Learning to teach ESL: reading

This unit required us to read selections from chapters of the Brown and Lee (2015) text that were assigned previously in this course. I have already reflected on these readings, so I will focus on the Yagcioglu and the Yang articles that discuss learners’ autonomy.

Reflecting on the metacognition article

The reflection on the readings will begin with the outline of unit 4 of this course that was presumably written by my instructor Anna Bartosik. Bartosik (n.d.) provides a description of what metacognition is, how teachers can promote its use, and examples of how it can be incorporated into learning tasks. The article states that metacognition involves drawing learners’ self-awareness of what their brain is doing during the language learning process. Learners need to be taught how to do this because it is not something that people are naturally aware of. The author stresses that metacognition should be practiced by connecting material that has been learned to new tasks and concepts (Bartosik, n.d.).

Bartosik (n.d.) provides a list of examples of how metacognition can be promoted, including: 1) activating prior knowledge; 2) asking students to identify what parts of the lesson were the most difficult or unclear; 3) providing students with opportunities for reflection; 4) having students ask themselves questions as they read; 5) having students preview the reading to make predictions about what the reading is about; 6) having students predict what will happen next in a story; and 7) adding prompts in lessons or graded assignments to encourage students to continue thinking or learning about a subject.

My first impression of ways for promoting metacognition is that doing so would be difficult when teaching low level language students. However, I recognize some of these methods in my own educational experiences and experiences working with the homework help group. I will reflect on one of these experiences as I write this blog entry.

I once worked with a teenage girl who had to write a short reflection on Remembrance Day. She was given a comic strip to read and to use guide her writing. The comic strip showed a conversation between a mother and daughter who were discussing why Canadians wear poppies in November, leading up until Remembrance Day. The girl in the comic said that she did not understand the custom because there is no war in Canada. The mother replied that that is precisely the reason why we should wear poppies. The student I was working with was confused because the meaning of the custom was implied rather than explained explicitly and she did not know how to reflect on the comic and share her thoughts. She was also supposed to write about personal significance. I tried to come up with questions that would help her to think about the subject. I asked her what she knew about Remembrance Day from what she learned in class. I also asked her if she had any experience with war, whether personally or knowledge from someone she knows. These questions were used to make the writing more personal and relevant to her own experiences since sometimes newcomers come from countries who have suffered through war.

Bartosik (n.d.) also lists the following tasks that can be used to develop metacognition: 1) having students write about what they think they will learn in a unit or course; 2) having students reflect on their learning after each unit; 3) having students use a checklist to track what they have learned and what will be covered in future classes; 4) having students write a composition to reflect on their learning and achievements at the end of the course; 5) having students reflect on what tasks have been helpful or nonhelpful in their learning; and 6) having students brainstorm ways that they can apply and increase their learning outside of the classroom.

I think that this list creates tangible examples of how metacognition can be used in the classroom and is more accessible to low level language skills than the first list is. In my future job as an English language teacher, I can see myself using written reflections as a closing activity and to assess the effectiveness of activities I can also see myself referring back to a checklist to track progress and having my students brainstorm ideas about learning. Learner autonomy is particularly important to me and its importance has been stressed in assigned readings and other literature. I hope that my future students will be inspired to seek out language learning opportunities outside of the classroom. If I end up teaching an intermediate level class, I would like to incorporate a composition as a creative activity or for students to reflect on their learning and achievements at the end of the course. In my personal experience taking a Spanish class, we were required to write compositions at the end of units. I found them challenging, but it is easy to see the purpose of the exercise. It allowed my classmates and I to apply our knowledge in a task. It involved active learning rather than passive learning that occurred when we re-read the textbook and notes to study for the exam. As such, I think it is a valuable type of exercise but would be very difficult to modify for a low-level classroom.

Reflecting on the Yagcioglu (2015) article

Sometimes students associate learning with what they are taught inside the classroom and do not realize that they need to try to learn and develop their language learning skills independently if they want to be competent in another language. Yagcioglu (2015) writes that learners need to be aware of their responsibilities in their learning process or they will not be successful at learning new things (Yagcioglu, 2015). Scharle and Szabo (2000) explain that successful language learning depends on students taking responsibility for their learning just as much as it does on the teacher’s instruction and methods. They write that teachers can provide good input and learning opportunities but students must be willing to contribute in order for learning to take place (as quoted in Yagcioglu, 2015, p. 430). Moore (n.d.) says that through taking responsibility for their learning, learners identify what they need to learn, how they will learn it, and how they will evaluate and use their learning. They also have well-founded conceptions of learning, a range of learning approaches and skills, can organize their learning, have good information processing skills, and are well-motivated to learn (as quoted in Yagcioglu, 2015, p. 429).

I have mentioned before that I had taken an introductory level Spanish course this summer to fulfil my language requirements to complete my bachelor’s degree. I struggled to find strategies that would help me review the material in an effective way and to increase my language knowledge. I mostly relied on re-reading the textbook, re-copying my notes, and doing homework sheets. However, none of these strategies worked when it was time to recall this information for exams and compositions. I think that my lack of knowledge about learning strategies results from my lack of experience learning a language. I think that the opposite is true for my classmates who were international students and have English as their L2. They have developed the appropriate neuropathways and studying practices for successfully acquiring another language. As a result, they can “plug in” the elements of a new language and study more efficiently.

While there are strategies that most people will find useful in learning a new language, the learning process still depends on the individual and how they learn most effectively. This means that students who have a grasp on how to learn a new language might have difficulty explaining the process to someone who does not. It also makes teaching students how to learn effectively and efficiently a challenge for language teachers. Since the process is not intuitive to me, I hope that my struggle will help me explain the process to my students as I learn strategies through my own experiences with language acquisition and teaching.

Yagcioglu (2015) says that language teachers can help their students understand the importance of taking responsibility for their own learning and help them to develop learning strategies so that they can become autonomous and continue the learning process outside of the classroom. Chamot and O’Malley (1994) define learning strategies as thoughts or activities that assist in enhancing learning outcomes. They include metacognitive, cognitive, and social/affective strategies. Metacognitive strategies include planning for learning, self-monitoring comprehension and production, and evaluating how well one has achieved a learning objective. Cognitive strategies include manipulating the material to be learned mentally or physically. Mental strategies include making images and elaborating, while physical strategies include grouping items to be learned or taking notes. Social/affective strategies include interacting with another person in order to assist learning (i.e. cooperative or collaborative learning), asking questions for clarification, or using affective control to assist learning tasks (as quoted in Yagcioglu, 2015, p. 430-431).

Yagcioglu (2015) argues that learner responsibility and autonomy are dependent on motivation, which can come from internal and external sources. Language educators can help learners increase their internal motivation by helping them establish and achieve personal language and educational goals. Learners can also become motivated externally as a result of their learning environment and the modelling of effective learning strategies by their teachers. Dörnyei and Kubanyiova (2013) state that language teachers need to be motivated to ensure that their students will achieve their language learning goals. Motivation is required to maintain a fresh perspective and create effective learning plans. In addition, the teacher’s professional development and the ways that students engage with new ideas depends on the teacher’s attitude and teaching methods (as quoted in Yagcioglu, 2015, p. 431).

I thought that this section of the article was interesting because of the way it frames motivation. The TESL courses have focused considerably on goal-setting as a form of internal motivation. However, this is the first time that I have encountered a discussion on how a teacher’s attitude and teaching methods affect student motivation. I agree that this is important and is something that I should consider as I complete this course and begin working as a language teacher. I am normally not a very animated and excitable type of person and I wonder how this might affect the learning environment in my classroom. I want to make my future classroom a place where students feel welcome and comfortable. I want them to not feel judged if they make mistakes and to have fun. I think that my introversion might be less of an obstacle if I am teaching adults because they do not have the same desire to be entertained as children do. I also need to consider how to keep a fresh perspective when my students might not be progressing as much as I would like. I think these kinds of situations require a lot of patience and experience to realize what works best.

The journal article discusses different methods for developing learning strategies and increasing motivation. One teaching approach is called the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). The main features of the approach are outlined by Chamot and O’Malley (1994) as the beliefs that active learners are better learners, that strategies can be learned, that academic language learning is more effective with learning strategies, and that learning strategies transfer to new tasks (as quoted in Yagcioglu, 2015, p. 430). Another teaching approach listed in the journal article is the Wonder Approach. L’Ecuyer (2014) views wonder as an inner desire to learn and the centre of all motivation and action for children. Learning becomes meaningful when it involves wonder, beauty, sensitivity, and secure attachment. It is very different than traditional methods of teaching that are founded on rigidity and repetition, which can demotivate students and discourage them from participating in the learning process both inside and outside of the classroom (as quoted in Yagcioglu, 2015, p. 431-432).

I think that CALLA is similar to the task-based approach that is used with the Canadian Learning Benchmarks (CLB). The CLBs encourage active learning through task sequences and teachers demonstrate how students can use strategies to improve their learning and language knowledge and to apply them to activities involving other skills. I prefer this method because it is practical and can be evaluated so that students can have concrete examples of their progress. I think that this makes learning more meaningful and helps to encourage further learning. It can also be applicable to different ages, skill levels, and teaching purposes. In contrast, the wonder approach seems targeted towards children. I understand its value in this context since the education system tends to expect young students to have the same attention span and learning capacity as older children and adults. The education system also has a history of discouraging creativity and individuality in favour of reaching mandated learning objectives. As such, I think that encouraging a sense of wonder would help increase levels of motivation for younger language students. However, I do not think that an unstructured learning environment based on feelings and thinking in different ways would be of particular value or benefit to adults learning English for working purposes.

Reflecting on the Yang (1998) article

Yang (1998) discusses how language learners have become an important source of information for class activities and curriculum design. Language researchers and teachers have recognized the importance of training learners about using strategies and developing autonomy. Language teachers can help their students become autonomous learners and incorporate autonomy into their teaching. The author combines learning strategy instruction with content for learning acquisition in her teaching approach. This approach allows teachers to provide their students with knowledge about language development while also promoting their autonomy. The author says that teachers should also clarify that the learning strategies taught in the classroom should be used to expand from the strategies that students are already using rather than replace them (Yang, 1998).

The journal article also discusses the roles that attitudes can have on developing learning strategies and language skills. Chamot et al (1993) stresses that teachers should demonstrate a positive attitude towards using learning strategies and provide compelling reasons to students about why they should use them (as quoted in Yang, 1998, p. 128). Unfortunately, students may avoid incorporating new strategies into their studying. Yang (1998) argues that learning strategies need to be integrated with language instruction and included in grade calculation so that students will view them as an important part of the learning process rather than just additional work. The literature has shown that successful language learners use more learning and facilitative strategies than poor learners. However, the use of strategies relevant to the reading task is more important to successful learning than the number of strategies used (Yang, 1998).

I agree that there are times when students see the use of learning strategies as just extra work that they need to do. As a result, I agree with Yang about the need to include these strategies in grade calculation. I remember when I was learning how to multiply and divide numbers during elementary school. We were always told to show our work but sometimes we could just calculate the answer in our minds. We knew the answer but we were not able to explain how we knew the answer. Showing our work did not seem necessary since we got the correct answer anyway. However, our teachers insisted on this process being part of the way they calculated our grades and so we complied. It ended up being helpful in higher levels when our math problems became more complex and we needed to check to see if we were following the process correctly.

I have also seen this happen while volunteering in the homework help group. Some students even view reading itself as an extra task that they do not want to do. They find it difficult and would rather complete their work using the knowledge they learned in class rather than spend time reading. It is frustrating because they cannot improve if they do not read and teaching reading strategies is unhelpful if they do not apply them. Unfortunately, they are past the stage when they are taught how to read and what strategies to use, so they are not graded for doing these activities.

Learners’ beliefs about their personal capabilities and the language learning process can also affect the development of learning strategies and language skills. Yang (1998) reveals that the literature has shown that learners’ beliefs about language learning and their metacognitive knowledge influence the ways they use learning strategies to develop language competence. Learners may believe that learning a new language is too difficult and become frustrated with the process and slow progress. As such, they may become discouraged about practicing and applying what they have learned in class. Wenden (1991) says that teachers should try to correct learners’ beliefs and attitudes towards language learning (as quoted in Yang, 1998, p. 129). Yang (1998) explains that teachers can address these problems and can assist in the development of learner autonomy by having students discuss their beliefs and expectations.

I think that beliefs and attitudes about the learning process can affect students’ success. This is evident in beliefs like math and science being “hard” that result in decreases in students’ levels of motivation. This also applies to my experience volunteering in the ESL classroom. A lot of students think that learning English is difficult and get frustrated when they make mistakes. Sometimes the teacher tries to express empathy by joking that “English is crazy.” I think that his intentions are to say “I understand your frustration. English is crazy.” However, I think that it can be misunderstood. The word “crazy” implies that there's no structure and just chaos and that you might not be able to understand it because it does not make sense. I do not know how the students understand this comment but it is worth bringing up since he does try to correct students when they make negative statements about themselves. For example, students may say things like “Name (is) no good” and he will correct them by saying “Name is getting better.” I think that saying “English will become easier with more practice” is more helpful and may encourage students to find more opportunities for practice.

References

Bartosik, A. (n.d.). TESL-0130 Unit 4: Passing the torch to students: Empowering the English language learner [PDF]. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba

Chamot, A. U., & O'Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley

Chamot, A. U., Barnhardt, S., El-Dinary, P. B., Carbonaro, G., & Robbins, J. (1993). Methods for teaching learning strategies in the foreign language classroom and assessment of language skills for instruction. Final report. (U. S. Department of Education). Washington, DC.

Dörnyei, Z., & Kubanyiova, M. (2013). Motivating learners, motivating teachers: The role of vision in language education. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

L'Ecuyer, C. (2014). The wonder approach to learning. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00764

Scharle, A., & Szabo, A. (2000). Learner autonomy: A guide to developing learner responsibility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wenden, A. (1991). Learner strategies for learner autonomy: Planning and implementing learner training for language learners (Language teaching methodology). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Yagcioglu, O. (2015). New Approaches on Learner Autonomy in Language Learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 428-435. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.529

Yang, N. (1998). Exploring a new role for teachers: Promoting learner autonomy. System, 26(1), 127-135. doi:10.1016/s0346-251x(97)00069-9

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Reflecting on the readings for this unit

This week we were required to read sections from the Brown and Lee (2015) text that was previously assigned in this course. I have already reflected on this reading, but I have a few points from these sections that I would like to examine in this blog entry. As stated in the previous blog entry, simplifying texts can be difficult because teachers might get rid of features like humour and natural redundancy. This can make texts less interesting and prevent students from using natural redundancy as context to increase their understanding of a text. Instead, the textbook states that teachers can allow students to choose their own reading material to increase their level of investment in the class. Teachers can strategically build onto the texts they include in lesson plans so that students can be aware of their own progress and success throughout the length of their programs (Brown and Lee, 2015)

This portion of the chapter has helped me understand the importance of including a variety of reading texts in classroom teaching. I think that this can be very challenging for teachers. One thing that puzzles me is the idea of selecting authentic texts for students who are learning English as a Foreign Language. Is this still important even though the students are unlikely to encounter the same variety of texts as students who are immersed in an English-speaking society? How do the goals of EFL students learning in a society that does not speak English differ from ESL students learning in a society where they are surrounded by native English speakers? Does this change the way English language teachers should teach students how to read?

I think that the inclusion of a variety of reading texts is especially true for those who are teaching at the literacy level who need to find and/or modify texts that can be understood by lower level learners. During my experience volunteering in a foundations and literacy level classroom, the teacher has used handouts that look like price tags and posters for a flu shot clinic. Learning about the reasons behind including different types of texts has made me more aware of the effort that the teacher has taken, and the levels of creativity and risk involved in activity planning for students. As a student in the TESL program, selecting appropriate reading texts feels overwhelming and I hope that it is something that will be less confusing as I become more experienced as a language teacher.

Reflecting on the videos for this unit

The first video this week was called “Reassessing the principles of teaching reading” and was presented by Dr. Philida Schellekens for the British Council. It was about the differences between the language that L1 and L2 English speakers use and approaches to teaching vocabulary to English language learners. The video is quite long, so I will focus my reflection on a few points that interested me the most. Schellekens (2011) explains that native English speakers have language competence that they learned from acquiring language throughout their childhood development. Language competence is having knowledge about how a language works and the ability to use it effectively. The presenter says that native speakers can build upon their language competence and work on their language skill development. In contrast, English language learners are trying to build language competence and cannot work on language skill development until they achieve competence. This means that teaching reading sub-skills like skimming and scanning are largely unhelpful for students who are still learning language basics. Students need to understand the tasks that they are doing, as well as why they are doing them or why they should be doing them. This can be difficult to explain to lower level learners (Schellekens, 2011).

I ran into a similar problem when I was volunteering in the ESL classroom. The students were doing an activity where they added numbers in the tens and hundreds. One of the students insisted on working left to right and adding the hundreds column before completing the tens and ones even after the teacher and I showed students that they should be working from right to left. I found this frustrating because even though it works on some questions, she will end up running into problems as she completes more complicated problems and needs to carry over numbers into higher place values. However, it is difficult to explain to a student who may have never been exposed to more difficult questions and would likely end up confusing her even if she understood what I was saying.

Schellekens (2011) said that the research shows that readers will find it difficult to infer the meaning of new words even if they know 95% of the words in a text. Readers with lower vocabularies have even lower rates of comprehending the meaning of words in texts. This is because students process from word to word. They stop reading whenever they encounter an unfamiliar word to try to guess its meaning and resort to re-reading sentences when they forget what they have read. They are so busy trying to decode individual words that they cannot hold enough information in their working memories to make sense of what they are reading. Students also have difficulty determining meaning, even if they are successful at decoding words. Students who are not literate in their L1 language face further difficulties learning English because they cannot transfer skills from their first language into their second. The presenter said that there is strong evidence that the command of the new language is the key to reading in it and that one study found that students only developed stronger reading skills when they reached the higher intermediate level (Schellekens, 2011). This video has helped me understand how difficult it can be to learn a new language, particularly when students are not literate in their first language.

The second video this week was called “Which words are worth the worry?” The video featured several language experts and will be abbreviated as Schmitt et al (2011) in this blog post. It was about the process of learning vocabulary and how teachers and students should approach this aspect of language learning. One of the points that was raised in the discussion was how much vocabulary is required for comprehension and completing language tasks. It was argued that some people might be able to understand basic instructions and what is expected of them with minimal vocabulary knowledge if they were familiar with what they were being asked to do. The example given was soccer players who have years of practice and experience behind them and who understand basic English language instruction. However, the speaker stated that very rudimentary vocabulary knowledge would not be sufficient if a teacher needed to teach new concepts and ideas or to give detailed instructions (Schmitt et al., 2011).

This topic can be applied to my experience volunteering in the ESL classroom. It is difficult to explain to the students how to do class activities when they have very little English language knowledge. Many students have not been in school for a long time and be unsure of what they are being asked to do. Together with the teacher and other volunteers, I have tried to model what is supposed to happen during different class activities. This has been challenging, especially at the beginning of the school year before students have become familiar with verbal instructions. However, the teacher still has a limited ability to teach new concepts and ideas or instruct students how to do tasks that are more complicated because of the level of the class he is teaching. Instead, he has compensated by introducing simple verbs associated with learning (e.g. listen, speak, read, write, etc.). These verbs can be easily integrated into activities and lesson plans.

Like the first video, Schmitt et al (2011) discussed the level of vocabulary knowledge that is required to understand various types of discourse. One of the speakers said that many language experts agree that learners need to have 95% to 98% comprehension in order for it to be possible and to ensure that most of the information in everyday written discourse and conversations is understood. As such, the speaker said that it is important for teachers to consider how they are teaching language and more specifically, teaching for the purpose of improving their students’ levels of comprehension. Without appropriate reflection and consideration, teachers may spend too much time trying to set up engaging activities for their students without focusing on how teaching vocabulary fits into their lesson plans. The speaker advocated for spending less time teaching and more time preparing and designing activities that increase vocabulary and reflect the needs of their students (Schmitt et al., 2011).

This attitude towards creating lesson plans with learning tasks that are applicable to real-life situations fits well with teaching approaches like the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLBs). Especially at the lower levels, the CLBs instruct teachers to provide students with vocabulary that can be used in a variety of situations that newcomers can expect to encounter in their daily lives. Teachers who are required to use this approach typically spend a lot of time considering what types of vocabulary words would be helpful and useful for students and how to incorporate it into their activities and lesson plans.

Schmitt et al (2011) explains that teaching plays a limited role in the language acquisition process. It is not feasible for teachers to teach learners every word that they need to know in the classroom. As a result, a balanced approach is needed to make sure that teachers make good use of their time and resources. They can do this by ensuring there are opportunities for students to learn through developing the four language skills and by providing deliberate studying opportunities. Teachers need to be aware of their students’ levels of vocabulary comprehension before they can provide the necessary instruction. The speaker suggested several strategies to improve vocabulary, including finding reading material and recordings that are appropriate for the language level of their students, providing students with opportunities to improve their writing, and facilitating deliberate vocabulary studying (Schmitt et al., 2011).

Schmitt et al (2011) says that another consideration that should be factored in is that learners may not know how to study efficiently and effectively on their own. As such, teachers need to take the time to prepare and equip students for individual study. Afterwards, teachers can help students learn that there are some words that they should prioritize and that they can learn the less important words later. Teachers can direct students to the words that they should be studying. However, it is important for teachers to keep in mind that students do not retain vocabulary that they have learned if they do not encounter it repeatedly. Consequently, teachers should reuse vocabulary in different lessons and refer to it in future classes. One suggestion that is given is for teachers to list vocabulary from a lesson on the whiteboard and then ask students what types of words they are and how they connect with other lessons and vocabulary (Schmitt et al., 2011).

This consideration relates to my own language learning experience. I took an introductory Spanish course this summer in order to fulfil my language requirement for my bachelor’s degree. Prior to doing so, I had very little experience trying to learn a new language. I, along with some of my classmates, were interested in using language learning applications like Duolingo and Babbel to help with our studying. However, our instructor advised against it because she thought it was not an efficient way to study. She explained that the apps focus on aspects of the language that we were not required to study as part of the class outline and that it was important to prioritize what we covered in class and in the textbook. I was very confused about what methods to use while studying and how to make the most use of my time. I spent a lot of time completing homework sheets and copying out my notes and lessons from the class textbook. This was very time consuming and did not properly prepare me for my exams and written tests.

The frustration that I experienced trying to learn Spanish has helped me empathize with other students who have experienced similar difficulties. One interesting thing that I noticed was that the international students who were in my class seemed to have more effective ways of studying. They had learned English as a Foreign language in their home countries. I think that their success in learning English provided a good foundation for learning Spanish. They were familiar with the language acquisition process and could utilize previously learned strategies.

Reflecting on the activities for this unit

The activities for this unit included group work and creating a post-reading activity, which I have already reflected on in my forum posts. It has been several weeks since I did those activities and so I will focus this refection on the activities involving using reading strategies and arranging information into a graphic organizer, as this will probably make this unit’s blog entry a more thoughtful exercise.

When reading the blog article about reading comprehension earlier in this course, I utilized the following strategies that were provided in this unit’s outline:

I looked at the title of the article.
I examined the accompanying image.
I looked at the author of the article and the date.
I quickly glanced over the article to get a feel for what it might contain.
I looked through the article for words I did not understand.
I stopped each time I encountered a word I didn't know, and tried to guess what that word meant, based on what I had just read and understood; the placement of the word in the sentence; and/or part of speech.
I went back to re-read the text because guessing at unknown words was not successful anymore.
I tried to connect what you were reading to a context that is familiar to you.

I think that the list of reading strategies is helpful in creating awareness about what native speakers do when they read something that is new or unfamiliar. The process of reading can seem automatic or instinctual and so it can be difficult to develop awareness about the micro-tasks that are involved in the reading process and the strategies that we have learned to use. In my experience working with newcomers who are learning English, they look for a lot of visual clues to help them read. Pictures and illustrations have been key in helping them retain vocabulary that they have learned. I have also noticed that some learners will scan a text for familiar words so that they can try to understand the task at hand. Working with teenagers has been different because they tend to focus more on words that they do not know. I have tried to get some students to scan the text for important information with differing amounts of success. Most students find reading difficult and they do not want to do what they perceive to be “extra” work to assist them in learning and improving their reading skills and comprehension over time.

I did not utilize the following strategies:
I did not obsessively count the number of words in the text and the number of unknown words in the text to make sure that 80% was an accurate number.
I did not try reading the unknown words out loud to see if they sound like other words that I know.
I did not think about Japan and what I know about the country, such as emergency phone numbers.

I did not use these strategies when trying to read the blog article. I trusted that the author and the writer who she referred to in the article had calculated the numbers correctly. I also prefer to read silently and did not consider reading aloud to try to figure out the meaning of words that I know. I am curious about whether this actually works. I also did not think about my background knowledge about Japan and its customs because I do not know much about it. However, it is common for me to use this approach for new information that I encounter about people, places, and events that I am familiar with. In summary, I do not think that the other two strategies are particularly useful for me when I am reading.

As mentioned earlier, this unit required us to create graphic organizers to arrange information from a section of Chapter 17 in our class textbook. My graphic organize can be accessed here. I found this activity to be useful since it helped me narrow down the section into key terms and answering basic questions about teaching reading skills.

Reflecting on the effects of pre-reading on comprehension

One of the ideas that I found interesting in this unit is teaching pre-reading exercises. The idea was discussed in one of the Brown and Lee (2015) readings where the authors explain how to create lesson plans that centre around developing reading and comprehension skills. Pre-reading activities help prepare learners for completing the reading activities, which form the crux of the lesson. This type of learning exercise interests me because it can be difficult to introduce new and unfamiliar topics to learners at any level. Due to the way that information is taught in the ESL classroom that I volunteer in, I am most familiar with teaching new vocabulary using illustrations and asking questions prior to using the new words in other activities. I decided to research this topic so that I can reflect on it further in this unit.

Alemi and Ebadi (2010) is written within the context of teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP), but it provides a brief review of the literature that is available on the subject of pre-reading activities and their effects on reading comprehension. The authors conducted a study to determine whether students who were engaged in pre-reading activities had better reading comprehension than those who did not. The students who participated in the pre-reading activities were part of the experimental group while those who did not were part of the control group. The results found that pre-reading activities did improve reading comprehension. The authors state that pre-reading activities help connect new concepts to former knowledge and provide language learners with the foundation required to learn new language. However, background information should be given to students who lack sufficient prior knowledge to help them understand and interpret the text (Alemi and Ebadi, 2010).

Language researchers and other experts have different views of what makes an effective pre-reading activity and how they should be used in the classroom. Tudor (1989) describes pre-reading activities as “enabling activities” since they enable the reader to interact with texts by providing them with the necessary background to complete an activity and comprehend the material. They also elicit prior knowledge and focus attention (as quoted in Alemi and Ebadi, 2010, p. 570). Celce-Murcia (1991) states that other goals of the pre-reading stage are to provide any language preparation that might be needed for working with the passage and to motivate the learners to want to read the text. The author suggests the use of word association, discussion, and text surveys as pre-reading activities (as quoted in Alemi and Ebadi, 2010, p. 570). Tudor (1989) also lists several categories of pre-reading activities, including pre-questions that are to be answered after reading the text; pre-questions that activate the reader’s knowledge of the topic; content organizers; predictions based on the title, subheadings, illustrations, or skimming of the text; and a combination of the above.

Regarding the use of these reading strategies, Taglieber (1988) found that using illustrations to make predictions and formulating questions were more effective at improving reading comprehension than vocabulary pre-teaching. The author indicated that a lack of vocabulary, problems using language cues to determine meaning, and a lack of conceptual knowledge interfere with readers’ comprehension. However, activities that include pictorial context, pre-questioning, and vocabulary pre-teaching can help to address these problems (as quoted in Alemi and Ebadi, 2010, p. 571). The effectiveness of providing illustrations to teach vocabulary and other aspects of language depends on what type of information it is being used to convey. McDaniel and Waddill (1994) conducted research on the extent to which pictures can improve the recall of information presented through text. The study focused on detailed and relational information. They found that the use of pictures helped students with extracting and decoding information from a text when they provided readers with the necessary comprehension abilities at the start of the reading task (as quoted in Alemi and Ebadi, 2010, p. 571). Pre-questioning occurs when instructors ask questions about a text for students to answer in order to help students establish and understand the purpose of the reading activity. Nuttall (1982) suggests that signpost questions can be utilized for pre-questioning and would be useful in a pre-reading activity. Signpost questions are questions that direct readers to important parts of a text that they should focus on while they are reading in order to improve reading comprehension. They may relate to the text as a whole or to different sections of the text (as quoted in Alemi and Ebadi, 2010, p. 571).

References

Alemi, M., & Ebadi, S. (2010). The Effects of Pre-reading Activities on ESP Reading Comprehension. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(5), 569-577. doi:10.4304/jltr.1.5.569-577

Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching grammar and vocabulary. In Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (4th ed., pp. 462-486). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching reading. In Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (4th ed., pp. 389-425). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

Celce-Murcia, M. (1991). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Martin, P. (n.d.). Math book [Digital image]. Retrieved November 24, 2018, from http://math.phillipmartin.info/math_book.htm

McDaniel, M. A., & Waddill, P. I. (1994). The benefit of pictures in text. In W. Schontz & R. W.

Kulhavy (Eds.), Comprehension of graphics (pp. 82-99). North Holland: Elsevier Science B. V.

Nuttall, C. E. (1982). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford: Macmilan Publishers.

Tagliebar, K. L. (1988). The effect of pre-reading activities on EFL reading comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 22, 455-472.

Tudor, I. (1989). Pre-reading: A categorization of formats. System, 17(3), 323-338. doi:10.1016/0346-251x(89)90005-5

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