Mr. Zhao Jingzhong did put forward a very clear idea in the article, which is especially worth sharing with primary school Chinese teachers.Original address:From Text Teaching to Real Reading Teachingauthor:Delicious Study
From Text Teaching to Real Reading Teaching
By Zhao Jingzhong (Originally published in the fourth issue of Primary School Chinese Teacher)
In a society where information flows rapidly, everyone must constantly read to stay up-to-date and adapt to ever-changing living environments and work challenges. Reading ability has become a crucial factor influencing personal development. A skilled reader is superior in terms of knowledge accumulation, intellectual development, and the absorption of new knowledge. Therefore, reading instruction is arguably the most crucial component of basic language education.
Reading refers to the process of deriving meaning from written materials, while reading instruction refers to the process and activities in which students, under the guidance of teachers, gradually develop their reading abilities through the practice of reading various written materials. Helping students develop reading strategies and improving their reading abilities during classroom reading instruction is more important than simply teaching them to understand the content of a text. Students’ acquisition of reading strategies and skills is crucial for solidifying their reading habits and developing a lifelong interest in reading.
However, what worries us is whether the current teaching of texts in Chinese language classes can really promote the development of students’ reading ability? Or is it just for the sake of exams, which only makes children proficient and accumulates more Chinese language knowledge and skills, but does not help to truly improve children’s reading ability (this can be seen from the Taiwan Participation2006What insights are emerging from the Global Reading Literacy Survey?
Let’s briefly review the current teaching model in classrooms: Current language instruction in general classrooms focuses primarily on practicing language knowledge and skills, often using a disaggregated, distributed learning approach, with the emphasis on students memorizing these knowledge and skills. The fixed process and content of classroom teaching are generally as follows:
(1)
Pre-class preparation (previewing the form, pronunciation, and meaning of new and difficult words)
(2)
Overview of the Text
(3)
Teaching new words (stroke order, word meaning, word and sentence formation exercises)
(4)
Deepening the text (divided into content and form, usually conducted through teacher-questioned discussion)
(5)
Exercise guide (student exercise books published by publishing companies to accompany textbooks)
(6)
Imitation exercises (combined with writing instruction)
This long-standing model of text-based instruction, still used in most schools, is based on behaviorist theory and reading engineering theories from the early and mid-twentieth centuries. These theories posit that while reading is a holistic skill, it can be broken down into numerous smaller skills (such as word recognition, vocabulary recognition, sentence structure mastery, text organization, and comprehension). By breaking down these skills and teaching them one by one, students’ reading ability can be improved. This perspective assumes that each skill is teachable and learnable, and that the sum of all these skills equals reading ability. Therefore, learning to read involves developing a hierarchical and sequential set of skills that ultimately lead to reading proficiency. Once students master these skills, they can become proficient readers. From this perspective, readers passively receive information from a text; meaning resides in the text itself, and the reader’s goal is to reproduce that meaning.
This perspective on reading instruction dominated language instruction for a considerable period. It wasn’t until the 1970s that new theories of literacy (e.g., literacy emergence, social interaction, language psychology, and whole language) began to emerge, providing a new theoretical framework for reading instruction. This perspective emphasizes the interactive nature of reading and the constructive nature of comprehension. Research on the reading process has found that readers actively construct meaning from texts using various linguistic cues. These cues include word pronunciation, word form, sentence structure, semantics, and pragmatics. During reading, readers continuously interact with and integrate these diverse cues. Readers achieve their goal—constructing meaning from texts—through strategies of trial, prediction, testing, and validation.
This theory posits that all readers, whether beginners or experienced, draw upon their existing experience and knowledge, combined with clues provided by the text and the context of the reading situation, to construct meaning. According to this view, even beginners can become proficient readers if they are provided with sufficient background knowledge of the text they are reading. Conversely, even experienced readers, faced with a difficult and obscure text, will be just as baffled as beginners. Therefore, two key characteristics of readers: their ability to effectively mobilize background knowledge when reading and the strategies they employ to facilitate comprehension, form crucial elements of this new view of reading.
With the support of such theories, reading instruction began to change:
1.
From “teaching textbooks” to “teaching with textbooks”
“Teaching the textbook” involves setting teaching objectives and designing lessons based on the textbook, emphasizing in-depth understanding of individual passages. “Using the textbook to teach” involves first defining what needs to be taught (teaching objectives) and then finding appropriate textbooks to support the teaching. This allows teachers to teach without being restricted by the textbook and truly consider students’ reading needs.
2.
From emphasis on literacy teaching to comprehension teaching
With the critique of reading theory, teachers began to question the goals of language instruction and the focus of reading instruction. Consequently, the traditional approach of simplifying reading to simply word recognition was challenged, and a shift toward a reading instruction model focused primarily on comprehension and critical thinking was underway.
3.
From mastery learning to strategic learning
In line with the shift in emphasis in reading instruction, the mastery-based teaching model, which previously focused on vocabulary and text structure, has been adjusted to emphasize learner autonomy and strategic learning for knowledge construction. Teachers’ thinking aloud, students’ hands-on practice, and sharing and discussion have become regular classroom activities.
4.
From single-text teaching to group text reading
With the increase in book publishing and student reading volume, teachers began to try group reading teaching activities, combining textbooks and extracurricular reading materials to conduct multi-text reading teaching on the same topic.
5.
From lecture-based teaching to collaborative learning
Traditional teaching is mainly based on teacher lectures, but reading experience cannot be replaced by others. Although learning reading strategies requires teacher guidance, it is more important that students actually practice and apply them before they can internalize them into their own skills. Therefore, classroom teaching has gradually begun to shift to student-centered classrooms, and learning in the form of reading clubs such as group cooperation, group discussions, and shared dialogues has become the main method of classroom teaching.
At this point, there are two types of reading instruction in the classroom. One maintains the traditional textbook-centered teaching model, emphasizing the mastery of knowledge and skills. The other focuses on the cultivation of reading ability and the learning of reading methods through a reading strategy teaching model. The differences between the two are mainly reflected in:
(1)
Different teaching objectives
Text teaching aims to develop students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and to help them acquire accurate language knowledge. Reading instruction focuses on cultivating students’ independent reading skills, enabling them to use reading to solve problems in their daily lives and develop critical thinking skills.
(2)
Different teaching methods
In terms of teaching methods, text instruction is teacher-led, with the classroom primarily focused on explanation, marking, and revision. Students follow the teacher, who sets learning goals and standards. Reading instruction, on the other hand, shifts learning back to the students, placing them at the forefront and encouraging them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers offer various strategies and methods to help them understand the text and construct meaning, ultimately aiming to develop students’ independent learning abilities.
(3)
Reading in different ways
Textbook instruction emphasizes word-by-word reading, aloud reading, and aesthetic reading. It focuses on the meaning of the text, fully exploring and grasping the author’s key perspectives and meanings. Reading instruction typically prioritizes silent reading, employing a variety of reading methods: skipping, scanning, and skimming. Sometimes, repeated intensive reading is also included, and sometimes, an exploratory approach is adopted. It emphasizes personal understanding of reading and the connections between texts, books, and people.
(4)
The nature of the reading material is different
Textual instruction primarily focuses on model essays, taught one by one. These essays have been revised, adjusted, and reviewed by experts, resulting in a relatively simple and consistent structure and approach. Reading instruction encourages children to engage with authentic reading materials, working with books one by one. These reading materials are complete and retain the author’s personal style, resulting in considerable variation in argument, structure, and plot. While each student may read a different book, they can still learn together on the same topic.
(5)
Different evaluation content and methods
Typically, assessments of text-based teaching focus on relevant knowledge and skills, with questions closely tied to the text and often having standard answers. However, assessments of reading ability should focus on various levels of understanding, emphasizing students’ critical thinking and reflection, and using a variety of texts as the basis for the questions.
From the above perspective, it seems difficult for textbook teaching to escape the curse of “teaching.” For example, regardless of the type of text, eliminating unfamiliar and difficult words and phrases is always the primary priority in reading activities (euphemistically called building vocabulary). However, from a reading perspective, unfamiliar and difficult words and phrases are only one of the challenges that may arise during the reading process. To be effective, learning and accumulating vocabulary and phrases must be embedded in real reading.
Text instruction focuses on staying closely aligned with the text. The goal is to help students grasp and understand the learning implications (the relevant knowledge and content) of the text through instruction. Reading instruction is more student-centered, encouraging questions and engaging in discussions focused on their concerns. We also provide students with a variety of strategies to practice, allowing them to find the most appropriate method to help them understand the text and construct their own meaning. During instruction, we focus on what skills and strategies students, as readers, should practice and master during their actual reading process to truly improve their reading skills. Therefore, instructional design is primarily based on a reader’s perspective. For example, to grasp the text’s content, what steps does a real reader take before reading to help them more easily understand the text? During reading, how do they appropriately use strategies to grasp the text’s meaning, appreciate the text, or respond to it with their own perspectives? After reading, we encourage students to reflect on the strategies they employed (or learned) to facilitate comprehension. Therefore, the focus of classroom teaching is not only to understand the content of the work and learn the relevant Chinese language knowledge in the text, but more importantly, to hope that students can learn how to understand an article and how to appreciate an article.
Reading strategy instruction offers significant advantages over textbook instruction. Reading ability is holistic; it’s the process of constructing meaning through the interaction of the reader’s prior knowledge and the information presented in the text. Skilled readers utilize their prior knowledge and flexible strategies to construct meaning. They monitor their ongoing comprehension and adjust their strategies when difficulties arise. They select and adjust strategies based on their knowledge level. Therefore, reading is an active process. The development of reading ability is the process of readers developing reading strategies to comprehend text.
Distinguishing between “language instruction” and “reading instruction” in Chinese language classes can be confusing for teachers accustomed to textbook-based instruction. Isn’t Chinese language instruction about teaching students listening, speaking, reading, and writing knowledge and skills through texts? Why distinguish between “teaching the text” and “teaching reading”? Doesn’t teaching reading also involve teaching through texts?
The reason for making this distinction is that language instruction on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is still largely text-based, with relatively few instructional designs focused on reading comprehension. This is truly unfortunate. Teachers diligently prepare lessons and teach daily, and students strive to learn. However, if the teaching objectives and methods are incorrect or deviate, all the hard work of both teachers and students will be wasted. Even more noteworthy is that in the 21st century—a century of rapid information flow, when reading has become a fundamental skill essential for modern citizens—if our children do not lay a solid foundation in reading during their basic education, their future competitiveness will be severely challenged.
Taiwanese scholar Ke Huawei2001) summarizes successful reading comprehension instructional principles from abroad, which can serve as an important reference for teachers when designing Chinese language instruction. The following are the key points: (1) The primary teaching objective is reading comprehension; (2) Applying what is learned in real life can enhance students’ interest in reading; (3) Through teacher demonstration, students can see the skills and application methods that promote reading comprehension; (4) Instruction must be flexible and emphasize dialogue between teachers and students; (5) Students will only apply the skills after repeated practice reaches a certain level of proficiency. The author believes that these principles are crucial for teachers to keep in mind when designing lessons and are essential for Chinese language instruction to move towards true reading instruction.
