instructional strategies for teaching advanced reading elizabeth b. bernhardt [email protected]...

Bernhardt August 2014 1

Instructional Strategies for Teaching Advanced Reading

Elizabeth B. Bernhardt

[email protected]

August 2014

mailto:[email protected]


A reality check about reading…

Reading is hard Reading is time consumingReading is (essentially)

invisibleAdult reading is

overwhelmingly expository


Turn to a partner and…Tell him/her what you read this

AM;Name the book you are

currently reading;List the magazines/newspapers

that arrive in your home;Are any of the things you are

reading difficult?


A reality check/reminder about ‘advancedness’ “Advanced” means beyond who,

what, where, why, and how;Requires thousands of words;Requires a knowledge of idioms,

collocations, and cultural asides;Often assumes knowledge of

related texts.


Native speakers…

Often struggle with readingMust continue to learn new

vocabularyDevelop a domain of expertise Do not read randomly


Your L2 students…Will struggle with reading;Must learn hundreds of words

Some of which they ‘know’ in L1 and are relabeling;

Some of which they do not know in L1 and must learn both the concept and the new label;

Need to develop a domain of expertise.


Turn to a partner and …

Talk about whether you think your students are learning new labels for ‘old’ concepts or new concepts as well as new labels.


Research in L2 Literacy: Focusing on the Act of Reading20% of L2 reading ability is linked

to first-language literacy. knowledge of literacy

conventions rarely can readers do in L2

what they cannot do in their in L1


Turn to a partner and…Talk about how well you believe

your students read in their native language;

Talk about what you think they read in their native language;

Talk about the relationship between what you think they read in their native language and what you expect them to read.


Some suggestions… Ask students what they read/are reading; Use “warm ups” as an opportunity to

probe what and how often they are reading;

Make sure you understand the domains that they ‘control;’

Work with those domains and suggest ways for them to increase domain knowledge.


Specifically… Develop a reading syllabus in L1

related to the texts in L2 you want them to read;

Have them talk (in the L2) about the content of what they have read in the L1;

Individual students should set goals about their domains of personal/work interest.


Hydrology… Expected domain words

Swamp, hydrology, canal, locks, drain, pump, lock

Words not expectedElephant, birthday party, cathexis,

theosophy Look up expected domain words before

reading Will students look up lock?


Research in L2 Literacy:Focusing on Words30% of L2 reading ability linked to

second-language knowledge, mostly vocabulary language knowledge is

important semantic processSoft expository text requires a

heavier grammatical load


Research in L2 LiteracyFocusing on Words

Difficulty noted with known words used metaphoricallyconcrete word knowledge

(umbrella, clé, Feuer)do not think in abstractions


Tell a partner…

How often you…

look up a word

look up a word over and over

ask what a word means

skip words you don’t know

try to learn new words?


A personal example…

EB: “What does je-'rim-i-ad mean?”

MK: “What?”

EB: “je-'rim-i-ad”

MK: “Let me see that. jer-ə-'mī- əd. . It’s from Jeremiah.”

EB: “Oh.” [Mental note: ‘Better look that up in the dictionary.’]


Turn to a partner and…

Define the following words (without assistance from a dictionary)…


A vocabulary quiz

eschatologicalapostasyvergerasceticalperditionnuminous


The vocabulary quiz…

What is the content domain?Do you know these words in

your native and nonnative language?


Implications

“Force” the learning of new vocabulary

Facilitate individuals’ domain knowledge acquisition


They are old but…

Notebooks with vocabulary lists

FlashcardsTestsRequire use of certain wordsRequire selection of certain

domains


Research in L2 Literacy:Focusing on Words

Difficulty noted with words in their less common sense (polysemy). rigid word knowledge

(fuente, Stock, le coup) confidence



Mention some examples of student confusion with words and/or metaphors.

Provide some strategies for handling certain misinterpretations.


Dictionary Skills:Dust Bowl Empiricism

DustBowlEmpiricism

What’s Empiricism in a Dust Bowl?


Dictionary Skills: Word Valence

Negative valence: (American English) blind, unguided-by-theory observation; observing for the sake of observing; a criticism lodged against scientists in American Midwestern universities in the 1930s.

Positive valence: (American English) individuals who conduct careful painstaking detailed data collection.


Dictionary Skills: Valence

the degree of combining power of an element or chemical group as shown by the number of atomic weights of a univalent element (as hydrogen) with which the atomic weight of the element or the particular molecular weight of the group will combine or for which it can be substituted or with which it can be compared.

relative capacity to unite, react, or interact with (as with carbon)

the degree of attractiveness an individual activity, or object possesses as a behavioral goal.


Dictionary Skills:What do learners have to do?

“Notice” the word or expressionBattle with “unreasonable”

meanings Interpret and abstract meaning from

definitionsThis can be exhaustingResult: potential misunderstanding


What to do?

Model dictionary useProject an online dictionaryPresent sentences with low-

frequency wordsModel abstracting from

definitions


Tasks for Students Assign each student a “new” word Task:

Look up all dictionary definitions of the new word;

Prepare to explain the history/etymology of the word; sources used;

All students must take notes (yes, there’s a test or future task)


Research in L2 Literacy: Focusing on the Textual Level

L2 readers determine interpretive frameworks early in their reading engaging an image sets

a construction in motion rigid and confident


Research in L2 Literacy:Focusing on the Textual Level

Readers often fail to use appropriate knowledge even when they have it.images can override words on the

pagelogic can override text

‘Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to find he had turned into a bug.’

‘Golfers and environmentalists unite.’



Mention a time when a student was totally off the mark regarding the content of a text.

Tell your partner how you re-grouped.


Tasks for Students:Focusing on the Textual Level

Locate some particularly important sentences

Assign each sentence to a group of students

Have students prepare to (essentially) diagram the sentence and to explain the grammatical form (s) in it

Answer why is it this form rather than another?


Improving Comprehension:Focusing on the Textual Level

Efferent discussions (coming to terms with the author/content) increased student talk and comprehension more than other types of discussion (e.g., affective).

Putting students into groups to talk is not enough to enhance comprehension and learning


Questions such as …

“Did the way the author treat the problem seem fair to you?”

“What is the author trying to say here?” “How does that information connect with what

the author wrote before?”


Improving Comprehension:What to do?

Guided questions from their reading

Additional questions “to consider”

Library task to answer the questions “to consider”

Short essay or writing assignment


Improving Comprehension:What to do?Question the authorStudents develop their own set of

questions and pose themOr…underline parts they do not

understand and they must turn this into a question

Result: students invested in the questions


Implications

Takes classroom time to read hard text thoroughly

Instructor needs to be honest, patient, and knowledgeable

Allow individuals to use their L1Allow individuals to use translation


Assessment

Assessment must reflect complexityGlobal questionsDetailed micro-level questions

Important not to confuse speaking and reading

Important not to confuse grammatical knowledge and comprehension

Consider a “task”

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