reading series by Mario Rinvolucri.docx

reading series by Mario Rinvolucri.docx

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readingseriesbyMarioRinvolucri

Howusefularecomprehensionquestions?

Youmaywellaskme“Howusefulisthequestioninthistitle?

”AfteralltocheckwhatastudenthasunderstoodafterlisteningtoorreadinganL2textseemsplaincommonsense.Ifitwerenotfelttobeasensibleprocedurewhywouldcoursebookwriterssupplycomprehensionquestionsinlargequantities?

Teachers’comprehensionquestions

ComprehensionquestionsareapartofanEFLteacher’sarsenalthatfewpeoplewouldregardascontroversial.Inordinaryconversation,inL1,itisquitenormaltoaskacomprehensionquestionifyouareunsureaboutwhattheotherpersonhassaid.Youmightbreakintowhattheyaresayingandhypothesise:

“Oh,so,doyoumeanthat……?

”

So,clearly,comprehensionquestionsareanormalpartofdiscourse.Thedifferenceisthat,innormalconversation,itisthelistenerwhodecidestoaskthespeakerforclarificationwhenhefailstofollowwhattheotherissaying.IntheEFLclassitisanexternalauthority（coursebook/teacher）thatinitiatesthecomprehensionchecking.

Whenyoucometothinkofitthisisaverybizarreprocedure:

HowonearthdoesacoursebookwriterinNorthOxfordknowwherethelinguisticdifficultiesinareadingpassagewillliefora16yearoldinCairo?

OrauniversitystudentinBangkokoraseniorcitizeninHamburg?

OnemightreasonablyexpectthattheundertowofEgyptianArabic,ThaiandGermanmightaffectthethreelearnersdifferentlyintermsoftheirabilitytocomprehendthesamepassage.

Studentcomprehension

Myfirstsuggestionisthatcomprehensionquestionsarethebusinessofthestudentsandnooneelse.Onegoodwayofdealingwithareadingpassageinclassistoaskthestudentstoreadthetexttwiceandthenwrite7questions,eachoneaimedatadifferent,namedclassmate.Thestudentsthemselvesknow,betterthantheteacherdoes,whichclassmateislikelytobeabletogivethemanadequateanswer.Onceeachstudenthaswrittenatleastfourquestions,askthemtomovearoundtheroomaskingtheirquestionsandlisteningtotheanswers.

•Thisprocedureisrespectfulofthestudents’righttofindoutwhattheyfeeltheyhavenotyetgrasped.

•Thisprocedurelinksthecoursebookpassagetorealpeopleintheroom.

•Thisprocedurereducestheteachers’preparationtime（ifsheisinthehabitofcreatingherowncomprehensionquestions.）

Deletion,elaborationandtransformation

Yetthereareotherdeeperreasonsfordoubtingtheusefulnessofthecomprehensionquestioninsecondlanguagereadingandlistening.ThecomprehensionquestionisbasedonthenotionthatalistenerorreaderisasortofCD-ROMthataccuratelyholdstheentirein-comingmessage.Thiscanneverbethecase.Thenormalactoflisteningorreadingisalwaysoneofdeletion,elaborationandtransformation.

•Thelistener/readerwilldefocusfromdetailsthatstrikethemasinsignificant.Thesedetailswillbedeletedfromthelistener/reader’smemory.

•Thelistener/readerwillelaboratethetextasithitstheauditorycircuitsofherbrain-ifsheislisteningtoastorytheelaborationwilloftenbevisualandthelistenerwillcreateherown‘innerfilm’.

•Insomecasesthelistener/readerwilltransformthetextbyframingitwithinpreviousexperiences.

Forexample,Ioncetoldagroupataleaboutawallgirdlingatownandthethemeofthestorywas‘fear’.OnelistenerperceivedthewholestoryinthepoliticalframeworkoftheBerlinWallanditsbreaching.Thisperson‘heard’amuchbiggerstorythanIthinkItold.

Suchdeletion,elaborationandtransformationareapartofthenormal,everydaycreativityoflisteningandreading.WhenItellastoryto25studentsmyauditorytextisreplacedby25newtextsinthestudents’minds.Itseemstomeverybizarretogobackintimeandaskmystudentslanguagequestionsaboutthenow‘dead’Mariotext.ActuallyIwouldsuggestthatsuchquestionsareaninsulttothestudents’inevitablecreativeelaborationoftheoriginaltext.

Alternativestocomprehensionchecking

SowhatcanIdoaftertellingtheclassastory?

Icanofferthestudentsquestionsthathelpthemexploreeachothers’elaboration.Iaskthestudentstogothroughthequestionsbelowandcrossouttheonestheydonotrelateto.OncethisdeletioniseffectedIpairthemandaskthemtousethequestionstheyhaveretainedtogetanideaoftheirpartner’selaboration.Hereisasetofsuchquestions:

•Inwhichsortofcountrydidyouimaginethestory?

•Whatkindofpicturesdidyougetasyoulistened.

•Didyoucreateasortoffilmfromthestory?

•Wereyoueveractuallyinthesamespaceasthecharacterinthestory?

•Whatfeelingsdidyouhaveduringthetelling?

•Didyoubecomeanyofthecharacters?

•What,foryou,isthemoralofthestory?

•Didthisstoryremindyouofotherstoriesyouknow?

•Didanyofthecharactersseemlikepeopleyouknow?

•Canyouthinkofsomeoneinthisgroupwhomayhavedislikedthestory?

•Wouldyourbrother/mother/daughter/fatherlikethisstory?

Whywouldtheylikeit?

•Atwhichpointinthestorydidyoureallystartlistening?

•Whichwasthemostvividbitforyou?

•Atwhichpointsinthestorydidyoudriftoffandthinkofotherthings?

Thelistofquestionscouldbemuchlongerandmoredetailed,butyouwillnoticetheyallfocusonthestudents’elaboratedtextandontheirreactionstothetext.Noneareaboutdetailsoftheoriginaltext.

“Verynice”Icanhearsomereaderssaying”butwhatifthestudentsdidnotunderstandthelanguageduringthetelling?

”

Myanswertothisisthattheteacher/tellerneedstomakesureshegetshermeaningacrossbyusingmime,drawingandL1glossesonwordsorphrasesthatmaybehardforstudents.Itistheteller’sjobtoensurelanguagecomprehensionasshetells,andIbelieveminimal,disciplinedrecoursetoL1isnaturalinthissituation.

Conclusion

Bythetimeyougettothispointinyourreading,thelinesyouhavereadwillhaveundergonedeletion,elaborationandtransformationinyourmind.Asyougetuptogetyourselfacoffeeandthinkbackovertheselines,youcarryinyourheadyourownuniquereadingofthistext.ThankGodyouareanormallycreativereaderandnotatape-recorderwiththe‘Record’buttondown.DoIreallyneedtowritecomprehensionquestionsonyourbehalf?

Techniquesforprimingandrecycling

Afourstagemethodologyforreading

InReadingforInformation,andFormfocusandrecycling,Ihaveproposedafourstagemethodologyforteachingreading:

•Priming

•Reading

•Formfocus

•Recycling

AndIhavegivenanexampleofhowthatmethodologymightbeappliedwithoneparticulartextaboutsharks.

InthisarticleI'dliketolookatmorewaysofprimingandrecycling.Afterthis,Ihopeyouwillbeabletoapplythesetechniquestoarangeoftexts.

Quizzesforpriming

Primingprepareslearnerstotackleatextbyprovidingacontextandapurposefortheirreadingandbyintroducingthevocabularytheywillneedtohandlethetext.Beforeourtextonsharkstherewasabriefteacher-leddiscussionofthequestionAresharksdangeroustohumans?

Learnerswerethengivenaquizintheformofaoftrue/falsequestionsaboutsharks.Bytheendofthisprimingstagelearnerswillhaveengagedtheirknowledgeofsharksandwillhaveaclearideaofwhattheyexpecttolearnfromthetext.Insteadoftrue/falsequizquestionswecouldhaveusedmultiple-choiceoropen-endedquizquestions.Allthesemodesofquestioninghavedifferentadvantagesanddisadvantages.Indecidingwhichtouseweneedtokeepinmindthepurposeoftheprimingstage:

topreparelearnersforthereadingintermsofbothcontentandkeyvocabulary.

Predictionandjigsaws

Wecanoftenasklearnerstopredictthecontentofatext.Oncetheyhavedonethetextonsharkstheywillhaveagoodideaastowhattoexpectfromasimilarintroductorydescriptivetext.LookatsectionsIIandIVofCobra（snake）onencarta.Youcouldadaptthistextforyourlearnersandgivethemthisinstructionforhomework:

Inournextlessonyouaregoingtoreadapassageaboutthecobras.Writedownfivequestionsaboutcobraswhichyouthinkwillbeansweredinthepassage.

Howmanyofthequestionscanyoualreadyanswer?

Thenyoucanaskthemtoreadouttheirquestionsatthebeginningofthenextlesson,andyoucanleadaclassdiscussionspeculatingontheanswers.Oryoucantakesomeoftheirquestionsandaskthemtoanswerthesequestionsingroupsbeforetheyreadthepassage.

Theprimingactivitywilldependonthekindoftextyouarepreparingfor.Let'simagineyouaregoingtoreadatextentitledHowtosurviveanearthquake.Youcouldgivelearnersanumberofverbalcuesandaskthemtopredictthecontentofthetext:

YouaregoingtoreadatextentitledHowtosurviveanearthquake.

Workingroupsandtrytothinkofthreethingsyoushoulddobefore,duringandafteraquake.

Herearesomewordsandphrasestohelpyou:

awayfromwindows;gaswaterandelectricity;inadoorway;firstaid;survivalkit;radio;publicauthorities;emergencyprocedures;heavyobjects;underatable;trees;powerlines;damagetobuildings;emergencytelephonenumbers;dangerousspills;keepcalm;turnoff;shelter;check.

（ThankstoYvonneBeaudry,whoprovidedtheideaforthislesson.）

Youcouldthenleadabriefclassdiscussionbeforeaskinglearnerstoreadthetext.

Asanalternativeyoucouldjigsawtheclues.Therearefourteenphrasesgivenabove.Youcoulddividetheclassintofivegroupsandgiveeachgroupsixofthecluestohelpthemwiththeirdiscussion.Theywouldbeallowedtousedictionariestohelpthemunderstandtheirc