Pre-reading activities

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 ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research,

Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 569-577, September 2010 © 2010

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An Extract from:

The Effects of Pre-reading Activities on ESP Reading Comprehension.

Paragraph C:

General views on pre-reading activities. (414 words)

The goals of Pre-reading stage are to activate the student’s knowledge of the subject, to provide any language preparation that might be needed for coping with the passage and, finally to motivate the learners to want to read the text (Celce-Murcia, 1991). Tudor (1989) call pre-reading activities “enabling activities” because they provide a reader with the necessary background to organize activity and to comprehend the material (these experiences involve understanding the purpose (S) for reading and building a knowledge base necessary for dealing with the content and the structure of the material). They say that pre-reading activities elicit prior knowledge, and focus attention. Various techniques have been suggested by some authors (e.g. Greenall & Swan, 1986) to mobilize existing knowledge including the use of pictures, movies and even role – plays. Research has not determined which of these is the most effective. So teachers are free to experiment according to the nature of reading material and inclinations of their classes (Carrell & Eisterhold, 1983). In an academic setting, however, more formal techniques might be appropriate, of course different scholars listed different types of pre-reading activities, (Celce-Murcia, 1991:225) suggests, Word Association, Discussion and Text Surveys.

Word association tasks generally involve eliciting from the students as many ideas as they can offer regarding the announced subject of the text. Normally their suggestions are written on the board and sometimes arranged into semantic map or “graphic organizer” which indicates how concepts are related to each other.

Discussions have also been found to activate what students know and through the exchange of information, to enhance their knowledge of the subject. Discussions can be initiated by simply posing questions about the content of the text or by using “anticipation guide” which is a series of statements often provocative in nature, which are intended to challenge student’s knowledge and beliefs about the content of the passage (Celce-Murcia, 1991:225).

Nuttal (1982) claims that discussion promotes the active struggle with the text and students learn the processes of critical thinking that good readers use. Group work is ideal, because in small groups, even the weaker students should be active and learning. The procedure works in almost every level, and discussion can be in L1, if students cannot manage it in the FL.

Text Survey is often, but not exclusively, used with longer stretches of discourse, such as chapter from a textbook, the purpose of this activity is to quickly determine the structure of the piece and to identify the key ideas (Celce-Murcia, 1991).

 

General views on pre-reading activities.

(Text reduced to 190 words.)

The goals of Pre-reading stage are to activate knowledge, to provide language preparation and to motivate learners to read the text.  Tudor calls pre-reading activities “enabling activities” because they provide the necessary background to organize activity and to comprehend the material. Greenall & Swan suggest various techniques to mobilize existing knowledge. In an academic setting more formal techniques are appropriate. Celce-Murcia, suggests different type of activities called: Word Association, Discussion and Text Surveys.

Word association tasks involve eliciting from the students as many ideas as they can offer, regarding the announced subject of the text.

Celce- Murcia says Discussions are found to activate what students know and through the exchange of information, to enhance their knowledge of the subject. Discussions can be initiated by questions about the content of the text or by using “anticipation guide” a series of statements, which are intended to challenge student’s knowledge and beliefs about the content of the passage...

Text Survey is often used with longer stretches of discourse, such as chapter from a textbook, the purpose of this activity is to determine the structure of the piece and to identify the key ideas.