Elena Kryukova

Melinda S. Harrison

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch41   

ABSTRACT

The process of reading might seem rather straightforward and easy, but it requires a complex interaction of skills and knowledge. Reading processes might be similar across languages, but these processes might also vary. This means that we, as English teachers, need to consider several different aspects when designing our reading curriculum and assessment. Such aspects are based on our learners’ background and goals, the texts to be read, and different ways to assess reading. In this chapter, you will learn about aspects to consider when designing a reading lesson. You will also learn strategies to teach reading to students who are learning English as an additional language. 

Keywords: reading instruction, reading processes, reading curriculum, reading assessment, teaching how to read

Kryukova, E. & Harrison, M. (2023). Strategies to Teach Reading. In V. Canese & S. Spezzini (Eds.), Teaching English in Global Contexts, Language, Learners and Learning (pp. 496-504). Editorial Facultad de Filosofía, UNA. https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch41

INTRODUCTION

Literacy practices are “common patterns in using reading and writing in a particular situation” (Barton, 2007, p. 36). These situations are always social; we read what someone has written, and then we write something that someone (maybe even ourselves) will read. Reading, like writing, is a key literacy practice of all written languages. Fortunately, first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading processes are similar (Grabe, 2017; Grabe & Stoller, 2020). This means that scholars and theorists can draw from L1 reading research in fields such as neuropsychology and psycholinguistics to inform best practices in the teaching of L2 reading. 

Although processes in L1 reading might be similar to those in L2 reading, differences can exist between an L1 and an L2 that cause unique complexities for L2 readers. Such differences can be related to each language’s respective phonology, morphology, orthography, and writing system as well as sociocultural aspects and other language-related features. Although research on L1 reading pedagogy can provide useful insights for L2 reading pedagogy, we need to use critical awareness when working with L2 readers. We should always consider how the reading processes of L2 readers are unique compared with the reading processes of L1 readers even if both groups of students are reading the same text in the same language. 

BACKGROUND

Research on the reading process continues to shed new light on what happens when we read, especially now that much extensive reading is done digitally (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018). Early beliefs about the reading process relied on a linear, mechanical conceptualization with a focus on the text usually known as bottom-up processing. With time, scholars began to see the influence of the reader on reading comprehension. When reading pedagogy began focusing on the reader’s purposes, prior knowledge, and motivations, this pedagogy shifted to top-down processing. Researchers then discovered that the reading process is so complicated that it requires readers to simultaneously use bottom-up and top-down processing in an interactive or integrated way (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018). In other words, when reading, we decode and draw upon our knowledge of words and other fundamentals (graphology, phonology, morphology, grammar, etc.) while subconsciously making inferences, keeping information in our short-term memory, and connecting the text with our motivations and our own experiences.

In other words, when reading, we use bottom-up processes to apply decoding skills and top-down processes to apply knowledge (Hedge, 2000). Many processes must occur simultaneously for skills and knowledge to be used when reading. Such knowledge includes 

• organizing sentences in that language (syntactic knowledge), 

• combining words and parts of words to make meaning (morphological knowledge), 

• connecting to the world (general world knowledge), 

• examining social and cultural aspects (sociocultural knowledge), 

• knowing about the text (topic knowledge), and 

• identifying the text’s audience, purpose, format, and author (genre knowledge).

MAJOR DIMENSIONS

Although reading processes are similar for L1 and L2 readers, we need to be aware of some unique differences when comparing what L1 and L2 readers do when reading. Grabe and Stoller (2020) explained six differences in linguistic knowledge and processing when comparing L1 and L2 readers. These differences are as follows:

Lexical, Grammatical, and Discourse Knowledge

L1 and L2 readers do not share the same lexical, grammatical, and discourse knowledge about the same language because it is an L1 for some readers and an L2 for others. L1 readers typically learned to read this language (their L1) after they had acquired the oral aspects of that language and internalized how it operates. However, L2 readers often learn to read this language (their L2) simultaneously while learning its oral aspects. In other words, L2 readers learn how this L2 works while learning to read. Consequently, when teaching L2 readers, we need to remember that they are learning about this new language while also learning to read it and write it. Thus, from the beginning, we need to build on the learners’ growing discourse knowledge (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, text organization).

Metalinguistic and Metacognitive Awareness

L2 readers often have more metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness of an L2 than they do of their L1. If we compare our own experiences when learning our L1 and an L2, we probably will not recall details of how we acquired our L1 because of having done so subconsciously. However, we can probably recall details of how we learned an L2 because of having done so consciously. Because of this, we may even be more aware of how an L2 operates linguistically than our L1. Hence, as practitioners, we need to provide reflective activities and discussions for helping L2 readers develop metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness of their L2 reading processes.

Language Differences Between an L1 and an L2 

Given each language’s unique linguistic structure, an individual’s L1 is inherently different from any L2. Of importance is the extent of these differences. For example, English and Spanish use similar orthography and share several historically based cognates. In contrast, English and Chinese are significantly different in these and other ways. To help our English learners develop reading skills in English, we need to be keenly aware of the differences between their L1 and English (as an L2). 

Learners’ Knowledge About an L2

Some L2 learners have more knowledge about an L2 than their peers. Learners with more lexical, grammatical, and discourse knowledge about how this L2 operates tend to experience less difficulty in learning to read that language. Conversely, learners with less knowledge of how this L2 operates tend to experience greater difficulty in learning to read that language. This is called the Language Threshold Hypothesis (Clarke, 1980; Grabe & Stoller, 2020). Because the ideal linguistic threshold to learn L2 reading differs among L2 learners, we need to find out about our learners and their existing L2 knowledge before asking them to read. This means that we first need to teach basic knowledge about the targeted L2 to our L2 readers, especially knowledge that relates directly to the text being read, before asking our students to read that text. 

Transfer of Reading Processes

The transfer of some reading processes from the learners’ L1 to an L2 can both aid and hinder. When reading an L2 passage, early L2 readers often rely on their L1 reading abilities and L1 knowledge as well as on world knowledge to aid them with comprehension. However, such L1 knowledge can also hinder or delay this process by interfering with both decoding and making inferences. Hence, as practitioners, we need to be watchful for when L2 readers’ reliance on their L1 is reduced. This will signal an appropriate time to provide additional instruction for further developing their L2 reading abilities.

Crosslinguistic Interaction

Crosslinguistic interaction is inevitable. L2 readers will always rely to some extent on their knowledge of L1 reading. The readers’ knowledge of their L1 and an emerging L2 will interact in interesting ways that are different for each individual reader. The learners’ use of their L1 is an important tool in learning an L2 (Grabe & Stoller, 2020). Hence, we can support our learners with L2 reading by having them work collaboratively with other language learners when doing the same linguistic tasks.

PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATIONS

When planning and implementing an L2 reading curriculum, keep in mind that L1 reading and L2 reading are processes with similar aspects and unique differences (as determined by features in those languages). Hence, after first getting to know your L2 learners, select appropriate reading texts, provide explicit instruction of reading strategies, and conduct reading assessments.

Know Your L2 Learners

Before you begin curriculum planning, ask the following questions about your language learners:

• What age and/or school level are your learners? 

• What languages do they use outside of the English classroom? 

• What is their L1 reading level? 

• What L2 reading fluency are you targeting in your reading lessons? 

• Why do your learners want to read in an L2? 

• What kinds of texts do your learners want to read in the L2 (or need to read)? 

To answer these questions, collect data by doing a needs assessment (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018). When assessing learners’ needs, also learn about their interests. This information will help you to foster learners’ motivation by selecting texts that are of interest to them. 

Select Appropriate Reading Texts

After you know your learners’ interests and motivations, work with your learners in selecting texts that align with their ages and L2 reading levels. In addition to textbooks designed to teach L2 reading, provide your L2 learners with real-world texts (e.g., menus, biographies, service contracts, webpages). When choosing reading texts for your L2 readers, consider the following (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018):

• Text length. Choose shorter texts for intensive reading and longer texts for extensive reading.

• Vocabulary. Is the vocabulary content-specific? Academic? General? What proportion of the vocabulary will be familiar to your learners?

• Syntax. Look closely at the sentence length and complexity. Analyze the readability of the text and match it to your readers’ fluency.

• Text structure. Look for cohesive devices like transitions and key words, logical ordering of ideas as well as extra characteristics that may aid in comprehension, such as vocabulary glosses, visuals such as photos or diagrams, and hyperlinks (for digital texts).

• Topics. Ensure that the topic of the selected text is familiar to the learners.

If students are interested and/or have background knowledge about a given topic, they are more likely to work harder when trying to comprehend a text (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018). In this case, instead of using the above elements (length, vocabulary, syntax, structure) to analyze the appropriateness of a text, consider pre-teaching some of these elements for students to practice while reading a topic of high interest. 

Provide Explicit Instruction of Reading Strategies

Students need explicit instruction of reading strategies for utilizing interactive top-down and bottom-up processes when learning to read in an L2 (Grabe, 2017; Grabe & Stoller, 2020; Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018; Oxford & Amerstorfer, 2018). When selecting reading strategies to teach your L2 learners, consider their unique needs while also addressing the different types of skills and knowledge required for reading the targeted text. These reading strategies can be cognitive (word analysis, inference, summarizing), metacognitive (self-monitoring and self-correction), and social-affective (working collaboratively with peers and instructors) (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018). Several of these L2 reading strategies can be aligned according to the three stages of the reading process: before reading, during reading, and after reading.

Before-reading strategies take place before readers start to read. Such strategies prepare them for the reading task. To plan your before-reading strategies, consider what you know about your L2 readers and, also, about the text. Also consider how to bridge the gap between their knowledge of the strategies needed and what strategies are needed for successfully reading the text. Here are some strategies and activities to prepare L2 readers for a reading task:

• Activate readers’ knowledge and interest in the topic and pre-teach any content-specific knowledge and vocabulary.

• Ask your L2 readers to write some questions about the text and make predictions about what they might learn from reading it.

• Have these readers survey the text for structural elements such as title, sections, headings, and information about the author(s).

During-reading strategies take place when readers are reading the text. Research has illustrated the importance of how readers interact with a text while they are in the process of reading, rather than what they do immediately before reading or just after reading (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2018). These during-reading strategies often need to be explicitly taught, as many L2 readers do not intuitively think about doing them. Here are some strategies to do while reading:

• Have your L2 readers do a first reading of the text. During this first reading, they skim the text quickly to get a sense of its main idea.

• Ask your L2 readers to follow their first reading with a close reading of the text. At this point, have them answer the questions that they had asked as a before-reading strategy or some questions that you provide. These readers can also take notes in the margins or on paper (organized by paragraph or by section). They can even highlight interesting points or unfamiliar vocabulary.

After-reading strategies take place after the L2 readers have read a text several times (and hopefully after they have completed before-reading and during-reading activities.). The goals of after-reading strategies include evaluating and extending the readers’ learning. As such, some of these activities might help informally assess learners’ needs and comprehension. At this point in the reading process, have L2 readers do several after-reading strategies and activities:

• Ask your L2 readers to summarize the text, either in writing or aloud in small groups.

• Have your L2 readers consider these aspects: Who is the author? What is the author’s purpose? What is the structure of the text? Who is the intended audience of the text?

• Guide your L2 readers in reflecting about the text, either by writing individually or by speaking in small groups. When reflecting, they incorporate their reactions, experiences, feelings, and/or critiques about this text into their own evaluation of the text.

Conduct Reading Assessments

Because reading assessment is as complicated as the reading process, take care when designing and conducting reading assessments. Assessments specifically for L2 reading can contain many components. Hence, when designing your reading assessments, do the following:

• Consider how the needs and interests of your L2 readers align with your targeted standards, goals, and learning outcomes.

• Select strategies for formative and summative assessment.

• Decide whether to assess how L2 readers do controlled responses (e.g., multiple-choice questions and cloze activities) or constructed responses (e.g., summaries, extended responses, logs, journals) or both.

In this chapter, you learned about bottom-up and top-down processes involved with reading. You learned about differences in linguistic knowledge and reading processes between L1 and L2 readers. You also learned that an L2 reading curriculum should address L2 learners’ needs regarding text selection, provide explicit instruction of reading strategies, and include assessment.

Here are some key concepts about strategies to teach L2 reading:

• Reading involves many complicated processes, whether reading in an L1 or an L2.

• Bottom-up processes of reading require learners to recognize letters, words, and sound-spelling relationships while top-down processing focuses on how readers construct knowledge from a text. Interactive models of reading involve both bottom-up and top-down reading strategies.

• L1 readers and L2 readers share similar reading processes but with some unique differences.

• Learners should have some input on text selection. Texts should be selected based on the learners’ interests and language levels. Activities should be designed to facilitate their reading process. 

• The instruction of explicit reading strategies is critical. Before-reading, during-reading, and after-reading strategies should be modeled and taught.

• Reading assessment can take many forms depending on curriculum, outcomes, goals, and learners. 

Based on the above reading strategies, develop meaningful answers:

1. Think of your own experiences with learning how to read in your L1 and compare them to learning to read in an L2. How were those experiences similar? How were they different?

2. When teaching L2 readers, how can you assess their reading needs and preferences? 

3. In what ways can you involve your L2 readers in text selection?

4. What reading strategies do you use before, during, and after reading. How might you teach those strategies to L2 readers?

To practice what you have learned, think about several of your L2 readers and do the following:

1. Draft a needs assessment to first gather information from your L2 readers and then to plan your reading curriculum.

2. Work in a small group, choose three texts, and analyze the appropriateness of these texts for your L2 readers.

3. By using these texts, develop strategies for your L2 readers to use before, during, and after reading and, also, design formative and summative assessments.

To expand your knowledge about strategies to teach L2 reading, visit these websites:

• Lesson plans. http://englishisapieceofcake.com/how-to-teach-esl.html 

• Phonics. https://www.phonics.com/  

• Sight words. https://sightwords.com/  

• Strategic. https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2018/01/08/reading-skills-strategic-reading/ 

• Theories. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/theories-reading 

• Videos. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-reading-writing 

Reading strategies and related aspects are also addressed by other chapters in this book: 

Chapter 10 Building Language Awareness by H. Lalwani

Chapter 20 Creating an ELT Classroom Community by B. Crosbie and D. Carter

Chapter 28 Teaching English to Young Learners Through Authentic Literature by S. Ruffinelli and C. Ortiz

Chapter 42 Strategies to Teach Writing by M. Harrison

Chapter 43 Strategies to Teach Integrated Skills by L. Fuller

Chapter 45 Strategies to Teach Vocabulary by G. Dean-Fastnacht

Chapter 46 Introduction to Language Assessment by N. Kuhlman 

Barton, D. (2007). Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language (2nd ed.). Blackwell.

Clarke, M. A. (1980). The short circuit hypothesis of ESL reading - Or when language competence interferes with reading performance. The Modern Language Journal, 64(2), 203-209. https://doi.org/10.2307/325304 

Grabe, W. (2017). L2 reading comprehension and development. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning, Vol. III (pp. 299-311). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315716893

Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2020). Teaching and researching reading (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Hedgcock, J. S., & Ferris, D. R. (2018). Teaching readers of English: Students, texts, and contexts (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315465579 

Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford.

Oxford, R. L., & Amerstorfer, C. M. (Eds.). (2018). Language learning strategies and individual learner characteristics: Situating strategy use in diverse contexts. Bloomsbury

Elena Kryukova earned degrees in linguistics from the Moscow State Linguistic University (Russia) and in English philology from the Alcalá University (Spain). She did postgraduate studies at the Moscow State Pedagogical University where her thesis was on reading strategies for non-majors. Among other teaching experiences, Elena has worked as a language tutor in the School of Foreign Languages at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Her primary interests have been in phonology and English for specific purposes. 

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1088-7905 

Email for correspondence regarding this chapter: ekryukova@hse.ru

Melinda Harrison earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary English education (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) and a master’s degree in rhetoric, composition, and second language writing (Illinois State University). She earned an educational specialist degree in teaching of English to speakers of other languages and a doctorate in pedagogical studies in diverse populations (University of Alabama at Birmingham). Melinda has taught writing in high schools and post-secondary U.S. contexts including intensive English programs, university first-year composition departments, and graduate degree programs.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6939-6870 

Cover Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash