2

Key Issues in L2 Reading

Development
William Grabe
Northern Arizona University
william.grabe@nau.edu

Abstract: In this article, I provide an overview of key issues for L2 reading development. The goal is a succinct
summary of ideas that should support more effective teaching and improve students reading
abilities. The article first outlines the nature of reading abilities, particular in academic contexts,
and identifies major component skills and knowledge bases needed for L2 reading comprehension.
From this foundation, a set of research implications for instruction are noted. These implications,
in turn, form the basis for recommended teaching practices that will build comprehension abilities.
Nine specific curricular and instructional themes are then presented briefly and suggestions for
teaching and curriculum planning are explored. The article concludes by noting the need for
additional research to validate, and to provide new insights into, effective teaching practices.
Introduction
1. The miracle.
2. The nature of fluent reading and the way
that reading comprehension is carried out
cognitively.
3. The reading construct as the goal for the
development of reading abilities.
4. Expertise and reading: Get a good coach.
5. Implications from research for reading
instruction.
6. Curricular and instructional options for
effective L2 reading instruction settings.

he ability to read fluently is, in fact, quite miraculous.

Our brains were not designed to be reading brains.
But we have learned, from one generation to the next,
to take graphic forms on a page and mentally interpret
them into our own language, no matter what language.
As fluent readers, we do this at a rate that is even
faster than our fluent listening abilities. What is more
remarkable, we can do this for hours at a time if we
choose to, and we often do this for enjoyment! So what
is it we do when we read, and how do we do it? I will
address this large question, but do so in the context of
academic reading because that is the key concern for
educators.
The ability to read English efficiently for academic
purposes is widely recognized in EFL/ESL contexts as a
critical skill in a wide range of secondary and university
settings, and especially for more advanced students. I
will first review the nature of (English L1) fluent reading
and the way that reading comprehension is carried out
cognitively. This foundation helps define the reading

construct of the fluent reader, here viewed as the

integration of many component skills. Determining the
construct then provides rationales for the development
of reading abilities and various instructional practices.
The focus of this chapter will not be an extensive review
of the reading construct. That has been developed in
more detail in other sources (e.g., Grabe, 2009; Koda,
2005; Perfetti & Adlof, 2012; Rayner et al., 2012). Instead,
the goal is to draw connections from the reading
construct to potentially effective ways to teach reading.
Defining Reading

Reading can simply be defined as a complex
ability to extract, or build, meaning from a text. However,
this definition, by itself, is not very informative. The
most commonly accepted way for researchers to explain
the above definition is to identify the key component
abilities and skills that allow reading comprehension to
emerge. Reading comprehension involves abilities to
recognize words rapidly and efficiently, develop and use
a very large recognition vocabulary, process sentences
in order to build comprehension, engage a range of
strategic processes and underlying cognitive skills
(e.g., setting goals, changing goals flexibly, monitoring
comprehension), interpret meaning in relation to
background knowledge, interpret and evaluate texts
in line with reader goals and purposes, and process
texts fluently over an extended period of time. These
processes and knowledge resources allow the reader to
generate text comprehension to the level required.
The identification of these skills and resources has
been the outcome of many research studies, and it
remains the source of much ongoing research. These
skills work together in a complex, finely-coordinated set
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

of processes (Grabe, 2009; Koda, 2005; Cain & Oakhill,

2012; Perfetti & Adlof, 2012). In this section, research
is reviewed that supports the relationship between
reading skills and reading comprehension. Much of
the research has been conducted in English L1 reading
contexts, though increasing amounts of L1 reading
research in other languages has also emerged in the
past fifteen years (Joshi & Aaron, 2006; Verhoeven &
Perfetti, 2011).
Reading Processes: How does Fluent reading work?

In this brief section, I have divided reading
abilities into lower level and higher level processes.
All processes occur in working memorywhich can
be understood as the pattern of cognitive neural
network activations at any given moment. Lower
level processes do not mean that they are easier. In
some respects, they are much harder to develop for L2
readers. Lower level processes include fast, automatic
word recognition skills, automatic lexico-syntactic
processing (automatically recognizing word parts and
morphological information and automatically parsing
the immediate clause for syntactic information), and
semantic processing of the immediate clause into
relevant meaning units (or propositions). Higher level
processing involves those processes and resources
that more closely align with strategies and resources
for comprehension with more difficult texts: (a) form
main idea meanings, (b) recognize related and thematic
information, (c) build a text model of comprehension
(an author-driven summary understanding), and (d)
use inferencing, background knowledge, strategic
processing and context constraints to create a situation
model of reading (a preferred personal interpretation)
(Hannon, 2011; Perfetti & Adlof, 2012).
Lower level processing: Research on reading has
shown that beginning readers need to establish
strong linkages between orthographic forms and the
sounds of the language (Ehri, 2006; Cain & Oakhill,
2012; Rayner et al., 2012). Extensive research in L1
contexts across languages has demonstrated that
training in phonological awareness and letter-sound
correspondences predicts later reading development
among children and beginning readers (Ehri, 2006).
While L1 reading in other languages may not require
that same level of instructional effort as does English for
phonological awareness, all young learners benefit from
explicit instruction in letter-sound correspondences
(Lundberg, 1999). The automatization of letter-sound
relations is the foundation of all alphabetic reading and
supports syllabic reading systems as well. Even Chinese,
as a morpho-syllabic system, incorporates information
from the phonetic radical within characters to aid word
recognition and uses phonological information at the
point of lexical access; Chow, McBride-Chang & Burgess,
2005; He, Wang & Anderson, 2005).

Research on English L1 vocabulary knowledge has

demonstrated that fluent readers have very large and
automatic recognition-vocabulary knowledge and that
vocabulary knowledge is highly correlated with reading
ability (see Grabe 2009; Grabe & Stoller, 2011). While
estimates of English L1 word knowledge vary greatly
(from 19,000 to 200,000; Anglin, 1993), the most widely
accepted figure is that high school graduates know on
average 40,000 words as fluent L1 readers (Stahl & Nagy,
2006). This is a very large number of words to learn and
most accounts suggest that many of these words are
learned by exposure to new words through continual
reading practice. Stanovich (2000) has argued that
extended exposure to print (reading extensively) over
years leads to major differences in both vocabulary
knowledge and comprehension abilities. Research on L2
vocabulary knowledge has also shown that vocabulary
is correlated with L2 reading comprehension. Droop
and Verhoeven (2003) reported a strong relationship
between 3rd and 4th grade L2 students vocabulary
knowledge and their reading abilities. (See also Qian,
2002).
Research on L1 morphological and syntactic knowledge
shows that they both have an impact on reading
comprehension. A number of studies have shown
that morphological knowledge contributes to reading
comprehension. Research by Anglin (1993), Nagy et
al. (2006), and Wagner, Muse & Tannenbaum (2007) all
argue that morphological knowledge (knowledge of
word parts) is very important to more advanced word
recognition and reading development (see also Bowers,
Kirby & Deacon, 2010; McCutchen & Logan, 2011; Kieffer,
Biancarosa & Mancilla-Martinez, 2013). There is also
evidence that grammatical knowledge and discourse
knowledge both play roles in L1 reading comprehension
(Lesaux, Lipka & Siegal, 2006; Perfetti and Adlof, 2012;
Trabasso & Bouchard, 2002). Research on L2 syntax
has shown that there are strong relationships between
these language knowledge bases (syntax and discourse
awareness) and reading comprehension (see Grabe,
2009; Shiotsu, 2010).
For the fluent reader, automatic semantic processing of
texts occurs at the same time that automatic syntactic
parsing is been carried out (See Perfetti & Adlof, 2012;
Rayner et al., 2012). For a brief explanation, Grabe and
Stoller (2011) identify the importance of propositional
meaning units in the building of text main-idea
comprehension. There is strong research evidence to
show that fluent readers automatically process the
meaning units that they extract from the syntactic
parsing of clauses (e.g., who does what to whom, and
how, and when).
Higher level processing: Higher level processing is
not better, or harder; it is just processing that is closer
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

to conscious introspection on the part of the reader.

Overall, comprehension of a text is created when the
reader builds a semantic network of ideas drawn from
the text to form a text model of comprehension.
This basic text modelwhat the text is aboutis
supported and expanded by readers use of background
knowledge, inferencing, and attitudes to the text
information, thus creating a second situation model
of Comprehension (Kintsch; 2012). The text model
of comprehension requires that semantic information
from clause-level processing be combined in a network
of central ideas and references that recur through the
text. Readers form links across ideas that are repeated,
are referred to again, or are inferred in order to maintain
a coherent interpretation of what they read. This
emerging network of ideas is what produces the gist
of the text. The situation model is built upon the text
model to establish what the reader decides is necessary,
relevant, appropriate, and useful. The active reader
interprets the text to decide what it should mean to him
or her. That interpretation is the information that also
is stored in long-term memory as learned information
(Kintsch, 2012).
Our ability to attend selectively to certain information
and to respond strategically to this information is
represented cognitively in working memory as executive
control processing. We are all able to focus our attention
on some point and think about it. During reading that
requires learning (including both content and language
learning), this attention typically involves strategic
reading. L1 research on strategic processing during
reading (e.g., inferencing, comprehension monitoring,
goal setting) demonstrates that strategic processing
and metacognitive awareness influence reading
comprehension. Discourse comprehension researchers
have shown that inferencing that arises from readingto-learn has an important impact on comprehension
(Goldman & Rakestraw, 2000; Perfetti & Adlof, 2012).
Similarly, comprehension monitoring appears to be a
good predictor of comprehension abilities. At the same
time, these abilities, being metacognitive in nature, are
not simple reading strategies. Rather, they constitute
a range of skills and abilities, and represent a range of
strategic responses to text difficulties.

Experimental research on comprehension instruction
and strategy training is extensive (see Pressley,
2006; Trabasso & Bouchard, 2002). Many L1 studies
demonstrate a causal impact of instructional skills
and strategies on reading comprehension. Important
evidence supports answering main idea questions as
a post-reading task, using semantic mapping of ideas
from a text, previewing specific information from the
text, asking student to formulate questions about a text,
filling in and generating graphic organizers that reflect
the organization of the text, visualizing information

from the text, and raising awareness of discourse

organization of the text, among others. Overall, a
number of effective strategies have been identified
in instructional research, though combinations of
strategic responses to texts appear to be more effective
in supporting comprehension (See Grabe, 2009; Grabe &
Stoller, 2011).
Research on L2 strategic processing is more limited.
There are relatively few studies that demonstrate a
direct relationship between reading strategies and
reading comprehension. In a recent meta-analysis
of L2 reading strategy research, Taylor, Stevens &
Asher (2006) reviewed the existing empirical research
in L2 reading strategy training (10 published studies
and 12 dissertations) and concluded that a low to
moderate effect exists between strategy training and L2
reading comprehension improvement. The analysis is
encouraging, but it should be treated cautiously due to
the limited database available for the analysis.
Purposes for Reading

One of the most important factors in reading
comprehension abilities is how reading processes vary
depending on the reading purpose. It is clear that reading
for entertainment is quite different from reading to learn
information or reading to integrate information from
multiple sources. It is also clear that skimming a text for
a very general idea involves distinct skill combinations
from reading for main idea comprehension, the latter
being by far the most common type of reading carried
out by fluent readers.
A critical factor in teaching L2 reading is helping
students understand that different tasks and different
activities involve differing levels of demand on
comprehension. Some tasks require a high level of
detailed comprehension. Other tasks may involve the
understanding of main ideas and some supporting
information (see Grabe, 2009).
Further Factors: Reading Fluency and Extended
Exposure to Print

L1 research on reading fluency has demonstrated
that reading fluency, and especially among children,
is strongly correlated with reading comprehension
(Samuels, 2006; Klauda & Guthrie, 2008). Fuch et al.
(2001) have shown that oral passage reading fluency
orally reading a text for one minuteis strongly related
to reading comprehension abilities for L1 children. A
number of studies have shown that training to recognize
words faster will lead to faster word recognition on
other words if the training is sufficiently extensive
(Martin-Chang & Levy, 2006). However, this type of
training appears to have only limited direct benefits for
reading comprehension. In the area of passage fluency
training, primarily by rereading passages multiple times
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

10

(sometimes aloud and sometimes silently), there is

good evidence that passage rereading improves both
reading fluency and comprehension (National Reading
Panel, 2000).

At present, there is less research that demonstrates
a relationship between reading fluency and reading
comprehension development in L2 contexts. However,
Sawaki and Sabatini (2007) reported a strong
relationship between oral passage reading fluency
and reading comprehension (r2 =.36). In a series of L2
training studies by Taguchi, Gorsuch, and colleagues
(see 2008, 2010, 2012), there is evidence that fluency
practice leads to increased L2 reading fluency and
to some improvement in L2 reading comprehension.
Improved word reading fluency through training has
also been reported by Fukkink et al. (2005).
L1 research on extended exposure to print (extensive
reading) has demonstrated a strong relationship
between amount of reading (over long periods of
time) and improved reading comprehension (Grabe,
2009; Krashen, 2004; Stanovich, 2000). Stanovich
and colleagues, in a series of studies, showed that
exposure to print (amount of reading) was an important
independent predictor of reading ability (see Stanovich,
2000 for overview).

Research on extensive reading is relatively unexplored
in L2 reading (cf. Krashen, 2004, 2011). The one set
of studies that has indicated the positive effects of
extensive reading on reading comprehension was those
studies carried out by Elley over a period of 20 years (see
Elley, 2000). In these studies, he has shown that getting
students to read extensively over a long period of time
consistently improved reading comprehension abilities
as well as a number of other language skills. In most
other studies on extensive reading, there is little carefully
controlled empirical evidence that reading extensively
significantly influences L2 reading development.
L1 and L2 Reading Differences

The above section developed the concept that
L1 and L2 reading abilities share many of the same
component skills and that the reading construct is very
similar in terms of underlying cognitive and linguistic
components. In most respects, this is a reasonable
position to take. At the same time, any consideration
of L2 reading abilities has to recognize that there are
several ways in which L2 reading differs from L1 reading
abilities. Most of these differences center, either directly
or indirectly, on the linguistic resources that a reader
can bring to bear on text comprehension.
1. Learners have a much smaller L2 linguistic
knowledge base when they begin reading.
Their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar,
and discourse structure is more limited.

2.

L2 students, overall, will have much less

experience with reading exposure in the L2.
They simply will have had much less
practice in L2 reading.

3.

L2 students will experience L2 reading

differently because they have experiences
reading in two different languages and
because cognitive processing will
involve two language systems (e.g.,
accessing the bilingual lexicon, using a joint
strategy systemKern, 1994; Koda, 2005).

4.

Aside from the possibilities of developing

somewhat distinct cognitive processing,
students engaged in L2 reading will also
experience a range of transfer effects
(cognitive skills, strategies, and goals and
expectations). Some transfer effects will
involve interference from the L1; others will
facilitate L2 reading processes. (See
Dressler & Kamil, 2006; Koda, 2005.)

5. L2 readers rely on different combinations of

general background knowledge when
reading in the L2. Drawing on information
about how the world works sometimes
varies between L1 and L2 reading
experiences.
6.

L2 readers will encounter distinct social

and cultural assumptions in L2 texts that
they may not be familiar with or find
somewhat hard to accept.

There has been a growing debate on the extent of the

differences between L1 and L2 readers. Drawing on
the arguments made by Koda (2005), and Genesee et
al. (2006), a number of statements can be developed.
First, beginning and intermediate L2 reading abilities
are more distinct from L1 reading than advanced L2
reading abilities will be. As an L2 reading becomes
fluent and highly skilled in reading comprehension,
the reading processes involved become more similar
(though perhaps never the same). Second, the
extent of the linguistic differences between L1 and L2
(e.g., the linguistic differences between Spanish and
English vs. Chinese and English) will have an impact
on L2 reading. This impact of L1/L2 differences will
diminish with increasing L2 reading proficiency (but
will not disappear). Third, higher-level skills relate
to comprehension skills more generally, and are not
constrained by limited amounts of linguistic knowledge,
so they will be essentially the same in both L1 and L2
contexts.
Finally, the actual underlying cognitive processes
involved in L1 and L2 reading are generally the same,
but the linguistic limitations and the processing practice
limitations will create real L1L2 differences until the
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

11

L2 linguistic resources and processing practices have

grown sufficiently strong and fluent. Nonetheless,
overall patterns of component-skills development
across L1s suggest that the underlying component
skills are essentially the same (see Geva & Farnia,
2012; Lipka & Siegal, 2011; Verhoeven & van Leeuwe,
2012). Moreover, as L2 reading proficiency increases,
the reading comprehension process looks increasingly
similar; there are numerous reasons for this increasing
similarity, including greater amounts of reading practice
and exposure to L2 print, greater resource knowledge of
the L2 and the social/cultural world of the L2, greater
fluency and automaticity of L2 reading skills, recognition
of successes in L2 reading, and an increasing willingness
to read in the L2 for various purposes. One conclusion
to be taken from this discussion of L1/L2 differences is
that many results of research on component skills that
support reading comprehension will likely apply across
both L1 and L2 learner groups.

2. The ability to access the meanings of a large

number of words automatically

Expertise and Reading: Get a Good Coach

From time to time, researchers argue that
reading extensively is all that a student needs to do t
become a good reader. However, there is overwhelming
evidence that effective instructional interventions
significantly improve students reading abilities (e.g.,
Trabasso & Bouchard, 2002; Taylor, Stevens & Asher,
2008), and especially so in combination with an effective
extensive reading program. Aside from many studies in
reading research, an additional sub-field of cognitive
psychology highlights the importance of an effective
mentor or coach (or teacher).
Research on expertise (Ericsson, 2006; Ericsson, Prietula
& Cokely, 2007) highlights the importance of getting a
strong mentor or a good coach. People who develop
levels of high expertise in various fieldsmedicine,
physics, law, math, chess, dance, wine tasting, sports,
computer programming, and more)all seek out
coaches who bring them to higher levels of performance.
If we see advanced fluent reading as a level of expertise,
and we should, then the notion that students will gain
enormously from effective teachers is a straightforward
conclusion. Indeed, effective instruction in reading
skills does lead to significant reading comprehension
improvements. The notion that a person only has to
read, and read a lot, does not turn out to be sufficient for
students reading development. Effective and focused
reading instruction does make a difference.

9. The ability to draw on prior knowledge as

appropriate

L2 Implications for Reading Instruction

Overall, the combination of research on L1 and
L2 reading abilities suggests that there are important
implications for L2 reading instruction that can be taken
from research results. Reading comprehension requires
the following skills and knowledge resources:
1. The ability to decode graphic forms for
efficient word recognition

3. The ability to draw meaning from phrase

and clause level grammatical information
4. The ability to combine clausal level
meanings to build a larger network of
meaning relations (comprehend the text)
5. The ability to recognize discourse level
relationships and use this information to
build and support comprehension
6. The ability to use reading strategies with
more difficult text and for a range of
academic reading tasks
7. The ability to set goals for reading and
adjust them as needed
8. The ability to use inferences of various
types and to monitor comprehension in
line with reading goals

10. Abilities to evaluate, integrate, and

synthesize information from a text to form
a situation model of comprehension (what
the reader learns from the text).
11. The ability to maintain these processes
fluently for an extended period of time
12. The motivation to persist in reading and to
use the text information appropriately in
line with reader goals
In an ideal world, each of these implications from
research would be subject to instructional training
studies and longitudinal studies to determine the
potential for turning implications into effective
applications in the classroom. Once interesting specific
applications are developed, it would then be important
to explore the effectiveness of those applications more
generally for the development of L2 reading abilities
(see Grabe 2009). In the real world, we cannot wait for
all of this research. We need to improve L2 students
reading abilities in the present moment. Fortunately,
a number of teaching practices can provide the needed
help.
Teaching L2 Reading

The major argument of the chapter to this
point is that a number of key reading sub-skills can be
taught successfully, and further, that the learning of
these sub-skills will contribute to a learners reading
comprehension abilities. How these skills should be
taught most effectively is indicated to some extent
by the research reviewed above. However, there are
many instructional approaches that potentially can
contribute to the development of reading abilities.
This discussion begins with curricular principles for
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

12

organizing instruction and establishing goals for

learning. The section then covers eight topics that are
important for reading instruction.
Curriculum Development Principles

The goal for reading instruction, at a general
level, is to incorporate key component skills and
knowledge into a reading curriculum in a principled
and consistent way (see Grabe & Stoller, 2011, 2014).
Specific instructional activities included in a curriculum
should follow from the major themes developed earlier
in this article and the resulting implications. To frame
instructional options for the reading classroom, a set
of more general principles are needed for building a
reading curriculum. These principles include:
1. A curricular framework for conceptualizing
L2 reading instruction that should integrate
major skills instruction with extensive
practice and exposure to print (building
upon a needs analysis, goals and objectives
or teaching and testing, plentiful resources,
appropriate curriculum planning, and
effective teaching materials)
2. Reading resources that are interesting,
varied, good-looking, abundant, and
accessible
3. Some degree of student choice in selecting
major reading sources
4.

Reading skills that are introduced and

taught by examining the primary texts used
in the reading course. There should not
be a need for special materials to introduce
reading skills (though additional activities
for further practice are necessary).

5.

Lessons that are structured around prereading, during-reading, and post-reading

activities, and these activities should be
varied from one major reading to the next

6. Opportunities for students to experience

comprehension success while reading
7. Expectations that reading occurs in class
every day and that many extended reading
opportunities are provided on a regular
basis
8. Instruction that is built on an integrated
curriculum framework and can support the
following developmental goals:
A. Promote word recognition skills
B. Build a large recognition vocabulary
C. Practice comprehension skills that

combine awareness of

grammar, main idea identification,

and comprehension strategies:

Strategy instruction is not separate

from text comprehension
instruction
D. Build awareness of discourse

structure (recognize main ideas,

recognize major organizing

patterns, recognize how the

information is organized in parts

of the text, recognize overt signals

of text structure, recognize

anaphoric relations in texts,

recognize other cohesive markers

in texts)
E. Promote strategic reading
F.
Practice reading fluency (build

reading rate, build text passage

reading fluency, read and reread at

home with parent or tape or self)
G. Develop extensive reading
H. Develop motivation
I.
Combine language learning with

content learning
Promoting Word Recognition Skills

Students at beginning and low intermediate
levels need to be able to use letter sound
correspondences easily and recognize frequent words
rapidly and accurately. Most L2 students will have
reasonable control over these basic skills, but checking
how quickly and accurately students can read a word
list provides a useful diagnostic tool, particularly if a
teacher is concerned about a students reading progress
(see Wang & Koda, 2005 for an example list). Students
who have difficulty with letter-sounds correspondences
should be given training in more consistent associations
between letters and sounds. Most students will not have
significant problems at this level if they are in academic
settings at secondary or higher levels. Beyond the ability
to read a basic word list reasonably well, many students
should get the needed practice in word recognition skills
through vocabulary development, extensive reading,
and fluency practice.
Building a Large Recognition Vocabulary

If student are to become good readers with a
wide range of texts, they need to recognize at least 95
percent of the words they might encounter in these
texts, and fluency generally occurs when a reader can
recognize 98-99 percent of the words in a given text.
The number of words that would be needed for 95
percent coverage of most texts seems to lie somewhere
between 10,000 and 15,000 words; 98-99 percent of
words probably requires a recognition vocabulary of
about 40,000 words (Stahl & Nagy, 2006).
The real goal for more advanced L2 reading is an L2
recognition vocabulary level anywhere above 10,000.
At the same time, the need to know the first 2,000
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

13

word families still retains its force as a key argument

for vocabulary instruction. In order to institute an
active vocabulary development framework in the
L2 curriculum, a carefully designed framework for
instructional activities must be built around the
following nine goals:
1. A framework for understanding vocabulary
learning in the classroom
2. Procedures for selecting words to focus on
3. Techniques for introducing new words
4. Ways to practice using words
5. Activities to build word learning strategies
6. A vocabularyrich environment to support
learning
7. Activities to help students collect words
8. Ways to build motivation for word learning
9. Activities that recycle texts and vocabulary
There are a number of good resources for exploring
each of these principles. In L1 settings, useful ideas are
outlined in Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2008), Graves
(2009), and Stahl and Nagy (2006). Good L2 vocabulary
instruction ideas can be found in Anderson (2009) and
Nation (2001, 2008).
Practicing Comprehension Skills

The ability to understand a text requires a
reasonable knowledge of basic grammar, an ability to
identify main ideas in the text, an awareness of discourse
structure, and strategic processing with more difficult
texts. Reading comprehension instructionhelping
students find the main ideas and be able to say what
a text is aboutshould give some attention to directed
grammar teaching, particularly at beginning and
lower-intermediate levels. In certain cases, teaching or
reviewing a key grammar point will support the material
that students are reading.
Most reading instruction occurs beyond the level of the
beginning ESOL student, and it is not necessary for a
reading course to have a full grammar review. In some
cases, grammatical knowledge can make a difference
in reading comprehension with more difficult texts,
particularly if the grammatical form occurs multiple
times and plays a role in comprehension. Some subset
of this knowledge should be taught, first directly from
the text material itself, and then through additional
activities and a review of other text material if needed.
However, a reading course is not the place in which to
embed a grammatical syllabus.
Main idea comprehension is not an easy skill to teach
and, more commonly, teachers assess comprehension
rather than teach comprehension through post-reading
questions. Post-reading comprehension questions

can offer good instructional opportunities if teachers

have students explain why an answer is appropriate
and explain where the text supports his/her answer.
Two other ways to teach comprehension skills include
strategy instruction that requires comprehension of the
text (involving discussions around comprehension and
specific strategy uses) and instruction that emphasizes
discourse structure awareness (especially the use of
graphic organizers) (see Grabe & Stoller, 2014).
Building Awareness of Discourse Structure

Teaching students to become more aware of
text structure is a further critical aspect of reading
instruction and curriculum planning. Teachers need to
be aware that texts have larger units of structure that
achieve writers purposes. Moreover, writers goals
and task requirements determine basic discourse
organization, and the specific information that a writer
presents has a major impact on how a text is organized.
A teacher with some knowledge of text organization
and discourse signaling markers can help students
build their knowledge of text structure and discourse
organization. Eight specific activities are noted below,
though many more could be incorporated into a reading
curriculum
1. Preview texts and highlight key words that
signal text structure.
2. Highlight a paragraph and decide its
function in the text.
3. Fill in an outline of the text and determine
main units of the text. Decide what makes
each unit identifiable as a separate unit.
4.

Fill in a table, chart, graph, timeline, tree,

etc. How was the information that was
taken from the text signaled so that it fits in
the given place in a graphic organizer.

5.

Find patterns of discourse organization

in a text (cause-effect, comparisoncontrast, problem-solution) and generate
very simple graphic displays.

6. Reorganize scrambled paragraphs and

sentences to reassemble a text or to make a
good summary.
7. Remove a wrong sentence from a summary
or a paragraph.
8. Match main ideas and supporting
information across two columns.
Much like other types of knowledge and skills to be
learned, there are some key principles for text structure
instruction. First and foremost, this type of instruction
must be consistent and continual. Second, teachers
must also use the texts that they are reading for other
purposes so that students see the pervasiveness of
discourse structureStudents shouldnt be provided
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

14

with special texts to show the discourse structure.

Finally, students need to explain to teachers and
classmates how texts are structured and how discourse
structure is signaled (Grabe 2009; Grabe & Stoller, 2011,
2014).
Promoting Strategic Reading

Strategies for reading comprehension build on
the linguistic resources (words, phrases, and structures)
and support the basic comprehension model developed
by the reader. When good readers read for careful
comprehension, they actively engage academic texts
through multiple strategies and a heightened level of
metacognitive awareness (Pressley, 2002:294-296):
1. They plan and form goals before reading.
2. They form predictions before reading.
3. They read selectively according to goals.
4. They reread as appropriate.
5. They monitor their reading continuously.
6. They identify important information.
7. They try to fill in gaps in the text through
inferences and prior knowledge.
8. They make guesses about unknown words
to keep reading.
9. They use text structure information to
guide understanding.
10. They attempt to integrate ideas from
different parts of the text.
11. They build interpretations of the text as
they read.
12. They build main idea summaries.
13. They evaluate the text and the author, and
form feelings about the text.
14. They attempt to resolve difficulties.
15. They reflect on the information in the text.
These strategies and associated goals, as well as a few
other strategies, are often applied in combinations that
support each other to achieve comprehension. Among
good readers, these strategies are often applied initially
without a lot of conscious thought. It is only when
the initial set of strategies does not lead to successful
understanding that a much more conscious problemsolving mode of attention is activated.
Training students to become strategic readers requires
that strategy development be given a high priority
throughout the curriculum and that strategy instruction
be seen as a long-term goal. Strategies are introduced,
usually one or two at a time, and developed in the
course of instruction. Teachers provide direct teaching
of strategies while students are reading the course
texts. The key for students to become strategic readers

is for them to experience many subsequent iterations

of practice in using effective strategies. This continual
recycling of key strategies is a process that textbooks
typically are not able to incorporate in a curriculum, and
most teachers do not know how to do this successfully.
These two limitations are a major reason why most
reading strategy instruction is not useful.
Teaching for strategic reading involves consistent
modeling, scaffolding, extensive practice, and
eventually independent use of the strategies by
students.
Consistent discussions about how to
understand the text are a major way to introduce and
practice strategies, and comprehension monitoring is
a regular feature of instruction. In this way, strategy
instruction is seen as part of everyday reading
instruction, and not as separate lessons. A long-range
goal is to automatize strategy use for fluent reading.
Teaching students to become more strategic readers
is central to comprehension instruction and deserves
greater instructional attention.
The best program for developing students as strategic
readers is through the English L1 program known as
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI). There is
no space to describe this program involving motivation
instruction, strategy instruction, content learning,
and extended reading input, but there is over 15 years
of empirical research evidence to demonstrate the
effectiveness of this approach in L1 contexts (Guthrie,
Klauda & Ho, 2013; Guthrie, Wigfield & Perencevich,
2004; Taboada et al., 2009). CORI has yet to be
implemented in any L2 context. At the same time, there
is some evidence that L2 reading strategy instruction
can be useful based on the meta-analysis by Taylor,
Stevens and Asher (2006).
Practicing Reading Fluency

The development of reading fluency is an
important component ability for advanced reading
comprehension skills (Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2008; Grabe,
2009; Klauda & Guthrie, 2008; Taguchi et al., 2012).
Building word and passage reading fluency also requires
an extended commitment in the reading curriculum.
One cannot build reading fluency by practicing for a
month or two. It is critical to explain to students why
they are working on fluency and to sell students on
fluency, rate, and recognition activities. At the same
time, if these activities are done right, students enjoy
fluency activities and look forward to them.
Developing word-recognition fluency can be carried out
through repetition and beat the clock practice with
flash cards and timed reading of lists of words that have
been introduced. Students can also improve in wordrecognition fluency through practice in rereading texts,
reading along in a text as the teacher reads aloud, and
engaging in extensive reading. Passage-level fluency
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

15

can be developed with consistent practice in rereading

texts, both silently and aloud. Passage fluency also is
developed through extensive reading, recycling through
previously read texts to carry out new tasks, timed
reading activities, and paced reading activities.
In English L1 reading settings, repeated reading is
becoming an important aspect of reading curricula, and
many alternative options exist for providing repeated
reading practice (Rasinski, 2010). Repeated reading can
either be unassisted or assisted. Unassisted Repeated
Reading involves students reading aloud short passages
alone until they reach a set rate of reading speed.
Assisted Repeated Reading can involve students reading
a passage silently along with an audio-tape, reading a
passage aloud with an audio-tape, reading a passage
with a teacher or aide, or first listening to a passage and
then reading along (among other variations).
Developing Extensive Reading

Extensive reading, to be reasonably successful,
generally requires a significant effort in motivating
students. Students need to be aware of the goals for
working on extensive reading. They also need to be sold
on the benefits of extensive reading, encouraged to read
extensively at every reasonable opportunity, given many
good opportunities to read extensively, and provided
with many excellent extensive reading resources (e.g.,
graded readers and level-appropriate reading material).
The following list simply sketches some of the ways to
engage students in extensive reading
1. Provide many attractive reading materials.
2. Provide time for free reading or SSR in class.
3. Create many opportunities for all types of
reading, in class and out.
4. Have a good class library.
5. Read interesting material to students.
6. Find out what students like to read and why.
7. Create ways to interest students in reading
topics.
8. Let students read magazines, comic books,
newspapers in class.
9. Talk about what you read and why that
material is interesting to you.
10. Have students share and recommend
reading material.
Building extensive reading skills requires long-range
curriculum planning if it is to have a major impact on
fluency and reading comprehension development.
Extensive reading in class also requires scaffolded
support from the teacher while students are reading
silently (see Reutzel, Jones & Neuman, 2010). In
addition, extensive reading in classroom contexts
requires some type of accountability and evaluation,

though this should be simple and not threatening.

Despite these cautions, it is important to point out
the obvious: There is no way to get around the fact that
students only become good readers by reading a lot.
Promoting Motivation for Reading

It is now clear that motivation training and
teaching positively impacts the development of reading
comprehension abilities (Guthrie, Klauda, & Ho, 2013;
Schiefele et al., 2011). Teachers commonly think that they
do not have a major role to play in student motivation
for reading. This view couldnt be further from the truth.
Most students take a dim view of becoming good, fluent
L2 readers. Students know that reading development is
a hard task and they need effective motivational support
from teachers and the curriculum itself. Moreover, there
are important ways in the classroom for teachers to
promote students motivation for reading. Motivation
growth can be supported in the following ways:
1. Talk about what interests you and why.
2. Have students share their interests.
3. Promote the development of group
cohesiveness
4. Create communities of learners who
support each other with difficult tasks.
5. Increase students expectancy of success in
many particular tasks
6. Have good lead-ins for major texts and
tasks in order to build initial interest.
7. Match student skills with challenge.
8. Make the curriculum relevant to students.
9. Make learners active participants so
learning is stimulating and enjoyable
10. Build real levels of expertise in topics of
readings (CORI, Content-Based Instruction).
11. Give students some degree of choices
within the curricular framework.
Combining Language and Content Learning

A priority in building a reading curriculum is to
consider which goals will have a high priority and how to
combine all of the priority goals into a coherent overall
educational plan. Any careful consideration of academic
reading development has to take into consideration the
various component skills outlined in this article. While
not every component skill and knowledge base can
receive equal amounts of attention, one approach to
building a coherent and effective reading curriculum
would be to combine an emphasis on content learning
as well as language learning (and language skill use),
often labeled as content-based instruction.
Sustained content and language learning, if developed
appropriately, provides opportunities for the
Key Issues in L2 Reading Development

16

development of various language skills and resources

(much as other curricular models would). However,
combined content and language learning also provides
many opportunities for extended reading, motivational
learning experiences, strategic responses to increasing
complex tasks, greater choices in reading materials,
and growing challenges to match growing skills. The
combination of content and language learning brings
in opportunities for project learning, the recycling of
important skills and strategies on a regular basis, the
rereading of many text resources, and more realistic
needs to interpret, integrate, and evaluate information
from multiple texts. These types of activities are what
students should be trying to do with information
resources in academic settings (Grabe & Stoller, 2014;
Guthrie, Wigfield & Perencevich, 2004)
CONCLUDING COMMENTS

While there are a number of additional
recommendations that can be made for building
L2 reading instruction and planning appropriate
reading curricula, this article describe key skills and
knowledge bases needed for academic reading, and
suggests ways to develop effective instruction. This
article first described the research foundations for L2
reading comprehension and noted implications for
reading instruction. It also outlined a simple array
of instructional practices that can be integrated into
an innovative and effective framework for teaching
L2 reading. A short article of this type can only begin
to identify the potential instructional options and
variations that could help make a difference in reading
success with L2 students. The key to these on-going
efforts is to continue exploring effective practices for
reading instruction based on persuasive instructional
research studies.

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