Summary 10: Dilemmas for the Development of Second Language Reading Abilities

Citation

Grabe, William. (1995). Dilemmas for the Development of Second Language Reading Abilities in Prospect, 10[2], 38-51. Methodology in Language Teaching (pp. 276-286). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Summary

This article is take from a book entitled Methodology in Language Teaching edited by Jack C. Richards and Willy A. Renandya in Section 12 Teaching Reading. 

This article talks about dilemmas approach in the development of second language [L2] reading abilities. The first dilemma is that there are many different context in the L2 reading instruction. The L2 reading instruction become more complex because it includes all the L1 instruction contexts and adds the L2 learning instruction itself. The resolution of this dilemma is that the L2 instructors must find more appropriate journals which can improve their L2 learning instruction designs. The second dilemma is about the perspective of the L2 as a part of second language acquisition [SLA] which is more general than the needs of the L2 users. It has to be clear about the relationship between both the L2 and the SLA by doing research or some literature reviews.

The third dilemma is about the learners’ awareness of text structure that may contribute to their reading abilities. In this case, controlling the formal aspects or the language used and the form of the text structure are two of so many ways of improving the learners’ reading comprehension. It is more likely about the teachers way of teaching; about how they explain to the learners themselves. The fourth dilemma is about the vocabulary building. The L1 reading researches believe that extensive reading is important [because they have the basic of vocabulary early] while the L2 is more likely focus on the vocabulary building. However, reading fluency is not only about recognizing vocabulary, but also catching the information from a reading material. So, it can be said that by doing extensive reading, the learners can doing the vocabulary building.

The fifth dilemma is about the social background of the learners that the middle-class families usually prepare their children before the school-age while the low-class families maybe don’t. One of the suggestions is that the teachers must conduct any intensive reading program, in this case, extensive reading to their learners. The sixth dilemma is about the learners’ silent reading as a class activity. It will be strange if the teacher just let the learners read their own materials in the class without doing any real learning activities. The learners’ motivation is also being the problem. There are some solutions noted here; educating the school administrators and the teachers about the urgency of extensive reading so that there will be more time conducted to provide extensive reading activity whether in the class or library.

The seventh dilemma is about the learners ability to understand any reading strategy, to use it appropriately, and to combine the strategies. It is important for the teachers to help their learners to use the reading strategies. So, for this dilemma, the entire schools and programs must commit as a strategic school. The teachers must make the learners understand and aware about the reading strategies. They have to demonstrate it, assist the learners, and make sure that the learners use the strategies. The eighth dilemma is about schema theory which is believed to support comprehension by recalling background knowledge. The problem is that teachers are taught that previewing a text and discussing it before reading will help the learners to activate the schemata; however, there is just a few research about the schema theory so that there is some other questions about the concept. Therefore, the use of the schemata concept is now being a rationale for any teaching suggestion.

The last dilemma from this article is about the relationship between reading instruction and Content-Based Instruction [CBI]. The CBI provides a natural framework for reading because it has potential motivate learners, develop strategic learners, provide contexts for extensive reading, and promote larger and useful vocabularies. Moreover, it can be integrated with other learning theories. The suggestions here is that how to make the CBI as the core of curriculum discussion of reading instruction.

So, from the nine dilemmas above, it can be concluded that extensive reading is important and it has to be taught not only to the teachers and learners, but also the whole environment such as the schools administers and the parents.

Application

It is important to manage the whole environment to understand the urgency of extensive reading activity so that we can make a reading programs in our classes or even in our schools.