Teaching Reading in a Second Language

By Beatrice S. Mikulecky, Ed.D.

Beatrice Mikulecky holds a masters degree in TESOL and a doctorate in
Applied Psycholinguistics from Boston University. In addition to teaching
reading, writing, and ESL, she has worked as a teacher-trainer in the
Harvard University Summer ESL Program, in the Simmons College MATESL
Program, and in Moscow, Russia. She is the author of A Short Course in
Teaching Reading Skills and co-author of the Reading Power series.

Effective reading is essential for success in acquiring a

second language. After all, reading is the basis of instruction
in all aspects of language learning: using textbooks for
language courses, writing, revising, developing vocabulary,
acquiring grammar, editing, and using computer-assisted
language learning programs. Reading instruction, therefore,
is an essential component of every second-language
curriculum. Understanding some important facts about
reading, literacy, and teaching methods is essential for
providing effective instruction in reading.
What is reading?
Reading is a conscious and unconscious thinking
process. The reader applies many strategies to
reconstruct the meaning that the author is assumed
to have intended. The reader does this by comparing
information in the text to his or her background
knowledge and prior experience.
A reader approaches a text with a huge store of prior
knowledge and experience, including preconceptions about
the uses of spoken and written language. All of a persons
prior knowledge, experience, and values are organized
in categories, or schemata. Each category, or schema, is
connected to many other schemata in a complex mental
network. As he or she notices particular ideas or facts in a
text, the reader matches that information with background
knowledge and is able to construct a version of the texts
meaning.
Researchers in text comprehension have applied an
information-processing analogy to understanding how
people think, learn, and remember what they read. When
a person reads, two aspects of this human information
processing system continuously interact. When the reader
focuses primarily on what he or she already knows, this
is called a concept-driven or top-down mode. On the
other hand, when the reader relies primarily on textual
features and information to comprehend, this is called
a data-driven or bottom-up mode (Kintsch and van
Dijk 1978; Rumelhart and Ortony 1977; Winograd 1977;

Rumelhart 1980). In other words, the reader is constantly

noticing parts of the text and comparing that sample with
what he or she already knows.
The diagram below shows how the reader continuously
and simultaneously employs both top-down and bottomup processes while reading.

Reader processes text in light of mental schemata:

Background knowledge

Knowledge about language and literacy

Cultural values and beliefs

AHA!
The reader
matches the data
and a schema.
Comprehension!

Text provides new data to be processed:

The shapes and sounds of the letters

The meaning of words/phrases

Grammatical information

The diagram shows that the reader (top of diagram)

samples the text (bottom of diagram) and instantaneously
(and usually unconsciously) compares what he or she
notices in the text with what he or she already knows,
trying to find a match. The textual information activates
prior knowledge, and the prior knowledge, in turn, activates
expectations about what is in the text. This primarily
unconscious, interactive process continues until the
reader is satisfied with the match between text and prior
knowledge, and comprehension has occurred. (AHA!)
Readers first language and mental schemata, however,
determine what they notice in a text and how they apply
the mental schemata to that information, and second
language readers mental schemata are based on their first
language and cultural background. This means that what

Copyright 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

second-language readers notice in the text and how they

interpret it will vary due to differing expectations about
language structure and cultural attitudes toward literacy.
It is important to clarify the relationship between reading
and literacy, since research has shown that they are not
the same thing. In fact, the definitions and uses of literacy
vary culturally, and the cultural contexts of literacy are
the underpinnings of the acquisition and use of reading
and writing.
What is literacy?
Literacy is a set of attitudes and beliefs about
the ways of using spoken and written language
that are acquired in the course of a persons
socialization into a specific cultural context.
Language and culture cannot be separated. Language
knowledge and thinking patterns are socially constructed
within a cultural setting, and each language/culture fosters
its own way of understanding the world. In other words,
each culture fosters the development of different schemata
of the world. That is why readers from two different
cultural backgrounds can read the same text and construct
very different models of what the text means. They have
different schemata (different background knowledge),
different expectations about how a text should present
information, and different ways of creating meaning.
Consequently, teachers cannot assume that students
who are good readers in their native language can simply
apply successfully the same skills to reading in English.
Reading in English requires a set of thinking skills and
attitudes that grow out of the spoken and written use of
the English language. Teaching reading in standard English
to second-language learners and other limited English
proficient students means helping them acquire the
literate behaviors, the ways of thinking about text, that are
practiced by native speakers of English. In fact, learning to
read and comprehend a second language requires learning
a secondary literacy: alternative cultural interpretations,
cultural beliefs about language and discourse, and culturespecific formal and content schemata. It is important to
realize that learning to read effectively in a second language
literally alters the learners cognitive structures and values
orientations.
 eaching Reading: Applying Theory and
T
Research to Practice
We can conclude, therefore, that second-language students
need to learn to think in English in order to read
effectively in English. Reading instruction needs to be based
on training ESL and EFL students in new ways of talking

and thinking about texts. In teaching reading, instructors

need to take into account the following conclusions and
recommendations of educational researchers.
Cognitive psychologists have shown in their research
that students learn new strategies or thinking processes
most effectively when they are consciously aware of
what they are doing (Brown, Armbruster, and Baker,
1986). Once students are conscious of the processes,
they can monitor their comprehension and apply
appropriate strategies as needed for comprehending a
text (Brown, 1978).
Interacting and talking about text in particular ways
is essential (Casanave 1988). Heath (1984), Vygotsky
(1962), and others found that students develop literate
skills when teachers encourage them to talk about
written language, when teachers model comprehension
strategies for them, and when students have
opportunities to talk to each other about how they
make sense of a text (Hoffman and Heath, 1986).
Research has also shown that literacy is not a neutral
technology, but is, in fact, a cultural artifact laden with
the values and beliefs of the culture in which it arises
(Street, 1984; Cook-Gumperz, 1986). Ones native
language literacy (or primary Discourse, as Gee terms
it) is acquired from birth by being socialized into the
native language and the local cultures ways of using
language. Literate behaviors grow out of the spoken
and written language practices of a local culture. And
according to Gee, serving as an apprentice to a native
is the way one acquires a new literacy, or secondary
Discourse. (Schiefelin and Ochs, 1986; Gee, 1996).
Research also confirms that students must read faster
and with more fluency if they wish to read effectively
(Eskey, 1986; Anderson, 2005). Faster reading promotes
reading in thought units instead of one word at a time,
and that leads to improved comprehension.
Krashen (1985) posited that the best way to improve
reading is by reading. In recent years, research and
practice have validated that idea (Day and Bamford,
1998). The benefits of extensive reading include fluency,
vocabulary acquisition, awareness of grammar, models
for writing, and an immersion in the culture of the
second or foreign language.
Finding effective methods of promoting secondlanguage vocabulary acquisition seemed, for many
years, to be an impossible goal. Thanks to recent
work by Nation (2001), Coxhead (2000), Cobb, and
others, word frequency lists are available that will allow

Copyright 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

teachers to focus on the words that will be the most

useful for their students. Nations approach combines
direct instruction, extensive reading, and multiple
exposures to the same words by any means necessary
to promote learning.
In order to read well in English, then, students need to do
the following:
1. Develop a schema of the reading process that includes
the idea that reading is more than translatingreading
is thinking.
2. Talk about their reading, and explain how they make
sense of a text.
3. Read extensively for pleasure in English, and discuss
their reading with someone who can model the
literate behaviors expected in an English-language
context.
4. Break the habit of reading every word by reading
faster.
5. Learn to vary their reading rate to suit their purpose
in reading.
6. Employ top-down processes effectively by learning to
make connections between what they already know
and what they are reading.
7. Learn reading and thinking skills that fluent readers of
English employ unconsciously to strengthen both topdown and bottom-up processing abilities.
8. Enhance bottom-up processing by acquiring the
most useful vocabulary and by learning strategies for
guessing meaning in context.
9. Master the basic 2,000 words that constitute
approximately 80 percent of texts in English.
10. Acquire specific reading comprehension skills they can
apply strategically.
Putting this all together, it is clear that students will learn
to read in English best in a class that includes, on a regular
basis, the following components:
Substantial amounts of extensive reading for pleasure,
with opportunities for talking about their books with
people who can model the literate skills required in
English-language contexts.

exposure to and manipulation of the target words, and

plenty of extensive reading.
Extensive reading
Extensive reading is a highly individualized approach to
reading improvement. Students select their own books and
read at their own pace. The teacher should guide students
to select books at a level of comprehension that allows
for comprehensible input (Krashen) .The emphasis is on
the quantity of books read and the students enjoyment of
their books. Students are never tested formally on their
extensive reading. However, they are required to talk
about the books they read in structured activities, including
book conferences with the teacher, brief oral reports to
the class, and discussions in small group settings.
Day and Bamford (1998) have documented the benefits of
extensive reading, which include:
Development of a positive attitude toward reading in a
second language.
Motivation to read more.
Increased reading fluency.
Gains in vocabulary and grammar knowledge.
Improvement in writing in the second language.
According to Day and Bamford, extensive reading
can be included in a second-language curriculum as a
separate course; as part of an existing reading course;
as a non-credit addition to an existing course; and as an
extracurricular activity (p. 41, 1998).
Reading skills
Reading skills are the cognitive processes that a reader uses
in making sense of a text. For fluent readers, most of the
reading skills are employed unconsciously and automatically.
When confronted with a challenging text, fluent readers
apply these skills consciously and strategically in order to
comprehend.

Training and practice in fluency development (skimming,

scanning, previewing) and reading rate improvement.

Every language requires a different repertoire of reading

skills, based on the structure of the language and the
literacy habits of the native speakers of that language. ESL
and EFL teachers, therefore, should train students in the
skills that will give them the power to comprehend in
English. As Brown and others pointed out, learning a new
thinking process is best accomplished when the learner
is consciously aware of the process, and an approach to
teaching reading skills should take that into account. In fact,
the more students talk about their thinking processes, the
more they learn.

Vocabulary activities that include direct instruction

in high-frequency words, multiple opportunities for

Many teachers believe that they can teach reading skills by

instructing students to read a text and then showing

Focused, interactive lessons on specific reading skills,

with opportunities for students to explain their thinking,
and direct instruction on applying the skills strategically
to a variety of texts.

Copyright 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

them how to apply a variety of skills to the text for

better comprehension. It is more effective for students,
however, to focus on one reading skill at a time and talk
about their application of that skill in a number of text
samples. Eventually, students will be able to apply the skill
unconsciously so that they can call it up to consciousness
and apply it strategically whenever they face a challenging
text.
Reading skills
1. A
 utomatic decoding. Being able to recognize a word
at a glance.
2. Previewing and predicting. Giving the text a quick
once-over to be able to guess what is to come.
3. Specifying purpose. Knowing why a text is being read.
4. Identifying genre. Knowing the nature of the text in
order to predict the form and content.
5. Questioning. Asking questions in an inner dialog with
the author.
6. Scanning. Looking through a text very rapidly for
specific information.
7. Recognizing topics. Finding out what the text is
about.
8. Classification of ideas into main topics and details.
Categorizing words and ideas on the basis of their
relationships; distinguishing general and specific.
9. Locating topic sentences. Identifying the general
statement in a paragraph.
10. Stating

the main idea (or thesis) of a sentence,
paragraph or passage. Knowing what the authors
point is about the topic.
11. R
 ecognizing patterns of relationships. Identifying the
relationships between ideas; the overall structure of
the text.
12. Identifying and using words that signal the patterns
of relationships between ideas. Being able to see
connections between ideas by the use of words such
as first, then, later.

17. Paraphrasing. Re-stating texts in the readers own

words in order to monitor ones own comprehension.
18. Summarizing. Shortening material by retaining and
re-stating main ideas and leaving out details.
19. Drawing conclusions. Putting together information
from parts of the text and inducing new or additional
ideas.
20. Drawing inferences and using evidence. Using
evidence in the text to know things that are unstated.
21. Visualizing. Picturing, or actually drawing a picture or
diagram, of what is described in the text.
22. Reading critically. Judging the accuracy of a passage
with respect to what the reader already knows;
distinguishing fact from opinion.
23. Reading faster. Reading fast enough to allow the
brain to process the input as ideas rather than single
words.
24. Adjusting reading rate according to materials and
purpose. Being able to choose the speed and
strategies needed for the level of comprehension
desired by the reader.
(Mikulecky, 1990)

An approach to teaching reading skills

1. Focus on one skill at a time.
2. Explain the purpose of working on this skill, and
convince the students of its importance in reading
effectively.
3. Work on an example of using the skill with the whole
class. Explain your thinking aloud as you do the
exercise.
4. Assign students to work in pairs on an exercise
where they practice using the same skill. Require
them to explain their thinking to each other as they
work.
5. Discuss students answers with the whole class.
Ask them to explain how they got their answers.
Encourage polite disagreement, and require
explanations of any differences in their answers.

14. Recognizing and using pronouns, referents, and other

lexical equivalents as clues to cohesion.

6. In the same class, and also in the next few classes,
assign individuals to work on more exercises that
focus on the same skill with increasing complexity.
Instruct students to work in pairs whenever feasible.

15. Guessing the meaning of unknown words from the

context. Using such clues as knowledge of word
parts, syntax, and relationship patterns.

7. Ask individual students to complete an exercise using

the skill to check their own ability and confidence in
using it.

16. Skimming. Quickly getting the gist or overview of a

passage or book.

8. In future lessons, lead the students to apply the skill, as

well as previously mastered skills, to a variety of texts.

13. Inferring the main idea, using patterns and other clues.

Copyright 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reading Fluency
Reading fluency can be defined as reading fast with good
comprehension and adjusting the reading rate to suit the
purpose for reading. It is important to note that reading
fluency does not refer to oral reading, however, because
it is possible for someone to read a passage aloud fluently
and not comprehend it at all. Fluency in silent reading
promotes improved comprehension by allowing the
student to read for ideas rather than for individual words.
Studies have indicated that training in reading fluency
should constitute about 25 percent of instructional time
(Anderson 2005). In addition to improving reading
comprehension, fluency will help ESL/EFL students in
academic settings who are unable to keep up with their
reading assignments, often a cause of failing a course or
dropping out of college. Taking too much time in the
first reading of an assignment means there is not enough
time for reflecting on and reviewing the reading materials.
Reading slowly during a test often means not being able to
finish it. Fluency training should include:
Practice with timed reading passages followed by
comprehension questions.
Lessons in such skills as scanning and skimming that
help students learn how to move their eyes quickly and
purposefully over a text.
Opportunities for large quantities of extensive reading.

program. Instruction should be planned so that the

students encounter a new word at least seven or more
times in meaningful contexts. To motivate students, it
is important to explain the usefulness of mastering the
high-frequency words and how that will improve reading
comprehension.
In addition to direct instruction, teachers can do a lot to
enhance vocabulary building. They can teach students
how to:
Study and learn words effectively.
Choose new words they want to learn.
Use a dictionary.

Keep a vocabulary notebookwith sentences, syllable

break-downs, and definitions.
Make and use word study cards.
Review their word study cardsalone, with a partner,
and in class
Use Web pages, such as www.lextutor.ca, to find out
more about words and collocation from concordances.
Conclusion
Extensive reading, comprehension skills, reading fluency,
and vocabulary building these four components clearly
overlap, as they should, because they are all an integral part
of the development of effective second-language reading.

References

Vocabulary development
Reading comprehension depends on vocabulary
knowledge and vice versa. The more students read,
the better their vocabulary becomes. And the more
vocabulary they know, the better they can read. The
question for teachers and second-language students,
however, was always, Which words should the students
learn?
Thanks to research in corpus linguistics, teachers have a
good source for the most important words to teach first.
According to Nation, about 2,000 high-frequency words
constitute 80 percent of all texts in English. Students who
master those 2,000 words, therefore, are well on their
way to being able to comprehend texts in English. And
for students in academic settings, Coxhead (2000) has
published a list of 570 high-frequency words (the Academic
Word List), which students should also learn. Students can
learn these 2,750 words through a combination of direct
instruction and self-study in a relatively short time.
According to Nation (2001), direct teaching of vocabulary
should constitute about 25 percent of a vocabulary

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