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Reading reports in foreign language teachingReceptive skills and pupil-centred teaching |
Pupil-centred teaching is a logical way of tackling things when it comes to proficiency in reading and listening. This has to do with the nature of these skills: reception builds to a very great extent on the knowledge and experience of pupils, making it highly individual. For that reason, teaching in reception ought to a great extent to take place on the pupils' premises - this also means differentiation, as each pupil comes with his or her own previous skills and needs.
A good way of achieving differentiation and pupil-centred teaching is to let the pupils partially decide for themselves what is to be done, how, when, and at what pace. This approach does not, however, necessarily mean that the pupil is left to his or her own devices. This article describes a way of supplementing the teaching of reading that includes differentiation and pupil-centred teaching but that at the same time is a balance between the pupils' work and response and guidance from the teacher.
In most reading and listening lessons the desire for control is very much still alive - on the part of both the teacher and the pupils. The teacher wants to make sure that everyone gets to master that which has been taught and that one can move on to a fresh challenge. At the same time, the pupils want feedback on their comprehension: they want to know whether they have carried out the work "correctly". Pupils feel unsure about whether they are capable of assessing their own performance.
In traditional teaching of reading and listening this control is exercised by putting questions to the pupils (written or oral) that have to do with comprehension. One tests whether comprehension has taken place (product-oriented).
They are, however, a number of ways of understanding a text. Knowledge and earlier experience - which are, of course, highly individual - constitute a large part of the comprehension process as well as what comes out of it. In traditional classrooms the final result is often that there is only one way of understanding a text: the teacher's. In this way, no notice is taken of a number of factors that are part of the reading and listening process: the pupils' available skills and expectations, the communicative aims of the text - and the interaction between the text and the pupil. For teacher and pupil alike it is, in fact, important to now whether the work has been carried out in a satisfactory way (process-oriented).
This is the core of the problem: on the one hand, the pupils need to get real feedback on their efforts, which means that the teacher has to look at some "output" linked to comprehension; on the other hand, the teacher does not have a monopoly on how a text is broadly to be understood - although there are naturally boundaries for what an acceptable understanding can or cannot be.
In this connection I would like to pass on some experiences from instruction in reading training at Scandinavian Area Studies (SAS), Odense University.
SAS is a course of study for exchange students at Odense University. The largest module of the course is the language module, where the students are given instruction in Danish, which is a foreign language for them. The module is divided into an oral proficiency part (approx. 170 lessons) and a reading training part (approx. 30 lessons). The aim of reading training is to give the students practice in "quietly" reading authentic functional texts. They are, then, not read aloud - and all discussion of the texts and the reading process takes place in English, the language of instruction, or in the students' native language, e.g. in pairs or group work.
Until 1994, the reading training part consisted entirely of reading training exercises done together (see Hauge: 1992). There was, however, a wish for more differentiation in the reading teaching as well as to motivate the students to read more Danish in their spare time. Because of this, free individual reading was put in place in autumn 1994 as a fixed, supplementary part of reading teaching. A large amount of reading material was amassed and purchased - this was available during the lessons and the breaks. It became possible for the students to borrow magazines, books, etc. and take them home. The students were given an introduction to the public library system, to make it easier for them to go off and find reading materials for themselves. And reading reports were introduced. In the following, I would like to describe how free reading and reading reports function in the teaching and which advantages they have as a pedagogical tool.
The procedure for free reading is simple: you choose your own text and read it at your own pace. You can choose different types of texts: brochures, books, newspaper articles, periodicals, cartoon books - the choice is yours, as long as the material is in Danish. The teacher will bring along some materials to the lessons, but you are welcome to find material for yourself. You are to write a short report on the texts you read. You are to use the "REPORT SHEET". You are allowed to write the report in your native language. At least one report per week has to be handed in. Remember that your reading proficiency will improve the more you read (my translation).
Free reading took place in the lessons as "break reading" - sometimes time was set aside for the activity. The students also read Danish texts in their spare time.
Free reading inside and outside the classroom is necessary if one is to develop good reading proficiency. Partly because there is too little time in the lessons to read a sufficient amount, and partly because "quiet" reading is an individual undertaking. Not only is the activity itself a solo undertaking - that which one reads and one's reasons for reading it are individually determined. To be forced to read a particular text is less motivating than to chose one for oneself. It is a difficult task for the teacher to select texts, as it is hard to accurately gauge optimum themes and levels of difficulty.
The first advantage of free reading is then that the pupil chooses his or her own text to be read. This not only means that the student chooses a subject that has personal appeal and feels motivated to read it but also that the pupil can decide the difficulty and length of the text. Lastly, the pupil decides how intensively the text is to be read. These choices can be defined as being "authentic", since they are very much in evidence when one reads texts in one's native language. The fact that the choice of texts is with the pupil makes it more likely that the text fits the pupil's level, needs and prior knowledge - enabling the student to make use of existing resources when reading. Of course, a pupil can choose a wrong text - either because it does not deal with what was assumed, or because it was too difficult. But that problem takes care of itself, too. The student can decide not to finish reading the text, or to put it aside for later reading. Other advantages are that the pupil can read at his or her own pace and when it is suitable, and thereby avoids pressure from other pupils who might be capable of reading faster. Free reading means that pupils can read texts for their own sake: to enjoy, to learn something new, or to keep updated - just as one usually does in one's native language.
Free reading is, then, in principle free. That does not mean, however, that no demands are made, or that the pupil is left to his or her own devices. In order to be able to make systematic demands of free reading and to be able to follow the pupils" learning process, reading reports can be made use of.
A reading report is a double A4 sheet of paper that contains a number of questions about the text the pupil has read as well as some exercises on it. In our reading report questions and tasks were included about the following:
Using reading reports enables the teacher to be able to follow the pupil's learning process, both as regards how much and what has been read and also as regards where the problems lie and what strategies the pupil employs. The teacher can follow and supervise the individual pupil on a more one-to-one basis than is possible when class exercises are used. The teacher can suggest various strategies or texts, according to where the pupil's problems lie, can encourage frustrated pupils and give praise without the other pupils being involved. This can lead to frustrated pupils enjoying a feeling of success and feeling more inclined to read. In other words, via the pupil's "output" concerning the understanding of texts in the form of reading reports the teacher becomes better equipped to supervise the individual pupil.
The reading reports of one student, for example, revealed that she had a very "serious" view of reading. She only read "heavy" texts, such as leading articles, chronicles and debates in newspapers and, furthermore, she wanted to understand them in detail. This resulted in her looking up every unknown word in the dictionary and practically indulging in translation work. She was very frustrated, read at a slow pace and thought of herself as the worst reader in the class. After having followed the teacher's advice to read some cartoon books without using a dictionary she was clearly relieved and felt more encouraged to read Danish texts. Conversely, another student was advised to put aside the cartoon books and begin to read other types of text that were less superficial.
Apart from individual supervision, the teacher is also able to have aspects of reading and the reading process discussed during lessons - both those which all or many pupils find problematic and those which everyone seems to have mastered. Moreover, the teacher gradually gets an idea of what types of text or what subjects the pupils as a group like well. With this as a point of departure, it is then possible to devise class exercises that are better suited to the target group.
Reading reports as a pedagogical tool allow the pupil to systematise his or her own free individual reading. The phases of free reading and the writing of reports resemble to a considerable extent those used in class reading.
The first phase is the selection phase. That which takes place in this phase closely resembles the first phase of class exercises - the "brain storming session", as described by Hauge:1993:
"Apart from drawing the learner's attention to the theme of the text, "brain storming" also makes the learner aware of her/his prior knowledge and its usefulness. The learner has to acknowledge her/his resources in order to be able to read new texts successfully." (p. 36, my translation)
In this phase the pupil finds out to what extent he or she will be able to read the text, assessing his or her own knowledge and skills in the process and also considering the subject.
After this, the text is read at the pupil¿'s own pace. During this phase, the pupil assesses the suitability of the text as regards subject matter, content and level of difficulty. At any point during the reading the pupil has the choice of discontinuing the reading process.
The final phase is that when the pupil consciously assesses his or her reading process by filling in a reading report. This last phase is vital. The pupil reflects on his or her own reading, whereby various aspects of the reading process are put into perspective. At the same time, the pupil is aware in advance of the tasks and questions that will feature in the reading report, which means that the various phases are part of a logical whole.
Furthermore, the pupils acquire greater awareness of what reading is all about as a personal skill and in general. For example:
that reading is highly individual:
"It's easy to read if you like football."
"I wouldn't recommend the text to other students. They would probably think it's boring."
that one can read for pleasure:
"Cartoon books are great when you're lying in bed, half-asleep and don't feel like reading anything difficult."
"it's nice to be able to read just to relax."
what it is that causes problems:
"Certain parts of the text were difficult - or rather confusing, because they switched from talking about families consisting of a father or a mother with two children to families consisting of two parents with one child."
what was positive:
"My first article WITHOUT pictures that didn't take me five hours. YEAH!"
and how one can progress or tackle reading a different way:
"Next time I'll read the text first without looking up the words I don't know. If you keep on reading, you can often understand the meaning of the words from the context."
"I'll stop reading at an earlier stage - not go on hoping for something that isn't in the text anyway."
This phase, where the pupil assesses his or her own level of comprehension, partly takes over the function that the pupil formerly got from the teacher: an assessment of whether the text has been understood "correctly". The difference is firstly that it is more satisfying to be able to assess one's own reading and secondly that the pupil does not have a particular understanding imposed on him or her by the teacher. Pupil and teacher cooperate on "monitoring" and assessing the learning process, which allows the pupil to a greater extent to control his or her own acquisition process.
The teacher is not invisible in the learning process. Firstly, the teacher functions as a sort of monitor for the pupil's reading and learning process. This monitor function, which is shared with the pupil, is more useful than the control seen in traditional classrooms. By reading reading reports the teacher gains a more precise picture of the individual pupil's understanding process and is therefore able to give the pupils more process-oriented feedback. So the teacher functions more as a supervisor and helper than a controller.
A problem that can possibly arise is the fear of chaos (see Munkholm Andersen: 1990), from both the teacher's and the pupil's side. Fear of chaos for the pupil is very much tied up with insecurity. Here it is important that both teacher and pupil acquire the attitude that the pupil is not a "tabula rasa" but a person with knowledge and experiences that can be made use of in the comprehension process. This attitude should be strengthened via class exercises and by feedback from the teacher on the reading reports. The pupil must learn to use the teacher and to trust in his or her own ability to assess the process.
For the teacher, fear of chaos is linked to the fear of giving away control. But, as was argued above, via the use of the reading reports the teacher has in fact a better overview of where the individual pupil "has got to" than with traditional, teacher-controlled forms of work.
The use of reading reports in reading teaching does, however, make a number of demands on the teacher, who has to have the necessary knowledge about reading processes and strategies to be able to provide the right feedback to the pupils. It also means that the teacher has to read the texts that the pupil has read. At the same time, the teacher can motivate the pupils who are not happy about reading, e.g. by suggesting suitable texts.
Most students felt that they had read more than they would otherwise have done because of the reading reports.
All in all, free individual reading in combination with the use of reading reports seems to be a good idea for this target group. Although for other target groups too free individual reading with reading reports can be a good supplement to reading teaching. Questions and tasks can be adapted to the individual target group or to a particular genre of text.
In the future, the possibility will also exist of introducing free individual listening in foreign language teaching. Many of the arguments for free individual reading also apply to listening proficiency. It does, however, require foreign TV and radio channels - and possibly CD-ROMs - become universal
Hauge, T.: Fremmedsproglig læsning: en lærervejledning med øvelseseksempler [Foreign language reading training: a teacher's guide with examples of exercises]. Odense: Odense University 1992. (Odense Working Papers in Language and Communication, 3).
Hauge, T.: "Some theoretical considerations on L2 reading and their potential implications for instruction," in: T. Hauge (ed.) Læseforståelse - Reading Comprehension. Odense: Odense University, 1993, pp. 17-44. (Odense Working Papers in Language and Communication, 5).
Munkholm Andersen, Å: "Praktiske og psykologiske aspekter af spil i undervisningen," [Practical and psychological aspects of games in teaching] in: Wagner, J. (ed.) Kommunikative spil i fremmedsprogsundervisningen [Communicative games in foreign language teaching]. Ålykke, 1990, pp. 75-92.
I would like to thank Karl Heinz Pogner, Flemming G. Andersen and Pia List for their comments on earlier versions of this article.
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