I've noticed that in teaching ESL, reading comprehension is one of the most difficult skills to teach. I struggle with it daily. Where I teach, our curriculum uses books that as the levels of acquistion progress, reading incorporated into the coursework is intended to promote Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) -- meaning vocabulary becomes more difficult and students are asked to use reading comprehension skills to answer questions which compliment the text, both literally and reflectively.
I run into a variety of problems here. First of all, I really do not care for the readings that the textbooks provide. They don't at all help my students due to lack of relevance and interest. For example, one unit is themed "Have all the heroes died?" The unit begins with introductory reading materials taken from books, and magazines; however, they are always dated - extremely dated. This particular chapter focuses on Lou Gherig and Babe Ruth and their "heroic" deeds. Personally, I don't really think Babe Ruth was any kind of a hero. I know it doesn't matter what I think, but it does matter what my students think. They don't care about Babe Ruth because they don't know who Babe Ruth is. They are not interested to know who Babe Ruth is. My students are internationals --they don't play baseball. The next reading talks about Lee Iacoca. Okay, enough said! The first point I think that should be considered when choosing reading material is: INTEREST! When it's interesting, students are more likely to pay attention. If they're paying attention, they're engaged in what they're learning.
Next, the vocabulary in these texts is obsolete. Units include content that includes things like: pushing their wares, feet of clay, junkies, etc. This type of vocabulary appears at the advanced intermediate level. It's just at the point where the doors of English are opening up to them. This material frustrates and closes the doors for many. It takes me a long time to reach them again. I notice that when we're reading in class, they're just reading the words. When I ask them to respond about what they've just read, they have no idea. The second point that should be considered is that reading materials should use vocabulary that we are likely to see or hear in our EVERYDAY speech. I can honestly say that in my life, I have, if ever, only once heard someone use the words, "pushing their wares." By the way, that statement in the text is used in an article that's not even talking about drugs or places where it is more commonly used and likely to be heard, but with Native Americans in gambling casinos. Seriously!
When they get to master's level, they start reading Newsweek. There really is nothing wrong with Newsweek, but it's a hard read. I think it's good to choose literature that includes current events, but why not maybe The Tennessean, or maybe even Time? Periodicals that use more simple text.
The reason I believe this is is from my own experience. I grew up speaking Lithuanian fluently at home. I studied it academically in my primary and secondary years at a Saturday school, but that was 15 years ago, and it wasn't enough. I only have Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS). I struggle reading the newspaper and writing intelligently. I can have conversations. I understand everything someone tells me, but I read and write like a 6 year old. I see this in my students. At masters level, I have students who read and write like 6 years olds, too. It's frustrating for them because they think they know English, only to discover that they don't. The curriculum we use uses content that doesn't do much in helping them overcome this hump.
I believe language materials should primarily be interesting and use vocabulary that is relevant. In my situation, my primary goal is to teach them the language first, not content, so I believe materials should be chosen in this manner.
Promoting literacy in Second Language Aquisition is extremely important, especially if the goal is promoting CALP, which in my case it is. Choosing effective and relevant materials needs to be considered in order to make that happen. While I was taking SPSE 6800 last Spring, I was at a point of frustration with the reading materials, and the fact that my students weren't always getting it. They weren't always going to have someone like me standing there -- exhaustively interpreting the texts for them. Reading aloud definitely was not working. It was just then that I had read a text advising that L2 learners are more likely to be comprehend texts when reading silently, rather than aloud. So, I did a test. We read one text aloud, like I had been doing, with comprehension questions that followed. The chosen text was one of the required course texts I had described above. Result: none of the students had any clue about what they had just read. Next, I had them read a reading silently with comprehension questions that followed. Result: they at least got some of the questions right.
In conclusion, I think with proper material and effective implementation literacy is a necessary and achievable goal for all L2 learners.
