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Onea Veronica Chelaru Alina-GeorgianaMA in ELT, Year ITeaching Reading

Research on reading a second language Types of written language Characteristics of written languageMacro & micro-skills for reading comprehensionStrategies for reading comprehensionTypes of readingPrinciples for designing interactive reading techniquesConclusion BibliographyContents

Bottom-up and top-down processing Bottom-up multiplicity of linguistic signals Skills-based data-driven field-independent Top-down puzzle-solving processStrategies-based conceptually driven field- dependent

2. Schema theory and background knowledge Skill in reading depends on the efficient interaction between linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world. ( Mark Clarke and Sandra Silberstein)

Research on reading a second language

The role of affect and culture language egoself esteem motivation empathy 4. The power of extensive reading Krashens The Power of Reading /Day and Bamford extensive reading is a key to student gains in reading ability,linguistic competence, vocabulary, spelling and writing. John Green and Rebecca Oxford reading for pleasure and without looking up all the unknown words were correlated with overalllanguage proficiency.

5. Adult literacy training

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.A significant number of immigrants arriving on the shores of USA are nonliterate in their native languages, posing special issuesin the teaching of English.Skills-based and strategies-based approachesare used in adult literacy training

II.Types of written languageAcademic Job-related Personal

PermanenceThe written language is permanent and the reader has the opportunity to return again and again.

Processing timeMost reading contexts allow the readers, toread at their own rate. fast reader vs. slow reader3. DistanceMessages are sent across two dimensions psysical distance and temporal distance .III. Characteristics of written language

4. Orthography English orthography is highly predictable from itsspoken counterpart. For literate learners of English, the spelling system presents only minor difficulties. 5. ComplexityWriting vs. Speech Most salient difference is the nature of clasues.6. VocabularyWritten English utilizes a greater variety of lexical items than spoken language.7. FormalityFormality refers to prescribed forms that certain written messages must adhere to. Rhetorical, logical order, openings &closings,non-redundancy and subordonation of clauses etc.

Micro-skillsDiscriminate among the distinctive graphemes and orthographic patterns of English.Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-term memory.Process writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.Recognize grammatical word classes, systems, patterns, rules and elliptical forms.Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses.

Macro-skillsRecognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their significance for interpretation.Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according to form and purpose.Infer context that is not explicit by using background knowledge.Distinguish between literal and implied meanings. Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context of the appropriate cultural schemata.

IV. Macro & micro-skills for reading comprehension

Identify the purpose of readingUse graphemic rules and patterns to aid in bottom-up decodingUse efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid comprehensionSkim the text for the main ideasScan the text for specific information

V. Strategies for reading comprehension

6. Use semantic mapping or clustering

7.Guess when you arent certain

8. Analyze vocabulary

9. Distinguish between literal and implied meaning

10. Capitalize on discourse markers to process relationships

Perceptive. Perceptive reading tasks involve attending to the components of larger stretches of discourse: letters, words, punctuation, and other graphemic symbols.

Selective. In order to ascertain ones reading recognition of lexical, grammatical or discourse features of language within a very short stretch of language, certain typical tasks are used: picture-cued tasks, matching, true/false, multiple-choice etc. VI. Types of readingInteractive. Reading is a process of negotiating meaning; the reader brings to the text a set of schemata for understanding it, and intake is the product of that interaction. Typical genres that lend themselves to interactive reading are anecdotes, short narratives and descriptions, excerpts from longer texts, questionnaires, memos, announcements, directions, recipes. Top-down processing is typical of such tasks.Extensive. Extensive reading applies to texts of more than a page, up to and including professional articles, essays, technical reports, short stories, and books.Make sure that you dont overlook the importance of specific instruction in reading skills.

2. Use techniques that are intrinsically motivating.

3. Balance authenticity and readability in choosing texts.

4. Encourage the development of reading strategies.VII. Principles for designing interactive reading techniques

5. Include both bottom-up and top-down techniques.

6. Follow the SQ3R sequence, a process consisting of the following five steps: survey, question, read, recite, review.

7. Subdivide your techniques into pre-reading, during- reading, and after-reading phases.

8. Build in some evaluative aspect to your techniques.

It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations--something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own. - Katherine Patterson

VIII. Conclusion

BooksBrown, H. Douglas,Teaching by Principles, An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, Second Edition, New York: Pearson Education Company, 2000. Brown, H. Douglas, Language Assessment. Principles and Classroom Practices, New York: Pearson Education Company, 2004. Dorob, Dumitru, The Methodology of Evaluation and Testing, 2007.Chilrescu, Mihaela. Paidos, Constantin, Proficiency in English, Ed. Institutul European, 1996.Internet sourceshttps://www.google.ro/imghp?hl=ro&tab=wihttp://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/goalsread.htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy

IX. Bibliography