Teaching Reading &

Writing
Daw Thae Ei Ei Nyein
Assistant Lecturer
 What is
reading?
• “Reading can be defined as a
complex ability to extract, or
build, meaning from a text.”
(Grabe)
 What does reading
comprehension involve?
• 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 in a range of strategic processes and underlying
cognitive skills
• Interpret meaning in relation to background knowledge
• Interpret and evaluate texts in line with reader goals and
purposes
• Process texts fluently over an extended period of time
 Reading is a constructive process

Reading may be described as “getting meaning” from written text and a reader’s
skill in comprehension depends on three things:
• the background knowledge of the reader,
• the accuracy with which the reader responds to printed or non-print material,
• the reader’s understanding of the message of the text.

Reading involves a transaction between the mind of the reader and the language
of the text.

Meaning is not in the text; rather, it arises during the transaction between reader
and text in a given situational context, an event during which meaning evolves.
 Text = imagination

Text = truth
 Read the story below in parts.
Stop after each sentence and ask yourself: Who is Tony?
What makes me think so? You may write your answer/s on the blanks below.

• Tony was on his way to school last Tuesday.

• (Is he a student? A teacher? What makes you think so?)

• He was really worried about the science lesson.

• (A teacher? A student? What makes you think so?)

Activity • Last week he had a problem in controlling the class.

• (A teacher? A student? What makes you think so?)

• It was unfair of the principal to leave him in charge.

• (A teacher? A student? What makes you think so?)
 After all, it is quite unusual to ask the janitor to take charge of the class.

• Your background knowledge determines what

you expect from a text.
• Were your answers • These expectations allow you to use your
correct? Why or why not? cognitive processes as tools for understanding
• What processes did you • What cognitive processes are these?
use to arrive at your • predicting
answers? • hypothesising
• deducing
• inferring
• drawing implications
 Top-down and bottom-up processing
Is that something
I’ve seen before?

Top-down
processing
• Top-down and bottom-
Bottom-up
Using prior processing
up processes are in
knowledge, constant interplay
model, ideas Taking sensory
and information and • A reader will be involved
expectations then in a continual shift of
to interpret
sensory
assembling and focus between them
integrating it
information and this means that
both types will always
come into play.
What am I seeing?
 6 types of knowledge to make sense of a text

1. Syntactic knowledge helps a reader decode meaning through his/her knowledge of the text’s language features.

2. Morphological knowledge has to do with language itself. It helps a reader decode meaning through his/her
knowledge of language features.

3. General world knowledge relates to the reader’s prior knowledge and experiential background.

4. Socio-cultural knowledge, also called schematic knowledge, is related to the reader’s background information of
things, people, events that make-up his/her socio-cultural world.

5. Topic knowledge has to do with knowledge of a topic, an event, a situation that enables the reader to make sense of
a text.

6. Genre knowledge enables a reader to work with the language of the text in order to interpret its meaning.
What is unusual about the following text?

Here is a story for you to use your discourse skills to find the
solution.

It’s about Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet are found dead on the floor in a bedroom.
When they were discovered, there was broken glass and some
water on the floor. The only furniture in the room is a shelf and
a bed.

The house is in a remote location, away from everything except

for the nearby railway track. What caused the deaths of Romeo
and Juliet?
•Romeo and Juliet are, in fact, goldfish. They
were in a fish bowl on the shelf when the
rumble of a passing train knocked the bowl
off the shelf onto the floor.
 Lexical awareness

Ambiguity
Computer repair
Caller : Hi, our printer is not working.
Customer Service: What’s wrong with it?
Caller : The Mouse is jammed.
Customer Service: Mouse? Printers don't have a
mouse!!!
Caller: Mmmm?.. Oh really?... Let me
send you a picture.
 Four strands in teaching
Reading

Goals for a reading course

Meaning- Meaning-
are the reading abilities that focused focused
students should develop input output
during the course. These
goals must arise directly from
students’ needs, interests, and Language-
Fluency
focused
abilities. development
learning
Nation, I. S. P. 2009. Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing.
New York, NY: Routledge.
 Principal strands in teaching Reading

Meaning-focused input

 Practice and training in reading should be done for a range

of reading purposes.
 Learners should be doing reading that is appropriate to their
language proficiency level
 Reading should be used as a way of developing language
proficiency.
 Meaning-focused output

 Reading should be related to other language skills (e.g., writing, speaking, or visually
representing).
 Language-focused learning

 Learners should be helped to develop the skills and knowledge

needed for effective reading. The course should work on the sub-
skills of reading and language features needed to read.
 Learners should be given training and practice in a range of
reading strategies, and integrating these strategies.
 Learners should become familiar with a range of text structures,
e.g., newspaper reports, stories, recounts.
 Learners should be helped and pushed to develop fluency in
reading. They need to read material that is very familiar and
contains no unknown language features.
 Learners should enjoy reading and feel motivated to read.
 Learners should read a lot. This can be monitored and
encouraged through the use of extensive reading and issue logs.
 Session 2: Intensive Reading

• “Detailed reading of a text, usually accompanied by exercises or

other teaching activities. An hour might be spent on one or two
pages of text, looking at such aspects as grammar, vocabulary,
generic structure, and cultural context.”

• Intensive reading is ‘the dominant mode of teaching reading in

many language classrooms’ (Renandya, 2007: p. 135)
 What is intensive reading about
• to have a better understanding of intensive reading and its purposes
• to tell when skimming and scanning are used and their purpose
• to distinguish between literal and inferential comprehension skills
• to be familiar with what inferences are; how inferences are made; and
why they are important for effective reading
• to differentiate between predicting outcomes and drawing conclusions of
contextual clues available for guessing the meanings of the unfamiliar
• to apply Barrett’s Taxonomy [or Bloom’s revised Taxonomy] to formulate
reading comprehension questions
 BARRETT’S TAXONOMY
critique, comment with emotional response
Appreciation to text, appreciate (e.g., use of imagery),

analyse, appraise, evaluate, justify, reason,

Evaluation judge, draw conclusions,

Inferential predict, infer, guess, determine implied

Comprehension caused and effect,
classify, regroup, rearrange, assemble,
Reorganisation collect, categorize, sequence, summarize,
Literal label, list, name, relate, recall, repeat, state,
Comprehension locate details,
24
 Refer to Intensive Reading Worksheet

ACTIVITY 1: Comprehension - Literal and Inferential

Task 1: Categorize the reading skills into literal and inferential
comprehension;
Task 2: Decide in pairs what is literal comprehension and what is
inferential comprehension
ACTIVITY 2: Skimming and Scanning [Task 1 and Task 2]

06/11/2025 25
Activity 1 : Literal and Inferential Comprehension
The terms literal comprehension and inferential comprehension are
used very often when we talk about reading comprehension.

Task 1: Categorize the reading skills provided below into literal

comprehension and inferential comprehension skills.

Infer
Lite 1.Locating details
2. Sequencing en
ral 3.Critically responding to text tial
Co 4.Summarizing co
5.Determining cause and effect mp
mpr 6.Making predictions
re
ehe 7. Drawing conclusions
he
nsi nsi
on
on 1 2 4 5 6 7 3
 Task 2: Work in pairs. Decide what literal
comprehension and inferential comprehension
mean to you.
•Literal comprehension is the ability to understand
accurately and completely what is directly or explicitly
stated in a text. It is sometimes referred to as reading the
lines. Literal level questions are intended to get student
to recall, identify, classify, and sequence details, facts,
and state main ideas from the text.

•Inferential comprehension is the ability to work out

implied meaning of the text and/or to discern ideas
beyond the text. It is sometimes referred to as reading
between the lines. Inferential comprehension requires
the reader to make connections between new
information with prior knowledge and experiences.
Inferential comprehension includes being able to draw
conclusions, predict outcomes, and construct unstated
main ideas. It sometimes requires the reader to read
beyond the lines to critique or appreciate with a personal
response to the text.
 Activity 2: Skimming and Scanning

We don’t always read texts in the

same way. How we read a text
depends on our purpose for
reading. Skimming and scanning
are two different ways in which
readers read a text.
 Skimming and scanning

Skimming implies looking over a text quickly in order to have a general idea of its
contents. Skimming requires a greater degree of reading and word recognition
skills than scanning as it involves a more thorough understanding of the text. The
reader uses a more top down approach.

Scanning suggests the review of a particular text to find a specific piece of

information. Scanning to find a particular piece of information can be achieved
successfully by readers who have less developed skills. The reader uses a more
bottom up approach.
 • Read the newspaper to get the general news of the day.
Skimming
• Read through a magazine quickly to discover which articles you
would like to read in more detail.
Skimming
Task 1: Which of • Read a conference guide to find out which day you are
presenting your paper.
these activities
Scanning
are skimming and• Read the "What's on TV" section of your newspaper to ensure
which are you do not miss your favourite programme.
scanning ? Scanning
• Read business and travel brochures to get informed.
Skimming
• Read a train / airplane schedule to find out and confirm your
journey time.
Scanning
 Reading levels
Sub-skills of
(Barrett’s taxonomy) reading
1. Literal comprehension
2. Reorganization • Read for main
3. Inferential idea/gist (skim)
comprehension • Read for specific info
(scan)
4. Evaluation • Relate cause & effect
5. Appreciation
• Identify sequence of
events
Session 3: • Predicting outcomes
Reading Skill • Drawing conclusions
and Subskills
and Strategies • Inferring meaning
from contextual
clues
 Reading to
Guided
children and
Reading reading
reading
(intensive)
aloud
Types
(read the
Independent
handout) (extensive)
Reciprocal
reading
reading

06/11/2025 32
Reciprocal Reading
 Stages of reading instruction

A. Pre-Reading
What do you usually do or
B. Reading/While-Reading
what activity do you plan for
C. Post-Reading learners in each stage?
 Pre-reading strategies
Know-Want-Learn (K-W-L)

Guiding students
to identify what
they know, what
they want to
know, and what
they have learned

*Can also be used for

during- reading and post-
reading stages
 Pre-reading strategies

Anticipation Guide
Making predictions,
anticipating the text,
and verifying the
predictions

1. Make predictions
2. Anticipate the text
3. Verify the
predictions
 Pre-reading strategies
Think–Pair–Share (TPS)*

Students working together to solve a problem or

answer a question about an assigned reading

1. Answer individually
2. Share and discuss ideas with a classmate

*Can also be used for during- reading

and post-reading stages
 Pre-reading strategies
Direct Reading / Thinking Activity (DRTA)
Actively engaging 1. Pair/group/whole class
students by doing the 2. Before reading: Brainstorm
cycle of Predict- Read- questions/predictions.
Confirm/Reject 3. While reading: Monitor for
throughout the selection answers or verifications.
Look for evidences.
4. Circle or check correct
predictions and cross-out
or erase incorrect
predictions
5. Repeat the cycle of
Predict-Read-
*Can also be used for during- Confirm/Reject throughout
reading and post-reading stages the selection.
 During/While-reading strategies

Visual Strategy

Constructing mental images while

reading a text

1. Teacher reads the text.

2. Stop and share image in mind.
3. Discuss how the image helps in
understanding the text
4. Read again and pause. Ask
students to share images in mind.
5. Repeat the same process.
 During-reading strategies

Concept Map

Exploring and connecting

ideas using graphic
organizers

*Can also be used for pre-reading and post-reading

stages
 During/While-reading strategies

Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD)

Integrating different language skills

throughout the instruction

1. Teacher presents multimodal

information similar to the text’s topic.
2. Students read the text.
3. Students discuss and reflect on the
materials (e.g., similarities, differences,
etc.).

*Pre-reading + During-reading + Post-reading stages

 During/While-reading strategies

Partner Reading

Students taking turns

reading and giving each
other with feedback as a
way to monitor
comprehension
 During/While-reading strategies

Think-Alouds

Teacher modeling relevant

thinking processes and skills
while reading, giving
students opportunities to
practice the techniques, and
offering structured feedback
thereafter
 Post-reading strategies

Summarizing

Guiding the student to discern

the most important ideas in a
text, how to ignore irrelevant
information, and how to
integrate the central ideas in a
meaningful way.
 Post-reading strategies

Exit Slips

Getting students to answer brief questions at

the end of a class or lesson to quickly and
informally assess their understanding of the
text and to lead them to reflect on their
learning.

 Write one thing you learned today.

 Discuss how today’s lesson could be used
in the real world.
 Write one question you have about today’s
lesson.
 Did you enjoy working in small groups
today?
 Session 4:
Extensive
Reading (ER)
• ER can be defined as “an
approach to language teaching
in which learners read a lot of
easy material in the new
language” (Bamford & Day,
2004, p. 1)
• ER is a way of learning a
language through a great
amount of reading for pleasure.
• Sometimes called:
• “pleasure reading”
• “free voluntary reading”
• “uninterrupted sustained
silent reading” [USSR}
 10 Principles of ER
(Day & Bamford, 2002)

The purpose of reading

A variety of reading
is usually related to
The reading material is material on a wide Learners choose what Learners read as much
pleasure, information
easy. range of topics must be they want to read. as possible.
and general
available.
understanding.

Reading speed is usually

Reading is its own Reading is individual Teachers orient and The teacher is a role
faster rather than
reward. and silent. guide their students. model of a reader.
slower.
 Characteristics of Extensive Reading

i. The reading material is easy

(suitable for learners’ levels)
ii. Learners choose what they want to
read
iii. Learners read as much as possible
iv. Reading is individual and silent
v. Teachers orient and guide their
students

(Day and Bamford, 2002, pp. 137–140) (Nuttall, 1996)

3-2-1 metacognitive strategy Learning without
reflecting is like eating
without digesting

What 3 concepts/ideas you have learned from

this session?

What 2 new words you have learned from this

session?

What 1 concept/idea/strategy that you think you

would use in your classroom or in your teaching
practice?