92-pages-GUIDELINES-FOR-SECONDARY-SCHOOLS-All-Streams-and-Sections

2) While-reading stage
Revisiting the text is an essential component of this stage. The main aim is three-fold: learners are urged (i) to
see the extent to which they have predicted, then comprehended the text, (ii) to find out where
miscomprehension (or mis-interpretation) has occurred and why, and finally (iii) to train learners to consider
and analyze the rhetorical structure of the text, cohesion 27 , and coherence. Training learners in text structure
recognition improves comprehension, recall and language acquisition, as it improves learners’ writing skill.
During this stage, many activities 28 can be used to help learners to:
• recognize text-types and structure by looking at word clues (e.g. cause and effect, etc);
• understand relations between parts of a text through lexical cohesion (e.g. thesis, antithesis, etc) or
grammatical cohesion (e.g. reference, comparison and contrast, logical connectors, enumeration,
classification, time and space relaters, etc);
• interpret the text by going beyond it (e.g. inferring, integrating text information with prior knowledge,
etc.);
• recognize indicators in discourse for introducing an idea, developing an idea, establishing transitions,
concluding an idea, anticipating an idea, etc.);
• identify main idea and distinguish it from supporting detail(s) (e.g. a process from its stages, fact from
opinion, statement from example, etc.);
• recognize the function of the text ( the communicative value of the text , e.g. complaint, invitation,
apology, etc.) by identifying format and exponents;
• extract the most salient points in a text to summarize it, etc.
3) Post-reading stage
To foster both ‘comprehension’ and ‘acquisition’ in a reading lesson, teachers need also to help learners revisit
the text anew. Post-reading tasks might dictate the following questions that transcend the text. This type of
questions has the potential to spark off further discussion of the theme of the text. Learner readers are
encouraged to relate the theme of the text to their own experience. In order to do so, many of the tasks
mentioned in the before- and during-reading stages can be re-used. The following activities, which range from
controlled to less controlled or free activities, 29 might also be used. Learner readers at Level 4 can be asked to:
- scan the text for key vocabulary;
- write a reaction to the information in the text;
- summarize the text (orally or in writing);
27 Cohesion holds segments of a text together, giving it a semantic shape (i.e. coherence). The importance of cohesion lies in
the continuity it expresses between one part of the text and another. This continuity is necessary for the coherence and
interpretation of the text.
28 For more details, see Munby 1978.
29 For more details see William Grabe, 1991. Some of the activities suggested may be used for teaching, testing reading,
and for self-study.
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التوجيهات التربوية وبرامج تدريس مادة اللغة الإنجليزية س ت ث ت 2007