Chapter 8 – Reading Skills
Introduction
Keli Yerian; Logan Fisher; Abhay Pawar; and Bibi Halima
As you progress in your language learning journey, you’ll probably start reading in addition to listening and speaking. Your initial reading experiences might range from deciphering airport signs to texting a friend to reading a menu or the first page of your language class textbook.
Let’s take a moment to note that reading in general is actually “quite miraculous. Our brains were not designed to be reading brains” (Grabe, 2016, p. 301). Humans do not automatically develop the ability to read or write; these are skills that are socially passed down from generation to generation. So we can celebrate our ability to read in any language!
Although not all language learners need to focus on the ability to read and write (literacy) in their L2s as a goal, the ability to read in a second language is often very helpful for language acquisition, especially when learning in school contexts. Reading skills allow learners to have access to far more input in the language and also allow visual access to the language, which makes it easier to remember as you learn. Reading gives you access to new forms of discourse, such as literary and academic written texts. These usually contain more crafted language with a wide range of idioms, grammatical structures, historical content and cultural nuances – so much that help make a language rich.
So what are some ways we can develop reading skills specifically in a second language? Let’s check out some of the ways Abhay approaches reading in one of his L2s, Italian. Abhay shows us some key techniques he uses while reading a book with vocabulary that he doesn’t know yet.
Let’s take a minute to think about what we just saw.
- First, notice how Abhay picked a text that is close to his own reading level. Although he doesn’t recognize enough words in the text for it to be truly at his level yet, there are plenty of visual and context clues that make the text accessible so Abhay can avoid looking up every word.
- Notice how he uses his prior experience (schemata) for how children’s books are written to guess at what the title refers to and the opening phrase “One day”.
- He also notices high-frequency words in this story (for example, topo) and their variations (topino, topolino) to guess at the meaning. Children’s books can be a good choice for novice and even intermediate level readers since they include many pictures, although their vocabulary and structure can sometimes be surprisingly complex and culturally nuanced. Remember they are written for children who are growing up with the language as an L1!
In this chapter, we delve into more strategies such as those above that are aimed at honing your reading abilities in a second language. From understanding how to find reading materials at your proficiency level to navigating vocabulary acquisition, these strategies can play a pivotal role in your linguistic growth.
References
Grabe, W. (2017). Shaping an agenda through experience(s). Language Teaching, 50(1), 120-134. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026144481600032X
Media Attributions
The original video on this page © Abhay Pawar is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 (Attribution NonCommercial) license.
Any language learned after the first language(s). The term "second language" does not necessarily refer to the 2nd language in time that a person learns. It can be a third, fourth, or other additional language
In this context, language that we are exposed to, e.g. through hearing, viewing (if signed languages) or reading
An orderly and usually extended expression of thought
A type of phrase that has a new meaning different from the definition for the individual words put together
Our prior framework of knowledge that organizes and interprets information based on our prior experiences in the world
Language(s) you are first exposed to and learn. Note that individuals can have multiple L1s if they are raised in a bi- or multilingual community