Promoting Reading Development - Essay Example

Promoting Reading Development Promoting Reading Development English language can be taught through various strategies to help learners understand the language more. Some of these include the strategy that involves the use of narratives when teaching English language. Narratives are stories and tales about occurrences in the past. They can be told to the English learners in order to not only teach but improve their understanding of the language (Spiro, 1980). These narratives can be followed by questions that have to be answered according to them.

This will test the learners’ comprehension of the language and the ability to express their ideas clearly in English. The strategy used is highly comprehensive.The other strategy is the use of the use of tests in vocabulary understanding. These tests can be either written or oral (Glasgow and Cheyne, 2010). The written ones can be used to test and improve the ability of the learner to capture English words at a personal level. They also help to improve the spelling ability of the learner. Oral tests can be conducted to help improve the pronunciation of the learner.

These oral tests can be carried out in the classroom where each student is given an opportunity to stand in front of the class and spell out English words. For every wrong spelling the learner can be assisted by other learners in the classroom.The other strategy that can be used is the reading out loud of English texts in class. The teacher can come with various English books and distribute them among the students. The books can be of any topic ranging from history to geography and biology. The learners then take turns to read sections of the books out loud in the classroom (Glasgow and Cheyne, 2010).

This tests their fluency in reading and helps them in the correct pronunciation of the English words. In addition, the learners also get to improve their vocabulary by learning new words. After the reading out in class, the learners are required to write a report on the book that was read in class (Spiro, 1980). The teacher assesses each report and identifies the level of understanding of each learner. After this, the teacher can then point out each learner’s weakness and give them an assignment of reading a particular book by themselves and submitting another report.

The other strategy that can be used is educational video shows in class. These can range from pronunciation shows to just the normal shows. During each show, the learner is required to listen carefully to the conversations. At the end of each show, there can be a set of questions to be answered based on the show (Dijk and Kintsch, 1983). This helps test and improve the listening skills of the learner and their ability to capture the correct pronunciation of English words. In addition, this strategy can be altered by requiring the learners to transcript the conversations in the video shows into written form (Spiro, 1980).

This ensures that the learners get to pay attention to detail and pronunciation of each word. They also improve their vocabulary and understanding of English words. ReferencesDijk, T. A., & Kintsch, W. (1983). Strategies of discourse comprehension. New York: Academic Press.Glasgow, N. A., & Cheyne, M. (2010). What successful science teachers do: 75 research-based strategies. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.Spiro, R. J. (1980). Theoretical issues in reading comprehension: perspectives from cognitive psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and education.

Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.