Word method of reading

Reading wars, Whole word VS. Phonics, whole language advocates vs. phonetics enthusiasts…

Who would imagine that learning to read could be such a controversial topic?

But sadly, it is!

And I use the word SADLY for a good reason: Because the ones that normally pay the consequences of this disagreement are our children!

In this article we will look at the differences between the whole word approach and the phonics approach, so you can learn the ins and outs of this hot debate and form your own opinion.

If your child is learning to read, this is a crucial topic for you to understand as a parent. The reading success of your child can depend very much upon the actual approach used to teach your child to read; and, as you will discover on this article, schools do not always use the most effective method.

When it comes to teaching children to read there are two main teaching methods.

These two main methods are the whole word approach (also called the “sight words” approach) and the phonetic or phonics approach.

Some prefer the whole word method, while others use the phonics approach.

There are also educators that use a mix of different approaches.

But, who is right?

The Whole Word Approach

The whole word approach relies on what are called “sight words”. This method basically consists of getting children to memorize lists of words and teaching them various strategies of figuring out the text from a series of clues. Using the whole word approach, English is being taught as an ideographic language, such as Chinese or Japanese.

One of the biggest arguments of whole word advocates is that teaching to read using phonics breaks up the words into letters and syllables which have no actual meaning. Yet they fail to acknowledge that once the child is able to decode the word, they will be able to actually read that entire word, pronounce it and understand its meaning. So, in practicality, this is a very weak argument, from our point of view.

Unlike Chinese, English is an alphabet-based language. This means the letters of the English alphabet are not ideograms (also called ideographs), like Chinese characters are.

An ideogram (or ideograph) is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or a concept. Simply put, ideograms are like logos.

So, in a way, you could say that in the Chinese language you need to teach children to memorize “logos” and the meaning of each of them.

It is not logic to think that English should be taught using an ideographic approach…

So, the very popular reading programs that use a whole word approach simply get children to memorize words using different strategies, but without teaching any proper decoding methodology.

Think of the example we used before of the logos and the Chinese language.

Besides, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that teaching your child to using the whole word approach is an effective method. However, there are large numbers of studies which have consistently stated that teaching children to read using phonics and phonemic awareness is a highly effective method.

The Whole-Word Approach in Schools…

So, is your child learning to read using sight words? Or maybe a mixture of phonetics and sight words? What is the standard approach in our education system?

Well, every country – and even every educator / school – is different.

However, in English speaking countries in general -with the exception of the UK, which has been encouraging schools to adopt a systematic synthetic phonics approach since 2011-  reading instruction is normally more heavily weighted towards the teaching of sight words, emphasizing the learning of “word shapes”.

Despite all the evidence to suggest otherwise, the whole word method of teaching still dominates how reading is taught at schools.

Why? Well, our guess is that children can appear to make fast progress with the whole language approach, and that makes everybody happy…

That is until their progress stalls, which is what usually happens, because with this method many children do not learn the relationships between letters and sounds correctly.

Some children can finally understand the letter-sound relationships from the words they have learned, but unfortunately many children aren’t able to figure this out. So, they are left with only one strategy for learning to read: memory and continuous repetition.

This is a very poor strategy these children are left with, in our opinion.

On the other hand, the reading ability of children is normally exaggerated on whole word programs as the texts used are very repetitive and extremely predictable. The children know what to expect. So… They are basically guessing!

When children are presented with a less predictable text without pictures, they struggle with words they had previously been able to figure out in a repetitive text with illustrations.

Another strategy used in whole word programs consists of focusing on word shapes. 

Just have a look at this image. This is a “reading strategy” used on whole word programs.

Encouraging children to learn to read by looking at word shapes is completely madness! They are told to look at words as if they were “pictures”, focusing on the overhangs in the shapes of words! This does not apply for the English language!! Again, this is a method used for ideographic languages, such us Chinese or Japanese.

It does not make sense! There are just so many words with very similar shapes!

For example, look at this:

• hat vs. bat

• tree vs. free
• fall vs. tall vs hall

• hunt vs. hurt vs. hard

And the list goes on and on and on… Honestly, we could find thousands of words that have similar shape if we had the time to do this exercise!

The Whole- Word Method and Spelling

Even if a child has some early success learning to read using whole words programs, it gets him/her into the habit of ignoring the letters in words. This causes serious reading problems later on (when texts get more complicated), including spelling problems.

Another strategy that we are told to do on whole word programs is encouraging our children to look at the pictures in storybooks to “guess” or “predict” words.

• Can they use the picture to help?

• Can they look at the initial letter and predict what word would make sense that starts with that letter?

• What word makes sense based on the context?

A little bit of history on the Whole-Word Approach

The main idea behind this theory is that if you see words enough number of times, you eventually store them in your memory as visual images.

They also embrace the idea that kids can naturally learn to read if they are exposed a lot of books.

Since the 1980s, these beliefs had strongly influenced the way children in North America and most English speaking countries are taught to read and write.

These ideas start to emerge in the 1970’s, and they become extremely popular for teaching reading in the 80’s and 90’s.

There is a strong focus on meaning, rather than sounds.

The Phonics Approach

At the opposite end of the spectrum, we find reading instruction based on phonemic awareness and phonics.

The phonics approach focuses on the sounds in words, which are represented by the letters (or groups of letters) in the alphabet.

There is a myriad of methods and systems within the phonics approach itself, but the the two main methodologies for teaching phonics are Synthetic and Analytic phonics.

Even though they both have the label “Phonics” attached to them, they are in fact quite different ways for teaching children to read.

However, for the sake of this article (and to keep things simple) we will just say that the main difference is that in the Synthetic Phonics approach skills are taught in a highly structured ‘systematic’ way.

Children start with very simple sounds and decoding regular words. Gradually, they are introduced to more complex sounds (such us letter combination sounds) and to irregularities and exceptions. Every step of the way is planned, and children only move to the next stage of phonics once they have mastered the previous one.

In the Analytic Phonics approach, reading instruction is less structured, and learning happens in a more ‘embedded’ fashion. Children are encouraged to analyze groups of whole words to identify similar sounds and letter patterns. Instruction relies a lot on the analysis of “families of words”.

For instance, the family of words ending up in -all, such us “tall, fall, mall, hall, small”, or the family of words ending up in -at, such “mat, cat, rat, bat, fat, pat”.

If you are interested in knowing more about the differences between analytics and synthetic phonics, you can check this video.ç

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Is there a Winner in the Reading Wars?

What Research / Modern Science has to say…

The best way to put an end to this controversy and start making decisions that are RIGHT for our kids – and not based on personal preferences or ideology-  is by looking at what research and scientific studies have to say.

However, you may think that if opinions on the topic are still so divided, then it must be that the results of these studies are somehow inconclusive.

Well, not really…

Look at these statements by the US National Reading

“Teaching children to manipulate phonemes in words was highly effective under a variety of teaching conditions with a variety of learners across a range of grade and age levels and that teaching phonemic awareness to children significantly improves their reading more than instruction that lacks any attention to Phonemic Awareness.”

“Conventional wisdom has suggested that kindergarten students might not be ready for phonics instruction, this assumption was not supported by the data. The effects of systematic early phonics instruction were significant and substantial in kindergarten and the 1st grade, indicating that systematic phonics programs should be implemented at those age and grade levels.”

^* Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Excerpts from the meta-analysis of over 1,900 scientific studies.

Overwhelmingly research has found that phonemic awareness and phonics is a superior way for teaching children to read!

But wait there is more…

Modern Scientific Research on the Brain and How we learn to read

For a very long time many experts have embraced the idea that we store words in our memory in the same way we store visual memories, such us faces or objects. That belief is at the core of the whole word approach.

And, in fact, many reading experts still believe this is the cse.

However, modern scientific research proves otherwise…

But before I tell you how we actually store words in our memory, look at the following factors already pointing out at how visual memory -contrary to still popular belief – is NOT involved:

• We can read mixed case letters without difficulties.

• We can read words with different fonts, in print and cursive, and handwritting without difficulties.

• Word recognition works faster than object recognition, indicating that we are using different storage and retrieval processes.

Let me tell you about the sound scientific evidence now…

Brain scans show that the parts of the brain activated while performing visual memory tasks are different than the parts of the brain activated while reading… 

Moreover, scientists in the visual memory area (not related to reading research, therefore unbiased) have indicated that we don’t have the cognitive capacity to remember 30 – 90,000 words for immediate retrieval.

As reading instruction still assumes that we store words as visual images, students who struggle to remember words are many times presumed to have poor visual memory.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. There is only a small relationship between visual memory and our capacity to store words for immediate retrieval while reading.

However, there is a very strong relationship between HEARING skills and our capacity to store words for immediate retrieval while reading (fluent reading capacity).

To be more specific, children that have been trained to hear the actual sounds that form words (phonemic /phonological skills) and are capable to recognize and store those common strings of sounds and visually link them to the letters / words they know become fluent readers.

There is no evidence to suggest that visual memory has a role in word recognition /reading fluency once the letters and the connection between letters and sounds have been learned.

If there seems to be a winner on the ‘Reading Wars’, why do we keep arguing?

Phonics instruction cons…

These are the main arguments against phonics instruction:

• Children only read phonics books: This is one of the main pillars of a proper phonics system. Children should only attempt to read books that are in line with their level of phonics. Otherwise, it is overwhelming for them and can get confused, since they may be exposed to too many exceptions and irregularities. While this is true, that doesn’t mean that parents can’t read more difficult books to their children. And, in fact, they are encouraged to do so.
• Phonics doesn’t help with reading comprehension. Besides, teaching to read using phonics breaks up the words into letters and syllables, which have no actual meaning. However, once the child is able to decode the word, he/she will be able to actually read that entire word, pronounce it and understand its meaning.
  
• Children learn to read naturally, therefore they don’t need tedious phonics instruction. Whereas it is truth that some children can learn to read by themselves, most won’t be able to figure it out. Besides, there is no harm in receiving phonics instruction for those that are able to learn to decode by themselves.
• There are just too many exceptions and irregularities in English. While it is true that English is full of irregularities and exceptions, there are less of these than what we are led to believe. Besides, there are some rules, patterns and tips and tricks that apply to those “irregular” words that certainly do help in the process of learning to read.

So, saying that phonics has won the war is quite far from what happens in reality.

As we stated at the beginning of the article, there are different ways for teaching phonics.

What our schools have evolved to do to keep both sides of the war happy is establishing a “balanced literacy” strategy that combines both whole word and phonics principles.

What in practicality ends up happening is that there is only a little bit of phonics instruction here and there, rather than a proper curriculum based on phonics.

That is an ineffective method for teaching phonics, and certainly doesn’t work. And this is precisely the sort of evidence that whole word enthusiasts hold on to.

Final thoughts on the Reading Wars

The debate is still hot. This is bizarre as, in our opinion, based on the latest scientific evidence, the number one skill that we need to develop in our children is phonemic awareness.

This way we would have far fewer students with reading difficulties.

And, after having developed strong phonological / phonemic awareness skills, using a proper phonics approach (and not just a little bit of phonics instruction here and there) seems like the way to go.

Free Resources you may be interested in!

Phonemic Awareness Activity Worksheets
Nursery Rhymes Ebook
44+ English sounds chart
List of CVC Words

Ministry of Education and Science of UkraineIvan Franko National UniversityEnglish Department

reading skills

Course paper presented byMizernyk4th year studentthe English Departmentby.M. Vlokhprofessorthe English Department

2011

Contents

Introduction

Chapter I. Approaches to Teaching Reading Skills

Chapter II. Methods of Teaching Reading to Learners

2.1.1 The Alphabetic Method

2.1.2 The Phonic Method

2.1.3 The Word Method

2.1.4 The Phrase Method

2.1.5 The Sentence Method

2.1.6 The Story Method. The Peculiarities of Reading Comprehension

2.1.7 Approaches to Correcting Mistakes

Conclusion

List of Literature

Appendix I.

Appendix II.

Introduction

Effective reading is essential for success in acquiring a second language. After all, reading is the basis of instruction in all aspects of language learning: using textbooks for language courses, writing, revising, developing vocabulary, acquiring grammar, editing, and using computer-assisted language learning programs. Reading instruction, therefore, is an essential component of every second-language curriculum [4; 1]. Moreover, according to Dr. West, reading should be given more priority in the teaching process. He emphasizes that reading indicates knowledge of a language, enhances experiences, facilitates the intellectual development of the learner [22; 2].challenge of teaching reading to beginning-level adults can be daunting, however, teaching at the beginning level it is also the most rewarding. It is extremely moving to witness an adult who, after years of struggling with the sounds of individual letters, is able to read a letter from a family member or a note that his or her child brings home from school [8; 4]. Learners learn differently, in different ways, and at different rates. Thus, in learning to read, some children need a little more of one thing while others need a bit more of another thing. Trying to push all learners through the same reading program will result in the slowed growth of some and the frustration of others [12; 17].the early stages it is important to make the task of learning to read as easy and interesting as possible. Students need a lot of practice before they are able to recognize words and phrases quickly, and even the most interesting reading book or textbook, gets boring if they have to read the same thing more than once [24; 151]. Learners of a foreign language, especially at elementary and intermediate levels, are rarely efficient readers in the foreign language. This has to do not only with deficiencies in linguistic knowledge, but also with the strategies employed in reading [18; 1].topicality of the research work consists in:

the researching approaches towards teaching reading at all levels;

—establishing a new critical view at the methods of teaching reading;

discussing reading skills from the perspective of elementary level;

figuring out ways of proper error correction strategies;

The subject of this research paper is shaped around the approaches towards teaching speaking to learners. Developing reading skills and methods of teaching reading form the object of the present work.purpose of the work is to conduct the overview of the main teaching methods of developing reading skills with second language learners. The following objectives have been settled so that to achieve this purpose:

to define principles of developing reading skills;

—to study the approaches to teaching reading skills at any level;

to find out the skills required for an elementary learner to became a proficient reader;

to suggest conditions for effective teaching reading;

to enumerate the principles behind the teaching reading;

to analyze the methods of teaching reading at the elementary level;

to reveal the peculiarities of reading comprehension;

to identify ways of introducing new vocabulary to learners;

to explore approaches to correcting mistakes.

The theoretical value of this course paper lies in the analysis of teaching reading methods at the elementary level as a methodological problem and in the conducting overview of the reading process nature.material of the present research paper may be applicable at the general courses on Methodology of English Teaching. Moreover, it may be highly useful for elaboration of programs and classes on teaching reading at all levels. In addition, it may serve as a basis for further research what illustrates the practical value of the course paper.structure of the research is the following: introduction, two chapters, conclusion, the list of references, two appendices.

reading method тeaching language

Introduction states the topicality of the issue, the purpose and objectives of the research, defines the object and the subject of the course paper, enumerates methods applied in the process of research, expounds its practical and theoretical value and lays out the structure of the work.

Chapter I outlines approaches towards teaching reading skills.

Chapter II analyzes peculiarities of teaching reading at the elementary level and suggests several approaches towards correcting mistakes.

Conclusion generalizes the results of the research and summarizes all the information provided in the course paper.

List of references comprises bibliography of literature used during the research.

Appendix I enumerates possible reading skills that students may master in the course of learning.

Appendix II suggests games for teaching alphabet to young elementary language learners.

Chapter I. Approaches to Teaching Reading Skills

Reading skills are the cognitive processes that a reader uses in making sense of a text. For fluent readers, most of the reading skills are employed unconsciously and automatically. When confronted with a challenging text, fluent readers apply these skills consciously and strategically in order to comprehend [4; 4].are numerous reading skills that students need to master to become proficient readers: extracting main ideas, reading for specific information, understanding text organization, predicting, checking comprehension, inferring, dealing with unfamiliar words, linking ideas, understanding complex sentences, understanding writers style and writing summaries (see Addendum 1for the complete list) [22; 2]. But if adult learners are psychologically prepared for reading and the matter is only in acquiring basic reading skills, enriching vocabulary stock and mastering at least few grammar rules, then the situation with young elementary readers is quite different.read effectively only when they are ready. The readers preparedness to read is called reading readiness. According to Thorndikes law of learning, the first requisite for beginning reading is an interest in reading. Reading stories, allowing children to draw and read charts, displaying readable messages, providing picture books and labeling the objects will stimulate their interests [22; 5].any level, the following skills are necessary for a student to become a proficient reader:

automatic, rapid letter recognition

automatic, rapid word recognition

the ability to use context as an aid to comprehension

the ability to use context when necessary as a conscious aid to word recognition [11; 2-3].

A good readiness program develops proficiency in the following area:

speaking and listing skill; visual discrimination; knowing the alphabet; thinking skills; word meaning skills; auditory discrimination; moving left to right; sight vocabulary; identification skill

For visual discrimination a teacher may use exercises of identification of the same picture in a row, for visual and auditory discrimination one may find useful exercises of identification of same letters in a row, finding the odd one, picking out word pairs (yes-yes, tit-tit), circling the odd word pair in a group. To train word identification and word recognition tasks like complete the letters or words with the help of pictures in a sentence may be appropriate [22; 5-6].teaching reading the following approaches should not be neglected:

. Focus on one skill at a time. Explain the purpose of working on this skill, and convince the students of its importance in reading effectively.3. Work on an example of using the skill with the whole class. Explain your thinking aloud as you do the exercise.4. Assign students to work in pairs on an exercise where they practice using the same skill. Require them to explain their thinking to each other as they work.5. Discuss students answers with the whole class. Ask them to explain how they got their answers. Encourage polite disagreement, and require explanations of any differences in their answers.6. In the same class, and also in the next few classes, assign individuals to work on more exercises that focus on the same skill with increasing complexity. Instruct students to work in pairs whenever feasible.7. Ask individual students to complete an exercise using the skill to check their own ability and confidence in using it.8. In future lessons, lead the students to apply the skill, as well as previously mastered skills, to a variety of texts [4; 4].becomes effective when teacher starts with words that are familiar to students, uses simple structures, blackboard and flashcards, and gives emphasis to recognizing and understanding the meaning of a word simultaneously. As far as young elementary learners are concerned teaching reading should be started when a child can learn his/her own mother-tongue [22; 9]. Also, it is suggested to use some kind of reading repetition or practice and progress monitoring [13; 151]. Moreover, teachers should always keep in mind the various problems of reading a foreign language [22; 9].is useful to know if a student can read nonsense words such as flep, tridding and pertollic as the ability to read nonsense words depends on rapid and accurate association of sounds with symbols. Good readers do this easily so they can decipher new words and attend to the meaning of the passage. Poor readers usually are slower and make more mistakes in sounding out words. Their comprehension suffers as a consequence. Poor readers improve if they are taught in an organized, systematic manner how to decipher the spelling code and sound words out [20; 19].are also several principles behind the teaching of reading:1: Reading is not a passive skill. Reading is an incredibly active occupation. To do it successfully, we have to understand what the words mean, see the pictures the words are painting, understand the arguments, and work out if we agree with them. If we do not do these things — and if students do not do these things — then we only just scratch the surface of the text and we quickly forget it.2: Students need to be engaged with what they are reading. As with everything else in lessons, students who are not engaged with the reading text — not actively interested in what they are doing — are less likely to benefit from it. When they are really fired up by the topic or the task, they get much more from what is in front of them.3: Students should be encouraged to respond to the content of a reading text not just to the language. Of course, it is important to study reading texts for the way they use language, the number of paragraphs they contain and how many times they use relative clauses. But the meaning, the message of the text, is just as important and we must give students a chance to respond to that message in some way. It is especially important that they should be allowed to express their feelings about the topic — thus provoking personal engagement with it and the language.4: Prediction is a major factor in reading.we read texts in our own language, we frequently have a good idea of the content before we actually read. Book covers give us a hint of what’s in the book, photographs and headlines hint at what articles are about and reports look like reports before we read a single word. The moment we get this hint — the book cover, the headline, the word-processed page — our brain starts predicting what we are going to read. Expectations are set up and the active process of reading is ready to begin. Teachers should give students ‘hints’ so that they can predict what’s coming too. It will make them better and more engaged readers.5: Match the task to the topic. We could give students Hamlet’s famous soliloquy ‘To be or not to be’ and ask them to say how many times the infinitive is used. We could give them a restaurant menu and ask them to list the ingredients alphabetically. There might be reasons for both tasks, but, on the face of it, they look a bit silly. We will probably be more interested in what Hamlet means and what the menu foods actually are. Once a decision has been taken about what reading text the students are going to read, we need to choose good reading tasks — the right kind of questions, engaging and useful puzzles etc. The most interesting text can be undermined by asking boring and inappropriate questions; the most commonplace passage can be made really exciting with imaginative and challenging tasks.6: Good teachers exploit reading texts to the full. Any reading text is full of sentences, words, ideas, descriptions etc. It doesn’t make sense just to get students to read it and then drop it to move on to something else. Good teachers integrate the reading text into interesting class sequences, using the topic for discussion and further tasks, using the language for Study and later Activation [9; 70].things considered, reading is far from being a passive skill. Students need to be engaged with what they are reading. Teachers should match tasks to the topic, choose activities up to the students abilities and develop teaching programs in such a way so that to develop all the reading skills.

Chapter II. Methods of Teaching Reading to Learners

an early stage of teaching reading the teacher should read a sentence or a passage to the class himself/herself. When s/he is sure the students understand the passage, s/he can set individuals and the class to repeat the sentences after him/her, reading again himself/herself if the pupils’ reading is poor. The pupils look into the textbook. In symbols it can be expressed like this: T — C — T — P1 — T — P2 — T — P3 — T — C (T — teacher; C — class; P — pupil).kind of elementary reading practice should be carried on for a limited number of lessons only. When a class has advanced far enough to be ready for more independent reading, reading in chorus might be decreased, but not eliminated: T — C — P1 P2 P3.

When the pupils have learned to associate written symbols with the sounds they stand for they should read a sentence or a passage by themselves. In this way they get a chance to make use of their knowledge of the rules of reading. It gives the teacher an opportunity to see whether each of his pupils can read. Symbolically it looks like this: P1 P2 Pn T (S) C (S — speaker, if a tape recorder is used) [17; 184].in all, there are six important methods of teaching reading. They are as follows:

ØThe alphabetic method or ABC method or spelling method.

ØThe phonic method.

ØThe word method.

ØThe phrase method.

ØThe sentence method.

ØThe story method [22; 6].

Let us consider them in details:

2.1.1 The Alphabetic Method

The teacher teaches the students the names of letters in their alphabetic order. S/he also may combine two or more letters to form a word: e. g. i_n=in, o_n=on, o_n_e=one. From words it moves to phrases and finally sentences. Thus, the procedure begins from letters and ends in sentences [22; 6].are many ways to teach the alphabet and all teachers develop their own style over time. One of the common instructions to introduce a new letter is the following one:

. Hold up an alphabet letter flashcard so all students can see it.2. Chorus the letter 3 to 5 times. Then ask each student individually to say the letter.3. Teach the sound of the letter (e. g. «A is for ‘ah’. ah — ah — ah»). Chorus again and check individually.4. Provide an example of an object that begins with the letter. Double-sided flashcards with the letter on one side and a picture on the other are great for this. (e. g. «What’s this?» (elicit «A»). «And A is for.?» (elicit «ah»). «And ‘ah’ is for. (turning the card over)»apple!». Chorus the word and check individually.5. Do a final check (T: «What’s this?», Ss: «A«, T: «And ‘A’ is for.?», Ss: «ah«, T: «And ‘ah’ is for.?» Ss: «Apple!»). These steps can be followed by ‘magic finger’, ‘pass it’, ‘find it’, ‘slow motion’ or any other alphabet game (see Addendum 2). Also, the ABC song is a nice way to start and finish the alphabet segment of your lesson [21].pros of alphabetic method are that it gives the students sufficient opportunity to see words and helps them to build up the essential visual image. However, as it is a dull and monotonous process it appears to be a difficult and lengthy method that does not expand the eye-span [22; 6].letters that occur in both languages, but they are read differently, are the most difficult letters for students to retain. Obviously in teaching a student to read English words, much more attention should be given to those letters which occur in both languages but symbolize entirely different sounds. For example, H, p. (Pupils often read How as [nau]. Therefore, in presenting a new letter to students a teacher should stress its peculiarity not only from the standpoint of the English language (what sound or sounds it symbolizes) but from the point of view of the native language as well [17; 180]the 1960s, solid research has shown that the ability to recognize and name the letters of the alphabet upon entry to school is the best single predictor of reading achievement at the end of the first year of literacy instruction. However, it also shows that simply teaching children the alphabet does not guarantee that they will rapidly develop literacy skills. [11; 3]

2.1.2 The Phonic Method

Beginning students do not understand that letters represent the sounds in words, although they do know that print represents spoken messages [20; 19].awareness is the strongest predictor of future reading success for children. No research exists that describes the affects of phonological awareness on reading for adults. However, it is believed that teaching phonological awareness to beginning-reading adults improves their reading accuracy and spelling, especially for reading and spelling words with blends [8; 2]. The skill of matching sounds and letter symbols is called phonics [13; 65]., involves learning that the graphic letter symbols in our alphabet correspond to speech sounds, and that these symbols and sounds can be blended together to form real words. Word analysis strategies enable students to «sound out» words they are unable to recognize by sight. Explicit, direct instruction in phonics has been proven to support beginning reading and spelling growth better than opportunistic attention to phonics while reading, especially for students with suspected reading disabilities. Beginning readers should be encouraged to decode unfamiliar words as opposed to reading them by sight, because it requires attention to every letter in sequence from left to right. This helps to fix the letter patterns in the word in a reader’s memory. Eventually, these patterns are recognized instantaneously and words appear to be recognized holistically [8; 2]first operating at an alphabetic stage, during which elementary learners recognize words using letters or letter groups but not sound-symbol connections, students develop their ability to connect the sounds in part of a word with the letter or letters which go with that sound. They become able to use this knowledge in a new context by analogy. Analogical reasoning is very important in this process. It works initially with two phonological units:first phoneme in a word (often referred to as the onset);remainder of the word, the part that rhymes (often referred to as the rime). [11; 6].phonic method is based on teaching the sounds that match letters and groups of letters of the English alphabet. What is important here is that the sounds NOT the names of the letters that are taught. As the sounds that match alphabet letters, the letters are written and illustrated with key words to represent the sound [23]. The word is broken into speech sounds. The alphabet may be introduced afterwards. The teacher teaches English through phonetic script, e. g.: Cup-/k/ /^/ /p/ [22; 7].phonic method gives the good knowledge of sounds to the learners. It is also linked with speech training and helps to avoid spelling defects. The drawback of the method lies in the facts that meaning is not given priority in this method, words with similar sounds but different spelling confuse the learners. In addition may delay the development of reading words as a whole [22; 7].

2.1.3 The Word Method

The word method is otherwise known as Look and say» Method [22; 7]. The look and say teaching method, also known as the whole word method, was invented in the 1830s and soon became a popular method for teaching reading. By the 1930s and 1940s there was a very strong focus on teaching children to read by this method. In the 1950s, however, it was fiercely criticized in favor of phonics-based teaching. <#»justify»>§New words are systematically introduced to a student by letting him/her see the word, hear the word and see a picture or a sentence referring to the word.

§Flashcards are often used with individual words written on them, sometimes with an accompanying picture. They are shown repetitively to a child until he memorizes the pattern of the word.

§Progressive texts are used with strictly controlled vocabularies containing just those words which have been learned.

§Initially an elementary learner may concentrate on learning a few hundred words. Once these are mastered new words are systematically added to the repertoire. Typically a child would learn to recognize 1,500 to 3,000 words in his first three or four years of school [7].

Students should also learn the reading of some monosyllabic words which are homophones. For example: son — sun; tail — tale; too — two; write — right; eye-I, etc. It is advised to use flashcards to encourage young elementary learners to read, such techniques may be suggested:

(1)students choose words which are not read according to the rule, for example: lake, plane, have, Mike, give, nine;

(2)students are invited to read the words which they usually misread:

yet _ let cold — couldform — from come — somecalled — cold wood — woulddoes — goes walk — work

(3)students are invited to look at the words and name the letter (letters) which makes the words different:

though — thought through — thoughsince — science with — whichhear — near content — contexthear — hare country — county

(4)students in turn read a column of words following the key word (see: A. P. Starkov, R. R. Dixon, Fifth Form Eng lish, Pupil’s Book);

(5)students are invited to pick out the words with the graph emes oo, ow, ea, th,.

At the very beginning, a student is compelled to look at each printed letter separately in order to be sure of its shape. S/He often sees words and not sense units. For instance, s/he reads: The book is on the desk and not (The book is) (on the desk) [17; 181].

Of particular interest here is the question how do fluent readers recognize words? It is now known that fluent readers do not process words as wholes. In normal reading, they process individual letters during each fixation. They make use of knowledge of spelling patterns, word patterns and the constraints of syntax and semantics to produce a phonetic version of the text (though this is usually produced after, rather than before, words have been recognized) [11; 3]. Some scholars also suggest six word recognition strategies:

Context clues. Figuring out what the word is by looking at what makes sense in the sentence.

PSR/morphemic analysis. Figuring out what the word is by looking at the prefix, suffix, or root word.

Word analysis/word families. Figuring out what the word is by looking at word families or parts of the word you recognize.

Ask a friend. Turn to a friend and say, Whats this word?

Skip the word. If you are still creating meaning, why stop the process to figure out a word?

Phonics. Using minimal letter cues in combination with context clues to figure out what the word is [12; 18].is an easy and natural direct method that facilitates oral work. The disadvantage of this method is that it encourages the learner the habit of reading one word at a time. All words cannot be taught by using pictures. There are abstract words, full meaning of which cannot be understood through single, separate words. Moreover, it ignores spelling [22; 7].

.1.4 The Phrase Method

The phrase method lies midway between the word method and the sentence method. It helps in extending the eye span. Phrases can be presented with more interesting material aids. The teacher prepares a list of phrases and writes one phrase on the blackboard. He asks the students to look at the phrase attentively. The teacher reads the phrase and pupils repeat it several times. New phrases are compared with the phrases already taught. It has all the limitations of the word method. It places emphasis on meaning rather than reading [22; 7].

2.1.5 The Sentence Method

The most difficult thing in learning to read is to get information from a sentence or a paragraph on the basis of the knowledge of structural signals and not only the meaning of words. Pupils often ignore grammar and try to understand what they read relying on their knowledge of autonomous words. And, of course, they often fail, e. g., the sentence «He was asked to help the old woman» is understood as «Він попросив допомогти старшій жінці«, in which the word he becomes the subject and is not the object of the action. [17; 181].this method the whole sentence is the minimum meaningful unit. It is also a look and say method. This method is used in situational teaching. Students learn words and letters of the alphabet afterwards. Flash cards are used. The flash card contains the whole sentence. The method is useful for continuous reading. Words and sentences should be familiar to the children. The sentence method can be used effectively only when the children are already able to speak the language. The procedure of this method is sentence — >phrase->words->letters [22; 7]. The sentence method deals with the sentences as units of approach in teaching reading. The teacher can develop students’ ability to read sentences with correct intonation. Later the sentence is split up into words. It facilitates speaking and is natural as well as psychological. It develops the eye span and helps in self learning. It makes use of visual aids. However, readers find it difficult to read a sentence without the knowledge of words and letters. Thus, it is rather a time consuming method [22; 7].

2.1.6 The Story Method. The Peculiarities of Reading Comprehension

story method is an advanced method over the sentence method. It creates interest among the children. It gives the complete unit of thought. The teacher tells the story in four or five sentences illustrated through pictures. The children first memorize the story and then read it. The limitations of this method consist in failing to develop the habit of reading accurately and putting a heavy load on the memory of the student [22; 8]. Special attention is given to intonation since it is of great importance to the actual division of sentences, to stressing the logical predicate in them. (Marking the text occasionally may be helpful. [17; 184].should not forget to perform before-reading-practices:

·Teach the pronunciation of difficult to read words [3; 3].students can read the words in a passage accurately and fluently, their reading comprehension will be enhanced [3; 5]. Word recognition and decoding skills are necessary, though not sufficient for reading comprehension. According to the National Reading Panel, systematic and explicit decoding instruction improves students word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension. Fluent reading in the primary grades is related to reading comprehension [3; 6].of words for decoding instruction:

. Use the list of difficult to read words provided in your program.

. If list of words is not provided or inadequate for your students, preview the passage selecting the difficult to read words.

. Divide the difficult to pronounce words into two categories for instructional purposes:

üTell Words (irregular words, words containing untaught elements, and foreign words)

üStrategy Words (words that can be decoded when minimal assistance is provided) [3; 9] (See Addendum 3).

·Teach the meaning of critical, unknown vocabulary words.is related to reading comprehension. If students understand the meaning of critical vocabulary in the passage, their comprehension will be enhanced [3; 13-14]. Gap in word knowledge persists though the elementary years. Moreover, the vocabulary gap between struggling readers and proficient readers grows each year [3; 17].and Hutchins identify seven reading comprehension strategies:

. activating or building background knowledge;

. using sensory images;

. questioning 4. making predictions and inferences;

. determining main ideas 6. using fix-up options;

. synthesizing [14; 11].in chorus, reading in groups in imitation of the teacher which is practiced in schools forms. The result is that pupils can sound the text but they cannot read. The teacher should observe the rule «Never read words, phrases, sentences by yourself. Give your pupils a chance to read them.» For instance, in presenting the words and among them those which are read according to the rule the teacher should make once students read these words first. This rule is often violated in school. It is the teacher who first reads a word, a column of words, a sentence, a text and students just repeat after the teacher [17; 182].

2.1.7 Approaches to Correcting Mistakes

In teaching students to read the teacher must do once best to prevent mistakes. Teachers may however, be certain that in spite of much work done by them, students will make mistakes in reading. The question is who corrects their mistakes, how they should be corrected, when they must be corrected.opinion is that the student who has made a mistake must try to correct it himself/herself. If s/he cannot do it, his/her classmates correct his/her mistake. If they cannot do so the teacher corrects the mistake. The following techniques may be suggested:

. The teacher writes a word (e. g., black) on the black board. S/He underlines ck in it and asks the pupil to say what sound these two letters convey. If the student cannot answer the question, the teacher asks some of his/her classmates. They help the student to correct his/her mistake and s/he reads the word.

. One of the students asks: What is the English for „чорний»? If the student repeats the mistake, the «corrector» pronounces the word properly and explains the rule the student has forgotten. The student now reads the word correctly.

. The teacher or one of the students says: Find the word „чорний» and read it. The student finds the word and reads it either without any mistake if his/her first mistake was due to his/her carelessness, or s/he repeats the mistake. The teacher then tells him/her to recollect the rule and read the word correctly.

. The teacher corrects the mistake himself/herself. The student reads the word correctly. The teacher asks the student to explain to the class how to read ck. The teacher tells the student to write the word black and underline ck. Then s/he says how the word is read.are some other ways of correcting students’ mistakes. The teacher should use them reasonably and choose the one most suitable for the case.question arises: whether teachers should correct a mistake in the process of reading a passage or after finishing it. Both ways are possible. The mistake should be corrected at once while the student reads the text if s/he has made it in a word which will occur two or more times in the text. If the word does not appear again, it is better to let the student read the paragraph to the end. Then the mistake is corrected. A teacher should always be on the alert for the students’ mistakes, allow their reading and mark their mistakes in pencil [17; 185-186].

Conclusion

In the present course paper there has been made an attempt to analyze peculiarities of teaching reading methods in the light of foreign language acquisition and English teaching methodology.the basis of the material collected the following conclusions may be inferred:

vReading is one of the key language skills that students should acquire in the process of learning a foreign language. Moreover, it is not only the goal of education but also a means of learning a foreign language as while reading students review sounds and letters, vocabulary and grammar, memorize the spelling of words, the meaning of words and word combinations i. e. they polish their foreign language knowledge.

vReading skills are the cognitive processes that a reader uses in making sense of a text. To become a proficient reader language learners should master automatic letter and word recognition and the ability to use context as an aid to comprehension.

vTo make teaching reading effective it is advisable to focus on one skill at a time, explain the purpose of given tasks, establish connection with the previously acquired knowledge and skills, make usage of visual and audio aids, discuss problematic issues etc. Teachers should also keep in mind that reading is not a passive skill, make students engaged with what they are reading, encouraged them to respond to the content of a reading text not just to the language, to make sure that tasks correspond to the topic and level of the students etc.

vAll in all, there are six important methods of teaching reading and they are as follows:

v1. the alphabetic method / ABC method / spelling method,

v2. the phonic method,

v3. the word method,

v4. the phrase method,

v5. the sentence method, 6 the story method.

oThe pros of alphabetic method are that it gives the students sufficient opportunity to see words and helps them to build up the essential visual image. However, as it is a dull and monotonous process it appears to be a difficult and lengthy method that does not expand the eye-span.

oThe phonic method is based on teaching the sounds that match letters and groups of letters of the English alphabet. It is linked with speech training and helps to avoid spelling defects. Nevertheless, the drawback of the method lies in the facts that meaning is not given priority in this method, additionally, it may delay the development of reading words as a whole.

oThe word method, otherwise known as Look and say» method, teaches to read words as whole units, rather than breaking the word down into individual letters or groups of letters. It is an easy and natural direct method that facilitates oral work but at the same time it encourages the learner the habit of reading one word at a time.

oThe phrase method lies midway between the word method and the sentence method. It helps in extending the eye span. This method has the same limitations as the word method has. It places emphasis on meaning rather than reading.

oThe sentence method or look and say method in other words is often used in situational teaching. It perceives the whole sentence as the minimum meaningful unit. The procedure goes as follows: sentence — > phrase-> words-> letters. Readers find it difficult to read a sentence without the knowledge of words and letters. Thus, it is rather a time consuming method.

oThe story method is the most advanced one. The teacher tells the story in four or five sentences illustrated through pictures. The children first memorize the story and then read it. Before-teaching-practices should not be neglected with this method.

vScholars recognize six word recognition strategies, namely, context clues, morphemic analysis, word analysis, ask a friend, skip the word, phonics. Activating or building background knowledge, using sensory images, questioning, making predictions and inferences, determining main ideas, using fix-up options, synthesizing are the seven reading comprehension strategies.

vThe procedure of introducing new vocabulary to students may take the following route: step 1: word introduction ? step 2: student-friendly explanation ? step 3: illustrative examples ? step 4: checking understanding.

vTeachers should be very reasonable and careful with error correction and choose the most suitable for the case as it may psychologically influence learners. The correction may be made by the teacher or another student during or after reading.

All the things considered, reading is a language activity and ought not to be divorced from other language activities. To read effectively in English second-language students need to learn to think in English. The methods of any teaching reading lesson should be chosen according to the learners level of skill development. Teaching reading is a job for an expert who has to create conditions whereby learners can learn and develop their reading skills.research is only a modest contribution to the issue of teaching reading methodology and thus further investigation into the sphere is highly recommended.

List of Literature

1.Комарницька Т.М. Методика викладання німецької мови: конспект лекцій / Т.М. Комарницька. — Львів: ЛДУ, 1991. — 48 с.

2.Alyousef H. S. Teaching Reading Comprehension to ESL/EFL Learners / H. S. Alyousef // The Reading Matrix. — 2005. — №2. — P.143-154.

.Archer A. L. Before Reading Practices / A. L. Archer. — Curriculum Associates, Skills for School Success. — 56 p.

.Beatrice S. Teaching reading in a second Language / S. Beatrice, E. D. Mikulecky. — London: Pearson Education, 2008.

.Brindley S. Teaching English / S. Brindley. — London, NY: Routlge, 1994. — 268p.

.Calhoun E. F. Teaching Beginning Reading and Writing with the picture word inductive model / E. F. Calhoun. — Alexandria, Virginia: Assotiation for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1999. — 125 p.

7.Donan Glenn. Childrens Books and Reading [Look and Say teaching Method]. — Режим доступу: <#»center»>Appendix I.

Reading Skills:

1. Automatic decoding. Being able to recognize a word at a glance.

. Previewing and predicting. Giving the text a quick once-over to be able to guess what is to come.

. Specifying purpose. Knowing why a text is being read.

. Identifying genre. Knowing the nature of the text in order to predict the form and content.

. Questioning. Asking questions in an inner dialog with the author.6. Scanning. Looking through a text very rapidly for specific information.

. Recognizing topics. Finding out what the text is about.

. Classification of ideas into main topics and details. Categorizing words and ideas on the basis of their relationships; distinguishing general and specific.

. Locating topic sentences. Identifying the general statement in a paragraph.

. Stating the main idea (or thesis) of a sentence, paragraph or passage. Knowing what the authors point is about the topic.

. Recognizing patterns of relationships. Identifying the relationships between ideas; the overall structure of the text.

. Identifying and using words that signal the patterns of relationships between ideas. Being able to see connections between ideas by the use of words such as first, then, later.

. Inferring the main idea, using patterns and other clues.

. Recognizing and using pronouns, referents, and other lexical equivalents as clues to cohesion.

. Guessing the meaning of unknown words from the context. Using such clues as knowledge of word parts, syntax, and relationship patterns.

. Skimming. Quickly getting the gist or overview of a passage or book.

. Paraphrasing. Re-stating texts in the readers own words in order to monitor ones own comprehension.

. Summarizing. Shortening material by retaining and re-stating main ideas and leaving out details.

. Drawing conclusions. Putting together information from parts of the text and inducing new or additional ideas.

. Drawing inferences and using evidence. Using evidence in the text to know things that are unstated.

. Visualizing. Picturing, or actually drawing a picture or diagram, of what is described in the text.

. Reading critically. Judging the accuracy of a passage with respect to what the reader already knows; distinguishing fact from opinion.

. Reading faster. Reading fast enough to allow the brain to process the input as ideas rather than single words.

. Adjusting reading rate according to materials and purpose. Being able to choose the speed and strategies needed for the level of comprehension desired by the reader [4; 4].

Appendix II.

Alphabet Games:Sentences: One S says a letter (for example ‘A’) and his/her teammate says a word that starts with that letter (like ‘Ant’). Then you go on to a sentence that uses the letter A word (‘or example ‘A nice person would not smush an ant’). This way the children will learn their letters and words that start with the letter.

Alphabet Soup: Place plastic letters in a bowl. Divide flashcards by their beginning letters. Each student draws a letter from the bowl and then finds the flashcards associated with that letter.

Alphabet Wave: Divide the a-z flashcards among all your students. Put Ss in a line and play the ABC song. As it plays each student must hold up their corresponding alphabet flashcard.

Alphabet whispers: The children split up into groups of three, one is at the blackboard, one is sitting down and one is running between the two. The student sitting down has a sheet with the alphabet printed out in a disordered manner — s/he whispers the first letter to their team mate who in their turn runs to the board and whispers the letter to their other team member. If the letter is understood s/he writes it on the board. The first team to write it correctly gets a point. This can also be adapted to spelling words. The teams can change positions and get maximum benefit from this game.

Balloon Alphabet: This is a great game that everyone loves. You need a balloon, this is your timing device evoking the alphabet from the Ss unpredictably. This game can get a bit out of hand if the T isn’t careful in his/her method of control. T starts and is A, next S is B, then C and so on. Each S touches the balloon and says their letter — this goes round and round until Z. This can be random or in a circle or line, but the balloon goes anywhere, control is essential so the littlies don’t trample each other. This can also be used for subject review such as colors, or animals. I usually touch it a few times to gain control e. g. «B B B B» and then pass it on to C.

Make an Alphabet Book: For this you need: Ring binder folder, white paper & old magazines. Each week we choose a new letter to work on. Write the upper and lower case letter on a piece of white paper, then go through old magazines with your Ss to find pictures that begin with that letter. Let them cut them out and glue them on the paper, which helps them improve their cutting skills too! Use a hole punch and put it into a folder to make a book. The Ss love to look at it over and over.

Musical Chair Alphabet: Place chairs in the form of musical chairs with alphabet flashcards placed on them. Start the music when the music stops the students pick up their flashcards and have to read the sound on the flashcard. The child who is unable to read is out of the game [21].

Learning how to read is one of the most important things a child will do before the age of 10. That’s because everything from vocabulary growth to performance across all major subjects at school is linked to reading ability. The Phonics Method teaches children to pair sounds with letters and blend them together to master the skill of decoding.

The Whole-word Approach teaches kids to read by sight and relies upon memorization via repeat exposure to the written form of a word paired with an image and an audio. The goal of the Language Experience Method is to teach children to read words that are meaningful to them. Vocabulary can then be combined to create stories that the child relates to. Yet while there are various approaches to reading instruction, some work better than others for children who struggle with learning difficulties. 

Dyslexia can cause individuals to have trouble hearing the sounds that make up words. This makes it difficult for them to sound out words in reading and to spell correctly. Dyslexic learners may therefore benefit from a method that teaches whole-word reading and deemphasizes the decoding process.

Orton-Gillingham is a multi-sensory approach that has been particularly effective for dyslexic children. It combines visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile learning to teach a program of English phonics, allowing children to proceed at a pace that suits them and their ability.

No two students will learn to read in exactly the same way, thus remaining flexible in your approach is key. It can be useful to combine methods, teach strategies and provide the right classroom accommodations, particularly for students who have specific learning differences. Remember that motivation is key and try to be patient so as to avoid introducing any negative associations with school and learning.

Learn more about motivating children to read, different kinds of dyslexia, identifying dyslexia, the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading, and strategies to help children with dyslexia in these posts.

Pre-literacy skills

Children begin acquiring the skills they need to master reading from the moment they are born. In fact, an infant as young as six months old can already distinguish between the sounds of his or her mother tongue and a foreign language and by the age of 2 has mastered enough native phonemes to regularly produce 50+ words. Between the ages of 2-3 many children learn to recognize a handful of letters.

They may enjoy singing the alphabet song and reciting nursery rhymes, which helps them develop an awareness of the different sounds that make-up English words. As fine motor skills advance, so does the ability to write, draw and copy shapes, which eventually can be combined to form letters.

There are plenty of ways parents can encourage pre-literacy skills in children, including pointing out letters, providing ample opportunities for playing with language, and fostering an interest in books. It can be helpful to ask a child about their day and talk through routines to assist with the development of narrative skills.

Visit your local library and bookstore as often as possible. The more kids read with their parents, teachers and caregivers, the more books become a familiar and favorite pastime. Young children should be encouraged to participate in reading by identifying the pictures they recognize and turning the pages.

Discover more about fostering pre-literacy skills.

1. The Phonics Method

2. The Whole-word Approach

Learn more about teaching sight-reading and the Dolch List.

3. The Language Experience Method

Learning to read nonsense words in a black-and-white activity book is not always the most effective approach. The Language Experience Method of teaching reading is grounded in personalized learning where the words taught are different for every child. The idea is that learning words that the child is already familiar with will be easier.

Teachers and parents can then create unique stories that use a child’s preferred words in different configurations. Children can draw pictures that go with them and put them together in a folder to create a special reading book. You can look for these words in regular children’s fiction and use them to guess at the meaning of unknown words met in a context – an important comprehension strategy that will serve kids in later grades.

8 Tips for parents

No matter which method or methods you use, keep these tips in mind:

1. Read as often as possible. Develop a routine where you read a book together in the morning or in the evening. You may start by reading aloud but have the child participate by running a finger along the text. Make reading fun, include older children and reserve some family reading time where everyone sits together with their own book to read for half an hour—adults included!

2. Begin with reading material that the child is interested in. If he or she has a favorite subject, find a book full of related vocabulary to boost motivation. 

3. Let the child choose his or her own book. When an individual has agency and can determine how the learning process goes, he or she is more likely to participate. Take children to libraries or bookstores and encourage them to explore books and decide what they would like to read. 

4. Consider graded readers. As a child develops his or her reading ability, you will want to increase the challenge of books moving from materials that present one word per page to longer and longer sentences, and eventually, paragraph level text. If you’re not sure a book is at the right level for your child, try counting how many unfamiliar words it contains per page. You can also take the opposite approach and check to see how many Dolch words are present.

5. Talk about what you see on the page. Use books as a way to spur conversation around a topic and boost vocabulary by learning to read words that are pictured but not written. You can keep a special journal where you keep a record of the new words. They will be easier to remember because they are connected through the story.

6. Avoid comparisons with peers. Every child learns to read at his or her own pace. Reading is a personal and individual experience where a child makes meaning and learns more about how narrative works as he or she develops stronger skills.

7. Don’t put too much pressure. Forcing a child into reading when he or she is not ready can result in negative reactions and cause more harm than good. 

8. Do speak with your child’s teacher. If your child doesn’t enjoy reading and struggles with decoding and/or sight reading, it may be due to a specific learning difficulty. It’s advised you first discuss it with your child’s teacher who may recommend an assessment by a specialist.

Learning difficulties

If reading is particularly challenging and your child isn’t making progress there could be a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or ADHD that is causing the problem. Conditions like dyslexia are hereditary and it’s not unlikely that another family member will also have a hard time with reading. Visual processing, visual impairment and hearing impairment can also cause reading difficulties.

In the case of the latter, if you can’t hear the words it’s hard to identify the sounds inside them and develop an understanding of phonics. Hearing impairment based reading difficulties are a common issue in teaching children with Down syndrome to read.

Orton-Gillingham

Orton-Gillingham is an approach designed to help struggling readers. It’s based on the work of Dr. Samuel Orton and Dr. Anna Gillingham and has been in use for the past 80+ years. Orton-Gillingham allows every child to proceed at a pace that is right for him or her and introduces English phonics in a multi-sensory way.

For example, children may see a letter combination, say it aloud and trace it in the air with their finger. Rich sensory experiences help to enhance learning and can be provided using different materials like drawing in sand, dirt, shaving cream or chocolate pudding. Children may form letters using their hands or move in a rhythmic way that mimics the syllables in a word. Singing, dancing, art activities and plenty of repetition develop reading skills.

Learn more in this post on taking a multi-sensory approach to reading.

Touch-typing and multi-sensory reading

TTRS is a touch-typing program that follows the Orton-Gillingham approach and teaches reading in a multi-sensory way. Children see a word on the screen, hear it read aloud and type it. They use muscle memory in the fingers to remember spelling – which is particularly important for children who have dyslexia— and practice with high frequency words that build English phonics knowledge and decoding skills. Learning happens via bite-size modules that can be repeated as often as is needed. Progress is shown through automatized feedback and result graphs build confidence and motivation.

Methods
of teaching reading in English lessons

      What is
reading? Reading is one of the main skills that a pupil must acquire in the
process of mastering a foreign language in school. Reading is about
understanding written texts. It is a complex activity that involves both
perception and thought. Reading consists of two related processes: word
recognition and comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of
perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s spoken language.
Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected
text. Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary,
grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them
understand written text. Through reading in a foreign language the pupil
enriches his knowledge, of the world around him. He gets acquainted with the
countries where the target language is spoken.

Reading develops
pupils’ intelligence. It helps to develop their memory, will, imagination.
Pupils become accustomed to working with books, which in its turn facilitates
unaided practice in further reading.

Teaching reading is
very important, because it helps to develop others skills: speaking and
writing. This theme is very relevant, because sometimes in school teachers
don’t develop this skill right way, and spare a little time for it. Therefore I
chose this theme for research.

The aim of this
work: To know about reading skills and teaching reading.

Tasks:

— To know about
content of teaching reading,

— To know about
kind of reading,

— To know about
pupils’ difficulties have in learning reading,

— To know how to
teach reading,

— To know about
pupils’ mistakes in reading and how correct them.

Topicality of the
research paper: the present time there is a necessity for both learners and
teachers of English teaching departments to learn non-traditional ways of
reading. In the light of pedagogical concerns, I should like now to discuss
options in reading through alternative and non-traditional forms
classroom-based reading.

The practical value
of the work can be the application of the information conveyed herein as a
teaching reading material in English course. Inclusion of the topic in the
teaching program could serve as a starting point to learning and teaching English
in a detailed way, particularly which has its indispensable role in teaching
English as a foreign language.

Theoretical value
of the work is reflected in the provision of comparative and descriptive
information on the nature of reading as well as its development.

Materials and
methods: The materials of European and Asian linguists have served a good
source for the depiction of reading as a context of the paper. Method of
analysis and comparative analysis method are used during research.

The term paper includes:
Introduction, three chapters, Conclusion, Bibliography and Appendix.

In first chapter
considers reading skills and content of teaching reading. In second chapter
considers ways how to teach reading, pupils’ mistakes have in learning reading
and how correct them. The third chapter is a practical one. It contains
practical research and implementation of the designed strategy.

1. The content of teaching reading

1.1 Reading skills

Reading is one of
the main skills that a pupil must acquire in the process of mastering a foreign
language in school. The syllabus for foreign languages lists reading as one of
the leading language activities to be developed. It runs: «To read,
without a dictionary, texts containing familiar grammar material and no more than
4—6 unfamiliar words per 100 words of the text the meaning of which, as a
rule, should be clear from the context or familiar word-building elements (in
the eight-year school). Pupils are to read, with the help of a dictionary, easy
texts containing familiar grammar material and 6—8 unfamiliar words per 100
words of the text (in the ten year school).» Therefore reading is one of
the practical aims of teaching a foreign language in schools.

Reading is of great
educational importance, as reading is a means «of communication, people
get information they need from books, journals, magazines, newspapers, etc.
Through reading in a foreign language the pupil enriches his knowledge, of the
world around him. He gets acquainted with the countries where the target language
is spoken.

Reading develops
pupils’ intelligence. It helps to develop their memory, will, imagination.
Pupils become accustomed to working with books, which in its turn facilitates
unaided practice in further reading. The content of texts, their ideological
and political spirit influence pupils. We must develop in pupils such qualities
as honesty, devotion to and love for our people and the working people of other
countries, the texts our pupils are to read must meet these requirements.
Reading ability is, therefore, not only of great practical, but educational,
and social importance, too.

Reading is not only
an aim in itself; it is also a means of learning a foreign language. When
reading a text the pupil reviews sounds and letters, vocabulary and grammar,
memorizes the spelling of words, the meaning of words and word combinations, he
also reviews grammar and, in this way, he perfects his command of the target
language. The more the pupil reads, the better his retention of the linguistic
material is. If the teacher instructs his pupils in good reading and they can
read with sufficient fluency and complete comprehension he helps them to
acquire speaking and writing skills as well. Reading is, therefore, both an end
to be attained and a means to achieve that end.

1.2 The content of
teaching reading

Reading is a
complex process of language activity. As it is closely connected with the
comprehension of what is read, reading is a complicated intellectual work. It
requires the ability on the part of the reader to carry out a number of mental
operations: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison.

Reading as a
process is connected with the work of visual, kinesthetic, aural analyzers, and
thinking. The visual analyzer is at work when the reader sees a text. While
seeing the text he «sounds» it silently, therefore the kinesthetic
analyzer is involved. When he sounds the text he hears what he pronounces in
his inner speech so it shows that the aural analyzer is not passive, it also
works and, finally, due to the work of all the analyzers the reader can
understand thoughts. In learning to read one of the aims is to minimize the
activities of kinesthetic and aural analyzers so that the reader can associate
what he sees with the thought expressed in reading material, since inner speech
hinders the process of reading making it very slow. Thus the speed of reading
depends on the reader’s ability to establish a direct connection between what
he sees and what it means.

There are two ways
of reading: aloud or orally, and silently. People usually start learning to
read orally. In teaching a foreign language in school both ways should be
developed. Pupils assimilate the graphic system of the target language as a
means which is used for conveying information in print. They develop-this skill
through oral reading and silent reading.

When one says that
one can read, it means that one can focus one’s attention on the meaning and
not on the form; the pupil treats the text as a familiar form of discourse and
not as a task of deciphering. «The aim of the teacher is to get his pupils
as quickly as possible over the period in which each printed symbol is looked
at for its shape, and to arrive at the stage when the pupil looks at words and
phrases, for their meaning, almost without noticing the shapes of the separate
letters”. A good reader does not look at letters, nor even at words, one by
one, however quickly; he takes in the meaning of two, three, or four words at a
time, in a single moment. The eyes of a very good reader move quickly, taking
long «jumps» and making very short «halts». We can call
this ideal reading «reading per se». Reading per se is the end to be
attained. It is possible provided:

1. the reader can
associate the graphic system of the language with the phonic system of that
language;

2. the reader can
find the logical subject and the logical predicate of the sentences:

The man there is my neighbor.

There were many people in the hall.

It was difficult
for me to come in time.

3. the reader can
get information from the text (as a whole).

These are the three
constituent parts of reading as a process.

As a means of
teaching reading a system of exercises is widely used in school, which
includes:

1.
graphemic-phonemic exercises which help pupils to assimilate grapheme-phonemic
correspondence in the English language;

2.
structural-information exercises which help pupils to carry out lexical and
grammar analysis to find the logical subject and predicate in the sentences
following the structural signals;

3. semantic-communicative
exercises which help pupils to get information from the text.

The actions which
pupils perform while doing these exercises constitute the content of teaching
and learning reading in a foreign language.

1.3 Stages of
reading in the classroom

Reading in the
classroom has the following stages:

Pre-reading to
activate their knowledge;

While-reading to
develop their strategies such as deducing meaning, locating specific
information, understanding relations between sentences;

Post-reading to
check comprehension.

Reading activities
that are meant to increase communicative competence should be success oriented
and build up students’ confidence in their reading ability. A fully-developed
reading activity supports students as readers through pre-reading, while-reading,
and post-reading activities.

Pre-reading is an
essential process from which schema is activated by students before having
their expectations confirmed by the text. With a non-exam class using a
pre-reading stage to generate discussion about the topic, particularly with
lower levels. It is necessary to activate students’ background knowledge to aid
them in understanding the text. Activating schema is rewarding in the
classroom, many minutes can go by as students discuss the merits of a form of
transport or being famous. By employing the pre-reading stage in an exam class
educators rob the students of the ability to effectively interpret the text
against the questions to be answered. It gives them pre-perceived opinions as
to what they will find rather than allowing them to find the evidence or
interpret the inference by the writer effectively. Pre-reading activities get
students ready to read a text. Taking time to prepare students before they read
can have a considerable effect on their understanding of what they read and
their enjoyment of the reading activity.

Why pre-reading
activities? Language learners need a reason to read. Activating prior knowledge
is extremely important therefore for the ESL (English as a Second Language) or
EFL (English as the First Language) learner who does not feel completely
confident of his/her ability to read in the target language. This is where
pre-reading activities come in. Pre-reading also has practical implications for
lesson design and planning. The logic behind activating prior knowledge is to
build upon what students already know about a topic as a lead-in to the main
reading task. The more teachers activate students’ prior knowledge, the easier
it will be for the students to retain new information from the main reading
task.

The following are
some of the many uses of pre-reading activities:

Motivating and
setting purposes for reading;

Activating and
building background knowledge;

Relating the
reading to students’ lives;

Pre-teaching
vocabulary and concepts;

Pre-questioning,
predicting, and direction setting.

Sample
pre-reading activities:

Brainstorm (When?
Where? Who? What? Why?)

Discuss the type of
text (if it is a newspaper article, spend considerable time discussing facts
and opinions)

Predict based on
the title, later confirming their guesses during the while stages of reading

Read the first line
of each paragraph and try to predict a title or theme for each one

Ask students to
relate the phenomenon to their personal lives, to provide examples activating
personal knowledge

Activating prior
knowledge on news consumption habits in the form of a class discussion or group
work. Sample beginning questions: How do you get the news — from radio, TV,
newspaper, Internet?

Predicting what the
text is about according to the external text features: the picture, the title
in the bold, the subtitle, the type of the text.

Using the title,
subtitles, and divisions within the text to predict content and organization or
sequence of information

Looking at
pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs and their captions

Talking about the
author’s background and usual topics

Skimming to find
the theme or main idea and eliciting related prior knowledge

Reviewing
vocabulary or grammatical structure

Reading over the
comprehension questions to focus attention on finding that information while
reading

A KWL graphic
organizer the pupils fill in the column of what they “KNOW” either about
addition or cyberjournalism and they then ask about :”What they “WANT” to know.
They fill in what they learned after they have read the text. The strategy to
develop active reading of expository texts is based on the constructivist
understanding that learners make new, or refined, meanings in relation to what
they already know or want to know. The “K” stands for what they know; the W for
what I want to know; and the L for what I have learnt. The K and W sections of
this strategy are pre-reading activities and L section is an evaluate
post-reading activity. In relation to literary texts, KWL is a useful strategy
to use with texts which develop concepts, or which are information rich, or for
when exploring a style of genre.

Pre-reading
activities are most important at lower levels of language proficiency and at
earlier stages of reading instructions. As students become more proficient at
using reading strategies, you will be able to reduce the amount of guided
pre-reading and allow students to do those activities themselves.

In while-reading
activities, students check their comprehension as they read. The purpose for
reading determines the appropriate type and level of comprehension.
While-reading activities are important whether done by students in the
classroom or at home. I believe the reading skill itself is difficult to asses
in a student — too often is judged on the answers to poor comprehension
questions rather that their ability to read effectively.

When reading for
specific information, students need to ask themselves, have I obtained the
information I was looking for?

When reading for
pleasure, students need to ask themselves, do I understand the story
line/sequence of ideas well enough to enjoy reading this?

When reading for
thorough understanding (intensive reading), students need to ask themselves. Do
I understand each main idea and how the author supports it? Does what I’m
reading agree with my predictions, and, if not, how does it differ? To check
comprehension in this situation, students may.

Stop at the end of
each section to review and check their predictions, restate the main idea and
summarize the section.

Use the
comprehension questions as guides to the text, stopping to answer them as they
read.

The problem with
textbook reading selections is that they have been adapted to a predetermined
reading level through adjustment of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence length.
This makes them more immediately approachable, but it also means that they are
less authentic and do not encourage students to apply the reading strategies
they will need to use outside of class. When this is the case, use the textbook
reading selections as a starting point to introduce a writer or topic, and then
give students choices of more challenging authentic texts to read a follow up.

The third main part
of reading is post-reading. In post-reading usually the comprehension is
checked in different ways. The most spread one is just asking questions about
the text. I think, part of the reading problems with advanced students is that
during the “intermediate” years course-books over used simplified texts, a set
pattern of questions such as open, true or false which forced students to
justify their answers by scanning the text, also the lack of follow up
activities which integrated the reading effort with another skill, thus
developing defective readers. PMI — this perennial strategy, developed by
Edward de Bono, asks students to consider the PLUS or positive, the MINUS or
negative and the INTERESTING responses the students have an idea or concept.
GB? — the similarity of PMI, but it is mostly used to analyze the text. G
stands for good, B for bad and ? means I don’t know.

1.4 Difficulties which pupils have in reading in the
English language

Reading in the
English language is one of the most difficult things because there are 26
letters and 146 graphemes which represent 46 phonemes. Indeed the English
alphabet presents many difficulties to Russian-speaking pupils because the
Russian alphabet differs greatly from that of the English language. A
comparison of the two languages shows that of the 26 pairs of printed letters
(52 — if we consider capital and small letters as different symbols) only 4
are more or less similar to those of the Russian alphabet, both in print and in
meaning These are K, k, M, T. 31 letters are completely new to pupils. These
are b, D, d, F, f, G, g, h, L, 1, I, i, J, j, N, n, Q, q, R, r, S, s, t, U, u,
V, v, W, w, Z, z. The letters A, a, B, C, c, E, e, H, O, o, P, p, Y, y, X, x
occur in both languages, bit they are read differently. They are, therefore,
the most difficult letters for the pupil to retain. Obviously in teaching a
pupil to read English words, much more attention should be given to those
letters which occur in both languages but symbolize entirely different sounds.
For example, H, p … (Pupils often read How as [nau]. Therefore, in presenting
a new letter to pupils the teacher should stress its peculiarity not only from
the standpoint of the English language (what sound or sounds it symbolizes) but
from the point of view of the Russian language as well.

It is not
sufficient to know English letters. It is necessary that pupils should know
graphemes, how this or that vowel, vowel combination, consonant, or consonant
combination is read in different positions in the words (window, down).

The teacher cannot
teach pupils all the existing rules and exceptions for reading English words.
Nor is it necessary to do so. When learning English pupils are expected to
assimilate the following rules of reading: how to read stressed vowels in open
and closed syllables and before r; how to read ay, oo, on, ow; the consonants
c, s, k, g; ch, sh, th, ng, ck and tion, tsion, ous. The rules are not
numerous, but they are important to the development of reading.

Pupils should learn
the reading of some monosyllabic words which are homophones. For example: son
— sun; tail — tale; too — two; write — right; eye — I, etc.

At the very
beginning, the pupil is compelled to look at each printed letter separately in
order to be sure of its shape. He often sees words and not sense units. For
instance, he reads: The book is on the desk and not (The book is) (on the
desk).

The most difficult
thing in learning to read is to get information from a sentence or a paragraph
on the basis of the knowledge of structural signals and not only the meaning of
words. Pupils often ignore grammar and try to understand what they read relying
on their knowledge of autonomous words. And, of course, they often fail, e. g.,
the sentence He was asked to help the old woman is understood as Он попросил
помочь старушке, in which the word he becomes the subject and is not the object
of the action. Pupils sometimes find it difficult to pick out topical sentences
in the text which express the main ideas.

To make the process
of reading easier new words, phrases and sentence patterns should be learnt
orally before pupils are asked to read them. So when pupils start reading they
know how to pronounce the words, the phrases, and the sentences, and are
familiar with their meaning.

Consequently, in
order to find the most effective ways of teaching the teacher should know the
difficulties pupils may have.

2. Ways in teaching reading

2.1 Some ways how
to teach reading

The teacher can use
the whole system of exercises for developing pupils’ ability to read which may
be done in two forms — loud and silent.

Reading aloud. In
teaching reading aloud the following methods are observed: the phonic, the
word, and the sentence methods. When the p h o n i c method is used, the child
learns the sounds and associates them with graphic symbols — letters. In the
word method a complete word is first presented to the child. When several words
have been learnt they are used in simple sentences. The sentence method deals
with the sentences as units of approach in teaching reading. The teacher can
develop pupils’ ability to read sentences with correct intonation. Later the
sentence is split up into words. The combination of the three methods can
ensure good reading.

Pupils are taught
to associate the graphic symbols of words with their meaning already learned
orally. All the analyzers are at work: visual, auditory, kinesthetic. The
leading role belongs to the visual analyzer, It is necessary that the graphic
symbols (images) of words should be fixed in the pupils’ memory. In teaching
English in schools, however, little attention is given to this. Pupils are taught
how, «to sound» words rather than how «to read» them. They
often repeat words, combination of words without looking at, what they read.
They look at the teacher. The teacher does not realize how much he hinders the
formation of graphic images (symbols) in the pupils’ memory by teaching to read
in this way.

Reading in chorus,
reading in groups in imitation of the teacher which is practiced in schools
forms rather kinesthetic images than graphic ones. The result is that pupils
can sound the text but they cannot read. The teacher should observe the rule
«Never read words, phrases, and sentences by yourself. Give your pupils a
chance to read them.» For instance, in presenting the words and among them
those which are read according to the rule the teacher should make his pupils
read these words first. This rule is often violated in school. It is the
teacher who first reads a word, a column of words, a sentence, a text and
pupils just repeat after the teacher.

Teaching begins
with presenting a letter to pupils, or a combination of letters, a word as a
grapheme. The use of flash cards and the blackboard is indispensable.

Flash cards when
the teacher uses them allow him:

(a) to present a
new letter (letters);

(b) to make pupils
compose a word (several flash cards are distributed among the pupils, for
example, p, n, e; they compose pen);

(c) to check
pupils’ knowledge of letters or graphemes;

(d) to make pupils
recollect the words beginning with he letter shown (p -pen, pencil, pupil,
etc.);

(e) to make pupils
show the letter (letters) which stand for the s6und [ou], [a:], [?], etc.

When teaching
reading the teacher needs a set of flash cards at hand. If the teacher uses the
blackboard instead he can write printed letters on it and pupils can recollect
the words they have learnt orally which have this or that letter, compose a
word, etc.

The same devices
are applied for teaching pupils to read words, the task being different,
however:

(a) pupils choose
words which are not read according to the rule, for example: lake, plane, have,
Mike, give, nine;

(b) pupils are
invited to read the words which they usually misread:

yet — let cold —
could,

form — from called
— cold,

come — some wood
— Would,

does — goes walk
— work.

(c) pupils are
invited to look at the words and name the letter (letters) which makes the
words different:

though — thought
since — science,

through— though
with — which,

hear — near
content — context,

hear — hare
country — county.

(d) pupils in turn
read a column of words following the key word.

(e) pupils are
invited to pick out the words with the graphemes oo, ow ea, th.

In teaching to read
transcription is also utilized. It helps the reader to read a word in the cases
where the same grapheme stands for different sounds: build, suit, or words
which are not read according to the rule: aunt, colonel.

In modern textbooks
for the 5th form transcription is not used. It is given in the textbooks for
the 6th and the 7th forms. Beginning with the 6th and the 7th forms pupils
learn the phonic symbols so that they are able to read unfamiliar words which
they look up in the word-list or a dictionary.

All the exercises
mentioned above are designed to develop pupils’ ability to associate the
graphic symbols with the phonic ones.

The
structural-information exercises .are done both in reading aloud and in silent
reading. Pupils are taught how to read sentences, paragraphs, texts correctly.
Special attention is given to intonation since it is of great importance to the
actual division of sentences, to stressing the logical predicate in them.
Marking the text occasionally may be helpful.

At an early stage
of teaching reading the teacher should read a sentence or a passage to the
class himself. When he is sure the pupils understand the passage, he can set
individuals and the class to repeat the sentences after him, reading again
himself if the pupils’ reading is poor. The pupils look into the textbook. In
symbols it can be expressed like this: T — C — T — P1 — T — P2— T — Pn
— T — C (T — teacher; C — class; P — pupil).

This kind of
elementary reading practice should be carried on for a limited number of
lessons only. When a class has advanced far enough to be ready for more
independent reading, reading in chorus might be decreased, but not eliminated:
T — C — PiP2Pn.

When the pupils
have learned to associate written symbols with the sounds they stand for they
should read a sentence or a passage by themselves. In this way they get a
chance to make use of their knowledge of the rules of reading. It gives the
teacher an opportunity to see whether each of his pupils cart read.
Symbolically it looks 1ike this: PiP2Pra T (S) C (S — speaker, if a tape
recorder is used).

Reading aloud as a
method of teaching and learning the language should take place in all the
forms. This is done with the aim of improving pupils’ reading skills.

The teacher
determines what texts (or paragraphs) and exercises pupils are to read aloud.

In reading aloud,
therefore, the teacher uses:

(a) diagnostic
reading (pupils read and he can see their weak points in reading);

(b) instructive
reading (pupils follow the pattern read by the teacher or the speaker);

(c) control reading
or test reading (pupils read the text trying to keep as close to the pattern as
possible).

2.2 Pupil’s mistakes
and ways how to correct them

In teaching pupils
to read the teacher must do his best to prevent mistakes. We may, however, be
certain that in spite of much work done by the teacher, pupils will make
mistakes in reading. The question is who corrects their mistakes, how they
should be corrected, when they must be corrected.

Our opinion is that
the pupil who has made a mistake must try to correct it himself. If he cannot
do it, his classmates correct his mistake. If they cannot do so the teacher
corrects the mistake. The following techniques may be suggested:

l. The teacher
writes a word (e. g., black) on the blackboard. He underlines ck in it and asks
the pupil to say what sound these two letters convey. If the pupil cannot
answer the question, the teacher asks some of his classmates. They help the
pupil to correct his mistake and he reads the word.

2. One of the
pupils asks: What is the English for “черный”? If the pupil repeats the
mistake, the «corrector» pronounces the word properly and explains
the rule the pupil has forgotten. The pupil now reads the word correctly.

3. The teacher or
one of the pupils says: Find the word ”черный” and read it. The pupil finds the
word and reads it either without any mistake if his first mistake was due to
his carelessness, or he repeats the mistake. The teacher then tells him to
recollect the rule and read the word correctly.

4. The teacher
corrects the mistake himself. The pupil reads the word correctly. The teacher
asks the pupil to explain to the class how to read ck.

5. The teacher
tells the pupil to write the word black and underline ck. Then he says how the
word is read.

There are some
other ways of correcting pupils’ mistakes. The teacher should use them
reasonably and choose the one most suitable for the case.

Another question
arises: whether we should correct a mistake in the process of reading a passage
or after finishing it. Both ways are possible. The mistake should be corrected
at once while the pupil reads the text if he has made it in a word which will
occur two or more times in the text. If the word does not appear again, it is
better to let the pupil read the paragraph to the end. Then the mistake is
corrected.

A teacher should
always be on the alert for the pupils’ mistakes, follow their reading and mark
their mistakes in pencil.

Silent reading. In
learning to read pupils widen their eyespan. They can see more than a word, a
phrase, a sentence. The eye can move faster than the reader is able to
pronounce what he sees. Thus reading aloud becomes an obstacle for perception.
It hinders the pupil’s comprehension of the text. It is necessary that the
pupil should read silently. Special exercises may be suggested to develop
pupils’ skills in silent reading. For instance, «Look and say, read and
look up.» (M. West) To perform this type of exercises pupils should read a
sentence silently, grasp it, and reproduce it without looking into the text. At
first they perform such exercises slowly. Gradually the teacher limits the-
time for the pupils’ doing the exercises. It makes them read faster and faster.
All this lead to widening their eyespan.

Teaching
silent-reading is closely connected with two problems:

1. instructing
pupils in finding in sentences what is new in the information following some
structural signals, the latter is possible provided pupils have a certain
knowledge of grammar and vocabulary and they can perform lexical and grammar
analysis;

2. developing
pupils’ ability in guessing.

Pupils should be
taught how to find the logical predicate in a sentence. The teacher may ask his
pupils to read a text silently and find the words conveying the new information
in the text according to their position. There are some signals which may be
helpful in this respect. These are — the Passive Voice (The doctor was sent for);
the indefinite article (A man came up to me); the construction «It
is/was» (It was not difficult for him to finish his work in time), etc.
Grammar and lexical analyses help pupils to assimilate structural words, to
determine the meaning of a word proceeding from its position in the sentence,
to find the meanings of unfamiliar words, and those which seem to be familiar
but do not correspond to the structure of the sentence (e. g., I saw him book a
ticket). Pupils’ poor comprehension often results from their poor knowledge of
grammar (syntax in particular). The teacher should instruct pupils how to work
with a dictionary and a reference book so that they can overcome some
difficulties independently. Although in school the teacher often applies
grammar and lexical analyses, however, he often» does it lot with the aim
of the «actual division» or parsing of the sentence and better
comprehension of the sentence or of the text, but with the aim of checking or
revision of his pupils’ knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. This does not mean
that the teacher should avoid grammar and vocabulary analyses for revision.
However much more attention should be given to teaching pupils ‘how to carry
out the actual division of sentences to get information from the text. Here are
a few examples of structural-information exercises:

— Read the
following sentences and guess the meaning of the words you don’t know.

— Read the sentence
an idea struck me and explain the use of the indefinite article.

— Find the logical
predicates in the sentences with the words alone, even, so.

— Read the text.
Stress the words conveying new in formation in each sentence.

E. g., I have a
bag. The bag is black.

It is a new bag. I
like my new bag.

— These sentences
are too complicated. Break them into shorter sentences.

— Find the sentence
which summarizes the paragraph.

— By what words is
the reader carried from sentence to sentence in this paragraph?

— What is the
significance of the tense difference?

What is the effect
of the series of repetitions in the paragraph?

To read a text the
pupil must possess the ability to grasp the contents of the text. The pupil is
to be taught to compare, to contrast, to guess, and to forsee events.

One of the most
frequently used methods by which children attack new words is through the use
of picture clues.

The use of context
clues is another word-getting technique. The pupil discovers what a new word is
when that particular word is needed to complete the meaning of the sentence.

In teaching pupils
to read much attention should be given to the development of their ability to
guess. One of the best ways to develop this skill is to give the pupil the text
for acquaintance either during the lesson or as his homework. He can read it
again and again. «Before questions» may be helpful. They direct the
pupil’s thought when he reads the text. If the work is done during the lesson,
the teacher can direct his pupils in guessing new words.

The teacher
instructs pupils how to get information from the text. Semantic-communicative
exercises are recommended. They are all connected with silent reading. These
may be:

— Read and say why
Jack does not take the apple.

— Read. Find
answers to the following questions.

— Read the text.
Find the words which describe the room.

— Read the text.
Say what made the Prime Minister leave the country (Newspaper).

— There are two
causes of the strike. Find them in the text (Newspaper).

— There are three
main features of the substance mentioned in the text below. Find them (Popular
Science).

-The author describes
his hero with great sympathy.

— Find in what
words he expresses his attitude (Fiction).

— Read the text and
prove that … is a kind woman.

— Read the text and
find arguments to prove that …

The three types of
exercises are distributed differently depending on the stage of teaching. In
the 5—6th forms graphemic-phonemic and structural-information exercises should
prevail. In the 7—10th forms structural-information and semantic-communicative
must be mostly used; the latter should prevail.

Pupils perform
graphemic-phonemic exercises reading them aloud. The teacher uses individual,
group, and full class reading. He checks the pupil’s reading by making him read
aloud.

Pupils perform
structural-information exercises by reading them aloud and silently. The
teacher uses individual, group, and full class reading when pupils read
sentences, paragraphs of the text aloud, and when the aim is to teach pupils
correct intonation in connection with the actual division of sentences. He
checks the pupil’s reading asking him to read aloud.

The teacher uses
mass reading when pupils read sentences, paragraphs of the text silently; the
objective may be different: either to widen their eyespan or to find new
information. The teacher checks the pupil’s silent reading by asking him to
reproduce a sentence or a paragraph; through partial reading of a sentence or a
clause; through the pupil’s interpreting the text; by utilizing true-and-false
statements, questions and answers, and, finally, translation.

Pupils perform
semantic-communicative exercises reading the text silently.If the work is done
during the lesson the teacher uses mass reading. He checks his pupils’
comprehension by asking the pupils individually. The techniques the teacher
uses to check pupils’ ability to get information from the text may be
different. The choice depends on the stage of teaching, on the material used;
on pupils’ progress.

In the junior stage
the following techniques may be suggested:

— Read and draw.

— Here are the
questions. Find the answers in the text. (Before-questions are given.)

— Find the
following sentences in the text. (The teacher gives Russian equivalents.)

— Correct the
following statements which are not true to fact.

— Translate the
sentences (the paragraph) beginning with the words (The teacher reads the
words).

— Recite the text.

— Read the
sentences you find most important in the text.

Some of the
assignments may be done in writing. In the intermediate and senior stages the
following techniques may be recommended.

— Answer the questions.
(All types of questions may be used. However, why-questions are desirable.)

— Tell your
classmates what (who, when, where, why)…

— Read the words
(the sentence or the paragraph) to prove or to illustrate what you say.

— Find the words
(sentences) from which you have got some new information for yourself.

— Read the
paragraph (paragraphs) you like best, and say why you like it.

— Translate the
paragraph when (where, why, etc.).

— Translate the
text. (This may be done both orally and in written form).

Write a short
annotation of the text. (This may be done either in English or in Russian or
Kyrgyz).

The choice depends
on the material used.

If the text is
easy, i. e., if it does not contain unfamiliar words and grammar items (as is
the case in the junior form) the teacher uses those techniques which are
connected with speaking, with the active use of vocabulary and sentence
patterns. Similar techniques may be used in intermediate and senior stages if
the text is not difficult for the class. The teacher asks his pupils a few
questions to test their understanding. The interrogation should be carried out
briskly. The teacher passes from pupil to pupil without waiting if a particular
pupil has not got his answer ready. For the most profitable results of this
work speed is essential. It ensures that all get a chance to answer. With books
open one of the pupils asks a question or a number of questions and another
answer. The teacher asks the pupils to retell the text. One pupil begins
retelling the text, another continues. Each pupil says a few sentences. The
teacher asks the first group of pupils to be ready to say everything they know
about X, the second group — everything they know about J, the third group —
about Y, and so on. The teacher arranges a discussion on the text read by
pupils in class or at home.

The work must be
carried out in a way which will be of interest to pupils and develop not only
their reading ability but their aural comprehension and speaking abilities as
well.

If the text is
difficult, i. e., if it contains unfamiliar words and grammar items, and pupils
must consult a dictionary or a reference book to understand it the techniques
the teacher uses should be different, as the pupils read the text not only to
get information but to improve their knowledge of the language and intensive
work is needed on their part. The intensive work may be connected with:

(a) lexical work
which helps pupils to deepen and enrich their vocabulary knowledge;

(b) grammar work
which helps pupils to review and systematize their grammar knowledge and enrich
it through grammar analysis;

(c) stylistic work
which helps pupils to become acquaint ed with stylistic use of words and
grammar forms (inversion, tense-usage, etc.);

(d) content
analysis which helps pupils to learn new concepts quite strange to
Russian-speaking pupils. For instance, the Houses of Parliament, public
schools, etc.

The exercises are
mostly connected with recognition on the part of the learners, namely, find …
and read; find … and analyze … ; find … and translate; read those
sentences which you think contain the main information; answer the questions,
etc. The choice also depends on pupils’ progress. If pupils are orally skilful,
the techniques the teacher uses are to be those connected with conversation, If
pupils are poor in speaking the techniques the teacher uses should be those of
recognition, translation, retelling in the mother tongue, etc.

Unfortunately, some
teachers have a tendency to test instead of teach during classroom work and
they often confine themselves to reading and translating the text. This is a
bad practice. Pupils are tested and not taught. Moreover, the procedure becomes
monotonous, and the work is ineffective. A pupil who has been called on to read
and received a mark will not usually listen to his classmates.

The methods and
techniques suggested above will help the teacher to teach pupils reading as the
syllabus requires.

3. Choosing and using texts for teaching reading

Developing reading
activities involves more than identifying a text that is “at the right level”,
writing a set of comprehension questions for students to answer after reading,
handing out the assignment and sending students away to do it. We can use the
guidelines for developing reading activities given here as starting points for
evaluating and adapting textbook reading activities. We can use existing or add
our own new reading activities. We shouldn’t make students do exercise simply
because they are in the book, this destroys motivation. As we design reading
task, we should always keep in mind that complete recall of all the information
in a text is an unrealistic expectation even for native speakers.

Strategies to use
to introduce texts:

Research undertakes
text-based research to access and report on information about unfamiliar topics
and concepts to be encountered in the text and sample particular groups
(parents, friends, shopkeepers, peers) using questionnaires to research
attitudes, values and opinions related to issues in the text.

Parallel Narrative
uses a decontextualized skeleton plot (boy and girl go on an errand across
difficult terrain — an accident happens — medical attention is given — the
culprit is punished = Jack and Jill) to help students create their own stories
and role plays which fill in the plot outlines. Or selects a concept value
which represents an important theme in the text and have students explore the
issue in discussion before creating their own texts in which the concept of
value is an important theme.

Vocabulary Awareness:

1. If there are
particular words which might be unfamiliar to students, spend some time
introducing the words to students.

2. Students could
prepare a noticeboard or “big-book” glossary of terms with clear explanations
from the list provided by the teacher.

3. Students could
use “Who am I?” riddle structure to explain the vocabulary to their peers.

Displays display
and explore visual texts (posters, paintings, video clips) which represent
perspectives on themes or issues relevant to the text. Students could use
scavenger hunt quiz sheet to locate and describe details that appear in the
story.

Mindmapping —
individually, using colored texts and a large sheet of paper, have students
construct visual/verbal mindmaps (mostly images with some words) of their understanding
of issues, genres or concepts with which the text they will be reading will be
concerned.

Choosing and using
texts for reading.

All learning areas
use texts, but English focuses on three particular kinds:

Literature Texts
(Classic, Contemporary, Popular)

Mass Media Texts

Everyday Texts

New types of texts,
especially electronic-based texts such as hypertext, hyperfiction and e-mail,
are making different demands on students as readers and viewers.

A challenging, rich
and balanced English program gives access to:

— texts beyond
those which students may encounter in their daily lives

— texts for
personal enjoyment, aesthetic appreciation and critical analysis

— texts for
conducting the business of everyday life (at home, at school, in the workplace).

The texts for
reading acquisition should:

provide a framework
that gradually introduces strategies required for skilled reading

deal with themes
and issues relating to the everyday lives of the readers

provide
opportunities to revisit some subjects, themes and characters

use a simple
language structure, so that students don’t have to review many oral language
forms to access meaning

provide
opportunities for the acquisition of alphabet letters, letter clusters and
common sight words in natural contexts

presents many of
the conventions of written language including spelling, punctuation and
capitalization

encourage problem
solving on text by having to make analogies, predictions, checking and
self-corrections

have illustrations
that give maximum support for the emergent reader, gradually extending
experience as reading is more confident

use appropriate
book structure, text size, spacing and layout to match text type, text
difficulty and reader skill.

Criteria for
selecting texts in the DoE’s Library and Information Centre newsletter is
suggested by Jenni Connor.

Checking the level
of difficulty of the text.

A person who needs
to know whether she can afford to eat at a particular restaurant needs to
comprehend the pricing information provided on the menu, but does not need to
recognize the name of every appetizer listed. A person reading poetry for
enjoyment needs to recognize the words the poet uses and the ways they are put
together, but does not need to identify main idea and supporting details.
However, a person using a scientific article to support an opinion needs to
know the vocabulary that is used, understand the facts and cause-effects
sequences that are presented, and recognize ideas that are presented as
hypotheses and givens. The factors listed below can help educators judge the
relative ease or difficulty of a reading text for a particular purpose and a
particular group of students.

How is the
information organized? Does the story line, narrative, or instruction conform
to familiar expectations? Texts in which the events are presented in natural
chronological order, which have an informative title, and which present the
information following an obvious organization are easier to follow.

How familiar are
the students with the topic? Misapplication of background knowledge due to
cultural differences can create major comprehension difficulties.

Does the text
contain redundancy? At the lower levels of proficiency, listeners may find
short, simple messages easier to process, but students with higher proficiency
benefit from the natural redundancy of authentic language.

Does the text offer
visual support to aid in reading comprehension? Visual aids help students
preview the content of the text, guess the meaning of unknown words, and check
comprehension.

We should remember
that the level of difficulty of a text is not the same as the level of
difficulty of a reading task. Students who lack the vocabulary to identify all
of the items on a menu can still determine whether the restraint serves steak
and whether they can afford to order one.

METHOD OF TEACHING READING

                Reading is the ability to recognize the written symbols of a language. In the process of reading we pronounce the sounds of different language symbols in such a way that they make some sense for the listeners and they catch the meanings.

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                Reading provides access to the store of the knowledge left over the human race. It is just by the reading ability that the people become aware of different movements going on throughout the world. The distance education system solely depends upon the reading ability of the students. We are living in the world of mass communication. Thousands of newspapers, magazines, journals, and bulletins are published every day. They communicate their message through printed letter. Medicines, food, drinks, detergents, perfumes, etc they all give you directions in the printed form. 

Teaching Reading

                Reading forms a very important part of language teaching. The first step in teaching reading will be to reach conversation. We should have a primer and the first reader to start with. They should be so compelled that they practically every sentence in them may be easily used in conversation. The sentence should be related to the life of the children. It is sometimes recommended that six months be spent on oral-work before reading work is begun. Reading should begin three weeks or a month after the conversation. The best method of teaching reading is to use story method.

                Human mind has a very limited capacity for remembering facts. Although we choose to know only relevant things, but their number is too high to store in the mind. The only way out is to depend on written materials, which can be read when necessary. Reading is the skill which is needed mostly by the students in their future lives. It is a fact that reading is an individual activity. Reading comprehension has two aspects:

1. Visual task
2. Cognitive task

In the education system reading ability is indispensable. The very first task of the school is to teach reading. Many methods are being used in different parts of the world, but they can be grouped in two major categories i.e.

1. The Analytic Methods
2. The Synthetic Methods

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The Analytical Methods (Look and Say Method)

                In these methods we start from wholes i.e. words, phrases, sentences etc. and then we break them into small parts. It is a two way process. First we move from words to letters and then we again move from letters to words, phrases and sentences. The following analytical methods are often used in schools.

1. The Word Method
2. The Phrase and Sentence Method

The Word Method

                This method is based on the assumption that the child learns the name of things or sentences. He never comes across meaningless sounds. Therefore it is natural that he should be taught meaningful words. At first the words are taught with the help of charts, pictures, models etc. when the child is able to recognize the word, the model or picture is removed.

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                The main charge against this method is that it creates unnecessary burden for the child, who goes on cramming sources of words, without understanding the origin. Often it has been observed in the classrooms that look and say method is nothing more than a futile exercise in cramming. The students can read the word if you start from the beginning of the page. If you ask from the middle of the page or lower part of the page they cannot recognize the words.

                As the students read the whole word without recognizing the sounds therefore they are week in spelling.

Phrase and Sentence Method

Phrase method and sentence method are the extension of the word method. Some psychologists have the opinion that the eye movement stretches to a phrase or sentence and the child looks at the combination of the words with one eye movement. Therefore start should be made by a phrase or a sentence and then they should be broken into words and letters.

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Here the question arises when we have to go back to a letter without caring for the eye span of the students then why we should not start with letters or words.

Teaching Reading by Analytical Methods ways

Use of pictures or models

New words are introduced with the help of pictures or models. When the students are able to recognize then the pictures or models are removed.

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Using words in context

The new words are introduced with the help of structures already studied. For example the students have already learnt the structure “This is …….”. By adding new word it will become “This is a ball”. The students will immediately recognize the newly introduced word ‘Ball’.

Structural Analyze

Many words used in English are combination of two forms. It often happens the students have studied both the forms separately. If they are directed to read the word by joining the two forms they will find it easier to study them. For example the students have already read two different words “some, and time”. The new word “sometimes” can be easily read by first reading ‘some’ and ‘time’ separately.

Phonetic Analyze

In words of regular spellings there are letters and groups of letters called phonograms or phonetic elements. The teacher by inviting the attention of students to sounds of certain phonograms can teach reading easily. The sounds of ch, sh, are, the, ere etc. have their peculiar sounds. The students by combining these sounds can easily read new words.

Synthetic Methods

                In synthetic methods we proceed from parts to wholes. We teach letters or their sounds in the beginning and then by joining the letters or sounds to make words.

                These are centuries old tried and tested methods of teaching. In the late 19^th century and in the beginning of 20^th century efforts have been made for making these methods more interesting and palatable for students. Following are the common used synthetic methods of teaching reading.

1. The Alphabetic Method
2. The Phonic Method
3. The Phonetic Method 

The Alphabetic Method

The beginning is made by teaching the name of letters. Sometimes the letters are introduced with the help of pictures and models. As the students already recognize these objectives therefore they can learn the name of letters a bit easily.

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   The charge against this method is that students are compelled to cram meaningless sounds, which they never come across in life. Learning spread remains very slow in the beginning, but when the students have grasped the sounds of letters they move rapidly. By joining letters they can easily read new and unseen words, which give them a sense of success.

                By proceeding in a sequence the teacher can make reading a fun. For example he has taught the word “rat”, now he can invite similar meaningful words. He can give the form of a group competition.

                The students will probably say bat, chat, fat, sat, mat, hat etc. This would not only enhance their vocabulary but also give them confidence. Innovative teachers often use similar interesting techniques for making the language learning a pleasure.

The Phonic Method

This method is similar to the alphabetic method. In alphabetic method we teach the name of the letters and then by joining different letters we pronounce words. In phonic method we teach the sounds of letters we pronounce words. The names of the alphabet letters are combination of different sounds. Therefore when by joining two or three letters we pronounce a word it seems quit unnatural. For example, we take the word “am”.  It pronounces as ‘m’ but we say ‘a’ ‘m’ “am”. In phonic method we shall only utter the sounds of “a” and “m” and by joining these two sounds, we shall make the word “am”.

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The major problem with this method is that often the sounds do not represent the pronunciation of the letter. Moreover, some letters have more than one sound. Also a letter in different combinations gives different sounds. Sounds of c, gs, x, t, ch, sh, th etc. are quite confusing. Some letters in some words remain silent but in other words they give sounds. In “psalm” letter ‘p’ and ‘l’ are silent, and you know many other words of this kind.

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Many words of English language sound alike but they have different spellings. For example, receive, relieve, vain, foul, fowl, check, cheque etc.

By teaching through this method, spellings remain weak. Child remains engaged in the sound of the word and he can hardly pay attention to its meanings. Picking up sounds of different letters is a cumbersome job and the child finds it difficult to remember all these sounds without associating them with something concrete.

Phonetic Method

The phonetic method is an improved form of the phonic method. This method introduces a new system of symbols so that there is a separate letter for each separate sound. No doubt that  this method removes the hurdles of confusing spellings but as the books is written in ordinary letters therefore this method is not much in use. 

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