Short description:

We look at reading in four different ways: as linguistic process, personal experience, collective experience, and as classroom practice. It will be useful for any teacher or reader who wishes to refresh their view of how reading fits in to the development of language and the development of a reading life.

Long description:

This book encourages readers to think about reading not only as an encounter with written language, but as a lifelong habit of engagement with ideas. We look at reading in four different ways: as linguistic process, personal experience, collective experience, and as classroom practice. We think about how reading influences a life, how it changes over time, how we might return at different stages of life to the same reading, how we might respond differently to ideas read in an L1 and L2. There are 44 teaching activities, all founded on research that explores the nature, value and impact of reading as an authentic activity rather than for language or study purposes alone. We consider what this means for schools and classrooms, and for different kinds of learners. The final part of the book provides practical stepping stones for the teacher to become a researcher of their own classes and learners. The four parts of the book offer a virtuous join between reading, teaching and researching. It will be useful for any teacher or reader who wishes to refresh their view of how reading fits in to the development of language and the development of a reading life.

'This publication describes a very neat virtuous circle that begins with research into reading, moving on to its implications, the applications of these and their implementation and back again to research.'

Rebecca Place, IATEFL Voices

'Becoming a Reading Teacher is an informative and thought-provoking companion for any teacher at any stage of their pedagogical journey, and it supports the teaching of reading to learners of any age. [...] The book not only introduces the attractive concept of a ?reading culture? it additionally offers concrete steps to creating one. This laudable aim is supported by relevant research findings with over 100 pages of practical suggestions and concrete ideas for small-scale classroom research. While the publication does not claim to be a step-by-step reading syllabus; it offers substantial scaffolding for educators to develop important micro- and macro-skills for learners of English to read more confidently, competently, fluently and joyfully.'

Alison Hasegawa, Children?s Literature in English Language Education 12.2 (2024)

Table of Contents:

List of Tables

List of Abbreviations

Series Editors Preface

Introduction

Becoming a reading teacher

Why should a teacher of reading engage with research?

Ten questions about reading

What this book is not

What this book is

Question 1: What are we doing when we read?

Question 2: What are the different reasons and ways people read?

Question 3: What knowledge do we bring to our reading?

Question 4: What is the relationship between L1 and L2 reading??

Question 5: Why and how do people read for pleasure??

Question 6: Can reading change the way we think and feel?

Question 7: How far and in what ways is reading a collective act??

Question 8: What pedagogies are used in the teaching of reading?

Question 9: How should teachers of reading teach language?

Question 10: What does it mean to be an effective teacher of reading?

Our beliefs and principles

Activity 1.1 All in one: the shape of words

Activity 1.2 Word chain race

Activity 1.3 Learner generated word race

Activity 1.4 Run-on sentences: seeing and hearing sentence boundaries

Activity 1.5 Text shopping: what?s next in the text?

Activity 1.6 Reading aloud and holistic reading

Activity 1.7 Storytelling: stories without barriers

Activity 2.1 Reading the landscape: noticing and acting in the linguistic landscape

Activity 2.2 Bits and pieces: choosing your favourite bits in a longer text

Activity 2.3 Wikipedia race: searching for something specific

Activity 2.4 Information slant: separating facts and opinions

Activity 2.5 Why I read: personal reading behaviours

Activity 3.1 Rhyme race: reading and sounds

Activity 3.2 Word bags: knowing about words

Activity 3.3 Language detectives: reading and language patterns

Activity 3.4 Text guessing: reading and text types

Activity 3.5 Reading between the lines: reading for nuance

Activity 3.6 Border crossing: reading culturally

Activity 4.1 Book covers crossing borders

Activity 4.2 Text memory game

Activity 4.3 First language story sharing

Activity 4.4 Talking to the author: asking questions about a text

Activity 4.5 Comprehending across languages

Activity 5.1 Feeling stories

Activity 5.2 The dream book competition: understanding reading preferences

Activity 5.3 Reading spurs and blocks

Activity 5.4 Profiles of lifelong readers

Activity 6.1 Nobel Prize champions: books which changed the way we think

Activity 6.2 Re-reading over time: returning to childhood stories

Activity 6.3 Reading in layers

Activity 6.4 Personal reading histories

Activity 7.1 Performing reading

Activity 7.2 Dream circles: building reading circles

Activity 7.3 Choosing together

Activity 7.4 ?Reading shaping the child

Activity 8.1 Communicating with texts

Activity 8.2 Text activities: interacting with texts

Activity 8.3 Task-based reading and the real world

Activity 8.4 Activity detective: mining for principles

Activity 9.1 Genre-bending: unravelling text types

Activity 9.2 Language doctor: unravelling a text

Activity 10.1 Finding a star teacher 1: criteria for stardom

Activity 10.2 Finding a star teacher 2: Asking questions

Activity 10.3 Star teacher of reading competition

Activity 10.4 Walking into the shoes of star teachers

A Becoming a reading teacher: connecting with others

Research Idea 1: How does cultural knowledge help us read a text?

Research Idea 2: What are the differences in the way learners process LI and L2 texts?

Research Idea 3: Does translanguaging help reading in the L2?

Research Idea 4: How many words do my learners need to understand for a text to be readable?

Research Idea 5: What makes readers choose books?

Research Idea 6: What are the triggers for reading enjoyment in my own reading life?

Research Idea 7: Do reading communities make a difference to my learners?

Research Idea 8: How do my learners interact in self-run reading groups?

Research Idea 9 What kind of questions do I use in the reading classroom?

Research Idea 10 What are the qualities of successful reading lessons?