That's a great idea Steve. It makes me think...

When teachers have students read, how much pre-reading preparation do they do? If we just open the book to page one, and ask students to start decoding for us, we are asking them to read in an very unnatural way. That's not what I do when I read. I think it's a good idea to teach students ALL the strategies that good readers need--not just decoding.

In addition to letting students choose what they are reading, there are many other things to do:

For nonfiction, discussion of the topic addressed in the reading helps readers focus on content and provide a useful context for decoding. For example, if we are reading an article about the current economic situation and home foreclosures, the class can discuss what they know about home-buying. (Probably more than I do.) That makes decoding easier and more accurate. Students can use the discussion to support  decoding. For example, if a word starts with "h-o" and ends with "s-e," it's probably not "horse." 

For fiction and nonfiction, discussions of the pictures (if there are any) and the title can help. If I ask students what they think PAT KING's FAMILY is going to be about, words like family, parent, children, son, daughter, mother and father are probably going to come up. Again, that provides support and guidance as students decode. 

Making predictions is a great strategy for any reading. If students make predictions based on pictures, titles, and background knowledge, they are more likely to focus on comprehension and not just meaningless phonetic decoding. 


>From Bruce Carmel

Turning Point
Brooklyn, NY


> 

> On Sep 25, 2008, at 11:50 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote:

> 

> > I agree that this, and other information provided by

> Mr. Sticht, is  

> > very interesting.

> >

> > I find that in reading Russian, which I am studying,

> the more  

> > familiar I am with the subject the better I do at

> negotiating  

> > meaning from sentences and paragraphs. If I am

> interested in the  

> > subject, and have heard an audio file of the content,

> I get  

> > momentum which helps me create meaning out of the

> words.

> >

> > I wonder if we should not put more effort into

> allowing learners to  

> > choose content to read that they are interested in and

> familiar  

> > with, and allowing them listen to a recording of it

> before reading.  

> > In time the recording may cease to be necessary.

> >

> > Steve

> >

> >

> > -- 

> > Steve Kaufmann

> > www.lingq.com

> > 1-604-922-8514

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