TEACHING READING

IN
HIGH SCHOOL

Melania A. Florendo
 Making every child a competent reader and a
functional learner is the ultimate goal of teaching
students to read. To become a competent reader,
one should be able to construct meaning from
what has been read using appropriate active
strategies to relate what he/she reads with his
background knowledge and experience.
Through continuous practice, fluency and
skill are enhanced and the child’s motivation to read
increases. Naturally his/her constant engagement
with different text exposes to varied learning and
insights that enable them to cope better with life
situations.
 Your Belie fs a bout Te ach ing R e ading

Statements Agree Dis - Don’t

agree know

1 It is important to pre-teach
all new vocabulary before
students read the text.
2 Students should only read
good literature in English.
Comics and newspapers
are bad for them in
school.
By: Do Tuan Minh, CFL, VNU
What is Reading ?
It is the process of decoding
symbols in order to construct
or derive meaning(reading
comprehension). It is a means
of language acquisition, of
communication, and of
sharing information and
ideas.
“Reading demands a two-pronged attack. It involves cracking the
alphabetic code to determine the words and thinking about those
words to construct meaning.” (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000, p.5). The
diagram below helps illustrate this point:

Reading

Decoding Thinking
Phonemic awareness Comprehension
Spelling, Constructing
Vocabulary meaning
Fluency Metacognition
Why some students struggle with
reading comprehension?
• Learning disability
• ADHD
• Phonological awareness
• Lack of vocabulary
• Lack of interest
• Stress or anxiety
 Profile of a
Proficient Reader
(Gear, 2006)
Three Stages of Teaching Reading
The major goal of reading
instruction should be the provision of
learning activities that will enable
students to think about and react to
what they read-in short, to read for
meaning. To achieve that goal, a
reading lesson should have three basic
parts representing phases of the lesson
that take place before, during, and after
reading.
1. Pre-reading Strategies
All reading and learning depends on what the learner
brings to the task. For this reason, the pre-reading stage is
considered the most important phase of a reading lesson. It
is here where students are guided to reflect on what they
already know or think about a topic so that it can help them
understand what they are going to read.

PRE-READING

Activating prior
Developing
knowledge and
motivation and
building background Developing concept purpose for reading
information and vocabulary
Activating Prior Knowledge and Building
Background Information

1. Preview and Predict

Several techniques to • Text Previews
activate a readers’ • Story Impressions
schema. • Group Predictions
 2. Developing Concept and
Vocabulary

There are practical techniques in

vocabulary development:

• Through realia or actual objects

• Through visuals
• Through demonstration
• Through context clues
• Semantic mapping
 3. Developing Motivation
and Setting the Purpose for
Reading
Before actual reading, assist students in
analyzing the material. Take “picture walks”
through the book if there are pictures besides
making predictions as to content, story
progression, or conclusion. In the absence of
pictures, help students get a “feel” for the
book and assist them in identifying the purpose
for their reading. Are students expected to
gather information of some type as they read?
Will they do something with the data after
reading? In this case, a KWL chart, a graphic
organizer, or an anticipation guide will help
students better to prepare for reading.
Three factors contribute to motivation:

• Attitude–the force which motivates a person to continue with

a task.
• Interest–the desire to know about or explore a topic.
• Self-concept– a fair and sincere feedback enhancing students’
positive view of themselves

The Motivation Question–Motive Question Tandem

Two questions are asked to prepare the students for reading:

• Motivation question–This to activate prior knowledge related

to the selection. Responses to this question are experience-
based.
• Motive question–This is to test the comprehension of the
selection. It is usually parallel with the motivation question.
2. During Reading Strategies
Reading of the text, which is the most obvious aspect
of the reading phase, may be taken to mean that the
students read the text silently in the classroom or at home
as part of the assignment. Provide some guide questions so
that they can focus better while reading. In the early grades
the teacher reads aloud as the students listen. Reading
aloud to children is the single most important activity for
building the knowledge required for eventual success in
reading. (Anderson et.al. 1985). It should be used for
learners in all levels. High school students should get a
read-aloud treat every now and then.
Read-Aloud
1.Read at a slower rate than normal conversational speech in order
to be heard in all parts of the room.
2.Focus on the students from the second to the last row. Look at
their faces as you read. Make them your barometer for volume.
3. Establish eye contact. Your listeners should be reminded you
are reading to them. Do not hesitate to pause while reading so
as to catch the attention of those who aren’t paying attention.
4.Make distinctions between characters when you read. You may
ask some students to assist you in reading by appointing them to
read the lines of specific characters.
5. Use minimal gestures. Some slow movements of the hands or
body will help emphasize some parts.
6.As much as possible, provide your students with a copy of the text
you are reading aloud so that they can follow your reading silently.
3. Post Reading Strategies
Post reading is the last phase of the reading lesson. It is
after reading when readers want to share and discuss ideas with
others. Post reading activities might include the following:
discussion, engagement activities, and reading-writing link. This
is illustrated by the diagram that follows:

POST READING STRATEGIES

Engagement Reading-Writing
Activities Link
Discussion
Discussion After reading, discussion follows to check
students’ comprehension of the text. The students go
through all the dimensions of reading comprehension
(Bloom).

1. First Dimension: Knowledge or Literal Understanding

A literal understanding of a selection provides the reader with the
most basic structure through which the writer expresses his
philosophy in life.
Answers to information or Wh-questions are explicitly stated in the
text.
Sample Questions:
• What is the title of the story?
• Who are the characters?
• Where does the grasshopper stay?
• Why does the ant save food?
2. SecondDimension: Comprehension or Interpretation
(Grasping Fully the Writer’s Ideas)

The reader is tasked to read between the lines to make

inferences. Sufficient clues are given to enable the reader
to arrive at the writer’s ideas. Questions on the second
dimension are still about the story though the answers are
derived and not lifted from the selection.

Sample Questions:

• Compare the grasshopper and the ant.

• What words describe the ant? the grasshopper?
• What does the saying “Save for a rainy day” mean?
3. Third Dimension: Application

The reader uses or applies learned materials in new and concrete

situations, processes, effects, conclusions.

Sample Question:
• If you were the grasshopper, what would you have done?
• Why is it important to practice thrift and economy?
Fourth Dimension: Analysis

he reader breaks down the material into component facts so that its
organizational structure can be understood such as elements, hypothesis,
statement of facts, others.

Sample Questions:

• What is the writer’s purpose for writing the story?

• What literary device did the writer use to make the selection
interesting to the readers?
5. Fifth Dimension: Synthesis
The reader puts parts together to form a whole new
pattern, structure, or design. He suggests or makes plans
of action.
ample Questions:
What other things can you save in order to economize?
What ways can you suggest to save on the following:

• Food?
• Electricity?
• Water?
• Clothing?
• Other resources?
Sixth Dimension: Evaluation
This is judging the value of something using internal
criteria.

Sample Questions:

• Prove that the ant did right in storing food for the
rainy day.

• Did the grasshopper deserve to go hungry? Cite

reasons for your answer.
Engagement Activities
Going beyond the literature after reading enables students to
elaborate on and reconsider the selection. Elaboration is based
on the notion that when readers actively integrate new
information with existing knowledge, greater understanding
and use of the new material will result (McNeil, 1987).

Comparing perspectives, debating, recollecting, summarizing,

and writing and reacting to the literature in a variety of ways
are all forms of elaboration or engagement activities for
students to reinforce, heighten, and develop ownership of
the reading experience. These are usually interspersed with
the questions asked during discussion.

• Cued Retelling–This is a highly interactive strategy for

having students retell a selection either orally or in written
form.
• Story Mapping
A story map includes the elements most stories represent such as a character’s
attempts to solve problem, the set of attempts to achieve the goal (usually the
major events or actions in the story), and the resolution (what happened in the
end, how the problem was solved). A story map is like the summary of a
narrative.
• Venn Diagrams for Comparing and Contrasting Stories /
Characters / Setting / and Personal Experiences
The Venn Diagram for comparing and contrasting lends itself well for use as a pre-
reading or follow-up to a reading task.

• Discussion Web
This incorporates the four language arts using cooperative learning ideas for
students to interact. It is especially useful for discussions in literature and in social
studies.
Reading-Writing Link

Students may do journal writing in response to literature through the following

activities:

• Writing an ending to a story

• Retelling the story or a part of the story from the point of view of a character
• Reading response journal
• Doing a news write-up about the exciting events in the story
• Summary journal – This should describe the action of the story, development
of the characters, impact of the setting on the plot, comments on the author’s
style, or other ideas the reader has after reading the selection.

Reading Intervention and Remediation

The Problem and Context

According to research, children who encounter problems in the beginning stages of

learning to read fall farther and farther behind their peers. There is nearly a 90%
chance that a child who is a poor reader at the end of
 Teaching the Seven
Strategies of Highly
Effective Readers
1.ACTIVATING
2.INFERRING
3.MONITORING-CLARIFYING
4.QUESTIONING
5.SEARCHING-SELECTING
6.SUMMARIZING
7.VISUALIZING-ORGANIZING
Grade 1 will remain a poor reader at the end of Grade 4 (Juel 1998). Although
most reading failure is necessary, it has been noted that 20% of students have
significant reading problems.
Who are the students at risk?
At- risk students have been identified as those who are likely to fail either in
life or in school . Children have been said to be at risk if they are identified as
having any six of some 45 factors which include the following:
• Children with a history of preschool language impairment
• Children with limited proficiency in English
• Children whose parents had difficulty learning to read
• Children with attention deficit – hyperactivity disorder
• Children who lock motivation to learn
• Children from poor neighborhoods
• Children who attend schools in which the classroom practices are deemed
ineffective
• Children who score low in standardized tests
• Children whose IQ is below 90
• Children who have negative self-image
• Children who are ill
• Children who have excessive absence from school
• Children who have been retained in a grade
The Solution to the Problem: Prevention
The basic intent of many remedial programs is to help students catch up so
that they can then learn with their peers. However, an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure. Over the last decade, a number of
programs have been created that are designed to help those students who
are more at risk of failing to learn to read and write. There are a number
of highly successful intervention programs which do not require extensive
training and maybe implemented with small groups of students by the
classroom teacher. These include the following:
•Early intervention in Reading – this is a program in which the first-grade
teacher spends twenty minutes a day working with five to seven of the
lowest achieving students. In this program, phonemic awareness and
phonics are emphasized. Phonics is thought through a pattern approach
and applied through children’s book that incorporate the patterns
presented. The program maybe adopted for use in second and third
grades: meeting in groups of no more from seven for 20-30 minutes,
students study word patterns, read easy chapter books, and engage in
writing activities.
 References
• https://www.adlit.org/topics/comprehension/teach-seven-strategies-
highly-effective-readers
• Teaching Reading in High School English Classes ED458526.pdf
• Alvermann, D. E., & Phelps, S. F. (1998). Content reading and literacy:
• www.slideshare.com