Unit 5 · Reading

Reading is one of the four language skills and, like listening, a receptive skill: it involves responding to written text rather than producing it. Reading involves making sense of written text at word, sentence and whole-text level, and connecting the message of the text to our knowledge of the world.

◆What is reading?

Reading is one of the four language skillsThe four language skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing. See develop skills, subskills, receptive skills, productive skills. click to keep open · see glossary: reading, writing, listening and speaking. It is a receptive skillIn language teaching we talk about the four skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing. Reading and listening are receptive skills because learners receive language; they do not have to produce language. See productive skills. Page 37 of 57 Recycle verb … click to keep open · see glossary, like listening. This means it involves responding to text, rather than producing it. Very simply we can say that reading involves making sense of written text. To do this we need to understand the language of the text at word level, sentence level or whole-text level. We also need to connect the message of the text to our knowledge of the world. Look at this sentence, for example:

The boy was surprised because the girl was much faster at running than he was.

To understand this sentence, we need to understand what the letters are, how the letters join together to make words, what the words mean and the grammar of the words and the sentence. But we also make sense of this sentence by knowing that, generally speaking, girls do not run as fast as boys. Our knowledge of the world helps us understand why the boy was surprised.

◆Key concepts — discourse, coherence and cohesion

Can you think of reasons why learners may find reading difficult?

A text is usually longer than just a word or a sentence. It often contains a series of sentences, as in a letter or even a postcard. Connected text is referred to as discourseSpoken language or written language in texts, e.g. groups of sentences which are spoken or written. click to keep open · see glossary. Discourse is connected by grammar and vocabulary and/or our knowledge of the world. Reading involves understanding these connections. For example:

The boy was surprised because the girl was much faster at running than he was. But after he found out that her mother had won a medal for running at the Olympic Games, he understood.

The second sentence gives us a possible reason why the girl was so good at running. But we can only understand that this is a reason if we know that Olympic runners are very good. This means we need to use our knowledge of the world to see the sense connection between these two sentences (coherenceWhen ideas in a spoken or written text fit together clearly and smoothly, and so are logical and make sense to the listener or reader. Teachers help learners to be coherent by getting them to plan what they will include in a text before they write it. click to keep open · see glossary). The grammatical links between the sentences (cohesionThe way spoken or written texts are joined together with grammar or lexis, e.g. conjunctions (Firstly, secondly), topic related vocabulary, pronouns (e.g. it, them, this). click to keep open · see glossary) also help us see the connection between them. For example, in the second example sentence 'he' refers to 'the boy' in the first sentence, and 'her' refers to 'the girl', and linking the sentences there is the conjunctionA conjunction (or connector) is used to connect words, phrases, clauses or sentences, e.g. I like tea but I don’t like coffee because it’s too strong for me. click to keep open · see glossary 'after'. So, understanding a written text involves understanding the language of each sentence and the relationship between sentences using our knowledge of language and our knowledge of the world.

Reading also involves using different reading skills. They include:

• Reading for specific information (ScanningA reading subskill: reading quickly to find specific information, e.g. a date in an article; also called reading for specific information. click to keep open · see glossary)
• Reading for gist (SkimmingA reading subskill: reading quickly for the general meaning of a text; also called reading for gist. click to keep open · see glossary)
• Reading for detailTo listen to or read a text in order to understand most of what it says; e.g. learners listening for detail to someone talking about a their last holiday would have a task to listen for where the holiday was, when it was, how long it was, what things the perso… click to keep open · see glossary
• InferringInferring is another skill readers sometimes use to get meaning from a text. click to keep open · see glossary
• Deducing meaning from contextWorking out the meaning of an unknown word by reading the words around it or thinking about the situation it is used in. click to keep open · see glossary
• PredictingUsing your experience or knowledge to say what you think will happen in the future. Prediction is a technique or learning strategy learners can use to help with listening or reading. Learners think about the topic before they read or listen. They try to imagin… click to keep open · see glossary
• Understanding text structureThe way a text is organised. For example, an essay typically has an introduction, a main section and a conclusion. click to keep open · see glossary

◆Reading subskills

These are sometimes referred to as reading skills and sometimes as reading subskillsEach of the four language skills can be divided into smaller subskills that are all part of the main skill; e.g. identifying text organisation is a subskill of reading; identifying word stress is a listening subskill. See detail, gist, global understanding, sc… click to keep open · see glossary. They help us read in different ways according to our purpose for reading. When we read, we do not necessarily need to read everything in a text. How we read depends on what and why we are reading. For example, we may read a travel website to find a single piece of information about prices. But we may read a novel in great detail because we like the story and the characters, and want to know as much as we can about them. So, our reasons for reading influence how we read, i.e. which reading subskill we use.

If we read a text just to find a specific piece or pieces of information in it, we usually use a subskill called reading for specific information or scanningA reading subskill: reading quickly to find specific information, e.g. a date in an article; also called reading for specific information. click to keep open · see glossary. When we scanReading a text to look for specific information and paying no attention to everything else in the text, e.g. looking for a word you want to know the meaning of in a dictionary. See detail, gist, global understanding, skim. click to keep open · see glossary, we don't read the whole text. We glance over most of it until we find the information we are interested in, e.g. when we look for a number in a telephone directory.

Another reading subskill is reading for gistChoosing from a list / multiple-choice (an activity in which you choose the best answer from three or more possible answers) click to keep open · see glossary or skimmingA reading subskill: reading quickly for the general meaning of a text; also called reading for gist. click to keep open · see glossary. This is sometimes also called reading for global understandingA reading subskill: reading a text to understand its overall meaning, also called reading for gist. click to keep open · see glossary. It involves glancing through a text to get a general idea of what it is about. For example, you skim when you look quickly through a book in a bookshop to decide if you want to buy it, or when you go quickly through a reference book to decide which part will help you write an essay, or glance at a newspaper article to see if it is worth reading in detail.

A third reading subskill is reading for detailA reading subskill: reading carefully to find and understand specific information in a text. click to keep open · see glossary. It involves getting the meaning out of every word and out of the links or relationships between words and between sentences. If you read a letter from someone you love who you haven't heard from for a long time, you probably read like this. Sometimes in books on English language teaching, but not in the TKT, this skill is called intensive readingReading short texts carefully to understand detail and language, rather than reading long texts for pleasure. click to keep open · see glossary.

InferringInferring is another skill readers sometimes use to get meaning from a text. click to keep open · see glossary is another skill readers sometimes use to get meaning from a text. When they read, they work out what the writer's opinion on a topic is or what his/her feeling is. To inferTo understand something that is not stated directly by using clues in the text and your knowledge. click to keep open · see glossary these things we notice what words, register, grammar or style the writer has used to refer to something.

There are other skills the reader can use. Deducing meaning from contextWorking out the meaning of an unknown word by reading the words around it or thinking about the situation it is used in. click to keep open · see glossary involves reading the words around an unknown word or thinking about the situation the unknown word is used in to try and work out its meaning. For example, imagine you see a text in Portuguese which you know gives facts about Portugal. You see this sentence: Lisboa é a capital de Portugal. You can probably deduce the meaning of Lisboa. To do this, you use what you have been told about this text and you deduce from your knowledge of English that capital means 'capital' and Portugal means 'Portugal'! From your general knowledge you know that Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, so you work out that Lisboa means 'Lisbon'. And you are right! When we read we don't always know the meaning of all the words we meet. This skill helps us understand unknown words without making use of a dictionary or some other reference resourceReference resources are all the sources of information about language and about teaching that we can refer to for help in lesson preparation. click to keep open · see glossary.

PredictingUsing your experience or knowledge to say what you think will happen in the future. Prediction is a technique or learning strategy learners can use to help with listening or reading. Learners think about the topic before they read or listen. They try to imagin… click to keep open · see glossary means using clues before we begin reading, to guess what a text may be about. We might, for example, look at a newspaper's headlines or photos, the title of a chapter or unit, the name of a writer or even the stamp and address on an envelope to make an informed guess about the general contents of the text. PredictionUsing your experience or knowledge to say what you think will happen in the future. Prediction is a technique or learning strategy learners can use to help with listening or reading. Learners think about the topic before they read or listen. They try to imagin… click to keep open · see glossary helps us decide if we wish to read the text (if the stamp and address on the envelope suggest the text is probably a bill, we may not be so keen), and to make sense of it when we start reading it, because it gives us the opportunity to link the topic of the text to our knowledge of the world, and more especially to our knowledge of the topic of the text. As we read through a text, we continue predicting, using what we are reading to sense what will come next.

Understanding text structureThe way a text is organised. For example, an essay typically has an introduction, a main section and a conclusion. click to keep open · see glossary involves understanding how certain types of text generally develop. For example, if we read a problem-solution essay, we expect that it will first discuss the problem, then suggest a solutionAn answer to a problem. When teachers are planning a lesson, they think about what their learners might find difficult about the lesson (anticipated problems) and they think about how they can solve those problems. Lesson plans include anticipated problems and… click to keep open · see glossary, then draw a conclusion. If we read a letter of complaint in English, we generally expect the first paragraph will say why the writer is writing, the second will give the details of the complaint and the third what the writer wants in answer to his complaint. Readers expect certain information to come in certain sequences. They use this knowledge to know where they are in the text and find their way through it. Understanding the meaning of conjunctions is an important part of this skill as they often signal how an argument will continue or is about to change.

◆Extensive and intensive reading

Extensive and intensive reading are ways of reading. Extensive readingReading long texts, such as stories or articles, for pleasure and fluency rather than for detail. click to keep open · see glossary, sometimes called reading for pleasure, involves reading long pieces of text, for example a story or an article. As you read, your attention and interest vary – you may read some parts of the text in detail while you may skim through others, so you might use a variety of reading subskills.

Sometimes, especially in language classrooms, we ask learners to read texts so that we can examine the language they contain. For example, we might ask learners to look for all the words in a text related to a particular topic, or work out the grammar of a particular sentence. The aim of these activities is to make learners more aware of how language is used. These activities are sometimes called intensive readingReading short texts carefully to understand detail and language, rather than reading long texts for pleasure. click to keep open · see glossary. This way of reading does not involve reading for meaning or comprehensionUnderstanding something which is spoken or written. Teachers give learners comprehension tasks to help them understand listening and reading texts or to assess understanding. click to keep open · see glossary (understanding) of the text. It involves reading for language study. Sometimes in books on English language teaching, but not in the TKT, this skill is called reading for detail. When we read about reading we need to be quite clear what skill is being referred to in order not to get confused!

Understanding different text typesText types is something else good readers can do. click to keep open · see glossary is something else good readers can do. Some examples of written text types are letters, articles, postcards, stories, information brochures, leaflets and poems. All these kinds of text types are different from one another. They have different lengths, layoutsThe ways in which text is placed on the page click to keep open · see glossary (the ways in which text is placed on the page), topics and kinds of language.

We can see that reading is a complexComplicated, not simple; e.g. some English grammar is easy to understand, some grammar is more complex. click to keep open · see glossary process. It involves understanding letters, words and sentences, understanding the connections between sentences, understanding different text types, making sense of the text through our knowledge of the world and using the appropriateLanguage which is suitable in a particular situation; e.g. it might be appropriate to say Hi in one situation but Good morning in another. See inappropriate, formal language, informal language, register. click to keep open · see glossary reading subskill. Reading may be a receptive skill but it certainly isn't a passive one!

◆Key concepts and the language teaching classroom

Read these tips and tick the ones which are most important for you.

• If learners know how to read in their own language, they can transfer their reading skills to reading in English. Sometimes though, they find this difficult, especially when their language level is not high, so they need help to transfer these skills. Teachers can check which reading subskills their learners are good at, then focus on practising the subskills they are not yet using well. They can also help them by pre-teaching vocabularyTeaching vocabulary from the text before the learners read the text click to keep open · see glossary (teaching vocabulary from the text before the learners read the text), by asking learners to predict text content and with certain kinds of learner, encouraging them to predict text structure.
• To help learners bring their knowledge of the world to understanding a text the teacher can do lead-inThe activity or activities used to prepare learners to work on a text, topic or task. A lead-in often includes an introduction to the topic of the text or task and possibly study of some new key language required for the text or task. click to keep open · see glossary activities before the class looks at the text. Lead-inThe activity or activities used to prepare learners to work on a text, topic or task. A lead-in often includes an introduction to the topic of the text or task and possibly study of some new key language required for the text or task. click to keep open · see glossary activities generally involve looking at the pictures around a text or at the title and trying to predict what the text will be about. They can also involve using brainstormingTo quickly think of ideas about a topic and also possibly note them down. This is often done as preparation before a writing or speaking activity; e.g. before learners write a description of their city they make a list of all the positive and negative adjectiv… click to keep open · see glossary (thinking of and listing ideas or vocabulary about a topic) to predict what vocabulary the text might contain, discussing the general topic of the text or talking about experiences of it.
• Giving learners lots of opportunities for extensive reading, in or out of class, helps them to develop their fluency in reading. Graded readersA book where the language has been made easier for learners. These are often books with stories or novels where the language has been simplified. click to keep open · see glossary (books with language made easier for language learners) are a very useful way of giving learners extensive reading practice, helping them build up their confidenceThe feeling someone has when they are sure of their ability to do something well. Teachers often do activities that help learners to feel more confident about their own ability. click to keep open · see glossary in reading and consolidateTo practise language learners already know so that they remember it better and can use it more confidently. click to keep open · see glossary the language they know and gradually extend it to include new language. Nowadays you can find graded readers on a very wide variety of subjects and at a large number of language learning levels.
• Which reading skills we need to teach depends on the age and first language of the learners. Some learners of English, e.g. young children, may not yet know how to read in their own language. They need to learn how letters join to make words and how written words relate to spoken words both in their language and in English. Other learners may not understand the script used in English as their own script is different, e.g. Chinese, Arabic.
• We can choose the right texts for our learners. Texts should be interesting in order to motivate learners. Texts should also be at the right level of difficulty. A text may be difficult because it contains complexComplicated, not simple; e.g. some English grammar is easy to understand, some grammar is more complex. click to keep open · see glossary (complicated) language and/or because it is about a topic that learners don't know much about.
• To make sure learners get used to a range of text types we can give them different kinds of texts to read, e.g. articles, stories, postcards, emails, brochures, leaflets, etc.
• The activities in a reading lesson often follow this pattern:
  1. Introductory activitiesIntroductory activities are activities used by a teacher to introduce a lesson or teaching topic. click to keep open · see glossary: activities focusing on the topic of the text, pre-teaching vocabulary and possibly asking learners to predict the content of the text.
  2. Main activities: a series of comprehension activities developing different reading subskills, focusing initially on general then more detailed comprehension.
  3. Post-task activities: activities asking learners to talk about how the topic of the text relates to their own lives or to give their opinions on something in the text. These activities require learners to use some of the language they have met in the text.
• Notice that the list of reading skills on page 31 does not include reading aloud. The purpose of reading aloud is not reading to get information from a written text, and it is not something that a user of a language usually does. Reading aloud takes place mainly in the language classroom where it is often used to check learners' pronunciation or to check their understanding of a text. Reading aloud well is a difficult thing to do as it relies on understanding a text very well, and on being able to predict what will come next in the text. If it is used in the classroom, it is most usefully done after other work on comprehension of the text has been completed successfully and the learners have a good understanding of the details of the text.

✎Follow-up activity

💡Reflect

🔍Discovery activities

✎TKT practice tasks

These multiple-choice tasks are exactly as in the book, but interactive: pick your answers, check your score, and retry anytime. The scoring uses the official answer key from the back of the book.

📖Glossary terms in this unit

Key terms highlighted in this unit — study them on the flashcards page.