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English

SERIES EDITOR
Teaching Reading
Richard R. Day Language
Teaching Reading uncovers the interactive processes that happen when people learn to read and Teacher
translates them into a comprehensive easy-to-follow guide on how to teach reading. Richard Day’s
revelations on the nature of reading, reading strategies, reading fluency, reading comprehension,
Development
and reading objectives make fascinating reading in themselves and provide language teachers with
very practical uses for their own contexts. Teaching Reading is a valuable addition to the literature
Series
in our profession. Thomas S. C. Farrell
English About the English Language
SERIES EDITOR

Language Teacher Development Series

Teacher
Development Thomas S. C. Farrell, Series Editor
Series What is the latest research, and how do I use it in my classroom? The pressure is
intense for language teachers to update their knowledge in curriculum trends,
Thomas S. C. Farrell
research, theory and practice, technology, or assessment. The need to update is certainly not a
reflection of inadequately trained teachers but is due to the nature of a profession that continuously
reinvents itself. The English Language Teacher Development Series is a set of short resource books
written in a jargon-free and accessible manner for all types of teachers of English (native and
nonnative speakers of English, experienced and novice teachers). The Series offers a
C theory-to-practice approach, a variety of practical methods, and time for reflections that allow
M
teachers to interact with the materials presented. The books can be used in preservice settings,
Y
in-service courses, and by individuals looking for ways to refresh their practice.
CM

MY

By Richard R. Day
CY

CMY

Other titles in the English Language Teacher Development Series

• Teaching Listening • Teaching Vocabulary

Teaching
• Teaching Pronunciation • Teaching Writing
• Language Classroom Assessment • English Language Teachers
• Cooperative Learning and Teaching as Administrators
• Teaching Digital Literacies • Content-Based Instruction

Reading
• Classroom Research for • Teaching English as an
Language Teachers International Language
• Reflective Teaching • Teaching Speaking
• Teaching Grammar
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Teaching Reading

Richard R. Day
English
Language
Teacher
Development
Series

Thomas S. C. Farrell,
Series Editor
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

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Copyright © 2013 by TESOL International Association

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ISBN 9781931185998
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Contents

Preface.......................................................................................... v

Part I: Foundation
1 What Is Reading?......................................................................... 1
2 Beliefs About ESOL Reading ..................................................... 5
3 How Do People Learn to Read? ................................................ 7
4 What Are Reading Strategies? .................................................... 9

Part II: Fluency

5 Reading Fluency........................................................................ 12
6 Why Is Reading Fluency Important?........................................ 16

Part III: Teaching Fluency

7 Extensive Reading...................................................................... 18
8 Fluency Strategies...................................................................... 23
9 Fluency Activities....................................................................... 28

Part IV: Comprehension

10 What Is Comprehension?.......................................................... 31
11 Comprehension Questions........................................................ 36
12 Comprehension Strategies......................................................... 40
13 Planning the Reading Lesson.................................................... 45
14 Conclusion................................................................................. 49
References.................................................................................. 50
Suggested Readings and Sources............................................... 51

iii
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About the Author

Dr. Richard R. Day is Professor of Second Language Studies, Uni-

versity of Hawaii. His professional interests include second language
reading and materials design and development. Dr. Day’s most recent
publication is New Ways in Teaching Reading, revised, a collection of
120 activities for teaching second language reading (2012, TESOL
International).

iv
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Series Editor’s Preface

The English Language Teacher Development (ELTD) Series is a set

of short resource books for ESL/EFL teachers that are written in a
jargon-free and accessible manner for all types English language teach-
ers (native and nonnative speakers of English, experienced and novice
teachers). The ELTD Series is designed to offer teachers a theory-to-
practice approach to English language teaching, and each book offers
a wide variety of practical teaching approaches and methods for the
topic at hand. Each book also offers opportunities for reflections that
allow teachers to interact with the materials presented. The books can
be used in preservice settings or in-service courses and by individuals
who are looking for ways to refresh their practice.
Richard Day’s book Teaching Reading explores different approaches
to teaching reading in English language classrooms. As the author
notes in his conclusion, the overarching goal of this book is to engage
teachers in reflection on how reading may be taught to ESOL learners.
This comprehensive overview of the reading process and how to teach
reading provides an easy-to-follow guide that language teachers will
find very practical for their own contexts. Topics covered include the
nature of reading, reading strategies, reading fluency, reading compre-
hension, and the reading lesson. Teaching Reading is a valuable addition
to the literature in our profession.
I am very grateful to the authors who contributed to the ELTD
Series for sharing their knowledge and expertise with other TESOL
professionals because they have done so willingly and without any

v
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compensation to make these short books affordable to language teach-

ers throughout the world. It was truly an honor for me to work with
each of these authors as they selflessly gave up their valuable time for
the advancement of TESOL.
Thomas S. C. Farrell

vi
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1
What Is Reading?

One way to introduce the nature of reading is to directly engage the

reader (you) and to ask you to think about what you are doing, men-
tally, as you read this sentence. So stop reading, look away from the
page, and think about the act of reading and what you did when you
read the first sentence.

Reflective Break
Complete this sentence:
• Reading is _____________.

Your answer probably had something to do with comprehension,

meaning, or understanding. This is the most common way that people
think of reading. This view of reading as comprehension is generally
thought of as a cognitive or mental view of reading—of what takes
place in the brain. A useful cognitive definition is

Reading is a number of interactive processes between

the reader and the text, in which readers use their
knowledge to build, to create, and to construct meaning.

This chapter covers some of the keywords in this simple but help-
ful definition. The first keyword is interactive. This keyword refers
to two different conceptions: (1) the interaction that occurs between
the reader and the text, whereby the reader constructs meaning based
partly on the knowledge drawn from the text and partly from the

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e­ xisting knowledge that the reader has; and (2) the interactivity occur-
ring simultaneously among the many component skills that results in
comprehension. As Grabe (1991) notes, the interactive reading pro-
cesses involve “both an array of low-level rapid, automatic identifica-
tion skills and an array of higher-level comprehension/interpretation
skills” (p. 383).
Another keyword is processes. A number of processes are at work
when people read. Grabe (2009) identifies “lower-level processes,
including word recognition, syntactic parsing and meaning encoding
as propositions” and “higher-level processing, including text-model
formation (what the text is about), situation-model building (how we
decide to interpret the text), inferencing, executive-control processing
(how we direct our attention), and strategic processing” (p. 21).
Also critical is knowledge. Actually, perhaps knowledges would be
more accurate. This includes knowledge of the language (e.g., the
­writing system, grammar, vocabulary), knowledge of the topic of the
text, knowledge of the author, knowledge of the genre (e.g., editorial in
a newspaper, a romance novel), and knowledge of the world, including
experiences, values, and beliefs. People use all of these knowledges to
build, to create, and to construct meaning. Readers all have different
knowledge.

Reflective Break
• Two people read the same book. Will they construct the
same meaning?

• Why or why not?

The best answer is, Probably not because they have different knowledges.
They could have similar knowledges, so perhaps their meanings could
be similar, but they would probably not construct identical meanings.

2 Teaching Reading
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Reflective Break
Now reflect on your teaching:
• If you teach ESOL reading, do you let your students read?

• Do you allow them to create or construct their own

meaning?

• Or do you insist on your meaning?

There are other dimensions of reading. For example, reading can

be seen as a cultural event. All reading takes place in a given culture;
culture shapes what, how, where, and when people read. Indeed, cul-
ture even determines whether people engage in reading. Some cultures
are what may be called nonreading cultures. In a nonreading culture, in
general, people tend not to read. For example, in a nonreading culture,
people generally are not seen reading on buses or trains. By contrast,
in a reading culture, people read at every opportunity.
Still another view of reading is affective. This affective dimension
sees reading as enjoyment, pleasure, excitement, even magic. Without leav-
ing their chairs, readers can visit a different city, a different country, a
new and strange world. They can leap ahead in time and space or visit
the distant past. Readers experiencing this magical dimension of read-
ing may lose track of time and space. They forget what time it is and
where they are. Psychologists call this a flow experience.

Reflective Break
Reflect on flow and your reading in both your first language (L1)
and a second language (L2):
• When you read in your L1, do you have flow experiences?

• When you read in a L2, do you have flow experiences?

• Do your students have flow when reading in English?

• How might you create the conditions for flow when your
students read English?

PART I: FOUNDATION What Is Reading? 3

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Conclusion
This chapter examined the nature of reading and looked at three
dimensions of reading: cognitive, cultural, and affective.

Reflective Break
Before moving to Chapter 2, consider these reflection questions:
• What is the most important thing you have learned in this
chapter?

• Why is it important?

4 Teaching Reading
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2
Beliefs About ESOL Reading

This chapter is a questionnaire with two parts. Part A asks about your
beliefs about how ESOL students learn to read, and Part B concerns
the teaching of ESOL reading. Read each statement, reflect on it, and
then mark it according to the scale. Bear in mind that this question-
naire is not a test. Rather, it an instrument to help you reflect on your
beliefs about learning and teaching ESOL reading. After you have
finished, move to Chapter 3.
A. How important is each statement about learning to read English as
a second or foreign language? Use this scale:
Not at all important Unimportant Important Very Important
1 2 3 4
___ 1. Analyzing syntactic structures of texts
___ 2. Reading a great deal
___ 3. Reading material that is interesting
___ 4. Reading material that is easy (within the student’s
linguistic ability)
___ 5. Reading for enjoyment and pleasure
___ 6. Reading for complete (100%) understanding, including
vocabulary
___ 7. Translating texts from English to the student’s L1
___ 8. Engaging in pre-reading activities
___ 9. Answering comprehension questions after reading
___10. Reading challenging texts

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B. How important is each statement about teaching reading (in

English) to speakers of other languages?
Not at all important Unimportant Important Very Important
1 2 3 4
___ 1. Teaching students a variety of strategies (e.g., scanning,
finding the main idea)
___ 2. Teaching students to learn to read at a rate (speed)
appropriate for their purpose for reading
___ 3. Giving students information about a text before they read it
(e.g., telling them something about the topic or the author)
___ 4. Being a role model (i.e., reading English or other L2 texts
yourself)
___ 5. Providing opportunities for students to discuss what they
have read with each other
___ 6. Allowing students to select their own reading material
___ 7. Having the goal of enjoying reading
___ 8. Making available to students a variety of reading material
on a wide range of topics
___ 9. Making sure that the primary activity of a reading lesson is
learners’ reading

6 Teaching Reading
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3
How Do People Learn to Read?

This chapter turns to the topic of learning to read. By the end of the
chapter, you will understand how people learn to read in either their
L1 or their L2.

Reflective Break
To begin, think about how you learned to read in your L1. Then
complete the following sentence:
• People learn to read _____________.

The only answer is People learn to read by reading. There is no other

way: The more people read, the better readers they become. Reading
is a skill—a learned behavior—so in order to learn to do it, learners
must engage in it. This is true whether it is learning to read, to cook,
to drive a car, or to play the piano.
Think about this: When the teacher is talking in the reading class,
are the students reading? The answer is obviously no. The teacher is
robbing the students of the opportunity to do the only thing that will
help them learn to read, and that is reading. As explained previously,
people learn to read by reading. This is true of a first language, a sec-
ond, third, and so on.
There are, however, differences between L1 and L2 reading devel-
opmental processes. The reading developmental processing differences
may be classified as linguistic (e.g., grammar, vocabulary), individual
(e.g., learners’ L1 reading abilities, motivation), and sociocultural.

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Because ESOL learners are from widely varying cultures with differ-
ent languages and educational backgrounds, there is no single template
for how reading teachers should modify their instruction. What ESOL
reading teachers can do is learn from their experiences. When learn-
ers’ first language writing systems are radically different from English,
teachers might be able to explore what helps such learners and what
does not. Talking with other ESOL reading teachers and sharing expe-
riences is also helpful.

Conclusion
This chapter has examined how people learn to read. The next topic
concerns reading strategies that help with both learning to read and
reading to learn.

Reflective Break
Before moving to Chapter 4, consider this reflection question:
• How does knowing about how ESOL students learn to read
English help you in teaching reading?

8 Teaching Reading
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4
What Are Reading Strategies?

The focus of this chapter is reading strategies.

Reflective Break
Before discussing reading strategies, it is important to distinguish
between strategies and skills. Complete these two sentences:
• A strategy is _____________.

• A skill is _____________.

The difference between a strategy and a skill is automaticity. A skill

is unconscious behavior, something people do without thinking. For
example, a skilled tennis player reacts without thinking and hits the
tennis ball with the racket. A strategy, on the other hand, is conscious
behavior, something that a person thinks about before doing or act-
ing. A young girl learning to play tennis has to think about what to do
when playing. She may know she is supposed to hit the ball when it
crosses over the net but has to think first, then react. She has strategies
that have not yet become skills.
Relate this idea to reading strategies. Teachers cannot teach skills
because they are unconscious behavior, so they must teach students
strategies—conscious behavior—and give them opportunities to prac-
tice and use the strategies. Over time, with practice and use, the strate-
gies may become skills.

9
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Reflective Break
Identify each of the following as either a strategy or a skill:
_________________ Scanning
_________________ Skimming
_________________ Previewing and predicting
_________________ Ignoring unknown words
_________________ Recognizing signal words

This is actually a trick activity! In fact, all of the preceding items might
be either a strategy or a skill, depending on the individual. If used con-
sciously, they are strategies; used unconsciously, they are skills. Which
ones do you use, either as a strategy or a skill, in your reading, either
L1 or L2?

Type L1? L2?

___________ _________ Scanning
___________ _________ Skimming
___________ _________ Previewing and predicting
___________ _________ Ignoring unknown words
___________ _________ Recognizing signal words

It may be difficult to know which reading skills you use because

their use is unconscious. Reading a passage aloud may be helpful; this
often brings a skill to the surface.
There are some critical points to know about teaching strategies.
Research shows that
• Explaining why a strategy is important and when to use it helps
students to learn it.
• It takes time. Students cannot be expected to learn a strategy a
week.
• It requires practice and repetition. Students need to practice a
strategy over and over.
• The more students practice a strategy in class, the more likely
it is that they will use it outside of class. Encourage them to use
the strategy on their own.

10 Teaching Reading
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Reflective Break
• Have you taught reading strategies?

• If so, what happened? Did your students learn and use any of
the strategies?

• What did you learn from reading this chapter?

Conclusion
This chapter focused on strategies and skills. Chapters 8 and 12
explore two types of reading strategies: fluency and comprehension.
With the foundation complete in Part I, Part II covers fluency, a
critical aspect of reading that is generally overlooked or not under-
stood by most reading teachers.

PART I: FOUNDATION What Are Reading Strategies? 11

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5
Reading Fluency

The goal of this chapter is to introduce the concept of fluency in

ESOL reading instruction. By the end of this chapter, you will under-
stand what reading fluency is.

What Is Reading Fluency?

Reflective Break
Think about fluency and reading; consider what fluent readers do.
Now complete this sentence:
• Reading fluency is _____________.

When I ask ESOL teachers to complete this sentence, they usually

write something about speed or reading fast. Although most reading
experts do include some aspect of rate (that term is usually preferred
to speed), speed reading is really not a crucial part of fluent reading.
Rather, what these teachers may be thinking of is automaticity. Fluent
reading involves automaticity, when something is done automatically:
quickly, rapidly, and without thinking. A critical component of read-
ing fluency involves the automatic recognition of words; fluent readers
have efficient, effective word recognition skills that help them con-
struct the meaning of a text.
There is more to automaticity than quickness or speed, however.
As implied by these two words, efficient and effective, it also involves

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Unknown Words General Vocabulary Sight Vocabulary

Figure 1. Knowledge Continuum for Reading Vocabulary

a­ ccuracy. When people read fluently, the automatic recognition of

words is accurate and correct, every time. This automatic recognition
of words involves sight vocabulary, words that readers know automati-
cally (without thinking), correctly, every time, regardless of context.
Sight vocabulary is part of reading vocabulary knowledge.
Reading vocabulary knowledge may be helpfully viewed as a con-
tinuum, shown in Figure 1. On one end of the continuum are words
that readers do not know. In the middle of the continuum are words
that are in their general vocabulary. These are words that, when readers
come across them, require the reader to pause for a second or two to
recall their meaning. At the other end of the continuum are words that
are in the reader’s sight vocabulary.

Reflective Break
Of particular importance is how words become part of sight
vocabulary. Think about this statement and then answer this
reflection question:
• How do words in people’s general vocabulary become part of
their sight vocabulary?

The best answer is through reading. When people read a good deal,
they encounter words that are part of their general vocabulary. They
pause briefly to recall their meaning and then continue reading. When
readers come across the same words over and over again, these words
gradually move along the continuum and become part of their sight
vocabulary. The more people read, the larger their sight vocabulary
becomes, and the larger their sight vocabulary becomes, the more flu-
ent their reading becomes.
Now, to illustrate the important role that sight vocabulary plays in
fluent reading, read these two sentences:

PART II: FLUENCY Reading Fluency 13

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• The big dog ran after the small cat before I could stop it.
• Those covert forces employ both physical and psychological
methods to intimidate its citizenry.

Each sentence has 13 words, but most likely you read each sentence
slightly differently. You could probably read the first sentence quickly,
but it took you somewhat longer to read the second one. The 13 words
in the first sentence are in your sight vocabulary; however, several of
the words in the second sentence are probably part of your general
vocabulary.
So how does a fluent reader read? A fluent reader reads effortlessly
and confidently at a level of understanding and a rate appropriate for
the purpose or task and the material, seldom using a dictionary. This
definition includes both the affective and cognitive dimensions of
reading (see Chapter 1). The words effortlessly and confidently reflect the
affective dimension. One way of thinking about effortlessly is to think of
a river flowing smoothly. Now imagine readers’ eyes flowing smoothly,
effortlessly across the page as they read fluently. Confidently indicates
that fluent readers know they can read; they do not hesitate. They read
and expect to understand.
The cognitive dimension is found in the phrase, a level of under-
standing . . . appropriate for the purpose or task and the material. Fluent
readers adjust their level of understanding of the materials they read;
they do not read everything for 100% comprehension.

Reflective Break
Think about your own L1 reading:
• When do you read for 100% understanding?

• When do you read for less than 100% understanding?

The answers to the questions vary, of course. The important point

is that readers do not always read for 100% understanding. Readers’
reasons—their purposes or tasks—for reading a text are key factors in
the level of understanding.

14 Teaching Reading
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• What do you read for 100% understanding?

• What do you read for less than 100% understanding?

Now consider the rate at which readers read a text, and think about
your own L1 reading:
• When do you read slowly and carefully?
• When do you read very fast?

Your answers most likely concern why you are reading the text
(your purpose). Readers scan (read very quickly) a text when they
are looking for specific information (e.g., the weather; the time of a
movie); they skim (read quickly) when they want to get the overall or
general meaning (e.g., to see if they want to check the book out of the
library). They read slowly and carefully when they study a text for an
examination.
The readability of a text also determines the rate. For instance,
academic writing is often difficult to read not just because of the sub-
ject matter but because of the author’s writing style. Also, technical or
specialized vocabulary makes a text difficult to read.

Conclusion
This chapter covered reading fluency, a topic that, in my experience,
most ESOL teachers know little, if anything, about. The next chapter
discusses the role the fluency plays in reading.

Reflective Break
Before continuing on to Chapter 6, consider these reflection
questions:
• What is the most important thing you have learned in this
chapter?

• Why is it important?

PART II: FLUENCY Reading Fluency 15

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6
Why Is Reading
Fluency Important?

The previous chapter examined reading fluency. The aims of this chap-
ter are to discuss the importance of fluency and explain why it should
be a part of any English language reading program.

Reflective Break
In order to answer the question of why reading fluency is impor-
tant, it is necessary to revisit the definition of reading given in
Chapter 1. Can you recall it? Complete this sentence again:
• Reading is _____________.

In case you cannot remember, here it is: Reading is a number of inter-

active processes between the reader and the text, in which readers use their
knowledge to build, to create, and to construct meaning.
People’s brains are powerful but limited in their capacity to hold
and process new information. If, as a person reads, he must stop
momentarily to understand the meaning of each word, or many words,
in a sentence, the working memory becomes overloaded. When this
happens, it is necessary to stop and read the sentence again, and if this
happens with every sentence, the reader may have to go back to the
beginning of the paragraph and read it again.
Further, if a reader does not quickly recognize and understand
the syntax in the sentence she is reading, it may be necessary to stop
to consider it. And, like a lack of word understanding, if this happens

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frequently, it may be necessary to go back to the beginning of the para-

graph and read it again.

Reflective Break
• Is the following statement true or false?

_____ Fluency makes reading comprehension possible.

The correct answer is true. The research in both L1 and L2 read-

ing is clear: Fluent readers are more efficient and effective readers
than slow readers (Lightbown, Halter, White, & Horst, 2002; National
Reading Panel, 2000). Slow readers cannot be fluent readers, and flu-
ent readers understand more than slow readers.
In sum, reading fluency refers in part to efficient, effective word
recognition skills and grammatical knowledge that help a reader to
construct the meaning of a text. Fluency makes reading comprehen-
sion possible.
Unfortunately, most English language reading programs do not
include reading fluency. Generally, the focus in such programs is
comprehension: getting the meaning. As Part IV demonstrates, this
involves comprehension questions and strategies. This is only part of
the reading process, however; fluency makes comprehension possible.

Conclusion
Fluency plays a critical role in effective and efficient reading. Accord-
ingly, the teaching of fluency has to be integrated into any ESOL
reading program that has as a goal reading effectively and efficiently in
English. How to teach fluency is the focus of Part III.

Reflective Break
Now that Part II is complete, consider these reflection questions:
• Has your understanding of reading changed?

• What do you think of fluency?

PART II: FLUENCY Why Is Reading Fluency Important? 17

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7
Extensive Reading

The goal of this chapter is to introduce extensive reading and demon-

strate how it can be integrated into any ESOL reading program.
The best way to help students become fluent readers is by letting
them read. People learn to read by reading: The more students read,
the better readers they become. One approach to teaching ESOL
reading that allows learners to practice reading a great deal is exten-
sive reading (ER). The goals of ER are overall understanding as well
as information and enjoyment. Good things happen when ESOL
students read extensively. Studies show that they become fluent read-
ers, learn many new words, and expand their understanding of words
they knew before (Beglar, Hunt, & Kite, 2012). In addition, they write
better (Hafiz & Tudor, 1989), and their listening and speaking abili-
ties improve (Cho & Krashen, 1994). Perhaps the best result of ER
found from numerous studies is that students develop positive attitudes
toward reading and increased motivation to study English ( Judge,
2011; Takase, 2007).
In ER, when students finish reading a book, they get another and
read it. They do not answer comprehension questions or write book
reports (which students often dislike writing and teachers often dislike
reading), and they do not translate from English to their first language.

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Reflective Break
• What should students read, easy or hard books?

• Why?

If you answered easy for the first question, then you are correct.
ER involves students reading many easy, interesting books. They must
read books and other materials that are well within their reading com-
fort zone. When learners read books that are within their reading com-
fort zones, they are able to read for overall meaning easily; they do not
need to worry about many difficult or unknown words. A quick strat-
egy to help students determine whether a book is within their comfort
zone is to have them open their books at random and read a page,
counting the words that are not known. For beginning readers, more
than one or two unknown words per page might make the book too
difficult to read with general understanding. For intermediate learners,
a text with no more than three or four unknown or difficult words per
page usually is appropriate.

Reflective Break
• True or false? Students choose what they want to read.
Explain your answer.

The answer is true, Learners choose what they want to read. This is
very important and related to the basis of ER: Readers learn to read by
reading. Because students read material in which they are interested,
they should be allowed to choose what (and where and when) to read.
In ER, students also are free to stop reading books that they do not
find interesting, or that are too hard or too easy.
When students are reading easy, interesting material that they
select, their reading rate is usually faster, rather than slower. This
helps develop fluency. Nuttall (1996) notes that “speed, enjoyment
and comprehension are closely linked with one another” (p. 128). She
describes “the vicious circle of the weak reader: Reads slowly; Doesn’t

PART III: TEACHING FLUENCY Extensive Reading 19

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

enjoy reading; Doesn’t read much; Doesn’t understand; Reads slowly”

and so on (p. 127). Extensive reading can help readers “enter instead
the cycle of growth. . . . The virtuous circle of the good reader: Reads
faster; Reads more; Understands better; Enjoys reading; Reads faster”
(p. 127).

Reflective Break
• How much should students read in ER?
a. It does not matter.
b. They cannot read a lot because they are busy.
c. They should read as much as possible.

The answer, of course, is c. They should read as much as possible.

Teachers must make sure that their students are given the time and
opportunity to read, read, and read some more because the more
students read, the better readers they become. For beginning ESOL
readers, the minimum is one book a week. Some ER teachers tell their
students to read a certain number of words each week or read for a
certain number of hours.
This leads to the topic of the reading material for ER. What should
learners read? I advocate language learner literature (LLL), material
that is specially written for language learners. The most common form
of LLL is the graded reader (GR). GRs are written for specific grades
or levels (e.g., beginners or level 1), using designated vocabulary and
grammar. The vocabulary used in GRs is determined primarily by
frequency of occurrence; for instance, the most frequent 75 or 100
words for a GR written at a basic level. Another characteristic of GRs
is appropriate syntax: Beginning levels have simple syntax, and higher
levels use more complex structures.
In addition to appropriate vocabulary and syntax, the length of GRs
is controlled. The lower the grade, the shorter the GR. GRs written
for beginners may be 10 to 15 pages with many illustrations to help
convey meaning. GRs written for advanced learners may be 80 to 100
pages with few, if any, illustrations.

20 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Complexity is also a feature of GRs. The plot of a GR novel written

for beginners would not be as complex as a plot of a GR novel written
for advanced learners. Moreover, there would not be as many charac-
ters in the beginning GR novel as the advanced novel.
ESOL teachers are fortunate because all of the major publishers
offer GR series, which range from basic levels (e.g., 75 most frequent
words) to advanced (e.g., 2,500 most frequent words).
One question that ESOL teachers may have about ER is, How can
I use ER in my own teaching, in my classroom? ER can be integrated into
any ESOL course or curriculum, without modifying goals and objec-
tives. Here are four ways this can be done:
• Set up an ER course in which students read and do ER
activities (see Bamford & Day, 2004).
• Add ER to an existing course. Most of the reading would be
done outside of class; some class time would be used for reading
and ER activities. Nothing is eliminated from the course.
Instead, reading GRs is an additional requirement of the course.
When you add ER to a course, it is important to give the
students a grade for their reading. I use reading targets: Students
have to read a certain number of books during the semester in
order to get a certain grade. If the reading target is two books a
week for a 10-week term, then the student would have to read
20 books to get full credit.
• Set up an after-school club. Students meet on a regular basis
(e.g., every 2 weeks) to read books and do ER activities.
• Use homeroom period for ER. Students read GRs.

ER is the best way to help students become fluent readers, but

there are two other ways: reading fluency strategies and reading flu-
ency activities. The goal of fluency strategies and activities is to move
learners from slow, laborious, ineffective word-for-word reading to
fluent reading.

PART III: TEACHING FLUENCY Extensive Reading 21

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Conclusion
The goal of this chapter was to introduce extensive reading and show
how it can be integrated into teaching ESOL reading to help students
become fluent readers. Chapter 8 treats another approach to teaching
fluency: fluency strategies.

Reflective Break
Before moving to Chapter 8, reflect on these questions:
• What do you think of extensive reading?
• Is it something you could integrate into your teaching?

• Why or why not?

22 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

8
Fluency Strategies

In addition to having students read extensively to gain fluency, teach-

ing them reading fluency strategies is also beneficial. The aim of this
chapter is to provide four fluency strategies:
• scanning
• previewing and predicting
• skimming
• ignoring unknown words

Reflective Break
• Do you recognize any of these strategies?

• Why do you think they are fluency strategies?

Scanning
Scanning is reading very quickly to find an answer to a question or find
specific information. It is not slow reading to understand; rather, it is a
rapid search for specific information.

Procedure
1. Introduce scanning. You might ask students how, what, and
when they scan in their first language.

23
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

2. Using the text they have read, instruct your students to find a
specific piece of information, such as a date, name, or phrase.
3. Give them a set period of time. You can encourage them to
search quickly by announcing the amount of time remaining
(e.g., “Ten seconds, five, four, three, two, one, stop!”).
4. Have students practice scanning frequently.
5. Make sure each task is a bit more challenging than the
previous one.
6. The more students practice this strategy in class, the more
likely it is that they will use it outside of class. Encourage them
to use scanning on their own.

Previewing and Predicting

Previewing and predicting is a useful strategy that helps readers get
an introduction to a text. Research shows that readers read a text with
greater understanding when they know something about it (Grabe,
2009, p. 47). I teach this strategy before teaching skimming because it
prepares students for skimming.

Procedure
1. Before the students read a text, introduce previewing and
predicting. Explain that previewing means looking at the text
title and images (photos, drawings, graphs, etc.) before they start
reading. After previewing, students should try to predict (make a
guess about) the topic, what the text is about.
2. Tell them that using this strategy before reading can help them
improve their understanding of the text when they read it.
3. Find an appropriate text with some illustrations. Make a
multiple-choice question (e.g., three choices) about the topic of
the text (e.g., What do you think this article is about?).
4. Give your students the text and the question about the topic.
Instruct them to look quickly at the title and the illustrations
and then answer the question.
5. Time them (e.g., 30 seconds).
6. Then have students read the text to check their answer.

24 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Skimming
Skimming involves reading a text fast to get a general understanding
of the topic. As mentioned previously, when readers know something
about a text, their comprehension is better. This strategy gives a gen-
eral idea of a book or an article, its content and organization.
Introduce skimming after students have practiced previewing and
predicting. Previewing and predicting is an easy strategy for students
to learn and serves as a good introduction to skimming.

Procedure
1. Before your students read a text, introduce skimming: reading
very fast, without stopping to get the general meaning. Check
to see if they skim in their first language. Explain that readers’
understanding is better when they know about the topic.
2. To skim a book, tell your students to read rapidly:
• the title and subtitle
• the author(s)
• the date of publication
• the table of contents (What are the major sections and the
titles of chapters?)
• the introductions to the major sections
• the first and concluding paragraphs of each chapter
3. To skim articles or chapters in a book, tell your students to read
rapidly:
• the title and subtitle
• the author(s)
• the abstract (if any)
• the sections (both major and sub-)
• the first sentence of each paragraph
• any graphics (photos, maps, charts, etc.)
• the final (or summary) paragraph
4. Have students practice the strategy.
5. Give students a set period of time depending on the reading
they are going to skim. Encourage them to read quickly
by announcing the amount of time remaining (e.g., “Two
minutes . . . one minute . . . stop!”). It can be challenging to

PART III: TEACHING FLUENCY Fluency Strategies 25

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

know how much time to allow, so skim the text before class,
timing yourself, and then use that time to calculate the time you
will allow for your students to skim.
6. Consider giving the students a comprehension question about
the general meaning of the text after they have skimmed it.
For example, The general meaning of the article is: followed by
three choices.
7. Have students practice skimming frequently.
8. Make sure each task is a bit more challenging than the
previous one.
9. Encourage your students to use skimming on their own.

Ignoring Unknown Words

This useful fluency strategy of ignoring unknown words is relatively
easy to teach and for students to learn. Readers use this strategy when
reading in their L1. It simply involves ignoring unknown words and
continuing reading.

Procedure
1. Find a reading that has several words your students do
not know.
2. Compose several questions about the overall meaning of the
text and the main ideas. Avoid questions that are concerned
with supporting information or details.
3. Introduce the strategy. Tell your students that they do not need
to know the meaning of every word to understand the meaning
of a text.
4. Advise them to ignore words they do not know and to keep
reading.
5. Now instruct them to read the text that you selected. Make
sure they do not use their dictionaries. When they finish, they
should answer the questions you prepared.
6. Have them read the text a second time to check their answers.
7. Finish by discussing how much they could understand without
knowing all of the words.

26 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Tips for Teaching Fluency Strategies

• Set a time limit (e.g., 30 seconds; 1 minute) for activities that
you use to practice a fluency strategy. If a time limit is not
given, students may simply read slowly and carefully to find the
information.
• Do fluency strategy practice with readings that students have
already read and that they understand. The focus is fluency, not
understanding the reading.

Conclusion
This chapter presented four strategies that can help students become
fluent readers. Bear in mind that fluency strategies need to be timed;
otherwise, students might read slowly and carefully. In Chapter 9, the
focus is fluency activities.

Reflective Break
• Do you think you could teach any of these fluency
strategies?

• Why or why not?

PART III: TEACHING FLUENCY Fluency Strategies 27

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

9
Fluency Activities

This chapter looks at four activities to help learners develop reading

fluency. An example accompanies each activity. You can easily make
your own activities, using these examples as models. Similar to fluency
strategy practice, fluency activities need to be timed.

Reading Faster
This fluency activity encourages students to try to read a text faster
than they read it before. Do this three times with an article that is
interesting and most can read.
Tell students:
1. Use a timer to time yourself.
2. Read the passage. How long did it take you? Write the time
here: _________.
3. Now read the passage again to see if you can read it faster than
the first time. How long did it take you? Write the time here:
_________.
4. Read it a third time. Can you read it even faster? How long did
it take you? Write the time here: _________.

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Find the Same Word, Pair, or Phrase

In the chart below scan each line to find the phrase on the left. Phrases
may appear more than once. Can you finish in 15 seconds? The first
one is done for you.

a b c d e
1. back out back in back up back out back side back down
2. deal with dealer deal out peal out deal with deal down
3. come up come out come up come over come in come up
4. at odds at odds odds are odds out at odds poor odds

Paced Reading
• Find an article on a topic that is of interest to your students and
that the majority can read.
• Set a reading rate goal at which you would like your students to
read. For example, if your students read slowly (fewer than 100
words per minute, or wpm) you could set the reading rate goal
at 125 wpm. The purpose is to give a good idea of the rate at
which they need to read in order to read 125 wpm.
• Divide the reading into four blocks of 125 words each.
• Distribute the reading and have your students read it. Time
them for 4 minutes, announcing the time at 1-minute intervals.
• After each minute, regardless of where they are in the text,
students go to the next block.
• If they finish reading a block before 1 minute is up, tell them
to reread.
• Do this activity as often as possible. When you believe that the
class is ready to move to a faster rate (e.g., 150 wpm), design a
new reading.
• The number of reading blocks is up to you. You could have
more or fewer, depending on the class time and the ability of
your students.

PART III: TEACHING FLUENCY Fluency Activities 29

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Timed Repeated Reading

In this activity, learners read a familiar passage, generally one that they
have previously read, for a certain amount of time, usually 1 to 3 min-
utes. Then they stop, go back to the beginning of the passage, and read
again for the same amount of time. This procedure is then repeated. At
the end of each timed period, when the teacher says stop, the students
stop reading and underline the last word read. Instruct them to read at
a comfortable rate, neither fast nor slow.
After the third reading, students count the number of words they
read each time (wpm) and record them in a chart:

Name:
Date 1st Reading #wpm 2nd Reading #wpm 3rd Reading #wpm

Conclusion
These four fluency activities, which students generally find enjoyable,
can easily be adapted to fit your students’ particular needs. Remember
to time them. For more fluency activities, see Day (2012). Now that
fluency and the teaching of fluency have been covered in Part II and
Part III, continue on to Part IV, Comprehension.

Reflective Break
• Do any of these fluency activities appeal to you?

• Why or why not?

30 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

10
What Is Comprehension?

This chapter is concerned with reading comprehension. It begins by

examining comprehension and then explains six types of reading com-
prehension. After reading this chapter, you will have gained insights for
teaching ESOL reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension

Reflective Break
Complete this sentence:
• Reading comprehension is _____________.

Most likely your completed sentence includes words and phrases

such as getting the meaning, understanding, and decoding. A more com-
plete answer can be found by looking, once again, at the definition of
reading given in Chapter 1. Can you recall it?

Reading is _____________.

Just in case you forgot: Reading is a number of interactive processes

between the reader and the text, in which readers use their knowledge to
build, to create, and to construct meaning. This definition allows teachers
to see comprehension as the product, or the result, of the interactive
processes.

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Reflective Break
Now complete this sentence:
• I teach my students to comprehend _____________.

Your sentence probably has something to do with reading a text

and answering comprehension questions. Using comprehension ques-
tions is common in ESOL reading courses and materials. This topic is
covered in Chapter 11. Your sentence might also include strategies. The
use of strategies to teach ESOL reading is the focus of most published
materials. This topic is the focus of Chapter 12.
Viewing comprehension as a product means that it can be measured.
Generally, reading comprehension is measured by comprehension
questions, which take a variety of forms. Related to the measurement
of comprehension is accuracy. The accuracy of an individual’s under-
standing of a text can be measured as well. The focus of most ESOL
reading instruction is comprehension; as mentioned in Chapter 5, flu-
ency is often neglected, even though it is the basis of comprehension.
In sum, comprehension can be seen as
• the product, or result, of the interactive processes
• meaning, or understanding
• accuracy
• measurable (e.g., comprehension questions)
• the focus of most ESOL reading instruction

Types of Comprehension
In teaching comprehension, six types of comprehension are useful in
helping students interact with their readings.

32 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Literal Comprehension

Reflective Break
Complete this sentence:
• Literal comprehension is _____________.

Literal comprehension is an understanding of the straightforward

meaning of the text, such as facts. Literal comprehension questions
can be answered directly from the reading. Check your students’ literal
comprehension first to make sure they have understood the basic
meaning. An example of a literal comprehension question is: “What is
literal comprehension?”

Reorganization
The second type of comprehension is reorganization. Students use
information from various parts of the reading and combine them for
additional understanding. For example, a reader might read at the
beginning of a story that John Doe died in 2012; later, the reading
might reveal that he was born in 1962. In order to answer the question,
How old was Mr. Doe when he died?, the student has to combine infor-
mation from different parts of the reading to get the correct answer.
Questions that use this type of comprehension teach students to exam-
ine the text in its entirety.

Inference
Inference requires students to combine their literal understanding
with their own knowledge. Students need to take information from the
reading and relate it to what they know in order to make an inference.

Reflective Break
• Why might it be difficult for students to answer an inference
question?

PART IV: COMPREHENSION What Is Comprehension? 33

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Students may find it difficult to answer inference questions because

the information is not explicitly given in the reading. One way of help-
ing them is to relate it to inferencing in the real world. For example,
if your friend comes to class with a wet umbrella; you can infer that it
is raining.

Prediction
Students use both their understanding of the story and their own
knowledge of the topic to predict what might happen next or after a
story ends. Consider using two types of prediction, while-reading and
post-reading. To illustrate while-reading prediction: Students could
read the first two paragraphs of a passage and answer a question about
what might happen next.
Post-reading prediction questions, like while-reading questions,
involve students by using information from the reading and their own
knowledge. For example, consider a romance in which the woman
and man are married at the end of the novel. A post-reading predic-
tion question might be: Do you think they will remain married? Why or
why not?
Making predictions before students read the text is a pre-reading
fluency strategy, as discussed in Chapter 8.

Evaluation
Evaluation, the fifth type of comprehension, asks students to make
a judgment about some aspect of the text. For example, an evalu-
ation comprehension question about this chapter might be: How
will the information in this chapter be helpful to you in teaching read-
ing? When answering an evaluation question, readers must use both
a literal understanding and their knowledge of the text’s topic and
related issues.

Reflective Break
• Why might ESOL students be reluctant to give an
evaluation of a text?

34 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Students might be hesitant to be critical of or disagree with the

printed word due to cultural factors. Model possible answers to evalua-
tion questions, and give both positive and negative aspects.

Personal Response
This type of comprehension, personal response, requires students to
give answers that depend on their feelings for the text. The answers
come from the students and not from the text. Although no personal
responses are incorrect, students must relate to the content of the text
and reflect a literal understanding of the material. For example, What
do you like or dislike about this chapter?
Also, like evaluation questions, cultural factors may make some stu-
dents hesitate to criticize. Modeling a variety of responses often helps
to overcome this reluctance.

Conclusion
This chapter discussed comprehension, and following chapters will
show how comprehension can be taught. Chapter 11 deals with com-
prehension questions; Chapter 12 with comprehension strategies.

Reflective Break
Before going to the next chapter, reflect on these two questions:
• Has your understanding of reading comprehension changed?

• What insights have you gained from this chapter?

PART IV: COMPREHENSION What Is Comprehension? 35

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

11
Comprehension Questions

The purpose of this chapter is to present a picture of five forms of

comprehension questions that can be used to teach the six types of
comprehension described in Chapter 10. A second goal is to demon-
strate that well-developed comprehension questions can help students
begin to think critically and intelligently.

Reflective Break
• Have you used comprehension questions in your teaching?

• Did some work better than others?

Forms of Questions
Yes/No Questions
Yes/no questions can be answered with either yes or no. For example, Is
this book about teaching ESOL reading?

Reflective Break
• What is the major drawback to using yes/no questions?

36
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Although they are a common form of comprehension question,

yes/no questions have the disadvantage of allowing the student a 50%
chance of guessing the correct answer. Consider following up with
other forms of questions to determine if the student has understood
the text.
You can use yes/no questions to teach all six types of comprehen-
sion. When they are used with personal response or evaluation, con-
sider following up with other question forms. For example, Do you like
teaching? Why?

Alternative Questions
Alternative questions are two or more yes/no questions connected with
or. For example, Does this chapter discuss the use of questions to teach read-
ing comprehension or to test reading comprehension? You may want to fol-
low up with other forms. Alternative questions work well with literal,
reorganization, inference, and prediction types of comprehension.

True/False
Although true/false questions are often used in commercially pub-
lished materials, be careful of relying exclusively on them. As with
yes/no questions, students have a 50% chance of guessing the correct
answer. Rather than simply accept a right answer, make sure to ask why
the answer is correct.
True/false questions can be used to teach all six types of compre-
hension. Follow-up questions are helpful when used with personal
response or evaluation: True or false: I like this chapter. Why or why not?

Wh- Questions
Questions beginning with where, what, when, who, how, and why are
commonly called wh-questions. They help students gain a literal
understanding of the text, with reorganizing information in the text,
and making evaluations, personal responses, and predictions. You
can also use them to follow up other question forms, such as yes/
no and alternative. How and why help students go beyond a literal
understanding.

PART IV: COMPREHENSION Comprehension Questions 37

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Multiple Choice
Multiple-choice questions come from other question forms. For
example,

When was this book published?

a. 2010
b. 2011
c. 2012
d. 2013

Often this question form has only one correct answer when dealing
with literal comprehension.
The multiple-choice format makes wh- questions easier to answer
than no-choice wh-questions because they give the students some pos-
sible answers. Students might be able to check the text to see if any of
the choices are discussed, and then make a choice.
Multiple-choice questions are effective with literal comprehension.
They can also be used with prediction and evaluation with follow-up
questions or activities that allow students to explain their choices.

Three Important Considerations

Regardless of the type of comprehension or the question form, make
sure that the questions are used to help students interact with the text.
This can be done by making sure that students have the reading in
front of them while answering questions. They should be able to refer
to the reading because reading comprehension, not memory skills, is
being taught.
Another consideration to ensure that the questions actually teach
is avoiding tricky questions. Because the goal is helping students to
improve their reading comprehension, resist the temptation to trick
them with cleverly worded questions (e.g., a complex question in
which one clause is true and the other is false). Negative wording in a
question can also make it tricky. Such unclear or misleading questions
tend to discourage students. It is better to ask about important aspects
of the text with straightforward, unambiguous questions.

38 Teaching Reading
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Finally, be aware that using comprehension questions in teaching

reading can be overdone. Even highly motivated students can become
bored answering 25 questions on a three-paragraph reading.

Conclusion
Well-designed comprehension questions can help students understand
a text. Comprehension questions are only a means to an end, however;
the use of questions by themselves does not necessarily result in read-
ers who interact with a text utilizing the six types of comprehension
presented in Chapter 10. To ensure that your students are actively
involved in creating meaning, promote a discussion of the answers—
both the right and wrong ones—through a combination of teacher-
fronted and group activities. Also, comprehension strategies, the sub-
ject of Chapter 12, help learners interact with a text.

Reflective Break
To close this chapter, here is a true/false reflection question:
• True or false? By reading this chapter, I have gained a deeper
understanding of comprehension questions.

• Explain your answer.

PART IV: COMPREHENSION Comprehension Questions 39

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

12
Comprehension Strategies

Having students answer questions is one means to learn to read.

Teaching learning comprehension strategies is also beneficial. The aim
of this chapter is to provide five comprehension strategies:
• reread the story
• use your knowledge of the topic to help you read
• find main ideas in paragraphs
• recognize supporting information
• distinguish between fact and opinion

Reflective Break
• Do you recognize any of these strategies?

• Why do you think they are comprehension strategies?

Reread the Story

When a reader reads a text a second time, she understands it better.
Research has demonstrated clearly that the more a person knows about
a reading (e.g., topic, organization), the greater her comprehension is.
So when students read a text a second time, obviously their compre-
hension increases. This strategy is simple but effective.

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Procedure
1. First read the story.
2. Do not stop for words you do not know.
3. Then read it a second time.

Use Your Knowledge of

the Topic to Help You Read
Remind students that understanding is an interaction between the
reader and the text. Good readers use their knowledge of the topic to
help them read a text. This easy-to-use strategy helps students achieve
greater comprehension.

Procedure
1. First, use the previewing and predicting fluency strategy (see
Chapter 8).
2. Next, think about what you know about the topic of the
reading.
3. Then think about what information you might find in the
reading.
4. Now read the story.

Find Main Ideas in Paragraphs

Finding main ideas in paragraphs is an important strategy in reading
academic texts. Generally, every paragraph has a main idea, the most
important information the writer wants to convey. The main idea is
often near the beginning of the paragraph.

Procedure
1. Look for cover ideas (i.e., ideas that include other ideas).
2. Become familiar with the places where academic authors
typically state their main ideas, and check those places within
the text.
3. Look at subheadings to see if they suggest main ideas.

PART IV: COMPREHENSION Comprehension Strategies 41

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

4. Watch for paraphrases and repetition; these often signal points

authors feel are worth repeating.
5. Read the abstract or introduction, and the summary (if there is
one) to find the main ideas stated or restated.

You can use a number of activities to teach this strategy. The following
activity is particularly helpful.

Activity
1. Find a reading that has a main idea in each paragraph. You
might have to revise the paragraphs to make sure each one has
an identifiable main idea. Number the paragraphs.
2. On a piece of paper, write each main idea, but not in the order
in which they appear in the reading. Photocopy it and give it to
the students.
3. Instruct your students to read the text, using some of the
procedures listed above to find the main idea in each paragraph.
4. When they finish reading the text, have them write the
paragraph number next to its main idea.

Recognize Supporting Information

The ideas and facts that authors use to prove or explain their main
ideas and the structures they use to present this information are called
supporting information. It supports or reinforces the main idea of a
paragraph.
In academic reading, students need to be able to recognize and
evaluate how sound a claim is. In order to do this, they must be able to
find the main ideas and then the supporting evidence.

Procedure
1. Give students examples of common types of supporting
information, such as
• examples
• facts or statistics
• reasons
• cause-and-effect

42 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

• compare–contrast
• classification
• descriptions
• steps or procedures (time sequence/process/chronological)
2. Find a reading with good uses of supporting information.
3. Prepare a matching activity with supporting information in
Column A and the main ideas they support in Column B. For
example,

Column A:
Supporting Information Column B: Main Ideas
___ 1. astronauts a. to show an old drug being used
in a new way
___ 2. Maria Koike b. to show an old drug being used
in a traditional way
___ 3. people with high c. to show a situation that future
blood pressure drugs might treat

4. Distribute the reading and the handout.

5. Instruct your students to scan the text for the supporting
information in Column A and match them with the main ideas
they support in Column B.

Distinguish Between Fact and Opinion

It is important to know the difference between a fact and an opinion.
A fact is something that happened or is true. An opinion is some-
one’s idea or belief; it can also be an expression of agreement or
disagreement.

Procedure
1. Use a reading with facts and opinions.
2. Make an activity with a number of statements.
3. Instruct your students to read the text and then identify the
statements as either facts or opinions.

PART IV: COMPREHENSION Comprehension Strategies 43

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Reflective Break
Reflect on your own teaching:
• Do you use any of these comprehension strategies?

• If you do, which ones?

• Are they helpful?

Conclusion
If your students learn and use these five comprehension strategies,
their reading comprehension will improve. Of course, there are many
more comprehension strategies and activities you can use in your class-
room (see Day, 2012).

Reflective Break
• What was the most helpful thing you learned in this
chapter?

• How might it be helpful?

44 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

13
Planning the Reading Lesson

The purpose of this chapter is to look at how to plan a reading lesson.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to plan effective reading
lessons.

Reflective Break
• A lesson plan is _____________.

Although there is no single definition, a lesson plan can be viewed

as a teacher’s description of what he or she will do in teaching a class. Such
descriptions may take at least two forms. They may exist only in the
teacher’s mind—with no hard copies—or a in a written lesson plan.

Reflective Break
• What form is your typical lesson plan? Written? In your
head?

• Why?

The informational content of lesson plans also varies. They may

contain detailed information, including learning outcomes (LOs),
activities, materials, notes, instructions for students, homework assign-
ments, assessment tasks, and timelines. Other plans may be simply an
outline of what the teacher would like to do in the class.

45
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Reflective Break
Now consider this question:
• Are lesson plans helpful?

Some teachers, particularly experienced ones, use lessons plans as a

guide or a road map. They often deviate from what they have planned,
depending on a number of factors, such as something that came up in
class that they had not anticipated, a difficulty in a planned activity, or
the atmosphere in the class (e.g., students were bored or uninterested).
Teachers with little experience tend to continue using their lesson
plans regardless of the success of the plan.
A number of elements are helpful in planning to teach a reading
class. These elements often include LOs, activities to achieve the LOs,
materials needed (e.g., readings, handouts), and homework assign-
ments. The first step is to determine what you want your students to
learn: the LOs. LOs are critical to planning an effective reading les-
son because teachers need to know what they want their students to
learn—to be able to do—by the end of the lesson.

Reflective Break
• What are some LOs for an ESOL reading lesson?

Some LOs for an extensive reading lesson are

• select books to read that are within the students’ reading
comfort zones
• think creatively through writing about their books in ways that
encourage original and expressive ideas
• engage in creative thinking and writing about the books they
have read
• be able to recognize the plot and characters in a story

46 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Some LOs for fluency are

• increase students’ skimming rate
• increase their scanning rate
• ignore unknown words

Some LOs for comprehension are

• make inferences
• answer a personal response question
• identify main ideas in paragraphs

Once a teacher has developed the LOs, it is necessary to design

activities or tasks to achieve them. It is important to make a specific
connection between the activities and the LOs, that is, there should be
at least one activity or task for each LO.

Reflective Break
• Make some activities for one of the LOs above.

Farrell (2009) offers seven useful principles when developing lesson

plans for a reading class (pp. 74–78). These are particularly helpful:
1. Use reading materials that are interesting.
2. Make reading the major activity of the reading lesson.
3. Have a specific objective for each lesson.
4. Choose appropriate reading materials.

Additionally, consider these three principles:

1. Think about how you will know if you have achieved your LOs.
2. Consider what could go wrong and what you would do if that
happened.
3. Reflect after the lesson. What happened?

PART IV: COMPREHENSION Planning the Reading Lesson 47

 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Conclusion
An effective reading lesson plan can take many forms and involve a
variety of different elements. There is no one approach to an effective
reading lesson given the diversity of teachers, students, and contexts.

Reflective Break
• What factors do you find most important in planning an
ESOL reading lesson?

48 Teaching Reading
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

14
Conclusion

The overarching goal of this book is to engage teachers in reflection

on how reading may be taught to ESOL learners.
As a final activity, return to Chapter 2, and complete the question-
naire again. Try not to look at your original responses. When you are
finished, complete the final Reflective Break.

Reflective Break
• Were any of your ideas about ESOL teaching and learning
confirmed?

• Did you learn something new?

• Did you change your mind about some aspect of ESOL

reading?

49
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

References

Bamford, J., & Day, R. R. (Eds.). (2004). Extensive reading activities for teaching
language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Beglar, D., Hunt, A., & Kite, Y. (2012). The effect of pleasure reading on
Japanese university EFL learners’ reading rates. Language Learning, 62(3),
1–39.
Cho, K., & Krashen, S. D. (1994). Acquisition of vocabulary from the Sweet
Valley Kids series: Adult ESL acquisition. Journal of Reading, 37, 662–667.
Day, R. R. (Ed.). (2012). New ways in teaching reading, revised. Alexandria, VA:
TESOL International Association.
Farrell, T. S. C. (2009). Teaching reading to English language learners. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading
research. TESOL Quarterly, 25(3), 375–397.
Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Hafiz, F., & Tudor, I. (1989). Extensive reading and the development of lan-
guage skills. ELT Journal, 43(1), 4–13.
Judge, P. (2011). Driven to read: A multiple case study of enthusiastic readers
in an extensive reading program at a Japanese high school. Reading in a
Foreign Language, 23, 161–186.
Lightbown, P., Halter, R., White, J., & Horst, M. (2002). Comprehension-
based learning: The limits of “Do it yourself.” Canadian Modern Language
Review, 58, 427–464.

50
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based

assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for
reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institutes of Child Health
and Human Development.
Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language (2nd ed.).
Oxford, England: Heinemann.
Takase, A. (2007). Japanese high school students’ motivation for extensive L2
reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 19, 1–19.

Suggested Readings and Sources

Day, R. R., et al. (2011). Bringing extensive reading into the classroom. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
This easy-to-read book guides teachers through the different ways of
using extensive reading through four case studies describing projects in a
range of learning environments.
Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading in the second language class-
room. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
This comprehensive examination of extensive reading shows how read-
ing large quantities of language learner literature helps students learn to
read and develop positive attitudes and increased motivation to read. It
has a wealth of practical advice for implementing extensive reading in the
classroom.
The Extensive Reading Foundation. [Link].
The Extensive Reading Foundation is a not-for-profit, charitable organi-
zation whose initiatives include the annual Language Learner Literature
Award for the best new works in English, maintenance of a bibliography
of research on extensive reading, helping educational institutions set up
extensive reading programs through grants that fund books and other
reading material, and an online Guide to Extensive Reading, a highly rec-
ommended, free publication.
Reading in a Foreign Language. ([Link]/rfl)
This free, online, scholarly journal has a number of useful articles on
extensive reading and reading fluency.

References 51
 ©2013 by TESOL International Association. All rights reserved. Not for distribution.

Also Available in the English Language

Teacher Development Series

Reflective Teaching (Thomas S. C. Farrell)

Teaching Listening (Ekaterina Nemtchinova)
Teaching Pronunciation ( John Murphy)
Language Classroom Assessment (Liying Cheng)
Cooperative Learning and Teaching (George Jacobs & Harumi Kimura)
Classroom Research for Language Teachers (Tim Stewart)
Teaching Digital Literacies ( Joel Bloch)
Teaching Reading (Richard Day)
Teaching Grammar (William Crawford)
Teaching Vocabulary (Michael Lessard-Clouston)
Teaching Writing (Zuzana Tomas, Ilka Kostka, & Jennifer A. Mott-Smith)
English Language Teachers as Administrators (Dan Tannacito)
Content-Based Instruction (Margo Dellicarpini & Orlando Alonso)
Teaching English as an International Language
(Ali Fuad Selvi & Bedrettin Yazan)
Teaching Speaking (Tasha Bleistein, Melissa K. Smith, & Marilyn Lewis)

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