texts which, while being like English, are nevertheless written or adapted especially for their level.
Appendix Two Labelling of Modality
(1) 7. How to teach reading
(2) Why teach reading?
(3) There are many reasons why getting students to read English texts is an important part of the
teacher’s job. (4) In the first place, many of them want to be able to read texts in English either for
their careers, for study purposes or simply for leisure. (5) Anything we can do to make reading easier
for them must be a good idea.
(6) Reading is useful for other purposes too: any exposure to English (provided students understand it
more or less) is a good thing for language students. (7) At the very least, some of the language sticks in
their minds as part of the process of language acquisition, and, if the reading text is especially
interesting and engaging, acquisition is likely to be even more successful.
(8) Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. (9) When we teach the skills of
writing, we will need to show students models of what we are encouraging them to do.
(10) Reading texts also provide opportunities to study language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation,
and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts. (11) Lastly, good reading texts can
introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative responses and be the
springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lessons.
(12) What kind of reading should students do?
(13) There has been frequent discussion about what kinds of reading texts are suitable for English
language students. (14) The greatest controversy has centred on whether the texts should be
‘authentic’ or not. (15) That is because people have worried about more traditional language-
teaching materials which tended to look artificial and to use over-simplified language which any native
speaker would find comical and untypical.
(16) However, if you give low-level students a copy of The Times or The Guardian (which are certainly
authentic for native-speakers), they will probably not be able to understand them at all. (17) There
will be far too many words they have never seen before, the grammar will be (for them) convoluted
and the style will finish them off.
(18) A balance has to be struck between real English on the one hand and the students’ capabilities
and interests on the other. (19) There is some authentic written material which beginner students
can understand to some degree: menus, timetables, signs and basic instructions, for example, and,
where appropriate, we can use these. (20) But for longer prose, we may want to offer our students
(21) The important thing is that such texts are as much like real English as possible.
(22) A lot will depend on who the students are. (23) If they are business people, the teacher may
well want to concentrate on business texts. (24) If they are science students, reading scientific texts
may be a priority. (25) But if, as if more often the case, they are a mixed group with differing interest
and careers, a more varied diet is appropriate. (26) Among the things the teacher might want them
to read are magazine articles, letters, stories, menus, advertisements, reports, play extracts, recipes,
instructions, poems, and reference material.
(27) What reading skills should students acquire?
(28) Students, like the rest of us, need to be able to do a number of things with a reading text. (29)
They need to be able to scan the text for particular bits of information they are searching for. (30)
This skill means that they do not have to read every word and line; on the contrary, such an approach
would stop them scanning successfully.
(31) Students need to be able to skim a text – as if they were casting their eyes over its surface – to
get a general idea of what it is about. (32) Just as with scanning, if they try to gather all the details at
this stage, they will get bogged down and may not be able to get the general idea because they are
concentrating too hard on specifics.
(33) Whether readers scan or skim depends on what kind of text they are reading and what they want
to get out of it. (34) They may scan a computer manual to find the one piece of information they
need to use their machine, and they may skim a newspaper article to get a general idea of what’s
been happening. (35) But we would expect them to less utilitarian with a literary work where
reading for pleasure will be a slower, closer kind of activity.
(36) Reading for detailed comprehension, whether looking for detailed information or language,
must be seen by students as something very different from the reading skills mentioned above. (37)
When looking for details, we expect students to concentrate on the minutiae of what they are
reading.
(38) One of the teacher’s main functions when training students to read is not only to persuade them
of the advantages of skimming and scanning, but also to make them see that the way they read is
vitally important.
(extracted from Harmer, J. 1998. How to Teach English. London: Longman, pp. 68-69)