Teaching Second Language Reading

A reference book primarily focused on research in the area of second language reading.

Author: Thom Hudson
Publisher: Oxford
Components: Teacher’s resource book

Teaching Second Language Reading is an excellent addition to the Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers series. The focus of the book is on research and conceptual issues rather than classroom practice: it is gdesigned to be both a textbook for teachers in training, and a reference for those teachers and researchers who wish additional information.h

Starting with a discussion of some of the fundamental issues in reading in general, the author moves on to explore models of second language reading in the light of important research carried out in the field. He then goes into more specific areas: reading skills; the role of schema (moving on to genre analysis); vocabulary; and finally the relationship between reading and writing. There is a clear emphasis on reading in context: much of the book is spent on schema, genre, and reading as a social process. There is rather less emphasis on ebottom-upf processes, though they are of course discussed.

The bulk of each chapter is taken up by evaluating, summarising and contextualising research, which it does so in a lucid, well-organised way. Some research is discussed in detail and depth, making it suitable for anyone interested in conducting research in this area.

Although the main focus of the book is on research and theory, most chapters include some discussion of implications for classroom practice. Furthermore, where potentially abstract, technical points are introduced, they are generally well illustrated by activities for the reader to perform and reflect on. For example a sign on a door followed by 3 comprehension questions is used to highlight and explore the role of context and intended audience.

Every chapter is followed by a set of discussion questions and tasks. I found these to be a good way of checking my understanding of the issues, reflecting on my own opinions and practices, and identifying gaps in my knowledge.

One of the great strengths of this book is its user-friendliness. The chapters are logically broken down into subsections which are each given page numbers in the contents. There is a useful glossary, an excellent bibliography and a thorough index. At the end of each chapter there is a brief (one or two paragraph) summary, which may be useful not only as a means of review but also a way of briefly previewing the salient points of each chapter before diving in.

This book is not really suitable for teachers wanting a quick fix for their classes - few classroom activities are discussed. From a teacherfs perspective I found it good for challenging my assumptions, making me think in greater depth about factors in the reading process that I had previously neglected, and for evaluating textbooks and materials. As the author points out, gthere is no magic bulleth for teaching reading but reading this book can certainly help us to understand the reading process more clearly.

I would recommend this book for teacher-trainers; for anyone studying the area of second language reading at the MA level; for teachers about to take a reading course; for anyone involved in designing a reading syllabus; or for anyone about to embark on research in this area.