Unquestionably, communicative methodology is gaining momentum. Also the idea that the skill of reading involves a specific mental process has been growing in favor. It is still a fact, however, that the teaching materials, while aiming to incorporate these movements, do not make the students aware of the reading process; i.e., students still schematize reading as a passive activity or an activity in which one must catalogue bits of information verbatim to a teacher’s questions.
An Active Process
In this article, a teaching process that aims at helping reading become active readers- readers who see reading as meaningful communication is suggested. This process departs from the traditional strategy of asking students questions before, during and after reading. The purpose of such a process as to help students acquire a reading schema that emphasizes the reader’s purposes and the dynamic interaction between the reader and the printed page. Basic to this process is also the point that meaning does not lie “in text” and that what students already know will affect what they can come to know.
In teaching active reading, students may be asked a question that gets an answer. For example, a teacher may hold up a picture that yield answer- “Who is on the bike?” “What is going to happen?”- teacher says, “Look at the picture. What would you like to know about the picture?” The question students ask in response to this question are often surprising.
Question that students initiate when presented with pictures, texts and other reading material reflect their perceptions, backgrounds, and cognitive development. Some students may first go on the main idea, while others may start with the theme before progressing to details. In the foregoing example, students might ask why is the boy on the bicycle? Does the girl see the boy on the bike? Will they crash?
Question can be referred to classroom group, and then the teacher might ask: What would you like to know about what happened next? Or, how would you avoid the crash? The latter elicited, the teacher can say: Let’s turn the page, read and see how the person who drew those pictures (the author) solved the problem. After the students have gained an understanding of the author’s solution, the teacher can initiate an evaluation of that solution with a question. Is this the best way to stop a crash? How does your way of preventing a crash compare with the author’s? Thus students develop critical and affective schemata.
Question can be elicited in many ways. The teacher may introduce a book or a text by having someone read the title and then ask the students what they want to find out about the text or book. She/he can also arrange for a competitive situation in which the class is divided into two groups, with two students at the chalkboard with questions and then try to outdo each other in answering their own questions raised by the title and first paragraph.
By: Cirilo C. Caborales Jr | Teacher III |
