Reading in the Second Language Class
Reading English for Academic Purposes
TESL / TEFL theory from the learning and teaching experiences of Ted Power 

TOPIC: 10 READING OBJECTIVES for higher intermediate or advanced learners who wish to study in places of higher education in the UK.

1. Topic / Purpose of written text: Given a general text of average difficulty (relative to vocabulary level & general proficiency of the Ss) and given time to read the text at a speed appropriate to its purpose & type, Ss will be able to give a plausible account of why it was written & who it was written for (global function). They will be able to paraphrase the subject matter in global terms (say what it's about in one sentence).

2. Reading styles - Develop a variety of reading styles appropriate to their present and short-term future reading opurposes and the accompanying text types. Given texts of average difficulty and different reading purposes (reading academic texts, newspapers, timetables etc for information, reviewing a text in a library or bookshop, reading for pleasure), Ss will select reading styles appropriate to each particular text type and reading purpose. (I.e. their stated reading purpose).

3. Learn new language - Given a generous ratio of known: unknown items in a text and the existence of semantic (juxtapositional) and syntactic links between these two categories of item, Ss will develop the ability (of the efficient LT reader) to infer the meaning of unknown words from known context. They will be able to learn new language, using the linguistic context of the text to check their deductions before resorting to a dictionary.

4. To read with conceptual awareness - Given fairly general texts containing fairly common concepts ( a common degree of abstraction), Ss will develop the ability to interpret the author's concepts relating them to their own experiences of the world (conceptual categories) without obviously distorting the author's message. Accuracy can be checked by efficient readers using "think-aloud" techniques (protocol analysis) or through a certain % of correct answers in a MC comprehension test.

5. Understanding relations within sentences. Given a general text of suitable difficulty, Ss will be able to earmark (with 80% accuracy) structural units/sense units at word, phrase and clause levels, relational words and phrases and expressions of modality. They will also be able to say how the position of words, phrases & clauses within the sentence affects the semantic structure (I.e. the meaning realised through their interrelationships)

6. Understanding relations between sentences - Given suitable texts (as defined earlier), Ss should be able to earmark cohesive ties (REFERENCE: anaphora, cataphora, hyponymy, comparison, nominalization etc.) and to identify LOGICAL COHESIVE DEVICES (addition, comparison, contrast, concession, enumeration, exemplification, inference, summary, time, result, reformulation, replacement and transition). In both cases, they should be able to show understanding (through paraphrase or substitution or through MC testing) of the semantic ties between sentences,. They should also be able to show awareness of the cases of inferential bridging through juxtaposition of sentences of a certain type ( where relational markers are omitted).