Getting teenage learners to read can be challenge. Brazilian Academic Consultant, Maiza Fatureto, shares some thoughts on how you can approach it in a phased way to make it more manageable.
How many times in your English lessons have you heard teenage students say: ‘I don’t like reading!’? You might have thought ‘Gosh, what am I going to do? If they don’t like reading, how will they answer the comprehension questions that follow the texts? You then think: ‘How about other teachers, what do they experience?’
So in an effort to get to grips with this situation, you talk to their Portuguese teachers or History teachers and their answers are quite unanimous: ‘They hate reading’. They never seem to be interested in reading the texts we assign them. The only way of getting them engaged in the unit topic is when we bring videos or extra visual materials about places, things or people they show some interest in. But it is impossible to offer only what they like!
This reminds me of a film called Mr. Holland‘s Opus. Mr. Holland teaches music in a regular school. Just like all of us, he has students who do well in class and others who don’t seem to make much progress. One day a teenage girl enters his room and says she’s giving up the clarinet.
Girl: I’m giving up the clarinet.
Mr. Holland: Is it any fun?
Girl: I wanted it to be.
Mr. Holland: Listen to this song. Do you like it?
Girl: Yes.
Mr. Holland: Why?
Girl: I don’t know.
Mr. Holland: Yes, you do.
Girl: It’s fun.
Mr. Holland: Yes. Playing music is supposed to be fun. It’s about heart, it’s about feelings, moving people, and something beautiful, and it’s not about notes on a page. I can teach you notes on a page, I can’t teach you that other stuff.
Food for thought … How does this scene relate to our daily practice of teaching reading? Maybe we should start reflecting about what reading is. Reading is the result of the interaction between the reader and the text. Interaction! What is the nature of interaction? Interaction exists when there is interest. So does it mean that when students are not interested, there will be no interaction and, as a consequence, no reading will take place?
I’ve learnt that when we can’t change something, we should at least try changing the way we approach it… so how can I approach texts so as to engage my students? If I engage them in a sequence of steps … What kind of steps? How many steps?
It’s like when we come across reference books for teaching reading. We can’t help interacting with such books; they are relevant to our teaching practice. We realize that the more we read the more we understand it. And again the key word in this process seems to be interaction.
Teachers can facilitate interactions with texts in 3 different phases:
The pre-reading/motivational phase
This is the moment that precedes the reading of the text. This is when teachers:
- Engage students through kinesthetic, visual or auditory cues.
- Elicit students’ previous knowledge on the topic.
- Check students’ expectations about the topic.
- Help students anticipate and predict the context of the passage.
The reading phase
This is when readers have a reason for reading the text. These reasons are determined by the tasks which signpost the objectives they have to achieve.
The point is having the students resort to reading the passage at least 3 times so that each time they do, they have a purpose in mind. Students may read the passage to:
- Confirm predictions.
- Skim the text to have a general idea about it.
- Scan the text to look for specific information.
- Guess the meaning of unknown words.
- Make inferences.
- Understand text organization.
- Understand figurative language.
- Distinguish fact from opinion.
- Recognize tone, etc.
The post-reading phase
This makes room for more interactions. In this phase students are given opportunities to relate what they read to their personal lives. They can have interactions with their peers as to the value the text has added to them as human beings. Moreover, they can even discuss about the way they managed to interact with the passage, what posed more difficulties, what helped them understand unknown words, how they felt about answering comprehension questions, etc.
The Sunset Approach
Mr. Holland: Do me a favor. Take the clarinet and sit down.
(Teacher takes away the ‘notes on the page ’)
Mr. Holland: No, don’t worry. You don’t need it.
Girl: Why?
Mr. Holland: You already know it
(She tries playing twice and fails)
Mr. Holland: When you look in the mirror, what do you like most about yourself?
Girl: My hair.
Mr. Holland: Why?
Girl: My father says it reminds him of the sunset.
(Mr. Holland asks her to close her eyes)
Mr. Holland: Play the sunset.
(To her surprise, she plays it beautifully)
Mr. Holland: Don’t stop it.
As teachers we have to bear in mind that all things are linked. From the moment you started interacting with this text, you started figuring out its meaning, relevance and application in real classes. From now on, when you hear your colleagues complain that their students don’t like reading or if your learners come up with a negative response towards it, remember: You can implement the sunset approach! Oh, and one more thing: Don’t stop it!
Read more from Maiza Fatureto as she explores the importance of vision to motivate learners.