This book encourages readers to think about reading not only as an encounter with written language, but as a lifelong habit of engagement with ideas. We look at reading in four different ways: as linguistic process, personal experience, collective experience, and as classroom practice. We think about how reading influences a life, how it changes over time, how we might return at different stages of life to the same reading, how we might respond differently to ideas read in an L1 and L2. There are 44 teaching activities, all founded on research that explores the nature, value and impact of reading as an authentic activity rather than for language or study purposes alone. We consider what this means for schools and classrooms, and for different kinds of learners. The final part of the book provides practical stepping stones for the teacher to become a researcher of their own classes and learners. The four parts of the book offer a virtuous join between reading, teaching and researching. It will be useful for any teacher or reader who wishes to refresh their view of how reading fits in to the development of language and the development of a reading life.
Author(s): Jane Spiro, Amos Paran
Series: Research and Resources in Language Teaching
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 238
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CONTENTS
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Series Editor’s Preface
Introduction
Becoming a reading teacher
Why should a teacher of reading engage with research?
Ten questions about reading
What this book is not
What this book is
1. From research to implications
A: Framing Reading as Linguistic Process
Introduction
Question 1: What are we doing when we read?
Question 2: What are the different reasons and ways people read?
Question 3: What knowledge do we bring to our reading?
Question 4: What is the relationship between L1 and L2 reading?
B: Framing Reading as Personal Experience
Introduction
Question 5: Why and how do people read for pleasure?
Question 6: Can reading change the way we think and feel?
C: Framing Reading as Collective Experience
Introduction
Question 7: How far and in what ways is reading a collective act?
Reading groups and EFL learners
Teachers’ reading groups
D: Framing Reading as Pedagogy
Introduction
Question 8: What pedagogies are used in the teaching of reading?
Question 9: How should teachers of reading teach language?
Question 10: What does it mean to be an effective teacher of reading?
Our beliefs and principles
2. From implications to application
A: Teaching Reading as Linguistic Process
Introduction
Question 1: What are we doing when we read?
Activity 1.1. All in one: the shape of words
Activity 1.2. Word chain race
Activity 1.3. Learner generated word chain race
Activity 1.4. Run-on sentences: seeing and hearing sentence boundaries
Activity 1.5. Text shopping: what’s next in the text?
Activity 1.6. Reading aloud and holistic reading
Activity 1.7. Storytelling: stories without barriers
Question 2: What are the different reasons and ways people read?
Activity 2.1. Reading the landscape: noticing and acting in the linguistic landscape
Activity 2.2. Bits and pieces: choosing your favourite bits in a longer text
Activity 2.3. Wikipedia race: searching for something specific
Activity 2.4. Information slant: separating facts and opinions
Activity 2.5. Why I read: personal reading behaviours
Question 3: What knowledge do we bring to our reading?
Activity 3.1. Rhyme race: reading and sounds
Activity 3.2. Word bags: knowing about words
Activity 3.3. Language detectives: reading and language
patterns
Activity 3.4. Text guessing: reading and text types
Activity 3.5. Reading between the lines: reading for nuance
Activity 3.6. Border crossing: reading culturally
Question 4: What is the relationship between L1 and L2 reading?
Activity 4.1. Book covers crossing borders
Activity 4.2. Text memory game
Activity 4.3. First language story sharing
Activity 4.4. Talking to the author: asking questions about a text
Activity 4.5. Comprehending across languages
B: Teaching Reading as Personal Experience
Introduction
Question 5: Why and how do people read for pleasure?
Activity 5.1. Feeling stories
Activity 5.2. The dream book competition: understanding reading preferences
Activity 5.3. Reading spurs and blocks: what would make you read more?
Activity 5.4. Profiles of lifelong readers
Question 6: Can reading change the way we think and feel?
Activity 6.1. Nobel prize champions: books which changed the way we think
Activity 6.2. Re-reading over time: returning to childhood stories
Activity 6.3. Reading in layers
Activity 6.4. Personal reading histories
C: Teaching Reading as Collective Experience
Introduction
Question 7: How far and in what ways is reading a collective act?
Activity 7.1. Performing reading
Activity 7.2. Dream circles: building reading circles
Activity 7.3. Choosing together
Activity 7.4. Reading Shaping the Child
D: Teaching and Training Reading Pedagogy
Introduction
Question 8: What pedagogies are used in the teaching of reading?
Activity 8.1. Communicating with texts
Activity 8.2. Text Activities: Interacting with Texts
Activity 8.3. Task-based reading and the real world
Activity 8.4. Activity detective: mining for principles
Question 9: How should teachers of reading teach language?
Activity 9.1. Genre bending: unravelling text types
Activity 9.2. Language doctor: unravelling a text
Question 10: What does it mean to be an effective teacher of reading?
Activity 10.1. Finding a star teacher 1: criteria for stardom
Activity 10.2. Finding a star teacher 2: asking questions
Activity 10.3. Star teacher of reading competition
Activity 10.4. Walking into the shoes of star teachers
3. From application to implementation: teaching reading in time and place
Introduction
A: Becoming a Reading Teacher: Connecting with Others
B: Becoming a Reading Teacher: Know Yourself as a Reader
C: Building Reading Resources
D: Building a Reading Assessment Strategy
E: Reading for Many Kinds of Learners
If you teach young children
If you teach adults
If your learners all share the same first language
If your learners have multiple different first languages
F: Reading for Different Kinds of Classes
If you teach large classes
If you teach small classes or one to one
If you are teaching reading for special purposes
If you are teaching English language reading in an English language context
If you are teaching English language reading in a second/foreign language context
G: Reading Outside the Classroom
H: Creating a Reading Culture
I: Conclusion
4. From implementation to research
Introduction: researching as a teacher
A: Researching Reading as Linguistic Process
B: Researching Reading as Personal Experience
C: Researching Reading as Collective Experience
D: Researching Reading Pedagogy
Final reflections: The virtuous circle
References
Index
