MATERIALS TO DEVELOP READING AND LISTENING SKILLS

1. Process-oriented

1.1. development of the strategies and skills

1.1.1. includes cognitive ones, required for effective reading.

2. Product-oriented

2.1. concerned with outcomes and learner performance

3. Bottom-up

3.1. involves learners using ‘microskills’ to ‘decode’, at the level of morphemes, single words (‘word recognition’), expressions, syntax and discourse, and interpreting meaning

3.1.1. The exercise of ‘bottom-up’ skills has at times had a bad press over the years, with changing approaches to reading.

4. Top-down

4.1. involve using prior knowledge – situational, cultural etc., as well as ‘schemata’ (mental ‘scenarios’ of common experiences;

4.1.1. Schemata

4.1.2. Schemata can be defined as an individual’s mental ‘script’ of the way common life scenarios – shopping, school, eating in a restaurant – play out.

5. Materials to develop listening skills

5.1. ‘receptive’ skills

5.1.1. the use of brainstorming techniques to activate schemata as a pre-listening activity

5.1.2. the need for ‘comprehension’ questions which involve higher-level thinking skills

5.2. R & D

5.2.1. A PROCESS APPROACH

5.2.2. FROM PROCESS TO PRODUCT