Málfríður - 15.11.1988, Qupperneq 10

text to develop students’ compe-
tence as readers. It is not only the
complexity of structures or the den-
sity of new vocabulary which make a
text difficult for students to read but
also the subject matter and the con-
cepts expressed. The texts the stu-
dents read must interest them, a
seemingly obvious point, but one
that textbook writers do not always
seem to be aware of. An interesting
text is informative, it gives the stu-
dents an insight into the ways other
people think or feel, and it challeng-
es the students’ intelligence. A good
text lends itself to study and leads to
follow up tasks that are not imposed
on the text but come as a natural
consequence of having read the text.
In the reading lesson students
must be given the opportunity to
read a great variety of texts, includ-
ing when possible authentic materi-
als (i.e. texts which have not been
specially written for foreign lan-
guage learners). The texts should
not be reading materials the stu-
dents have seen before, and they
should work on their own at a speed
which is dictated by the type of text
and the purpose for reading it. The
greatest danger in the reading lesson
is that the teacher is too anxious to
be helpful and does too much of the
work, e.g. reading the text aloud for
the students, summarizing it or
translating difficult words. The stu-
dents will never become successful
independent readers with this kind
of help. The teacher’s task is to pro-
vide suitable texts and well defined
tasks, tasks which ought to guaran-
tee success.
Most people, without necessarily
being aware of it, read in different
ways according to the purpose of
reading and the type of text being
read. For example, one reads the
TV programme very differently
from instructions on how to use an
appliance, and the Agatha Christie
novel one reads on holiday is read
very differently from the novel one
is studying in a literature course.
The reason why we read these four
texts so differently is that the pur-
pose behind the reading varies so
greatly. One cannot take it for
granted that students have devel-
oped good reading strategies in their
mother tongue and even if they have
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there is no guarantee that they will
be transferred to reading in the for-
eign language. Therefore, it is es-
sential that time be spent on devel-
oping the skills necessary to read all
kinds of texts and making students
conscious that one reads different
kinds of materials at different rates
and with different degrees of atten-
tion. It would greatly help students
if there was a joint reading pro-
gramme in the foreign language and
Icelandic. If common approaches
could be worked out, each subject
would complement the other.
At the beginner’s stage of foreign
language learning Icelandic data can
be profitably used, particularly be-
cause one knows that reading skills
have not been developed by all stu-
dents in the class in the mother
tongue. It is important that one
moves slowly at the beginning stages
and therefore the process of moving
from the known to the unknown is
fairly sound. The classified ads, the
agony columns, cartoons, horo-
scopes, TV and radio and entertain-
ment guides in newspapers and mag-
azines provide interesting data, and
tasks can be set to practice the tech-
niques of skimming and scanning. A
lesson using classified ads might be
introduced by the students suggest-
ing in the foreign language what
things are advertised in the classified
ads. The students would then scan
the articles to find the answers to
questions set by the teacher in the
foreign language. Examples of the
types of questions could be as fol-
lows:
a) You are thirteen and would
like a part-time job in the eve-
nings or the weekend. Is there
anything available?
b) Your skis are too small. Does
anyone want to buy them?
c) Your cat has had kittens. Has
your ad for owners appeared
in the newspaper?
Questions following reading pas-
sages need to be examined very
carefully as poor questions can be
counterproductive in developing
reading skills. Many questions fol-
lowing reading texts are designed to
test whether the students under-
stand the text rather than helping
the students to understand it. They
concern themselves with testing the
students’ knowledge of syntax or vo-
cabulary and less often require stu-
dents to consider what is implied but
not explicitly stated, to evaluate or
to pass opinions. Questions on
grammar and vocabulary which
have little bearing on the meaning of
the text are not justifiable in a read-
ing lesson. Students should be en-
couraged to refer to the text con-
stantly when answering questions,
using the text to validate their in-
terpretation. Questions should not
test a student’s memory of irrelevant
details, as for instance: Was the fat
man’s name Bill or John? In fact,
they should not be a test of memory
at all. People read the newspaper
every day and yet an hour later they
can recall very little of what they
have read. The reason they do not
remember all the details is not be-
cause they are unskilled readers but
comprehension and recall are not
the same; they probably read very
little if anything that they did not
comprehend but their minds were
selective, programmed to register
only those details that had some rel-
evance, however tenuous, to their
lives and interests. Why should stu-
dents be trained differently?
Reading is like an infectious dis-
ease. It is caught not taught. What is
meant by this slogan is that the
teacher’s personal attitude to read-
ing will greatly influence the stu-
dents. Showing that you are a reader
means referring to books when you
are teaching, reading out brief pas-
sages which might interest your stu-
dents, talking about what you are
reading at the moment, demonstrat-
ing that you have read the books in
the class library. In these days of TV
and video, reading has come to play
second fiddle and some students
have not experienced the pleasure
of reading even in their mother
tongue. It is particularly these stu-
dents the teacher should try and in-
fluence. The atmosphere in the class
room during the reading lessons, the
selection of materials which interest
the students, the tasks set and the
teacher’s attitude to the subject will
all contribute to develop a love of
reading in your students which will
be a source of profit and enjoyment
throughout their lives.