Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-68ccn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-09T02:07:41.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Teaching reading: Research into practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2014

John Macalister
John Macalister*
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealandjohn.macalister@vuw.ac.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In pre-service and in-service language teacher education, and in curriculum-related projects in second and foreign language settings, a recurrent issue is the failure to relate the teaching of reading to reading as a meaning-making activity. In this paper, I will consider what current research on second language (L2) reading has actually succeeded in bringing to the classroom. In doing this, I will examine the three obvious candidates for inclusion in a reading programme: extensive reading, reading fluency development, and intensive reading. For each of these I will give my perspective on what's getting through to teachers, and what isn’t, and my best guess as to why it isn’t. This leads to suggestions about areas for further research and other actions that need to be taken to improve classroom practice.

Type
Thinking Allowed
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 387 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beglar, D., Hunt, A. & Kite, Y. (2012). The effect of pleasure reading on Japanese university EFL learners’ reading rates. Language Learning 62.3, 665–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bismoko, J. & Nation, I. S. P. (1974). English reading speed and the mother-tongue or national language. RELC Journal 5.1, 86–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrick, L. U. (2006). Readers theatre across the curriculum. In Rasinski, T., Blachowicz, C. & Lems, K. (eds.), Fluency instruction: Research-based best practices. New York: Guilford Press, 209–228.Google Scholar
Chang, A. C.-S. (2010). The effect of a timed reading activity on EFL learners: Speed, comprehension, and perceptions. Reading in a Foreign Language 22.2, 284–303.Google Scholar
Chang, A. C.-S. (2012). Improving reading rate activities for EFL students: Timed reading and repeated oral reading. Reading in a Foreign Language 24.1, 56–83.Google Scholar
Chung, M. & Nation, I. S. P. (2006). The effect of a speed reading course. English Teaching 61.4, 181–204.Google Scholar
Claridge, G. (2009). Teachers’ perceptions of what makes a good graded reader. New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics 15.1, 13–25.Google Scholar
Cramer, S. (1975). Increasing reading speed in English or in the national language. RELC Journal 6.2, 19–23.Google Scholar
Day, R. R. (ed.). (2012). New ways in teaching reading (2nd edn). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.Google Scholar
Day, R. R. & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading in the second language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Day, R. R. & Bamford, J. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language 14.2, 136–141.Google Scholar
Day, R. R. & Park, J.-S. (2005). Developing reading comprehension questions. Reading in a Foreign Language 17.1, 60–73.Google Scholar
Dupuy, B., Tse, L. & Cook, T. (1996). Bringing books into the classroom: First steps in turning college-level ESL students into readers. TESOL Journal 5.4, 10–15.Google Scholar
Elley, W. B. & Mangubhai, F. (1981). The impact of a book flood in Fiji primary schools. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.Google Scholar
Elley, W. B. & Mangubhai, F. (1983). The impact of reading on second language learning. Reading Research Quarterly 19, 53–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
File, K. A. & Adams, R. (2010). Should vocabulary instruction be integrated or isolated? TESOL Quarterly 44.2, 222–249.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, G. J. & Taguchi, E. (2008). Repeated reading for developing reading fluency and reading comprehension: The case of EFL learners in Vietnam. System 36.2, 253–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grabe, W. (2010). Fluency in reading: Thirty-five years later. Reading in a Foreign Language 22.1, 71–83.Google Scholar
Green, C. (2005). Integrating extensive reading in the task-based curriculum. ELT Journal 59.4, 306–311.Google Scholar
Hill, D. R. (1997). Survey review: Graded readers. ELT Journal 51.1, 57–81.Google Scholar
Hill, D. R. (2001). Graded readers. ELT Journal 55.3, 300–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, D. R. (2008). Graded readers in English. ELT Journal 62.2, 184–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, A. (1994). Appropriate methodology and social context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Johns, T. & Davies, F. (1983). Text as a vehicle for information: The classroom use of written texts in teaching reading as a foreign language. Reading in a Foreign Language 1.1, 1–19.Google Scholar
Lao, C. Y. & Krashen, S. (2000). The impact of popular literature study on literacy development in EFL: More evidence for the power of reading. System 28, 261–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lortie, D. C. (1975). Schoolteacher: A sociological study. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Macalister, J. (2008). The effect of a speed reading course in an English as a Second Language environment. The TESOLANZ Journal 16, 23–33.Google Scholar
Macalister, J. (2009). ‘But my programme's too full already’: How to make A Good Thing happen in the academic purposes classroom. In Cirocki, A. (ed.), Extensive reading in English language teaching. Munich: Lincom, 203–218.Google Scholar
Macalister, J. (2010a). Investigating teacher attitudes to extensive reading practices in higher education: Why isn't everyone doing it? RELC Journal 41.1, 59–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macalister, J. (2010b). Speed reading courses and their effect on reading authentic texts: A preliminary investigation. Reading in a Foreign Language 22.1, 104–116.Google Scholar
Macalister, J. (2011). Today's teaching, tomorrow's text: Exploring the teaching of reading. ELT Journal 65.2, 161–169.Google Scholar
Marianne (2009). What lies beneath the stated meanings: A transactional view of language learners making meaning with texts. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Millett, S. (2005). New Zealand speed readings for ESL learners, Book One. Wellington: School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington.Google Scholar
Millett, S. (2008). A daily fluency programme Modern English Teacher 17.2, 21–28.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (1979). The curse of the comprehension question: Some alternatives. Guidelines 2, 85–103.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2004). Vocabulary learning and intensive reading. EA Journal 21.2, 20–29.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2007). The four strands. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 1.1, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2011). Research into practice: Vocabulary. Language Teaching 44.4, 529–539.Google Scholar
Nishizawa, H., Yoshioka, T. & Fukada, M. (2010). The impact of a 4-year extensive reading program. Paper presented at the JALT 2009 Conference Proceedings, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Palmer, D. M. (1982). Information transfer for listening and reading. English Teaching Forum 20.1, 29–33.Google Scholar
Pino-Silva, J. (1992) Extensive reading: No pain, no gain? English Teaching Forum 30.2, 48–49.Google Scholar
Pohl, M. (2000). Learning to think, thinking to learn: Models and strategies to develop a classroom culture of thinking. Cheltenham, VIC: Hawker Brownlow.Google Scholar
Renandya, W. A. (2007). The power of extensive reading RELC Journal 38.2, 133–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, V. (1996). The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In Sikula, J. (ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education. New York: Simon & Schuster, 102–119.Google Scholar
Sonbul, S. & Schmitt, N. (2010). Direct teaching of vocabulary after reading: Is it worth the effort? ELT Journal 64.3, 253–260.Google Scholar
Taguchi, E. & Gorsuch, G. J. (2002). Transfer effects of repeated EFL reading on reading new passages: A preliminary investigation. Reading in a Foreign Language 14.1, 43–65.Google Scholar
Taguchi, E., Gorsuch, G. J., Takayasu-Maass, M. & Snipp, K. (2012). Assisted repeated reading with an advanced-level Japanese EFL reader: A longitudinal diary study. Reading in a Foreign Language 24.1, 30–55.Google Scholar
Taguchi, E., Takayasu-Maass, M. & Gorsuch, G. J. (2004). Developing reading fluency in EFL: How assisted repeated reading and extensive reading affect fluency development. Reading in a Foreign Language 16.2, 70–96.Google Scholar
Tanaka, H. & Stapleton, P. (2007). Increasing reading input in Japanese high school EFL classrooms: An empirical study exploring the efficacy of extensive reading. The Reading Matrix 7.1, 115–131.Google Scholar
Tran, Y. T. N. (2012). The effects of a speed reading course and speed transfer to other types of texts. RELC Journal 43.1, 23–37.Google Scholar
Tsou, W. (2011). The application of readers theater to FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools) reading and writing. Foreign Language Annals 44.4, 727–747.Google Scholar
Waring, R. (2009). The inescapable case for extensive reading. In Cirocki, A. (ed.), Extensive reading in English language teaching. Munich: Lincom, 93–111.Google Scholar
Waring, R. & Takaki, M. (2003). At what rate do learners learn and retain new vocabulary from reading a graded reader? Reading in a Foreign Language 15.2, 130–163.Google Scholar
West, M. (1941). Learning to read a foreign language and other essays on language-teaching (2nd edn). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Williams, R. (1986). ‘Top ten’ principles for teaching reading. ELT Journal 40.1, 42–45.Google Scholar
Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Harlow, UK: Longman.Google Scholar