Lecture 5 reading skills

 Skill:
“An acquired ability to perform well” (Harris &
Hodges, 1981:298)
 Language Skills:
“The mode or manner in which language is used.
Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are
generally called the four language skills ...Often the
skills are subdivided into sub-skills ...”
(Richards et al., 1985:160)

READING SKILLS
 Cognitive ability which a person is able to use
when interacting with written texts;
 Seen as a part of the generalized reading process;
 Reading skills have been used to structure reading
syllabi and for test construction.
Reference:
Urquhart, S. & Weir, C. (1998). Reading in a second language: Process,
product and practice.

SEPARABILITY OF SKILLS
In general, reading skills are presented in categories
or taxonomies:
 Word attack skills (let the reader figure out new words);
 Comprehension skills (help the reader predict the next
word, phrase, or sentence quickly enough to speed
recognition);
 Fluency skills (help the readers see larger segments,
phrases, and groups of words as wholes);
 Critical reading skills (help the reader see the
relationship of ideas and use these in reading with
meaning and fluency).

Word attack skills (Decoding skills)
 Convert orthographic symbols into language;
 Requires readers to recognize that the script represents
units of language, e.g. phonemes, syllable and words;
 Developing word attack skills is necessary to help
beginning readers and writers become independent and
fluent.

Word attack skills : Sample of Sub-skills
 Recognizing syllable patterns;

 Recognizing symbols for consonant sounds;
 Recognizing symbols for vowel sounds;
 Recognizing symbols for tone;
 Recognizing capital letters (upper case) and knowing when
to use them;

 Recognizing punctuation and how it affects reading for
meaning and expression;
 Recognizing the use of space to mark word breaks and
paragraphs.

Comprehension skills
 Represent the ability to use context and prior
knowledge to derive meaning from text;
 Comprehension is based on:
 knowledge that reading makes sense;
 readers' prior knowledge;
 information presented in the text, and
 the use of context to assist recognition of words and
meaning.

Comprehension Skills
Examples of Sub-skills:
 Grammatical skills, knowledge of syntax, mechanics;
 Using context to gain meaning,
 Using schemata as aids;
 Using metacognitive knowledge;
 Recognizing text structure;
 Predicting what will come next in text.

Comprehension Skills
Here are some examples of reading comprehension skills:
1. Using context as an aid to reading
e.g. being able to fill in the correct words in expressions:
“Open the d...” “Tell me a st...”
2. Using prior knowledge as an aid to reading;
3. Using predictability as an aid to reading (helped by rhyme,
& other associated pairs of words);
e.g. being able to predict the correct word in phrases
“men and w...” “fork and sp...” “mother and f...”

Fluency skills
 Reading fluency is the ability to read text accurately and
quickly.
 Fluency bridges word decoding and comprehension.
 Fluency is a set of skills that allows readers to rapidly
decode text while maintaining high comprehension.
(National Reading Panel, 2001).

Fluency skills
 Skills that allow a reader to see larger sentences and
phrases as wholes;
 A process that aids in reading more quickly;

Fluency skills
Examples of fluency skills:
 Immediately recognizing letters and frequent clusters of
letters;
 Learning frequent words by sight;
 Seeing phrases as wholes;
 Using prediction skills within the phrase or clause;
E.g. being able to supply the correct words in phrases
or clauses such as the following:
“At the d...“ “Under the b...“
“Black and w...“ “The book that I r...”

Critical reading skills
 Skills to analyze, synthesize and evaluate what is
read; They are the ability to see relationships of ideas
and use them as an aid in reading;
 Involve activities such as determining cause-effect or
comparison relationship (types of organization) or
adopting a critical stance toward the text;
E.g:
 Detecting / Predicting bias
 Making inferences
 Distinguishing fact and opinion
 Generalization

 Critical reading as a goal includes the ability to evaluate
ideas socially or politically;
Examples of Sub-skills:
Seeing questions and expecting answers;
Seeing cause and effect;
e.g. being able to supply the correct word in a clause such
as this one:
“If you drop it, it will b...”

Seeing steps in a process
E.g. being able to supply the correct word in a clause:
“Pull up a chair and s...”
Seeing comparisons
E.g. being able to supply the correct word in a phrase:
“As big as an e...”
Seeing generalization and itemization
E.g. being able to supply the correct word in a phrase:
“Fruits that grow in our village are ...”

 Reading skills fall into a continuum of hierarchies;
 Lower level skills (Decoding) relate to word attack skills;
 Higher level skills (Comprehension) link to reading
comprehension skills
 As decoding skill improves, differences in reading ability
are then more controlled by general comprehension
factor
Lower
Level
Higher
Level
Skills

 In many models of skill, focus of attention may
change from lower-level skills to higher level
skills as reading ability is acquired;
 The lower level skills involving visual perception
and phonic analysis become automatic with
practice and require less conscious monitoring;
Lower
Level Skills
Higher
Level Skills

HIERARCHY OF SKILLS
• Reading ability occurs when lower level skills change to
higher level skills
• This is where visual perception and phonic analysis
become more automatic with practice and require less
conscious monitoring;
• Hence, allows the reader to focus more on the
comprehension aspects of reading.
Lower
Level Skills
Higher
Level Skills

HIERARCHY OF SKILLS
Hierarchy order of comprehension skills
 Barrett’s taxonomy
 Reader is assumed to be beyond the initial stage of word
processing;
 Divided into 5 ordered skill levels:
Appreciation
Evaluation
Inferential
Comprehension
Reorganization
Literal Comprehension

HIERARCHY OF SKILLS
• Barrett’s taxonomy was influenced by Bloom’s
(1956) taxonomy which defines levels of
cognitive & affective processing in areas other
than reading comprehension;
• However, in Barrett’s, there may be overlapping
in some categories and tasks devised to reflect
each category.
• Also, it doesn’t reflect the roles of background
knowledge & context which may modify the
proposed difficulty or ease.

BARRETT’S TAXONOMY BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
Appreciation
Evaluation
Inferential
Comprehension
Reorganization
Literal Comprehension

HIERARCHY OF SKILLS
• Many attempts in L1 research to identify skills
and their hierarchy;
• However, little empirical evidence that skills
can be hierarchically ordered;
• In L2 reading research, similar attempts to
develop skill lists and hierarchies in reading
literature.

HIERARCHY OF SKILLS
• However, the differences in L2 research:
 Learners are older when they read in L2 as
compared to L1 readers;
 They are already literate in their L1;
 Have more specific needs than early L1
learners.

• Research on skills in second language has
taken 2 primary orientations:
1. Examination on the role of traditionally
termed lower-level word processing skills;
2. Examination on the role of comprehension
skills (higher level skills) in 2nd language
reading.
RESEARCH IN L2

LOWER LEVEL SKILLS IN L2
 Several studies on lower-level processing, i.e.
word processing skills, in the 2nd language
especially on 2nd language learners of different
writing systems;
 Examined differences in visual & orthographic
coding skills of Arabic, Japanese, Chinese due
to differing nature of L1 writing systems

LOWER LEVEL SKILLS IN L2
 Studies indicate that lower-level processing in
L2 is affected by visual and orthographic coding;
 Word-attack skills in L1 are transferred to L2
contexts;
 If a learner is at the low-level of word
processing, comprehension will be impeded;

HIGHER LEVEL SKILLS IN L2
 Munby (1978) presents a taxonomy across 2nd
language skills of listening, speaking, reading
and writing skills;
 Teachers and materials writers can select skills
appropriate for students with differing goals and
needs;
 However, the taxonomy was not based on any
empirical framework

SUMMARY
 Generally, studies on L1 and L2 argue against the
existence of strictly hierarchically ordered reading
skills;
 There are broad categories of skills which are
mediated by text, purpose and content;
 These skills may be useful for curriculum
development, and scope & sequence charts
associated with textbooks and series;

SUMMARY
 Reading skills are not unitary in their structure;
 Thus, it is appropriate to teach multiple skills in
reading.

 In groups of five, select one of the skills in
reading. Choose one of the sub-skills under the
selected skill. Explain how this sub-skill can be
taught in class.

Lecture 5 reading skills

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