Critical Reading 7

Hi! In this post I will talk about the comparison between traditional teaching reading comprehension and recent teaching reading comprehension. The article that I read due to that topic entitled New Developments in Teaching Reading Comprehensions Skills to EFL Learners by Marzook Maazi Alshammari. Based on that article, there is significant difference between traditional and recent teaching reading comprehensions, that is, the traditional teaching tends to testing while the recent tends to teaching. Testing and teaching are different term. In testing reading, students usually given text and then asked to answer some questions related to the text. The main focus of testing is to measure student’s understanding about certain point. In the other hand, in teaching reading, student also taught about improving their reading skills and strategies, so they are not only understanding but also know the strategies. The writer does not directly explain about the difference between testing and teaching, but he give some introductions about reading first. The introduction including the definition of reading, the purposes of reading, the types of reading, the model of reading and the research on reading in a second language. The research used as the base of reading comprehension theory conducted by Nunan. Marzook used course-book during two decades as the instrument to compare the traditional and recent teaching reading comprehension. In teaching reading there are three stages activities, those are: pre-reading ; while-reading; and post-reading. While-reading activities are not included in traditional EFL course-book. Therefore the new development of teaching reading has influenced the course-book. According to this article, we can learn how to choose proper material or course book that does not only gain student’s reading comprehension but also improving their reading skills and strategies. This article can be reference to the teachers to get insight about teaching reading not testing reading. When we apply this term, I think student’s autonomy in reading will be enhanced.

"The world belongs to those who read"

Citation :

Alshammari, M. M. (2015). New development in teaching reading comprehensions skills to EFL learners. International Journal of English Language Teaching,3(1),1-10