ESL Reading Strategy

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ESL Reading Strategy

• Rebekah Sidman-Taveau
• ESL Coordinator/Lecturer, SFAI

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Steps for More Effective and Efficient Reading

• Generate Background Knowledge
• Skim and Scan
• Read actively
• Guess meanings in context
• Annotate and/or
• Take double entry notes

Silberstein, Dobson, Clarke (2002) Spack,
(1998)
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Generating Background Knowledge

• Preview and predict
• Read the title and predict content
• Read background information
• Look at the length of the reading
• Preview any headings or subheadings
• Look at words in boldface or italics
• Look at charts and illustrations

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2. Skim and Scan

• Skim
• Read quickly for a general idea
• Skip phrases between parenthesis or dashes
• Skip details (dates, names) Do not look up words!
• Focus on content words not function words
• Look at the overall map, the general direction
  and curve of the road, not the individual streets.

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3. Read Actively

• Reading ? passive activity
• Read with pen and highlighter
• Have a dialogue in your head
• Monitor your comprehension
• Write down your understanding of sections
• Check your comprehension with others
• Recognize that others will have different
  interpretations

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4. Guessing Meaning in Context

• Looking up every word info. overload no time!
• A. Look at what proceeds and follows the word to
  guess the meaning in context
• After painting all night long, Carlos was
  ravenous.
• He ate two bowls of soup, a big salad, three
  pieces
• of chicken, and a piece of chocolate cake with a
• glass of milk.
• When Brazilians come to the United States they
  always have Suadades. They miss their social
  life, food, music, and everything else about
  their home.

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4. Guessing Meaning in Context

• B. Use grammar and punctuation clues that point
  to the relationships among the various parts of
  the sentence.
• A. Our uncle was a nomad, an incurable wanderer
  who never could stay in one place.
• B. George is a thief he would steal the gold
  from his grandmothers teeth and not feel guilty.
• C. If you step on an egg, it will
  __________________.
• D. Unlike her gregarious sister, Rita is a shy,
  unsociable person who does not like to go to
  parties or make new friends.

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4. Guessing Meaning in Context

• C. Use Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes or
  words stems
• Phonology phone sound logy study of
• Deforestation
• D. Be content with the general idea of an
  unfamiliar word the exact definition is not
  always necessary.
• The Gibbon is a type of ape that lives in Asia.
• E. Recognize situations where it is not necessary
  to know the meaning of the word

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5. Annotating

• Record any emotion you feel as you read
• Recall personal associations
• Make connections with something else you have
  read
• Create headings to identify different sections
• Write brief summaries
• Highlight important sentences
• Underline unknown words and write definitions of
  key words
• Ask questions

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6. Double Entry Notes

• On left side of margin, write summaries
• On right side of margin, write reactions

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Conclusion

• Preview the text and prepare yourself mentally
• Read actively
• Guess meanings in context
• Write all over your text!

Have tolerance for ambiguity
Silberstein, Dobson, Clarke (2002) Spack,
(1998)
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Vocabulary Building

• Facade
• 1. Say it f?' sad
• 2. Define it
• 3. Find a synonym or antonym
• 4. Use it in a meaningful way