EAL Secondary Strategies to Develop Reading

Strategies to Develop Reading

Model strategies for reading texts – for example: skimming, scanning, reading on, using images, subheadings, highlighting etc.

Provide a simplified form of a linguistically complex written source.

Use strategies that help to structure reading such as DARTs and use these in a collaborative context - paired/group work.

Examples of such activities:

Depending on a EAL learner's previous experience, confusion may arise from the following:

cultural references, for example, references to common aspects of life in Britain , which may be unfamiliar
reference in text, where meaning is carried across sentences and paragraphs through reference (to previously stated nouns) using pronouns (it, they, he, she)
meaning carried through the use of complex sentences or clause construction in some texts
contextual definitions of words that can have different meanings, such as ‘depression’
imagery – metaphors, similes, idiomatic phrases

For more detailed advice see ‘Access and Engagement in English’ published by Department for Education and Skills, Ref: DfES 0609/2002.




	Strategies to Develop Reading Model strategies for reading texts – for example: skimming, scanning, reading on, using images, subheadings, highlighting etc. Provide a simplified form of a linguistically complex written source. Use strategies that help to structure reading such as DARTs and use these in a collaborative context - paired/group work. Examples of such activities: sequencing prioritising matching pictures to words matching phrases to definitions matching examples of cause and effect cloze the use of true/false statements sorting to determine which information is not needed for a piece of work grouping information to identify similarities and differences matching concepts to examples Depending on a EAL learner's previous experience, confusion may arise from the following: cultural references, for example, references to common aspects of life in Britain , which may be unfamiliar reference in text, where meaning is carried across sentences and paragraphs through reference (to previously stated nouns) using pronouns (it, they, he, she) meaning carried through the use of complex sentences or clause construction in some texts contextual definitions of words that can have different meanings, such as ‘depression’ imagery – metaphors, similes, idiomatic phrases For more detailed advice see ‘Access and Engagement in English’ published by Department for Education and Skills, Ref: DfES 0609/2002.