Basic steps when reading with high-beginner to advanced learners 2

Before reading: Preparing to read

  • Start with prereading activities that allow learners to connect what they will be reading with their own knowledge and experience. This can take the form of a direct question about their lives or it may involve asking questions about a picture in the text. For higher-level learners, it could involve responding to a quotation connected to the text.
  • Preview the reading by looking at the title, the first sentence and anything in bold or unusual print. Have your learner guess what the passage will be about.
  • For higher-level learners, have them write prereading questions about the text based on the preview you have done together.

During reading: Focus on Meaning

  • Break up the text and ask questions throughout.
  • Ask a variety of questions.

You could also have your learner do a read/react exercise. The learner should divide the paper into two sides. On the left side of the paper, copy a section from the text that she felt strongly about. On the right side of the paper, she should write her reaction to that section.

  • Ask questions that measure the knowledge gained in the text. These can include yes/no questions as well as wh-questions (questions that start with who, where, what, why or when).
  • Ask questions that enable the learner to predict what may happen next and justify why she feels that may happen.

After the reading: Link the reading to the learner's life

  • Ask questions regarding your learner's interpretation of the text. If, for example, you are reading a cultural case study, you can ask your learner what she thinks may have happened. What was the problem? Why was it an issue?
  • Ask the learner to apply the information that she has just read. Has a situation like this ever happened to you? What did you do? Would you do the same thing now?
  • Ask the learner to evaluate what she has read. What do you think the people in the story should have done? What actions made the situation worse?

2 E.R. Auerbach, Making Meaning Making Change: Participatory curriculum development for adult ESL literacy, (Washington, DC: Centre for Applied Linguistics, 1992.) Used with permission.