Workshop 4

Please note that this workshop is now closed. There are limited spaces available in other workshops.

Are we teaching reading the right way?

Dr Willy Renandya (National Institute of Education,Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

Our reading lessons often follow what has been termed the-read-then-answer-the-comprehension-questions-approach to teaching reading comprehension. While this approach is not without value and may in fact be good to prepare students for examinations, we need to do more in order to help our students become more proficient and efficient readers. The aim of this workshop is to provide participants with practical knowledge and skills of teaching reading that is firmly based on current scholarship in reading pedagogy. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of the fundamental elements of reading comprehension. The following questions will be used to guide the workshop activities:

1. What is comprehension? What has social constructivism got to do with comprehension?
2. Why is reading engagement so important for deeper comprehension?
3. What is the connection between vocabulary size and comprehension?
4. Why do we need to encourage students to use multiple modes of representing comprehension?
5. How can we encourage students to read more in and out of the classroom?
6. How can we foster the development of critical reading skills in our reading lesson?

The workshop is particularly useful for English teachers who want to become more effective reading teachers.