TESL-0130- Unit 1 Reflections

Reading is defined as a cognitive process that involves decoding symbols to arrive at meaning. Reading is an active process, which is based on vocabulary knowledge and grammar, but is not only about understanding words and grammar; you might read an article but not understand it. Also, comprehension is the imperative part of reading. Comprehension is an intentional, active, and interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing. As mentioned in Brown & Lee 2015 "for most second language learner who already literate in a previous language, reading comprehension is primarily a matter of developing appropriate, efficient comprehension strategies" (p. 397). This shows that knowing words and grammar would not be enough to understand the message. 

On the other hand, not only the background knowledge and culture is important when reading, but also reading coding - how is the text organized? Where do I find the important information on the page? Who wrote it? In which context (e.g a newspaper column vs editorial) is necessary. 

In order to teach reading, teachers must consider students' needs, students' level and their comprehension skill by using different techniques and strategies.

Over all teaching reading to the students is not all about reading a text, it has to be educational by which students can improve their comprehension skill and vocabulary knowledge. So, What do you think about reading? and how a teacher can guide students through this part of learning journey?

References: 

Brown, D. & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (Rev. 4th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.

Leipzig, H (n.d), What is reading?, Retrieved from

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-reading