Addressing Reading Deficiencies and Comprehension Planning
Reading Shortcomings and Solutions
The defects of reading are those behaviors that hinder the development of reading abilities. They are:
- Mechanic: Involved in the mechanics of reading. Example: ocular behavior, omitting a sound, adding, or changing forms. It is essential to detect the note, understand the causes, and suggest suitable exercises.
- Cognitive: They relate primarily to comprehension. Example: Not discriminating important information, etc.
The causes of these defects are habits acquired during the early stages of reading. They stem from having been taught in an analytical or wholeness manner.
Solutions:
Exercises to correct these defects do not vary much compared to other proposals for understanding and can be seamlessly integrated into language class. Nevertheless, since not all students exhibit the same shortcomings, it is worth keeping track and proposing individualized exercises for each student, regardless of the overall treatment of reading.
Criteria for Planning Reading Comprehension in the Classroom
Here we address several questions: How is the class organized with all this variety of goals, techniques, and reading materials? What criteria should be used to find the right exercise for each group of students?
Concerning the adequacy of texts to the students’ level, the difficulty of the text is related to the level the student has in reading and the topic being read, as well as their mastery of reading skills. The more skills the student has, the longer and more linguistically difficult the text may be. Conversely, if the student’s resources are poor or the text’s theme is far from their reality, caution must be exercised in choosing them.
In addition, the task of reading comprehension should act as a balancing factor for these elements. Thus, if students know nothing about a subject, it will be convenient to prepare activities in advance to activate prior knowledge, choose more readable texts, and require a basic level of comprehension. If, however, the text is not difficult in terms of vocabulary, students can be asked to reach very high levels of understanding:
- To crawl the text thoroughly.
- To lay down details.
- To seek clues to the author’s intent, sub-opinions, ironical expressions, etc.
Regarding the type of exercise, responses can be verbal or nonverbal. Nonverbal and oral comprehension response activities permit interactive work in the initial levels of mastering writing exercises. One of the most interesting understanding exercises at this stage is the teacher-student dialogue about the text: the student’s questions and the teacher’s comments guide the student to help build meaning. At more advanced levels, with greater global dominance of language abilities, reading can be linked to writing or oral presentation.
1) The Intensive Reading:
Comprehension exercises involve short texts held at school. Consider these points:
- Observation, technical, and diversified resources.
- Activities before, during, and after reading.
- Prepared exercises for students.
2) The Extensive Reading:
This is the activity of reading longer texts naturally, that is, outside the classroom, on one’s own, for pleasure or interest. Basic attitudinal objectives are: to promote reading habits, develop positive sentiments toward print culture, help readers define their tastes, bring the world of books to the student, and so on.