Enhancing Classroom Practice with Intensive Reading

In classroom practice, language teachers often focus on intensive reading, a method involving a deep exploration of language through focused reading exercises. This approach engages learners with shorter texts, followed by tasks that progressively increase in complexity. These tasks target reading sub-skills such as skimming, scanning, and reading for details. The goal is to build learners’ proficiency in understanding various types of texts while developing specific reading strategies.

How to Prepare a Successful Reading Lesson?

To design an effective reading lesson, teachers must consider the following three stages: Pre-reading, During-reading, and Post-reading. Each stage plays a crucial role in maximizing learner engagement and comprehension.

1. Pre-reading: Setting the Stage for Discovery

The Pre-reading phase is vital for motivating students and preparing them to dive into the material. The objective of this stage is to engage learners to discover the form and content of the text. We activate their prior knowledge to spark curiosity and excitement. The reading material should be appropriate for the learners’ age, level, and interests and enhanced with illustrative supports, such as appealing images or videos.

Key techniques to engage learners during this stage include:

• Prediction: Encourage students to guess the content of the text based on a title or an image, linking it to their existing knowledge.
• Matching Vocabulary to Pictures: A vocabulary-building activity that connects words with relevant visuals.
• Discussion: Initiate a discussion on the topic, encouraging learners to share what they already know.
• Introducing Key Vocabulary: Use games, pictures, or real-world contexts to introduce new words.
• Brainstorming: Have learners generate ideas related to the topic.
• Speed Chatting: Allow learners to discuss the topic with each other, enhancing engagement.
• Videos and Memory Activities: Use audiovisual materials to activate background knowledge.
• Guessing Games/Pictionary: Fun activities that also reinforce vocabulary.
• Word Splash: Display random words from the text and let learners predict how they connect to the topic.
• Categorizing Vocabulary: Have students sort vocabulary items under different headings or themes.

These pre-reading activities help set the tone for a deeper engagement with the text and ensure readiness to tackle the material.

2. During-reading: Developing Reading Strategies

The During-reading phase focuses on honing reading strategies by engaging learners in tasks that vary in difficulty and sub-skill requirements. This stage is essential for improving comprehension and applying different reading techniques.

• Skimming: Understanding the Gist

The first set of tasks should help learners understand the text at a general level. Skimming involves reading quickly to get the overall meaning without delving deeply into specifics. We use this technique when reading news articles, messages, or emails.

1. Examples of skimming questions include:
2. What is the main idea of the text?
3. Are the speakers happy or upset?

What would be an appropriate title for the text?

• Scanning: Finding Specific Information

In the scanning stage, learners read the text to locate specific pieces of information. We use this technique to look for details like names, dates, or figures in a text.

Suggested scanning activities:

1. Read the text and arrange pictures in the correct order.
2. Find out who a letter is from.
3. Identify a location on a map.
4. Reorder events described in the text.
5. Match statements to true/false based on the text.  
6. Fill in tables, charts, or ID cards using information from the text.

3. Reading for Details and Critical Thinking

In this stage, learners focus on analyzing the text in-depth. Reading for details involves examining the finer aspects of the text, while critical thinking requires engaging with the text by evaluating, questioning, and interpreting the information.

Learners are encouraged to:

• Evaluate arguments or information within the text.
• Analyze the text by identifying strengths, weaknesses, or implications.
• Ask critical questions such as:
  1. Who makes decisions about this issue?
  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this solution?
  3. What is the best option, in your opinion?
  4. Where can we see this idea applied in the real world?
  5. How does this situation impact us? Why is it a problem?
  6. Do you agree or disagree with the author’s viewpoint? Justify your answer.

These activities promote higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) and encourage learners to engage deeply with the material rather than merely absorbing information.

4. Post-reading: Consolidating Learning

After completing the reading tasks, the Post-reading phase allows learners to work with the content, vocabulary, grammar structures, and functions learned during the previous stages. At this point, learners should be able to demonstrate their understanding in productive ways by utilizing the information they have gained.

Post-reading activities might include:

1. Telling a related story or providing a similar example to the one in the text.
2. Writing and acting out a similar interview or scenario.
3. Completing a story either by creating an ending or filling in missing details.
4. Writing a letter of complaint or another form of written communication.
5. Speculating about events before or after the situation described in the text.
6. Engaging in creative group discussions on the topic or related issues.

These activities help reinforce the learners’ understanding of the text and allow them to apply the content in new contexts.

Learners should recognize that different types of texts require different reading strategies. For example, reading a novel at the beach differs from reading a legal contract, and each text demands a different approach. Understanding this variation helps learners become more flexible and effective readers.

By combining these stages, pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading, teachers can create a comprehensive reading lesson that builds critical thinking, enhances vocabulary acquisition, and improves reading comprehension. This approach makes reading more engaging and empowers learners to become more strategic and independent in their reading practices.