2.2.6.4.

Strategies for the Three Stages of the Reading Process The learning objectives for improving reading skill and understanding texts more comprehensively are general learning strategies that students develop as they perform various tasks and activities from pre while post reading. They are all intentionally structured to broaden the students background, knowledge and skill, and may also be helpful with other subjects as well. Many of the same strategies are re- entered via different activities allowing students to practice using them with different texts. Dorit Sasson.

Pre-Reading Strategies It is important discussing background information, previewing vocabulary, and explaining unfamiliar words to improve comprehension as well as to have a clear understanding of the text. According to Karla Porter, the teachers should also quiz students on the definition to determine if they understand. Structure should also be discussed. This includes the main idea, sentences, headings, sub-titles, and paragraph plans. Author consideration is another important part of pre-reading. What is the author trying to say. Try to determine the reason for writing. Porter says a fully developed reading activity supports students as readers through pre-reading, while reading, and post-reading activities.

In order to help reader gather information before an assignment, the following can be used. Strategies to activate the prior knowledge: Brainstorming: - Examine the title of the selection you are about to read - List all the information that comes to mind about this title - Use these pieces of information to recall and understand the material - Use this knowledge to reframe or reorder what you know, or to note what you disagree with, for further research.

Group discussions: Group discussions in and out of class will help you to discover what you bring to your reading, what your fellow students bring, as well as shared experiences if you find they have new background information, ask for more information from them. Concept or mind mapping: This is a type of brainstorming where the students place the title/subject as the main idea, then develop a "mind map" around it. It can be effective either in a group or by themself. Pre-questions: Often chapters in texts provide organizing questions. Researcher can also write out a series of questions that he expect to be answered when reading.

Visual Aids: Pictures and other visual material can activate the prior knowledge. The use of Internet to search for pictures related to the title/topic to give visual images of what students about to read.

1) Predicting. From the title and the pictures, what would one expect the article or book to be about? 2) Skimming. Read just the first few paragraphs and read over the headings. This will give the reader an excellent idea of what he will be reading about. 3) Read titles and section headings. This seems simple, but works to put one in the mindset of the article

4) Identify what prior knowledge one might have. If you are reading about motorcycles and belong to a motorcycle club, you are ahead of the game. If not, you might have more problems with this article. 5) Learn important vocabulary words. I always have my students look in the margins, or look for boldfaced words that might be vocabulary words. They should look these up, so they are familiar with them.

During Reading Strategies During reading strategies can help the students to improve their ability to become more fluent in English, especially in the areas of speaking and reading. The strategies will help them cope with problematic and grayer areas of the text, such as identifying the main idea of the text, which are also problematic for them in their native or first language. Dorit Sasson. In order to help a reader during the actual reading process, the following can be used. 1) Re reading. If a paragraph or area is especially hard to comprehend, re read the paragraph again. 2) Questioning. This is a skill taught to students. The student can stop every paragraph or every few paragraphs and ask himself important question, such as what was the author's main point. This seems to help comprehension during reading. 3) Constructing mental pictures. Some people are not very visual, so this will only work if you are a visual learner. But making a visual connection helps people who are visual learners. 4) Identifying unknown vocabulary words that might have been missed. Again, it is important to have a dictionary nearby. 5) Summarize what you have read so far. Stop every little bit and say to yourself, this is what I have read to this point. This breaks it down into parts, especially if it is a long article or assignment.

After Reading Strategies After reading activities are used to help students to think about and respond to texts they have read. They support students to consider what they have read and are used to help students organize and record information which they might use for other language and literacy related activities such as presentations or writing texts. According to Karla Porter, there are many activities that will refine, enrich, and heighten interest in the assigned topic; however, the primary goal of the post reading phase is to further develop and clarify interpretations of the text, and to help students remember what they have individually created in their minds from the text. Five types of post reading activities will be described: 1) Discuss with classmates or others what information you gained during reading. Not all people get the same information, so this can be important in pulling together an actual picture of what is read. 2) Revisit key points in the story. In other words, summarize what was read. You can do this either verbally or through taking notes. 3) Answer questions at the end of the article, if there aren't any questions, you can create your own. But make sure they are relevant. 4) Return to your original predictions before you read. Were they correct? If not so, why not? 5) Use graphic organizers to help collect thoughts. There are handouts the teacher can give to collect thoughts, such as the much known Venn diagram. If the person is a visual learner, the graphic organizers help to put thoughts in order. If you don't know what a graphic organizer is, you might want to search for it on the internet. There are a number of different kinds, and explaining it in detail here is another article.