1. www.nvcc.edu/workforce

2. EDUC 1821:
Teaching Reading & Writing
American Culture & Language Institute, TESOL Certificate Program
Northern Virginia Community College
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3. Overview
• Reading
– Genres & Characteristics
– Bottom Up vs. Top Down Processing
• Writing
– Product vs. Process Oriented
– Discourse Patterns
– Minimal marking
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4. Reading Genres
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Non-fiction (reports, essays, articles, dictionaries)
Fiction (novels, jokes, dramas, poetry)
Letters (personal, business)
Diaries, Journals
Memos, messages, invitations
Academic writing (test responses, thesis)
Questionnaires, applications
Signs, labels, directions, recipes, maps, menus
Bills, schedules, directories
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5. Genres Used in Different Programs
Life Skills
Pre-Academic
• In pairs, categorize reading genres used in
each program above.
• Discuss.
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6. Reading Characteristics
• Permanence: ability to revisit a text and
reread
• Processing time: time taken to comprehend
• Distance: content’s similarity or difference
from students’ prior knowledge
• Orthography: relationship between sounds
and letters
• Formality: genre of text
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7. Bottom-Up Processing
Print
Phonemes &
Graphemes
Blending to
make words
Meaning
Cambourne cited in Nunan, 1991
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8. Bottom-Up Processing
• Requires oral knowledge of the language,
which many ELLs don’t have
• 26 letters = 40 sounds
• How we learn our L1
• Decoding doesn’t equal comprehension
• In the 1950s, thought to be the best way to
teach reading
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9. Top-Down Processing
Experience
Intuition
Expectation
Aspects of
Print/Layout
Meaning
Cambourne cited in Nunan, 1991
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10. Top-Down Processing
• Also called “conceptually driven processing”
• Uses our students’ own experiences to
understand a text
• Focuses on meaning-based text elements,
not decoding
Brown (2007)
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11. Interactive Reading
• Current research supports “interactive
reading.”
– A combination of both top-down and bottom-up
processing
– This is what happens naturally when native
English speakers read
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12. Extensive Reading
• “free reading” or “reading for pleasure” 25%
of class time
• Longer texts, uninterrupted
• Limit dictionary use – breaks train of thought
if students are constantly looking up words
• Key to student gains in reading, vocabulary,
spelling, and writing
• www.er-central.com
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13. Intensive Reading
• Direct instruction of metacognitive strategies
– Self monitoring
– Evaluating reading process
– Reflecting on what’s been read
• Pre-reading, while reading, and post reading
strategies
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14. Skimming
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Quick!
Getting the “gist”
Predict the purpose of the passage
A head start before more focused reading
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15. Skimming Practice
How long have you lived in your house? Do people in
your country move frequently? Or do they stay in one
place for a long time? A recent report by the United
States Census Bureau said that Americans move
approximately once every five years. “America is an
extremely mobile nation. Ever year millions of people
pack up and move to a different house,” said Kristin
Hansen. People who own their own houses usually stay
in one place longer than people who rent. Homeowners
move every 8.2 years, but renters move every 2.1
years. Summer is the most popular time for moving.
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16. Scanning
• Quickly searching for something specific
– Dates, names, places, etc.
• To get information without reading everything
• Essential in academic English
• Helpful for schedules, forms, manuals
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17. Scanning Practice
Calendar Item
Parking enforcement begins
Date
February 2
Spring Break (no classes)
Last day to withdraw Spring
graduation application
Commencement Ceremony
March 11 - 17
May 13
May 19
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18. Reading Micro Skills
• Retain chunks of language in short-term memory
• Process writing at an efficient speed
• Recognize a core of words, interpret word order
patterns and their significance
• Recognize grammatical classes (nouns, verbs),
systems (tense, plurals), etc.
• Recognize that a particular meaning may be
expressed in different grammatical forms
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19. Reading Macro Skills
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Recognize cohesive devices & rhetorical forms
Recognize the communicative functions of texts
Infer context that is not explicit
Infer links and connections between ideas, etc.
and detect relations such as main ideas / details
• Detect culture-specific references
• Use scanning, skimming, guessing, and
background knowledge
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20. Reading in the ESL Classroom
• Choose relevant, level-appropriate materials
– Authentic materials/realia
• Provide some student-produced materials
• Use Pre-, During- and Post-reading activities
• Limit the amount of oral readings (reading
aloud) due to high cognitive load
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21. Reading Activities
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Read & Do
Read & Choose
Answer questions
Information Gap
Ordering /
Sequencing
• Editing
• Summarizing, essay
• Note taking,
highlighting
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22. Reading Activities
• Read a paragraph then circle all the words that start
with P. Point to other things in the room that start with
P.
• Look at a grocery store ad from the newspaper and
answer the following questions:
– What is the purpose of this flier?
– What information is given?
– Where could you find this flier?
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23. Types of Writing
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Imitative (copying)
• Real-World Writing
– Academic
Intensive (controlled)
– Vocational/Technical
Self-writing
– Personal
Display writing
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24. Product-Oriented Writing
• Imitating the final product
• Emphasis on “model” compositions
• Focus on rhetorical style, accurate grammar,
conventional organization
• Often graded using a list of criteria
• Style of teaching writing in the 1950s
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25. Process-Oriented Writing
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Focus on message & process
Enhances intrinsic motivation & creativity
Allows students to find their own voice
Prewriting & revision seen as important steps
Continual feedback (during each step)
Encourages journaling and free-writing
Current teaching writing methodologies
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26. Discourse Patterns
Kaplan (1966) suggested that different languages
(and cultures) have different patterns of written
discourse.
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27. Writing in L1 vs. L2
• Silva (1993) demonstrated that L1 and L2
writing processes are not at all similar
• L2 writers:
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Do less planning
Are less fluent (fewer words)
Are less accurate
Are less effective in stating goals and organizing
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28. Writing in the ESL Classroom
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Balance process and product
Account for cultural backgrounds
Connect reading & writing
Provide authentic reasons for writing
Use prewriting, drafting, and revising stages
Offer interactive techniques
Give clear instruction on rhetorical conventions
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29. Writing Activities
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Vanishing letters
Picture-cued writing exercises
Completing forms/Scaffolded Writing
Dictation or Dicto-comp
Ordering tasks
Sentence completion
Paraphrasing/Summarizing
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30. Assessing Writing
• Use targeted correction (i.e. focus on one
type of error)
• Use a checklist or rubric
• Grade each category separately (content,
spelling, organization, etc.)
• Content should be emphasized over
mechanics
• Write comments using minimal marking
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31. Minimal Marking
• Mark the presence of a problem in the margin
using a system of abbreviations:
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vt = verb tense error
agmt = agreement error
sp = spelling error
wc = word choice error
wf = word form error
• Student locates the error on the line &
corrects
Hazwell, 1983
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32. Put it into Practice
• Work in pairs to create a 10 min reading or
writing lesson.
– Authentic Task
– Grammar Point
• Consider how you will assess students’
reading or writing.
• Teach us!
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