1. Reading Approaches for
the EFL Emirati
Classroom
Fíodhna Hyland ADWC

2. Presentation Outline
Reading Orientations
1.
EFL Reading Approaches
2.
Role of the Teacher Educator
3.

3. What is your Reading
Orientation?
Questionnaire

Bottom up Interactive Top Down

4. Reading Continuum

5. Reading Approaches for the EFL
Classroom
Phonics Approach

Look-Say

Choral reading

Reading aloud

Shared reading

Reader‟s theatre

Sustained silent reading

The language experience approach

In pairs, decide whether these approaches involve
reading ‘to’, ‘with’ or ‘by‟ children.

6. 1. The Phonics Approach

7. The Phonics Approach
This approach aims to consolidate children‟s

phonemic, phonological and morphological
awareness.
It involves working out sound/letter

correspondences to develop „word attack‟
skills.
It highlights the recognition of individual

sounds and sound blends so that words can
be „sounded out‟.

8. Phonics instruction
Initial Consonants – c, b, d etc.

Consonant blends - bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, br, cr,

dr, gr, pr, tr, st, sk
Consonant diagraphs - two consonants

which combine to make one sounds – ch, sh,
ph, th, gh,
Vowel Sounds – oo, ea, ee etc.


9. Think, Pair, Share!
“Children will find it more natural to start from
sounds and learn which letters make them,
since they are moving from experience with the
spoken language to the new words of written
letters and words.”
(McGuiness 1997 in Cameron, 2001, p.149)
Discuss the place of phonics instruction for
young Arabic EFL students.

10. Ideas for teaching Phonics
Sound of the week –set up a „b‟ Writing: forming the letter, make
 
table. Children bring in objects your own dictionary, write a story
about „Clever cat‟ using word charts
beginning with that sound.
and consonant boxes.
Feel the letter and say the sound -

using cutout sandpaper letters. Make an alphabet frieze.

‘Sound hats’ – wear the sound hat Sing songs with that sound, e.g.
 
Annie Apple says „a‟ in words.
and say a word that begins with that
letter.
Children highlight sounds on word

Phonic games: e.g. Sound Bingo, I cards.

spy, match the sound to the word
Making letters from playdoh.

Mini-booklets/flashcards with key

sound highlighted in colour– students
Art activities, e.g. printing „b‟ on

practice reading at home
blankets for baby bear‟s bed.
Read stories based on one sound,

Sorting toys into sound baskets.

e.g. „Bouncy Ben goes to the park‟.

11. 2. The Look Say Approach

12. The Look-Say Approach
Focuses on whole word recognition of the

most common words, such as „the‟, „he‟ and
„went‟ so that reading becomes automatic.
Emphasizes building up a sight vocabulary

of high frequency words
Sight words may be difficult to sound out and

are therefore learned by heart.
Develops lexical knowledge, i.e. that certain

words collocate or go together, e.g. at the
seaside.

13. Think, Pair, Share!
“Build up a sight vocabulary from classroom
labels, class-made books and wall stories,
the children’s own writing, and written
versions of songs and poems which are
already know already”.
(Gibbons, 1991, p.77)
Why do EFL Learners have difficulty learning lists
of isolated words?

14. Ideas for using the Look-Say
Approach
Word wall – including new words of the week

Word games e.g. pass the ball, when the music stops, choose a

high frequency word and read it.
Divide words into categories, e.g. colours, animal words. Ask

children questions like “Can you find your favourite animal?”
Snap, dominoes, word searches.

Use word cards – write a word on the front and a related

sentence on the back
Cut up known sentences into words, pairs reorder them.


15. 3. Choral Reading

16. 3. Choral Reading
Reading aloud together as a group/whole

class where students scaffold each others
reading.
It provides practice for students to read with

appropriate expression.
It develops confidence by giving every

student the chance to participate as a group.

18. 4. Reading Aloud

19. Reading Aloud
“Read-alouds are absolute musts! Different

than shared reading, they allow children to
simply sit back and hear the flow and
rhythm and magic of good literature
without having to struggle with the text
themselves” (Combs,1996, p.144).
Through read-alouds, EFL children are

provided a „model of what skilled oral reading
sounds like‟.

20. The Fish who had a Wish
Using the story ‘The fish who had a wish’,

take turns reading aloud.
Try to:
•Encourage active listening
•Connect the illustrations as you read
•Read with expression
•Encourage prediction
•Follow with discussion

21. 5. Shared Reading

22. Shared Reading is…
An enjoyable, co-operative, interactive

reading activity based on the bedtime story
experience. Ideally the text is a big book
version.
Shared reading can be conducted as a whole

class, in groups or in pairs.

23. Holdaway’s Methodology
Holdaway‟s (1979) four stages of shared

reading:
Demonstration
1.
Participation
2.
Practice
3.
Performance
4.

24. 7 Essential Techniques
Big book technique

 Pointing
 Masking
 Cloze procedure
 Resource techniques
 Innovation on structure
 Musical techniques

25. EFL Reading Techniques in
practice
Choose one of the seven techniques presented
in the leaflet „Shared Reading Tips for
Teachers‟ and practice with your partner,
using the text provided.

26. Working my Robot
When I press this button, my robot starts to talk.
When I press this button, my robot starts to walk.
When I pull this lever, he starts to turn around
When I pull this lever, he makes a bleeping sound
When I click this little switch, his lights begin to flash.
Oh! He’s falling over……. Clink! Clank! Crash!

27. Innovation on Structure
Good night, Mr. Beetle,
Good night, Mr. Fly,
Good night, Mr. Ladybug,
The moon’s in the sky.
Good night, Miss Kitten,
Good night, Mr. Pup,
I’ll see you in the morning,
When the sun comes up.

28. Sing a Rainbow
Red and yellow and pink and green, purple
and orange and blue
I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a
rainbow too.
Listen with your eyes, listen with your eyes
and sing everything you see.
You can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing
along with me.

29. 6. Reader’s Theatre

30. Reader’s Theatre
Reading and dramatizing a script from a

story, “an excellent activity for beginning
second language readers ..” (Peregoy and
Boyle, 253)

31. It’s time to act!
Using the text of „Little Red Riding hood‟, in
groups, act out the dialogue.

32. 7. Sustained Silent Reading

33. Sustained Silent Reading
An independent reading time set aside during

the school day for students to silently read
self-selected books.
Also know as „Drop everything and read‟

(DEAR); „Our time to enjoy reading‟
(OTTER); „Read in bed, it‟s terrific‟(RIBIT)

34. Think, pair, share!
How can EFL teachers develop Sustained
Silent Reading in government schools?

35. 8. The Language Experience
Approach

36. The language Experience
Approach
This approach is based on oral accounts of

the students‟ experiences, which are written
down by the teacher (Shared writing).
Students are then encouraged to read the

story.
Individual words and vocabulary are

discussed and learned.

37. Methodology 1 - Whole class
The teacher scribes an interesting event
dictated by one or more student and writes it
on the board to build up a text e.g. „I went to
the doctor yesterday‟/We went on a trip to…

38. ‘Breakthrough to Literacy’ –
Methodology 2- Individual/Group
A commercial version widely used with children in Britain for first
language literacy and South Africa for first and second
languages.
Children compose sentences, with their teacher, from a set of

word cards.
They physically move the word cards by pacing them into a

plastic tray to make the sentence and placing a full stop at the
end.
The sentence is then read back to the teacher.

The child copies it down in his/her book.

Gradually, the child builds up a collection of words that are

known and moves to making several sentences.
Once the sight vocabulary is established, small books are

introduced.
(Cameron, p.147)

39. Key features for the EFL
classroom
Stories are personal, meaningful and culture-specific –it‟s their own

words
Children are reading and writing at the „sentence level‟.

Children and teacher together compose sentences.

Print conventions and punctuation is taught from the start e.g.

directionality of print, spaces between words, capital letters and full
stops.
Words can have a physical reality, as the child moves words and puts

them together to make a sentence.
The integration of speaking, writing and reading helps children to see

how texts are composed.
(Cameron, p. 147)

40. Applicability to the EFL
classroom
“The most meaningful words for children are likely to
be those they use in their own spoken and written
language” (Gibbons, P. 1993, p.81).
In light of the above quote, in groups, evaluate the
1.
potential effectiveness of the Language
Experience Approach in teaching reading in a
foreign or second language.
Brainstorm how would you deal with challenges of
2.
time, large classes, mixed ability levels and
classroom management when implementing this
approach?

41. 9. Guided Reading

42. Guided Reading aims to…
“Teach the skills and strategies that successful
readers need using an organized program that
includes grade-level reading selections, workbook
practice, assignments and frequent testing”
(Tompkins, G. 2006).

43. Guided Reading Video

44. Application to an EFL setting
In groups, discuss the applicability of a Graded
Reading Program to an EFL setting.
Consider:
 Implementation of a core reading scheme
 Bottom-up approaches
 Cultural, contextual and political considerations
 Time constraints
 Accessibility of materials/using alternative resources
 The Eclectic Approach to reading

45. Ways to manage graded
reading programs
Set aside a weekly reading time

Devise ability groups

Engage in guided reading with groups of children,

rather than individually
Change books regularly

Have book discussions/shares

Devise an informal record system.

Integrate with other approaches, e.g. independent

reading.
Involve parents – notes, workshops.


46. Graduate Perspective
“I believe that guided reading is a great way
to develop students reading and can help
them be good readers. Teachers with good
preparation, materials and enough time to
apply the strategy shouldn‟t have problems
applying the strategy”.
Al Sada, M., (2008)Email correspondence

47. Graduate Perspective
“However, this strategy might be bit
unrealistic to be used in government schools,
where teachers have to complete and cover a
whole new curriculum which focuses on other
things, for example, grammar, phonics,
writing and vocabulary”.
Al Sada, M., (2008) Email correspondence

48. Strengths
Textbooks are aligned with grade-level standards.

Teachers teach strategies and skills in a sequential

program.
Students learn how to read by practicing phonic and

word identification skills.
Vocabulary is controlled.

Supports differentiation.

The teacher‟s guide provides ideas on teaching

reading.
Assessment materials are included.


49. Limitations
Books may be too difficult for some EFL

students and too easy for others.
Written in stilted and unnatural language -

may lack the authenticity of good literature.
Vocabulary is controlled.

Many workbook assignments included.

Main focus is on skills, i.e. phonics, word

recognition, rather than on fluency.

50. Example Graded Reading
Programs
Oxford Reading Tree:

http://www.oup.co.uk/oxed/primary/ort/
 Sound Start
 I,2,3, and Away
 Ginn
 New Way
 www.readinga-z.com

51. The Role of the Teacher Educator

52. The Role of the Teacher Educator
Be a model of good practice

Use the „Think Aloud‟ technique

Make college learning realistic, contextualized and

meaningful
Connect to the ADEC strands and indicators

Engage student teachers in systematic microteaching

Engage student teachers in problem-based learning

Connect to their previous learning experiences

Scaffold experiences through assisted performance,

guided participation and collaboration

53. Using Literacy Resources in the
UAE:
Publishers

Suppliers

Conferences

Foundations

Libraries

How could you use these resources to enhance your
teacher education classes?

54. What type of text for
EFL learners?
Predictable

 Rhythmic
 Repetitive
 Interactive
 Visually attractive
 Short and simple
 Electronic

55. Think, Pair, Share.
The teaching of EFL reading needs to
adopt a balanced approach that
incorporates bottom-up, top-down and
interactive approaches.
What are the practical implications of applying this in an
EFL classroom?
How can the teacher educator influence student
teachers‟ beliefs, knowledge and practices?

56. Balanced Instruction
Belief Systems and the Search for Balance
Curriculum Perspectives
Skills-Based Curriculum Whole Language Curriculum
Instructional Approaches
Phonics Reading Aloud
Look-Say Shared Reading
Choral Reading Language-Experience
Reader‟s Theatre
Guided Reading
Achieving a Balanced Literacy Program

57. Conclusion

58. References
Combs (1996) in Soderman, A.K., Gregory, K.M. & O‟ Neill, L.T. (1999)
Scaffolding Emergent Literacy: A Child-Centred Approach for Preschool
through Grade 5, Allyn & Bacon Publications, p.107-108.
Gibbons, P. (1991) Learning to Learn in a Second Language. Primary English
Teaching Association, Australia, ch. 7 „Reading in a Second Language‟.
Harker, J. (2005) „Tea with the big bad wolf‟, Child Education, September,
Scholastic, pp.28-29.
Hyland, F. (2005) Shared reading tips for teachers leaflet.
Peregoy, S. F. & Boyle, O. F. (2000) Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL: A
Resource Book for K-12 Teachers, 3rd ed. New York: Longman, p.253.
Tompkins, G.E. (2006) Literacy for the 21st Century: A balanced approach,
fourth edition, Pearson Publications, pp.338-352.
Tierney, R.J. & Readence, J.E. (2000) Reading Strategies and Practices: A
Compendium. Allyn & Bacon, pp.458-461.