Dear FLE 304 Section 04 members,
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Q. 1 (Ebru).
For the comment writers, you need to choose 2 questions and comment on them. Please try to write detailed comments and justify your views as well. Please indicate which question you are responding to by indicating the question writer's name, e.g., (Q.1).
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Q. 1(Ebru) Which one is the most effective for the students: reading aloud or silently?
ReplyDeleteQ. 2(Ebru) Which strategies can be used to give struggling readers support while reading?
(Q.1- Ebru)In my opinion, reading aloud is the most effective one, there are some reasons for it in my mind. First of all, doing sth aloud adresses both ear, hearing and eye, seeing. This makes learning more effective. Secondly,while they are reading aloud they can hear themselves and also teacher and with help of this activity they can correct their pronounciations. If the reader is the teacher and the other are only listening, then teacher can stop at important places to tell it by underlying and emphasizing it.
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ReplyDelete(Q1- Ebru)
ReplyDeleteI think that it depends on the purpose of reading.
To internalize, and fully understand silent reading is better. Because in reading aloud, although we hear everything, we don't listen to each word and completely comprehend the text. Note the differance between hearing and listening.
But for self-monitoring or feedback about stops, intonation and pronunciation, reading aloud is better.
(Q2- Ebru)
ReplyDeleteWe can use two main strategies; decoding and comprehension strategies.
First of all, students should be taught the sounds of the language they read in.
Secondly, chunking is another option. In chunking, students only look at and read a part of the word, and then move to another. So in the end, it becomes a word that they have heard before.
Lastly, they should be able to understand the words to understand the whole text.
For the comprehension strategies, re-reading, which is done for finding the information, can be applied.
Predicting, is another way which we already saw in the video. Befeore reading, students make predictions and while reading, they compare the predictions with the things in the text.
Struggling reader must be dealt with intensively and individually.
(Q.1-Ebru) Silent reading seems much better than reading aloud according to me. While reading aloud I cannot concentrate on what I am reading. I do not believe that our senses could be the input for the reading comprehensions because we deal with the meaning and understanding of the text. If we have activities with the text such as questions about the text, discussion topics and so on. we should understand the text that we read, we should have an idea what is about. Hence I believe that this process cannot be real by reading aloud. In my opinion concentration can be provided by silence.
ReplyDelete(Q.1-Ebru)I think reading silently is more effective for students, because while reading aloud students cannot concentrate on what they read and they try to read fluently and loudly enough for other students to understand. On the other hand,when a student is reading silently, he/she has more chance to understand what he/she is reading as he/she can focus on reading. However, I can say that if the porpuse of reading is different, reading aloud may also be useful.
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ReplyDeleteQ.1 (Ebru)
ReplyDeleteAs for me, benefit of reading something aloud or silent depends on the purpose of the reading. If the reading is done to understand the material perfectly, then reading silently would be much more beneficial for the reader. Because, during the process of aloud reading, the readers pay more attention to pronunciation rather than the meaning.Therefore, if the purpose of the reading is to make readers aware of their pronunciation mistakes or provide them more input of language, then reading aloud would be a better idea; because, the focus would be on how to read rather than what to read.
Q.2 (Ebru)
ReplyDeleteDuring the reading process, if students face some problems, the teacher can use a number of reading strategies to make the process easier and meaningful for them. For example, when the students come across with an unknown word, the teacher may want them to figure the meaning out of the context and after the reading is done, they can compare the answers. Another example can be that if the students have problems in understanding the concepts or contexts in the material, the teacher can adjust them to students own way of life so that the reading will be more meaningful for them.
Here comes my two questions about teaching reading:
ReplyDeleteQ1 (Uğur): Reading can be said to be one of the easiest skill to train; however, problems start when it comes to test it. So, what should be considered (comprehension, or pronunciation, or speed, etc.) while assessing reading skill?
Q2 (Uğur) : Do you think there is a connection between writing and reading skill? Is a good writer also a good reader?
Thanks in advance for your comments and responses...
(Q2- Uğur) Yes, I think that there is a connection between wiritng and reading because if someone is a good reader then it means that she or he already knows the rules about a paragraph or a reading material. For writing, teachers generally want students to write a paragraph or essay. Students have to know which vocabulary to use, how they can do it effeiciently, which kind to use, grammar rules for an effective telling etc. So when they see a reading material they can easily solve the unexplained points and they can easily understand it.
ReplyDeleteQ. 1 (Ebru) We can’t give a certain answer to this question. I mean, we can’t say this one is the best because both activities have advantages and disadvantages. For instance, many people think that reading aloud is an old-fashioned activity which was used extensively years ago and it is not a useful activity because it prevents students to concentrate on the topic. However I strongly disagree with those people because with a silent reading activity a teacher can’t understand whether the students know the pronunciation of certain vocabulary items. Besides, when the teacher tells the students to read a text silently, s/he may not be sure that the students are really reading the text. In addition to this, while a student is reading a text aloud, by looking at his/her using intonation the teacher can get an idea about the student’s comprehension of the text because his/her using intonation shows whether s/he grasp or not the exact meaning of the text. Reading aloud has also some disadvantages. For instance it can increase anxiety level especially for shy students . Because of these reasons I support the idea that reading aloud should also be used in reading lessons, but it should be used sparingly because it can cause boredom.
ReplyDeleteIn conclusion, since both reading aloud and silently have advantages and disadvantages we can’t decide which one is the best, but we can integrate both strategies in a reading lesson and use them together.
(Q.1 – Uğur) In my opinion while assessing reading skills, firstly comprehension should be taken into consideration. The other skills should not be neglected, but more importance should be given to comprehension. The aim of reading is not to teach students pronunciation of certain words or to teach them how to read faster. The main concern of reading is to teach students to understand a text in the best way they can do. If a student grasps the meaning of a reading text and can successfully answer the questions about the text, his mistakes in the pronunciation of a few words or his reading the text slowly doesn’t matter. Therefore our main criterion in assessing reading should be the students’ understanding of the reading text.
ReplyDelete(Q1- Ebru) It depents on some criteria. I think both of the strategies are useful in some conditions. For example for an unseen passage firstly the students should skimm and read silent and then it would be useful reading aloud in class once or twice to make it more clear and get the attention.
ReplyDeleteIf the class’ level is under intermediate level, by reading aloud their pronunciation mistakes can be corrected. On the other hand, if the class level is advanced, reading aloud would be time consuming and boring that’s why reading silent should be applied in that class.
(Q1- Uğur)
ReplyDeleteI think there is a connection between being a good writer and a good reader. One of the teacher of mine in high school claims this connection and he says that “ a good writer knows where the author gives the main idea, what kind of examples the author can give about the topic ect. And a person who is a good writer also emphatizes the author of the reading passage and knows where to look”. I agree with him about the connection but I think a good writer is a good reader but that does not mean that a good reader is a good writer also. I think writing is an inborn skill and everyone may not be succesful at writing.
(Q1 Ebru) I think both of them can be helpful. Reading aloud can be helpful for the students to improve their pronunciation and also some students may understand passages better when they are read aloud. On the other hand, as my friends mentioned before, reading silently can be more beneficial. As they read silently, they can internalize it better. They will also have little concentration problems because when we think a classroom environment, especially a crowded one, it can be difficult for both the teacher and students to follow the passage.
ReplyDelete(Q2 Uğur) In fact I don’t agree with this connection too much. When I think of myself, I read a lot, but when it comes to writing, I can’t say that I’m a good writer. On the other hand, this can change from person to person because I think reading also develops other skill such as grammar, sentence formation etc…
ReplyDelete(Q1- ebru)Effectiveness of reading aloud or silently depends on students.Some students learn and understand better through reading silently while some of them tend to read aloud and comprehen better by this. Also, there are different benefits of each method. for example, reading aloud improves pronouncation and intonation. students hear and correct their mistakes. On the other hand, silent reading is more beneficial for most of the students in order to concantrate on meaning and comprehend the passage.
ReplyDelete(Q2- uğur) Yes, I think there is a connection between these two skills. To be a good writer, one should be also a good reader. Writing skill is improved by reading a lot. Not seeing how others writes prevents to write. To illustrate, One can not use the words of which you know the meaning in a sentence. Sp, I think these two skills completes each other.
ReplyDelete(Q1 EBRU) I think silent reading and reading aloud may be helpful to students.it depends on students, their age and their level and their interests. reading silently is may be better if there is a need to understand the passage. because we can concentrate on meaning more while reading silently, for example when we read a passage quickly just to read it, we could not understand its meaning. but it depends on the level of students. if the students are beginner, ı think it is more benefical to read aloud, because they could learn some techniques by listening the passage. so ı think both ways of reading are necessary for students.
ReplyDelete(uğur-2) of course there is a connection between reading and writing. a goog writer is also googd at reading. because, there is many diffent types of words, usages and sentences in a reading passage, a writer also uses these forms in the writings, so a writer should also be good at reading, but ı think this is not obligatory, because for example; high school students can understand all forms of grammar more than a native speaker, but they can not speak at all. reading and writing are more related topics, but the case may be the same. a writer could be good at reading, but a reader may not good at writing, ı think, because it requires different skills.
ReplyDelete(Q2- Uğur)I think there is a connection between reading and writing skills, because they are both about comprehending and if one cannot read well, he/she isn't expected to write very well. However, there are some people,who are able to read well,but aren't able to write good enough. If a person knows a lot of words and have a good grammer, he/she is expected to write well, and this is only possible when the person is a good reader.
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ReplyDeleteReading aloud can be effective, I think but you should give points while reading. Additionally, some reading strategies should be used and given to students. Improving students' writing is also important. There is of course connection between reaidng and writing.
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