Hi,
After long consideration about what aspect of reading to discuss in this Forum, I finally decided to direct my concerns about how EFL teachers approach reading as a skill. My theoretical knowledge has told me to never mix reading as a skill for comprehension and for pronunciation, in other words, if you want your students to really understand the main points of the text (or maybe the storyline if it's a work of fiction) then make them read silently, don't make them read out loud because they lose their focus and are directed solely towards proper pronunciation of the words and of the whole sentence itself. This has proven to be true in my practical experience, and I try to avoid reading out loud for comprehension.
What are your experiences? Any ideas or similar activities to suggest?
Best all,
Aneta
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Drawing from my experience as a trainer, you are absolutely right when you say that reading out loud for pronunciation is a futile exercise. To understand the message in a comprehension passage, the students need to fully concentrate and read silently. Lot of trainers talk about speed reading as a very critical skill. Speed Reading is nothing but having the ability to distinguish the important points in a comprehension and make a mental note of it which comes only through regular practice. Comprehension passages can at best be used for improving your vocabulary. You will have lot of words whose meaning you do not know, but which can be guessed taking the whole sentence into consideration. The students can then look up the dictionary to get the precise meaning and make a new sentence using that particular word. This is the only proven and effective method to develop your vocabulary.
The habit of reading should be an ongoing exercise for all learners of the English Language. The focus should be on reading something that you enjoy as in fiction, literature, stories, etc
As far as pronunciation is concerned, the exercises would inevitably differ and the progress purely depends on the commitment level of the learner.
Hi
Reading as a skill for comprehension is to be differentiated from reading for pronunciation. When a learner attempts to read loud he tends to become too conscious about his reading to concentrate on the subject matter. As a result, actual comprehension does not take place. He is more concerned with how reads than what he reads. Moreover, in case there are any new or difficult-to-pronounce words, he gets stuck there and so even if he has been following the trend of the matter up till now he loses the thread temporarily. This acts as a hurdle to further progress in reading. Hence reading loud needs to be dealt with separately.
While engaging in loud reading in a classroom situation, the student becomes self conscious if he commits any errors while reading. This further acts as a distraction to him. Again when the student reads loud without concentrating on the subject matter he begins to apply pauses at unwarranted places and the reading becomes jerky and incomprehensible to the listener. The student needs to make meaningful pauses while reading. This becomes possible only if he is able to glance at a few words ahead of his articulated word or phrase and grasp the meaning himself before reading it loud. Students have to be taught this method in class with demonstration and urged to practice it when alone. Only can they be confident enough to read in public.
Mumbai, India
Hi,
I am really happy to see the topic on reading aloud here and more than happy to read the comments. Because earlier I saw similiar topic in this website and many people were commenting supporting reading aloud in reading classes. I was frustrated then because I also think reading aloud is useless in reading classes. I myself find it difficult to understand when I am reading aloud (maybe auditory people find it easy, don't know). Besides in the classroom people never listen to the one who is reading aloud. Why they should listen if they have the same text? if they listen they try to correct pronunciation mistakes. It irritates the reader!
However it is not very easy to percuade other teachers in a training room. In Uzbekistan reading aloud is still a tradition because first of all many teachers believe that is the only way to teach reading, and secondly it is very practical - no need to prepare for the classes. They will take a book and ask students to read it one by one and they can correct their mistakes to show their authority! And the whole lesson is over!
So any experiences on how to raise teachers' awareness of the uselessness of reading aloud for developing reading skills? I am facing this problem again and again in teacher trainings.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Reading aloud is a tradition. But every tradition is not to be respected for the benefit of many. Tradition is to be qualified by modernity and emperical needs. Previously I, too was in favour of reading aloud. But apart from the point of view of pronunciation, reading aloud is a sheer waste of valuable time. (Though some may gain a certain amount of skill in speaking when they read aloud in private.) We are to determine the needs of learners. They have to scan, skim, and close-read to find certain information. Besides, Ss may have to think critically. Thus the gamut of Reading, to some extent, demands a thorough skill in language development.
The needs of Ss at primary classes and Secondary are not the same. That is why planning ahead is necessary. Recognition of sounds, words and associations of words with pictures are immediate needs of primary level ss. But beyond this, Ss need to look for certain information and they need to answer on their own. In dealing with a large piece of text using Jigsaw is a good technique to involve all ss, leaving no one sitting idle. In dealing with certain prose pieces, bottom-up approach and top-down process are of help.
Thematically, we need to develop text at a level beyond upper-primary and post-secondary. Preparing a questionnaire and focussing on difficult words and collocations are a good way to consolidate a sound language base. For all these practical purposes reading aloud does not serve any purpose.