5. Teach reading strategies.
Strategies are “the tools for active, self-directed involvement that is necessary
for developing communicative ability. Strategies are not a single event,
but rather a creative sequence of events that learners actively use” (Oxford,
1996). This definition underscores the active role that readers take in strategic
reading. To achieve the desired results, students need to learn how to use
a range of reading strategies that match their purposes for reading. Teaching
them how to do this should be a prime consideration in the reading classroom
(Anderson, 1991; Chamot and O’Malley, 1994).
Some of the research that I have done indicates that “there is no single set
of processing strategies that significantly contributes to success …” in second
language reading tasks. Strategic reading means not only knowing what strategy
to use, but knowing how to use and integrate a range of strategies
(Anderson, 1991).
A good technique to sensitize students to the strategies they use is to get
them to verbalize (or talk about) their thought processes as they read.
Readers can listen to the verbal report of another reader who has just read
the same material, and it is often revealing to hear what other readers have
done to get meaning from a passage. I use this technique in my reading classes
to get students to become more aware of their reading strategies and to be
able to describe what those strategies are.