120 hr. TEFL Course Module 3-Reading (Pt.10 Reading for Purpose)

Module 3: Reading

3.5 Reading for purpose

Now that your students have learned and mastered the basics of reading, it is time to move towards higher-level thinking, which means reading for purpose. Up until this point, the purpose for reading was comprehension, but there is so much more to being a strong reader. Strong readers do not just understand the literal meaning of what they are reading; they also understand the implicit meaning of what they read. Let’s take a look at some simple strategies that will help your students read with purpose more effectively.

• Teach your students to be reflective about their own reading. Reading is an active skill, not just a passive occurrence. If a child loves playing basketball, he cannot expect to just sit on the court and let basketball happen; he needs to try. The same principle applies to reading. Encourage your students to be aware of their reading, what works for them, what helps them, and then to have the follow-through to do what they need to do to read more effectively. 

• Make sure that your students understand the purpose for which they are reading something. If you take a passage completely out of context, it is not going to make much sense, so give your students some context whenever you give them something to read. Ask them to look for something specific, give them guiding questions, or even just let them know why the piece is relevant to the curriculum.

• Invite the students in on the process of setting a purpose. Encourage them to question the text and really delve into it to get meaning. Then encourage them to identify their own purpose (with proper guidance, of course). When students have a role in the planning process, they tend to be more invested in lessons.

• Model active reading for your students. So many teachers like to tell their students to annotate a piece but don’t like to show them what that means. A good way to do this is to take the first section of whatever you are going to have them read and go over it as a class. As you go, show them how you would annotate the piece, what kinds of questions you would ask, and when you would underline or highlight words, phrases, or sentences. This will help them visualize what they are supposed to do.

If you are able to take a student who does not know English from sounding out letters to reading actively and fluently, you’ll know you have been successful.