4. Encourage the development of reading strategies. 5. Include both bottom-up and top-down techniques. In our craze for communicative, authentic language activity in the classroom, sometimes we forget that learners can indeed benefit from studying the fundamentals. Make sure that you give enough classroom time to focusing on the building blocks of written language— geared appropriately for each level.
6. Consider subdividing your techniques into pre-reading, during-reading, and afterreading phases. A good rubric to try to keep in mind for teaching reading is the following three-part framework:
(a) Before you read. Spend some time introducing a topic, encouraging skimming, scanning, and activating schemata. Students can bring the best of their knowledge and skills to a text when they have been given a chance to "ease into" the passage.
(b) While you read. Not all reading is simply extensive-global reading. There may be certain facts or rhetorical devices that students should take note of while they read. This gives them a sense of purpose rather than just reading because the teacher ordered it.
(c) After you read. Comprehension questions are just one form of activity appropriate for post-reading. Consider vocabulary study, identifying the author's purpose, discussing the author's line of reasoning, examining grammatical structures, or steering students toward a follow-up writing exercise.
7. Build in some evaluative aspect to your techniques. Because reading, like listening comprehension, is totally unobservable (we have to infer comprehension from other behavior), it is as important in reading as it is in listening to be able to accurately assess students' comprehension and development of skills. Consider some of the following overt responses that indicate comprehension:
(1) doing—the reader responds physically to a command
(2) choosing—the reader selects from alternatives posed orally or in writing
(3) transferring—the reader summarizes orally what is read
(4) answering—the reader answers questions about the message
(5) condensing—the reader outlines or takes notes on a passage
(6) extending—the reader provides an ending to a story
(7) duplicating—the reader translates the message into the native language or copies it
(beginning level, for very short passages only)
(8) modeling—the reader puts together a toy, for example, after reading directions for
assembly
(9) conversing—the reader engages in a conversation that indicates appropriate processing
of information
