not draw upon children’s natural and constructive patterns of learning. He points out the “fallacy of phonics”, which draws attention to relationships between letters and sounds

Based on this psycholinguistic model, Coady ( 1982) developed a model for efficient reading among bilingual students. This involves successgul interaction among tree factors; higher- level conceptual abilities, background knowledge, and process strategies, as shown below.

Check point

Read carefully and encircle the letter of the best answer

1. why do most of us read?
   a. reading makes us physically and mentally alert
   2. reading reveals to us the general truth of being a human being
   3. reading gives us the pleasure of escaping from our limited world.
2. why is knowledge about being human the most important reward that books offers?

1. it brings about compassion, insight, and judgment.
2. It enables us to know, feel, act and learn
3. It blends our inner psychological word with the outer social world

3. how does William Gray define reading

1. Reading is reasoning , which can be explained by power and speed.
2. Reading is psycholinguistic guessing game.
3. Reading is a four step process involving word perception, comprehension, reaction, and integration/

4. why does Goodman believe that reading is a problem in language processing ?

1. reading processes are cycles of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming
2. the reader selects enough cues – graphic, syntactic, and semantic – to trigger his/her own appropriate language experiences.
3. Reading involves an interaction between language and thought.

5. How does Flavell define  metacognition

1. metacognition is an awareness of and an ability to capitalize on one’s own knowledge and thought process.
2. Metacognitive activities can be divided into different clusters
3. Metacognition means general knowledge

Answer key

1, c   2 a     3c        4 b       5 a

Building word power for effective reading

Why word power?
 word power is closely related to academic success. Anderson and Freebody (1981) report a strong relationship between vocabulary and academic performance, IQ test results, and predicting reading comprehension across age groups and content areas.

Condon (1968) explains that a word is a label for an internal reality. When you create a label, you also create a set of new perceptions. For examples, before taking a course in astronomy, you might look at the night sky and see only a sea of stars. After a few weeks of the course, you begin to see novas and galaxies. The creation of labels and words is a tool we use to structure perceptions. New labels foster new concepts and perceptions. Indeed, when names are learned, we see what we had not seen before, for we know what to look for.

Klausmeir and aipple (1980) define concept knowledge in terms of word knowledge. A concept is the socially accepted meaning of one or more words. The number of words a student knows represents the concepts and information that he/she knows. Vocabulary knowledge implies a rich understanding of the word, it means knowing a word by definition and associating experiences with that word.

How can you characterize a rich understanding of a word?

The answer lies in understanding how information is stored in long term memory, either episodic or semantic. Episodic memory is specific, it contains events that have occurred. For example, if you recall your last birthday, you probably replay that event in your mind as though it were a movie. On the other hand, semantic memory is more general. It contains decontextualized information extracted from episodic memory. For example you might store general information about birthdays in your semantic memory (eg, they occur once a year , they are pleasant because some relatives and friends remember you). Word knowledge is made up of specific events that gradually transform to general characteristics. Sometimes we associate specific events with abstract words that are fairly general in nature. We may also include pictures of the event along with associated memories of smells, sounds, tastes, sensations, and emotions.

Underwood(1969) lists nine cues associated with information stored in long-term memory:

1.)

1. acoustic – recalling a word on the basis of its sound (eg, gobble, goggle
2. affective – recalling information because of an associated emotion(eg, remembering the day your team lost in the championship game because that made you sad)
3. context- recalling information because of the general context in which it appeared
4. frequency – recalling how often an event occurred (eg, remembering that your teacher said “ah” every time she paused)
5. modality- recalling an event because it made a strong impression on you visually , auditory, tacitly( eg, remembering the joint Christmas presentation of the Bayanihan Dancers and the Madrigal Singers at the Cultural Center of the Philippines)
6. spatial- recalling where objects are in relation to one another ( eg, remembering that you sat in front of a girl with short, curly hair in third grade)
7. temporal- recalling when  something occurred (eg, remembering your first dance in school)
8. verbal – recalling information because of a word associated with it ( eg, remembering the events of a class excursion when you hear the words super Sunday )
9. visual – recalling a mental image associated with information ( eg, remembering the term fireworks because it elicits a strong image)

what are some guiding principles of vocabulary instructions?

Developing word power can be planned based on the following clear guidelines and principles (Marzano 1988)

1. wide reading and language rich activities should be the primary vehicles for vocabulary learning
2. general language development must be encouraged as one of the most important word building strategies
3. direct vocabulary instruction should focus on words considered important to a given content area or to general  background knowledge
4. instruction should include many ways of knowing a word and speed training to build automaticity in word recognition
5. instruction should provide for the development of a complex level of word knowledge
6. it should utilize various forms such as mental pictures , smells, tastes. Kinesthetic associations, semantic distinctions, and linguistic references.
7. instruction should emphasize a structure by which a new words not taught directly can be learned readily
8. instruction should be multifaceted, including associating new words with a variety of contexts, creating contexts of words, contrasting words to discover relationships, and using the words outside of class
9. instruction should be fruitful by grouping words in semantic categories and teaching them in relation to one another
10. since frequently used words have multiple meanings, instruction should include connotative, denotative, lexical, syntactical, and figurative meaning.
11. a very economical and effective way of developing vocabulary is through the use of programmed instruction

 word formation

Many teacher believe that second language students can not read well because they have a small stock of vocabulary. Consequently, these teachers spend much time in unlocking new words. About 50 percent of the reading lesson is spent in vocabulary building.

Knowledge of word formation is useful in developing vocabulary. If a person wants to learn may words within a short time, he/ she must be acquainted with the way English words are formed. Most likely he/ she will enjoy reading about the origin of some words and will also be interested in knowing the changes that have happened to some English words.

The following will discuss the different types of word formation, the meaning of each type, examples of various word forms, and some words under each type. In the discussion on fold or popular etymology, the origin of some words is given.

In almost language, new words are constantly being formed. Some words are popular during certain periods. For example, three of the common expressions used during the Second World War were blizkieg, D-Day, and Victory Joe. After the war these words went into disuse. Now they are the almost forgotten.

You will learn about the way words undergo changes by working on the items which follow. Get a ruler or a sheet of paper folded about 4 centimetres wide and 20 centimetres long. You will need this to cover the boxed portion on the right side of the pages you will work on.

The following explains the five processes of word formation: clipping, blending, compounding, acronymy, and folk etymology

CLIPPING

Clipping is a very common process in word formation. To clip means to cut off the beginning or the end of the word. It may mean cutting from both ends, leaving a part to stand for the whole.

BLENDING

Some words are formed by fusing or putting two words together. Usually the first part of one word is blended or fused with the last part of another. The blended word then gets its meaning from the two words put together. Some blended words do not last. Like other words, they are forgotten.

COMPOUNDING

In your reading you often meet compound words. These are two or three words put together to make a full form. Most often the meaning of the words is different from its parts. Sometimes it is the meaning of the two words put together. These two words are often written as separate words. At other times, a hyphen separates them

Let’s start with words compounded with the use of up.

Other sets of compound words may be formed by adding out

Some other compound words are formed in the following ways

ACRONYMY

Many government agencies and business firms use acronyms, or words formed from the initial letter or syllables of several words in succession

FOLK OR POPULAR ETYMOLOGY

Sometimes, the meaning of a word is wrongly rationalized in terms of some word or idea to which it is felt to have resemblance. To bring these two words in line, the connection leads to change in the form of one of the two words.

Thus , when we change a word in part or in whole to make more like a familiar word, we make use of folk or popular etymology.

A programmed Material on Word –learning skills.

 The programmed material will acquaint you with some word learning skills and some techniques of teaching words.

This material contains four segments. Segment 1 deals with picture clues, segment 2 contains frames on contextual clues, segment 3 is on phonetic analysis and segment 4 works on structural analysis- the meaning of root words , prefixes, and suffixes.

This material will help you make use of various techniques in unlocking new words, choose which technique is appropriate for certain grade levels, and apply these techniques in teaching pupils to acquire wide reading vocabulary

Read each frame carefully. There are some clues to guide you to the right answer. As soon as you have written down your answer, check its accuracy immediately. Whenever you miss an item go back to the preceding few frames to see what clues you missed. Then reread the frame and supply the correct answer. Work on this the way you did the activity in word formation.

SEGMENT 1: PICTURE CLUES

To start with picture clues, look very carefully at the picture below. Can you clearly understand what are shown here? Is it good to include too many details in a picture? Does a cluttered picture serve as a good clue? Picture which have too many details confuse rather than clarify meanings.

1. shown here are four objects. All of them have some pointed parts . look carefully and see if you can match their names with the descriptions given.

1. here is a series of pictures of six objects you can refer to using only one word, trunk,. Fill in the blanks with the correct word or words inferred by usage of the word trunk