9. Methodology of working with the text for teaching silent reading

If in reading aloud the reader focuses on pronunciation, the aim of silent reading is comprehension. Much attention should be given to the development of students’ ability to guess and to use what they already know. Students should be encouraged to guess the meaning of unknown vocabulary, use visual clues: pictures, maps, etc. They should know about some reading strategies; know how to efficiently use dictionaries to find the meaning of unknown words and expressions. Activities for teaching silent reading are given below.

Activities connected with reading texts

1. Pre-reading activities

They familiarize the students with the topic, develop guessing skills, create expectations and interest in the text students are going to read.

Note: the students should see all the tasks before reading the text.

Some pre-reading activities are:

-Write the title/subtitle/first paragraph on the board. Have students partner and write three questions that they think the article might answer.

-Write the title of the article on the board. Have students make predictions about the article based upon the title.

-Write the names of the main characters on the board. Tell a little bit about the characters. Have students create a story based upon what you have shared.

-Select an article about a certain topic. Ask students what they know about the topic. Write the ideas on the board. Next ask them what they know about the topic. Write this in a column beside the first column. After they read the article, ask them what they learned about the topic (activity is known as K-W-L Chart: Know-want to know-Learned).

-Show students a picture from the text. Have them make predictions based upon the picture.

-Present vocabulary and then have students make predictions based upon the vocabulary.

2. Main idea activities

-Read to find out if students’ predictions were correct;

-Have a list of statements about the article. Ask students to decide which of these statements are mentioned in the text;

-Write three titles on the board. Ask students to skim the text and select the best title;

-Show several photos. Have students read the text and decide which of these pictures are appropriate for the text;

-Skim the text and make up the title for the text;

-Read the text and match photos/titles/etc. to appropriate paragraphs in the text;

-Skim the text and sequence pictures according to the sequence in the text;

-Read to answer one or two general questions, T/F statements about the content of the text (not detailed);

-Read in order to answer questions students formulated before knowing the exact content of the text;

-Jigsaw reading - cut the text into several parts. Give each part to each group of students and have them read the text silently. Next have them summarize the section. Students put the text in the correct order.

3. Detailed activities

-True/false questions;

-Multiple choice questions;

-Matching questions to answers;

-Filling in a chart;

-Putting items in order (words, phrases, sentences, pictures);

-Filling in blanks (cloze activity, gap fill);

-Answering questions (more detailed);

-Categorizing (e.g. Advantages/Disadvantages);

-Note-taking under headings;

-Re-ordering jumbled text.