Secondary ESOL

Professional Readings: Reading

On ESOL Online

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On Other Websites

• Apprenticing Adolescents to Reading in Subject-Area Classrooms

  How to teach reading in content areas (Phi Delta Kappan Journal).

• Building Comprehension through Explicit Teaching of Comprehension

  Nell Duke's presentation to the second annual MRA/CIERA Conference, September 22, 2001 (PDF).

• Comprehension Instruction: What Makes Sense Now, What Might Make Sense Soon

  A summary by Michael Pressley on ways teachers can help students increase comprehension skills (Readingonline).

• Content Reading Strategies

  From Richard Vacca - techniques that teachers can use to help students obtain information from their content books.

• Developing Reading Comprehension Through Instruction

  How do good readers comprehend what they read? Pressley and Wharton-McDonald identify the cognitive processes used by skilled readers.

• Graphic Organizers for Content Instruction

  Downloadable graphic organisers from EverythingESL.

• Guidelines: Adapting Material

  A clear outline of how to simplify written text.

• Reading and Second Language Learners

  Comprehensive research-based report (The Evergreen Center for Educational Improvement, 1999).

• Reading Process Analysis

  Practical steps to help readers become aware of the demands of different texts and the strategies that they can use to meet those demands. By sharing reflections on their own reading processes in a group, readers learn from each other (WestEd).

• SQ4R – Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review, Reflect

  SQ4R provides a systematic way of comprehending and studying text. Practical suggestions for guided practice.

• Teaching the Academic Language of Textbooks: A Preliminary Framework for Performing a Textual Analysis

  A simple framework for working out what textbook language may be difficult for English Language Learners, and also, therefore, for deciding which items of academic language need to be taught. (The ELL Lookout, 2005)

• Why Reading is Hard

  This website was created to help teachers see the challenges that readers face. Teaching children to read is highly skilled work, and teaching children to read in a language that is not their mother tongue is particularly challenging. Includes a video of Catherine Snow, a reading researcher and professor at Harvard University, talking about these issues.

• Adolescent Literacy Instruction

  Readings from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL).

• Adult Literacy Learners' Difficulties in Reading: An Exploratory Study

  From the British National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy. The study and the review of literature are relevant for the secondary context.

• Assessing Reading Growth with Running Records

  A clear, brief summary of Marie Clay's running record (An Observational Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, 1993).

• Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

  Bloom's Taxonomy is a useful way to plan units of work that incorporate high level thinking skills. This site includes: a colour poster introducing the revised taxonomy, a planning framework to design learning activities that foster all levels of thinking and Investigate a Book the Blooming-Smarts Way, a matrix for a reading programme.

• Building Reading Comprehension Through Think-Alouds

  Think-alouds can improve reading comprehension and help students to develop the ability to monitor their reading comprehension.

• Conceptual Development in Technical and Textbook Writing: A Challenge for L1 and L2 Student Readers

  Alan Jones writes about the complexity of reading technical text for first year university students and suggests ways teachers can prepare students through carefully designed exercises.

• Connecting Students to Culturally Relevant Texts

  A case study of how connecting a reader with one culturally relevant book can launch a learner on the path to academic success.

• Content Area Literacy Methods: Pre-reading

  Effective comprehension depends largely on the reader's readiness (LiteracyLeaders.com).

• Designing a WWW Reading Task

  Advice on designing reading tasks based on the internet (British Council).

• Extensive Reading

  Emphasises extensive reading in the second language learning context.

• Extensive Reading: Why? and How?

  Research evidence for the use of such programs in ESOL contexts.

• False Claims About Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Skills vs. Whole Language, and Recreational Reading

  Krashen takes issue with the US National Reading Panel report's claims about reading and reading instruction.

• Features of Text Forms

  Structure and language of different types of text forms.

• Federal Support for Adolescent Literacy: A Solid Investment

  Consensus about the steps schools can take that are most likely to improve adolescent reading skills. (PDF, from the Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007)

• A Focus on Vocabulary

  Research stresses the important role word knowledge plays in reading comprehension. (Pacific Resources for Education and Learning)

• Further Notes on the Four Resources Model (Luke and Freebody)

  This short paper reviews the relevance of Luke and Freebody's model of the reader's roles - code breaker, meaning maker, text user, text critic (Readingonline).

• A Guide to Learning English: Helping ESOL Students Understand What they Read

  Clearly written advice from Paul Shoebottom at Frankfurt International School.

• Guided Reading

  A clear description, from the Department of Education, Tasmania.

• Guidelines for Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read Well: Six Features of Effective Instruction

  16-page research-based booklet from the Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA, 2000).

• Handbook of Reading Research

  Chapter summaries from the Handbook of Reading Research: Volume III, 2000, (Readingonline).

• How Does Understanding Text Features Benefit Reading Comprehension?

  From the Assessment Resource Bank, this article uses narratives and science reports to exemplify how learning about particular text types helps students develop control over their options as they read and write.

• How Should Adult ESL Reading Instruction Differ from Basic Reading Instruction?

  A clear description of how learning to read for second language learners differs from learning in L1, and how these differences should affect teaching (Center for Adult English Language Acquisition).

• Jigsaw: Instructional Strategies Online

  A clear explanation of the purpose of jigsaw reading and how to do it.

• The Language Learning Benefits of Extensive Reading

  Paul Nation's 1997 article concludes that there are substantial long-term benefits if there is a high degree of commitment.

• Learning Enrichment - Reading Skills

  Teaching reading within social studies.

• Literacy and Sound Learning: Strategies for Thoughtful Reading

  Doug Buehl clarifies the strategies that proficient readers use and explains how all readers can adopt these practices.

• The Literacy Project

  Google Inc. site dedicated to literacy, pulling together its books, video, mapping and blogging services to help teachers and educational organisations share reading resources.

• Literature on Early Literacy Instruction in Four Languages (Chinese, Korean, Navajo, Russian)

  A summary of evidence-based research on how reading is taught to Chinese, Korean, Navajo and Russian children. The aim is to deepen understanding of how literacy is defined differently across cultures and how the language of a people affects the way reading is taught (revised 2003, University of Minnesota).

• Meeting the Literacy Development Needs of Adolescent English Language Learners Through Content Area Learning

  Summaries of current reading research by Meltzer and Hamann (2005).

• Miscue Analysis

  Miscue analysis is a tool for looking closely at the types of reading strategies a reader uses. From the UK Department for Education and Skills.

• Monitoring Comprehension: Teaching Comprehension Strategies to Students

  A workshop that looks at research about the teaching and learning of reading comprehension (PDF/Ppt.from the U.S. Department of Education).

• MyRead

  Three level guides clearly explained and exemplified.

• MyRead - Strategies for Teaching Reading in the Middle Years

  A range of guides that demonstrate ways in which teachers can continue the teaching of reading as students progress through school.

• Reading - Interacting with Texts

  Directed activities related to texts (DARTs) help students engage with texts and make them more critical readers (the British Council, BBC).

• Reading Alone Together: Enhancing Extensive Reading via Student-Student Cooperation in Second-Language Instruction

  Jacobs and Gallo explain the possible benefits of adding a group element to extensive reading and give examples of activities (Reading Online).

• Reading and Elementary Learners

  One teacher's process for building students' reading self-confidence (British Council).

• The Reading Apprenticeship Framework

  An approach to reading instruction that helps students develop the knowledge, strategies, and dispositions they need for reading (WestEd).

• Reading For Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms (WestEd)

  This reading shows teachers how they can help students acquire disciplinary and discourse-specific knowledge by making their own reading and thinking behaviours visible to students through think-alouds and class discussion.

• Reading in a Second Language

  2003 article by Catherine Walker discussing factors that contribute to reading fluency and vocabulary acquisition for L2 learners.

• Reading in a Second Language

  Ppt. from San Diego University. Links to other reading resources.

• Reading Next:A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy

  From the Carnegie Corporation, a discussion of the fifteen key elements of effective secondary school literacy programmes.

• Reading Quest, Making Sense in Social Studies - Strategies for Reading Comprehension

  A range of strategies to use with students to develop comprehension.

• Reading Strategies: Scaffolding Students' Interactions

  Exemplified explanations of a variety of reading strategies.

• Readings and Resources

  A set of readings for mainstream teachers designed to encourage them all to see themselves as teachers of reading. Sections for teachers of native and non-native speakers (American Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).

• Scaffolding

  A brief explanation of what 'scaffolding' is (NCREL).

• Secondary Literature Texts

  An alphabetical listing of texts commonly used in NZ secondary English classrooms - with accompanying links to online resources (English Online).

• Six Effective Comprehension Strategies

  Research based, includes lesson steps that emphasise the role of explicit instruction (Wisconsin Literacy Education and Reading Network Source).

• Strategies for Building Comprehension of Informational Text

  Nell Duke on the importance of teaching strategies for comprehending informational text (PDF).

• Strategies for Reading Comprehension

  Explanations of strategies and OHT masters to use with students (ReadingQuest.org).

• Supporting Older Emergent Readers in Becoming Bilingual and Biliterate

  Suggestions for providing students with the academic language and concepts that are crucial to success in their secondary school classes.

• A Tapestry of Understanding: Intergenerational Family Learning

  This discussion document from the City of Manukau Education Trust (COMET) explores the ways in which intergenerational family learning policy can support the strategic goals of central government in relation to the well-being of families in Manukau, South Auckland.

• The Textmapping Project: Improving Reading Comprehension Skills

  A graphic organiser resource for teachers aiming to improve reading comprehension skills instruction.

• These Words Were Meant For Speaking

  In favour of reading out loud (TES).

• Trends: Reading/Transactional Strategies

  Pressley, Brown, Van Meter, and Schuder write about the power of transactional strategies instruction in improving student reading.

• "You Don't Read a Science Book, You Study It": An Exploration of Cultural Concepts of Reading

  Anderson and Gunderson believe that the variance between teachers' and immigrants' expectations of what constitutes reading and reading instruction is one factor that contributes to reading difficulties (Reading Online).