In my recent talk at IATEFL 2015, I argued that the standard approach to reading in ELT is ineffective and that tasks which reflect a broader range of genres and more realistic reasons for reading are preferable, and I demonstrated a few tasks which reflect this philosophy.

At the end of the talk I promised that I would post the slides and pdf versions of some of the tasks I showed – so here it all is:

Here is the first of the pdf handouts.  This is a task / process that you can use with pretty much any text, though it might need some adapting in the information extraction section, depending what kind of genre you use it with.

Teflgeek – Reaction Reading

Here is the second of the handouts.  This is a pdf of a task / process that aims to help students deconstruct the why and what of texts – why were they written and what should they do with them.  It helps students approach texts critically and with the ability to conduct a more in depth analysis.  It should work with any text type and at almost any level.

Teflgeek – Text Deconstruction Handout


Finally, a video of the presentation is available from the IATEFL Online website.  The presentation was part of a larger forum on approaches to developing reading skills and I co-presented with Peter Watkins of the University of Portsmouth and Mike Green of Kansai Gaidai University.  Peter spoke first for about 15 minutes, then I spoke for 15 minutes and finally Mike spoke for 15 minutes.  We then had about 15 minutes of Q & A, which is worth watching for some quite key follow up questions!

The link is here: http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/session/forum-approaches-developing-reading-skills

And these are the abstracts for Peter and Mike’s talks:

REVISITING READING

Peter Watkins (University of Portsmouth)

This talk starts with the premise that the teaching of reading skills has changed little over the last few years, with a fairly predictable staging sequence to most lessons. We will consider not only what we do when we teach reading, but also why we do it. Alternatives to the presumed norm are then suggested.

PRACTICAL WAYS TO DEVELOP FLUENCY IN L2 READING

Michael Green (Kansai Gaidai University)

What do we mean by ‘fluent reading’ and how can we encourage it in the classroom? In this session, participants will sample a variety of simple exercises that develop the skills which form the foundation of fluent reading. These skills are applicable to all levels of L 2 readers in many different teaching contexts.

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