“Consider these examples of things students say they do when they meet difficulty in

reading comprehension, particularly when they meet a new word or phrase. Would you
encourage or discourage any of these, or suggest a sequence of strategies?”

(From Tricia Hedge’s Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom,

Chapter 6, Reading
Discussion Topics and Projects, page 220)

I think about whether the word I would definitely encourage this.

is important for understanding Students should be encouraged to
the whole text decide whether the new word they have
met is necessary, or whether they can
go without it and yet get the gist of what
they are reading. More often than not, if they think it is not a word of major importance,
they manage to get a full understanding of the text and, what’s more, they can infer the
meaning of that word.

I would encourage this for the same

reason I gave before: its meaning I read on to see if the word is
may be inferred by context; besides, repeated.
it is good not to stop the flow of ideas
expressed by the writer in the text. If
they keep on reading, there are greater chances that the writer’s whole idea is successfully
conveyed. Stopping too often poses the danger of losing the track of thoughts, and fill the
reader with a sense of failure. That’s why I am for this kind of strategy.

I go to a dictionary Dictionaries are great tools both in the classroom and

for a translation. in the non-academic environment. They help students
become more autonomous in their learning process.
Depending on the level of English the student in
question has, I would much rather encourage them to
look the word up in a monolingual dictionary; if possible, check the meaning in two
different ones at least. Still, it must be agreed that some students (especially adult
students) have an urge to know the “exact” meaning of the word – if such a thing as an
exact synonym exists. Though I am not thrilled at the idea of letting them plunge into a
bilingual dictionary every time they meet a new word, I cannot but wonder whether their
anxiety to know the mother-tongue version of the word is good for them. It cannot be
denied that their affective filter would hinder their progress. Nevertheless, I would not
encourage them to stop reading and look up every single unknown word. I would ask them
to give the text a chance and read it all before deciding whether any of those words are
essential to the understanding of the text. Depending on the length of the text, we might
even agree to choose a couple of words per student to look up and then share them, to get
to a final five-word list. This would mean they would have to interact with other students to
reduce the original list to a much shorter one; other students might know the meaning of
the word and it would promote discovery learning. Dictionaries are learning tools and,
when discreetly used, they are of invaluable aid.

This can be helpful sometimes, especially when I think if there is a

it comes to words of Latin origin. However, this Spanish word like it.
can pose the serious problem of negative
transfer. It is all very well in words such as
difficult, patio or attractively. Still, when students meet words such as sensible, library or
conductor, to mention but a few, they might take it for granted that the rule of positive
transfer applies to these words too, with the consequent misunderstanding. I would tell
them to take it with a pinch of salt, always checking against the text to see if the Spanish
version is consistent with it. For example, if someone in the text goes to a library and takes
a book home to read and does not pay for it (or asks for a book to read and sits quietly at a
table, in a room with other people doing exactly the same thing) it is highly unlikely that the
word means librería. So, I wouldn’t exactly encourage this, I would much rather warn them
that though there are words which look and sound similar in both languages, there are
others which do not. So I would ask them to check whether the text makes sense if they
apply this strategy.

I ask my teacher to explain. If during a reading comprehension exercise my

students asked me to explain an unknown
word, I would first ask them to go through the
whole text first. It is possible that the word they
regard as essential is not such. They could infer its meaning after reading the whole text
by studying the surrounding words, and they could share their guesses with their peers. If
this doesn’t work, I would lead them to guess the meaning of the word.

Definitely. I would encourage them to identify I look to see if the word has
what part of the word they know and then
some part I know.
guide them to identify the prefixes and
suffixes that may appear. Thus, their
passive vocabulary would increase (since they would be able to understand the meaning
of previously unknown words) and in time, with enough exposure and practice, it would
become part of their active vocabulary.

Really? What for? I mean, if it is a reading

I say the word
comprehension exercise, the focus is on reading and
out loud.
understanding the text. I cannot see how saying the
word out loud might help them understand the
meaning of an unknown word or understand the text. Rather, if the word is
mispronounced, it could lead to fossilization of the mistake. I see no point in encouraging
this.

I wouldn’t encourage my students I start again from the beginning of

to do this. I think this would the sentence
only hinder the natural flow of the
text. This, however, could be a
positive step when the reading is done aloud and the text was not read appropriately,
making it hard to understand, or changing the intended meaning. I am thinking of Defining
and Non-defining Relative Clauses in particular. But again, if it were just the meaning of
one word, I wouldn’t advise them to do this.

I ask the other students I think this is a good choice, it fosters

in my group. discovery learning and peer work. It is
another good options to work through
a text.

I write it in my notebook.
I would encourage them to write it in their notebooks
or maybe in their books. Some students would find
it easier if they wrote the meaning on the book, because
they wouldn’t have to move their eyes away from the page they are reading to have
access to the meaning of the unknown word. The good thing is that, no matter which they
choose, they would have a record of the word for further use.

I study the words I would definitely encourage this. Not only

around it. because they can infer the meaning, but also
because in reading comprehension exercises
in which students have to choose form a
selection of very similar options, the only
possible way to do this with no doubts whatsoever is to study the words around in order to
distinguish the subtle differences in meaning the options offer. So, yes, I would encourage
them to do this.

Norma B. Tomé.