4ta Evaluación

 THE IMPORTANCE OF READING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.

SIMON SWEENEY

There  are  three reasons for ensuring that reading has  a  prominent position in the  design of  a  foreign language teaching program. These concern reading techniques, language acquisition  and motivation. 

Reading techniques

 Learners of a foreign language, especially at  elementary and intermediate levels,  are rarely  efficient  readers in the foreign language. This has  to do not only  with deficiencies  in linguistic  knowledge, but also with the strategies employed in reading. Furthermore, efficient reading in the  native language is rarely an accurate indicator of how the reader tackles reading in the foreign  language.  Experience shows that the simple transfer of skills  from native to target language rarely  occurs. Learners  all too frequently  read a  foreign  language text with a painstaking  dedication to deciphering every word in a linear fashion,  frequently  spending more time  looking in a dictionary than reading  the text. 

The  result  is  at  best  a highly imperfect  translation, at worst frustration and incomprehension (Revell & Sweeney, 1993).  Some advanced learners may already read well, mainly through sheer exposure or professional  necessity.  However,  while remembering that inefficient  reading  is  by  no means  rare  even in  educated people reading in their own language, we should recognize the benefits for intermediate level learners in developing reading skills.  

Efficient reading has been described as a kind of sampling process and teachers should aim to develop learners’ skills in this respect. However, the sampling process is complex and involves  many factors:  The first  language reading  process  has been characterized as  follows:  the  fluent reader does not examine every word in a linear fashion, but rather samples various linguistic  cues  (graphic,  syntactic and  semantic),  and uses  knowledge of the world to arrive at a  hypothesis about the meaning of the text. The reader then tests this hypothesis in various  ways  (reading on, rereading). 

 Good readers,  in other words,  use many sources  of information (Goodman, 1967).  We must develop learners’ reading strategies  in ways which reflect the reading process  in the  native language. This requires that we focus on meaning and on solving relevant problems, and  not solely on interpreting individual words one after another. Smith (1978:1267) emphasizes the  preeminence of meaning and the essentially implicit nature of questions that we constantly ask in  order to build up a general pattern of comprehension. He claims  that  such skills  are not even  expressly taught, but where foreign language readers are concerned there has been a traditional  tendency  to focus on ‘comprehension questions’,  often of a ‘WH‘  variety,  which remove  the  implicit nature of meaning and actually force readers into detailed and inefficient strategies and  are quite contrary to the natural reading process. 

Language acquisition

 Krashen’s  theory of the Natural Approach, based on building competence through exposure to comprehensible input, indicates the value of reading. Krashen is in little doubt that reading makes  a useful contribution to developing language acquisition, benefiting both learners’ confidence and  competence. He states that Reading may contribute significantly to competence in a second language. There is good  reason, in fact, to hypothesize that reading makes a contribution to overall competence, to all four skills (Krashen & Terrell, 1983:131).  

Theories of language acquisition as well  as  language learning clearly  accept  that improved  ‘passive’ understanding of English leads to an increase in active knowledge. There is no reason  to suppose that this truism for spoken English cannot also apply to written English.  Reading benefits  grammatical knowledge and vocabulary development, and  therefore overall  competence increases. A practical observation  is that  where the vagaries of prepositions or phrasal verbs are concerned, the learners who make the fewest mistakes are those who read the  most. 

Motivation

 Thirdly, reading should be enjoyable and learners will feel motivated to read more if they feel they  read well.  If the reading texts  are carefully selected and therefore contribute to motivation,  the  process of language learning will be greatly helped.  Language is best  taught  when it is  being used to transmit  messages,  not  when it  is  explicitly taught for conscious learning (Krashen & Terrell, 1983:53).  A further perhaps obvious point is that reading is a means to knowledge, not only about the target  language but perhaps more importantly about the world. Students should be encouraged to use  the target language as a tool in their wider learning.

Activities:

1. Identifique 10 cognados y haga una pequeña lista indicando su significado.

2. Identifique 10 falsos cognados, y haga una pequeña lista indicando su significado en el idioma inglés y el significado que pensó que tenía en español.

3. Responda las siguientes preguntas  (En español) sobre la lectura:

• What is the aim of this text?

• Do you think motivation is important to learn a new language?

4. Seleccione idea principal y secundaria de cada párrafo.

5. Realice la interpretación del texto en español.