The reading strategies book pdf free download

James Chalmers. A short summary of this paper. They then completed a written retrospective protocol and a focus group discussion to probe their reading strategy use and tease out any underlying rationale. The analysis revealed that participants responded to time pressure, unfamiliar vocabulary and demands on working memory by employing a range of expeditious reading strategies which focused less on textual comprehension than on quickly locating correct answers.

Their test scores did not necessarily increase as a result. The findings, though preliminary, support further enquiry into test-taking strategies to understand the extent and the direction of impact on test scores.

IELTS is widely used by Australian universities to screen international student applicants for English language proficiency. International students are expected to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency reflected by their IELTS band scores, normally an overall score of 6.

This high-stakes situation may cause international students to focus on entry scores instead of English language proficiency. To illuminate the issue, this preliminary and initiatory pilot study investigates a the prevalence of strategic reading techniques by international students preparing for the IELTS Academic Reading test at an Australian university; and b the likely impact on test outcomes. Reading models Although no definitive theory of reading has yet emerged, there is no shortage of research into reading skills e.

Componential models e. Our analysis distinguishes between what Khalifa and Weir termed careful reading and expeditious reading. Careful reading is based on a process of slow, linear, incremental reading for comprehension. It seeks to extract complete meanings from a text and can occur at a local i. By contrast, expeditious reading is quick, selective, non-linear, efficient, and primarily driven by time pressure — a description which also covers strategic reading techniques, the focus of our study.

The three main reading skills encompassed by the term expeditious reading — scanning, search reading, and skimming — are outlined below.

Scanning involves identifying and matching a visual stimulus in a question item with one in a corresponding text, e. It requires little attentional capacity until a match is made, and textual processing is often restricted to the clause level. Once target words are located, careful reading can take place to establish propositional meaning.

Because this type of reading is based upon predetermined topics e. In other words, if the information located answers the question, how it relates to the rest of the text is unimportant. Skimming, or reading for gist, enables the reader to construct a mental macro-structure of the text with minimal cognitive processing.

It is selective in that the reader decides how much of the text needs to be read to suit their purpose. A reader may draw upon their knowledge of text structure to decide which parts to read, e. Also relevant in this context are previously learned test-taking strategies, defined as the consciously selected processes that test respondents use for dealing with both the language issues and the item-response demands in the test-taking tasks at hand Cohen, , such as responding to a multiple-choice question by eliminating options that one knows are incorrect.

Reading strategies for test completion are widely mentioned in the literature e. These strategies are then analysed for their prevalence and degree of success as well as the reading skills underlying their employment. Extending this analysis is qualitative discussion data collected from a subset of the participants. The potential impact of these reading strategies on the validity of IELTS Reading test results for stakeholders — particularly Australian universities — is then considered.

Methodology To investigate the research questions both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Quantitative data consisted of mock IELTS Reading test results as well as self-reported behaviours elicited through a retrospective protocol, quantified for analytical purposes.

Qualitative data consisted of a post-testing focus group discussion about test-taker behaviour. Participants were free to complete the test questions in any order.

After testing, participants completed the retrospective protocol questionnaire. After being informed of their test performance, four participants took part in a focus group discussion, detailing their strategies, opinions, and feelings regarding the IELTS Academic Reading test. Participants Ten international students 6 male, 4 female; age range: , average age: approximately 27 at a university English language college in Queensland, Australia self-selected to participate in the study.

Their linguistic backgrounds varied: Chinese 6 , Spanish 1 , Vietnamese 1 , Ukrainian 1 and Japanese 1. To investigate the strategies utilised, a bi-sectional retrospective protocol adapted from Weir et al. In the first section, participants were provided a list of preview strategies see Table 1 and indicated which they had used prior to engaging with the test questions.

It is the reflective process which deals with the practical concerns and is close to the instructors that let them to make a change. The main purpose of an action research is to find out the solutions for real problems faced in schools and search for possible solutions in order to ensure the success of the students.

Action research assists instructors in evaluating needs, documenting the steps of inquiry, examining data, and making informed choices that can lead to desired outcomes. An instructor has to follow the following phases in doing action research: Planning Acting Observing Reflecting McNiff, , p. Data collection instrument and the process of the research It is mentioned above that one of the main objectives of this research project is to find out the English reading awareness level of the students and improve their English reading approaches ERA.

There are six approaches which the research teacher followed by predicting, making connections, visualizing, inferring, questioning, and summarizing. These approaches were required to the students and needed to be practiced for three weeks. The result of the study showed that 10 of the 25 students were not aware of the approaches. Then, the approaches were modeled by the teacher researcher. Following it, in the second step, the approaches were practiced by the whole class, then small groups, and finally independently.

The teacher researcher then practiced four reading texts from the book English Language book by Alan Etherton for about five weeks. However, after a comprehensive study, there was an improvement in their success. As a researcher, at the beginning of the study, I had the worries of implementing the English reading approach in the classroom.

Moreover, a number of approaches were another hindrance as the students might have found them confusing. In order to overcome these obstacles, I had to guide and monitor the students in every step of the process especially for the questioning, inferring, and summarizing approaches. The journey of this research was rewarding for both my students and me.

This action research was a productive experience. Thus, I have observed an extensive understanding of reading comprehension approaches as well as an improvement in English reading comprehension of my students. Implications Future research on the revised reading approaches will probably include a larger random sample. A number of instruments using check list for writing down the improvement of each student weekly based on participation and the approaches they use more commonly were being used by the researcher.

It is important to suggest that the other researchers may explore meta-comprehension dissimilarities between female and male students. Moreover, in preparatory school groups, students of remote areas in Bangladesh, English can also be examined in order to see the differences in competence. Because, examining a larger group of students would give a better understanding about the differences.

This study can be done between two different groups by two different researchers and the outcomes can be compared. Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children read. Amin, R. Azim, M. Amin, R Angloamericanae Journal, 3 1 , Anderson, R.

Becoming a nation of readers: The report of the commission on reading. Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace where teachers buy and sell original educational materials. Are you getting the free resources, updates, and special offers we send out every week in our teacher newsletter? Grade Level. Resource Type. Interactive resources you can assign in your digital classroom from TpT.

Easel Activities. Pre-made digital activities. Add highlights, virtual manipulatives, and more. Up to now, she has helped thousands of students over the world get excellent results in exam and become professional English users in practice. Furthermore, all her books are compiled in a very clear explanation, well written, well guided and easy to follow.

Also, Rachel Mitchell is really good at motivating and inspiring students who are even do not like English at first to become interested in this kind of language. If you need these books, please comment your mail and we will send or contact us. Your email address will not be published.