6/25/2023
Module 7: Teaching the language skills:
Reading and Writing
Lecturer: Dr. Vu Hai Ha
1. Reading & Reading comprehension
2. Reading skills
3. Teaching reading
4. Factors influencing reading
comprehension
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Reading is an active, fluent process which involves
the reader and the reading material in building
meaning. Meaning does not reside on the printed
page, nor is it only in the head of the reader. A
synergy occurs in reading which combines the
words on the printed page with the reader’s
background knowledge and experiences.
(Anderson, 1999: 1)
John knew his wife’s operation would be
expensive. There was always Uncle Harry.
John reached for the suburban telephone
book.
The tubes were barreling. He was stoked, so
he waxed his machine. As he paddled into the
line-up, a set was lined up to the horizon.
Schema: a mental representation, plan or
structure (pl. schemata)
Types of schema:
Content schema: background knowledge about
the content of a text
Formal schema: knowledge about the formal,
rhetorical, organizational structure of different
kinds of texts
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Schema theory: the theory that in
comprehending language people activate
relevant schemata allowing them to process
and interpret new experiences quickly and
efficiently.
Reading requires two sorts of skills :
- information processing
- linguistic decoding
Matching the morphological symbols to their lexical
references
Distinguishing open- and closed- class words
(through morphology and word order)
Understanding the conventions of punctuation
Relating the grammatical form of elements to their
meaning within the sentence
Understanding the cohesive devices used to link
sentences (discourse)
Understanding the structure of a paragraph
(organization)
Understanding the different functions and purpose
of a text (genre)
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Extracting explicitly stated information
Transferring such infor. from one symbolic medium
(eg. prose) to another (eg. tabulation, graph, or
speech)
Making low-level (intrasentential) inferences
Making higher-level (intersentential) inferences
Establishing the main points of the text (summary)
Distinguishing between fact and opinion
Interpreting the meaning of the text as a whole
Evaluating the significance of the text
Personalizing the value of the text
Reading is an interactive process that goes on
between the reader and the text, resulting in
comprehension.
Reader knowledge, skills, and strategies include
- linguistic competence
- discourse competence
- sociolinguistic competence
- strategic competence
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A Activate prior knowledge
C Cultivate vocabulary
T Teach for comprehension
I Increase reading rate
V Verify reading strategies
E Evaluate progress
Watch a class on reading.
How is the “ACTIVE” frame reflected in this
class.
A Activate prior knowledge
C Cultivate vocabulary
T Teach for comprehension
I Increase reading rate
V Verify reading strategies
E Evaluate progress
Make sure that:
The reading text is the right level for the
students
The reading topic has some chance of
engaging the students’ interest
The students know what kind of reading they
are going to do
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The tasks suit the text and vice versa
The students are involved with the topic, the
language of the text and, where appropriate,
the text construction
There is both an introduction and a follow-up
to the reading text.
1. Writing and approaches to teaching
writing
2. Teaching writing
3. Giving feedback in writing
4. Factors influencing written
communication
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Four most influential approaches to L2
writing:
a) Controlled Composition
b) Current-Traditional Rhetoric
c) The Product Approach
d) The Process Approach
Language is speech; learning is habit
formation
Writing as a secondary concern (as
reinforcement for oral habits)
Focus on formal accuracy & correctness
Writing involves the imitation and
manipulation of model passages carefully
constructed and graded for vocabulary and
sentence patterns
Audience and purpose neglected
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Controlled composition was not enough; there was
more to writing than building grammatical
sentences; what was needed was a bridge between
controlled and free writing (mid-1960s).
Rhetoric was defined as “the method of organizing
syntactic units into larger patterns” (Kaplan, 1967, p.
15)
Paragraph as the primary interest: topic sentences,
support sentences, concluding sentences and
transitions; development (illustration,
exemplification, comparison, contrast, partition,
classification, definition, causal analysis, so on).
The current-traditional rhetoric approach to
writing is basically a matter of arrangement, of
fitting sentences and paragraphs into
prescribed patterns. Learning to write involves
becoming skilled in identifying, internalizing,
and executing these patterns. The writer fills in
a pre-existing form with provided or self-
generated content.
A product approach to writing
focuses on the outcome of the
activity, rather than the activity
itself. Typically,
1. The teacher introduces the topic, and
may activate relevant vocabulary, and focus
on specific grammatical structures.
2. The students are told to complete a
composition (within a time limit) and to
work alone.
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3. The students submit the written
work.
4. The teacher grades the work
,identifies errors, and hands back the
work to the students.
5. The students make corrections
6. Next writing class, the teacher
repeats the above procedure.
Writing as an art, a creative act in which the
process – the discovery of true self – is as
important as the product – the self
discovered and expressed.
Cognitivist view: Writing as problem solving.
Two key words: thinking and process
Once the problem has been identified and the
paper has been planned, students continued
the writing process by translating their plans
and thoughts into words, and by reviewing
their work through revising and editing.
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A process approach emphasises the
development in learners of the strategies
that expert writers use when composing.
They begin by thinking around the topic
They plan an outline of what they intend to
write about.
They make several drafts before the final
version
This is made very easy with word-processing
software.
They edit these drafts for:
content (what they have said, and how the ideas are
organised), and
form (for example, the accuracy of spelling ,grammar,
and references - where they are used).
Most of the writers in this area,
especially earlier ones such, considered
the process of writing to be an
essentially cognitive one.
They draw attention to the way that an
individual mind processes information and
conveys this in writing.
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More recently there has been a tendency to
consider a more sociocultural orientation to process
writing.
Sociocultural theorists believe that learning and
teaching are essentially social activities.
They draw attention away from individual cognition and
towards the sharing and distribution of mental activity
among learners: “the mind rarely works alone” ( Pea 1993:
47) .
Writing, as a learning activity,
lends itself to the co-
construction of texts by
students working together.
Thus, in classrooms where learners work together, various
activities have been suggested within a process writing cycle
:
Collaborative brainstorming
Shared planning
Division of tasks within the group
Joint problem-solving
Co-construction of multiple drafts
Peer feedback and revision
In this way, students jointly co-construct texts, rather than
work alone to produce an individual work.
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Thus, learning is not merely conveyed, but mutually
created by the participants in a structured dialogue.
In this dialogue, the more capable partner promotes
the learning of the less able so that the learner is
enabled to progress from present to a higher level
of ability.
The ultimate aim is autonomy; “what the learner
can do today only with assistance, she will do
independently tomorrow” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 87).
The assistance given to the learner is often called
‘scaffolding’.
An emphasis on a process approach
often disregards the importance of
written form and , in effect, takes power
away from learners, particularly those
from different language or culture
backgrounds.
Writing research has shown that
students need to be exposed to and
have practice with various genres in
addition to narrative writing.
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Scaffolding
Apprenticeship
Students’ awareness : the interaction
betweenways of organizing information
and the purpose of writing (the text).
1. Focus on form
2. Recognizing major error
types
3. Self-editing practice
Students often feel anxious about writing, as it is “a
high-risk, low gain activity”
What causes anxiety?
a) students risk getting negative feedback
▪ especially about their lack of grammatical accuracy
b) topics are often irrelevant or uninteresting
c) product writing classes are often unsupportive
d) students think that writing is unhelpful to them
Because of these factors, teachers are also often
anxious about writing classes.
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1980s: gradual movement toward borader
integrated appoaches in ELT
Integrated approach: encourages the
teaching of all four skills within the general
framework of using language for learning as
well as for communication.
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An integrated skills lesson:
allows for the practice of language in a way which
is closer ‘to the real world’ and assists in the
development of a full language user.
where one thing leads onto the other are more
satisfying, less bitty, for the learners.
has more variety.
gives an opportunity for a topic to be fully
explored and for vocabulary connected to the
topic to be practiced and recycled.
From receptive to productive skills
A series of activities that use a variety of skills
Task-based approach
Content-based approach: language is best
learned dwhen it is used as a medium of
instruction for learning something else
Etc.
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