TESL 0130 Unit 2 Reflection

(Source: https://www.pinhawkblog.com/adapting/)

Unit 2 was about all about "adapting a text". Brown and Lee (2015) mentioned three criteria for selecting an appropriate text suitability, exploitability and readability. I think it becomes very important for a teacher that they select the appropriate text for the learners so that they perceive reading as an interesting and valuable activity. The text should be selected and adapted on the basis of the student’s level, their interest and needs, their background knowledge and its relevance. Asking the students to read a text which is beyond their level would be counter-productive and it might make them feel incapable of reading. Of course, it should not be too easy and should be good enough to challenge them.

There are a number of ways to adapt a text, some of which are:

-reducing the amount of information or shortening the length of the text

-Pre-teach difficult vocabulary

-Provide highlighted material

-Rewrite some difficult sentences

-Allow extra time for reading

-Motivate the student to keep him interested

-Help the student visualize what is read

-Ask questions to clarify meaning and to probe understanding

My "aha" moment in this unit was using readable.io website. To be honest, I never thought that such tools exist for the teacher's assistance while selecting a reading text which is appropriate for the students. This website analyzed the text in seconds and gave results. It gave the appropriate level of the students the text is suitable for. Not only this, it introduced me to the new terms Flesch reading ease, Spache score, and New Dale-chall score.  

References


H. Brown, H. L. (2015). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. .