ASKING STUDENTS TO READ IN CLASS: APPLYING NEW IDEAS IN TEACHING READING

ASKING STUDENTS TO READ IN CLASS: APPLYING NEW IDEAS IN TEACHING READING

Bihter Sakin, Atiye

The present study is an attempt to increase the amount of reading time of twenty two intermediate students in class. Six students at a preparatory school of Suleyman Sah University, Istanbul individually participated in a structured interview which focused on their possible reasons for not being able to read articles till the end in class. The qualitative data has revealed that these students have similar common reasons for not being able to give their full attention to their reading activities in class. The reasons were identified as; having large amount of unknown words in the texts, boring and uninteresting topics of the texts, long texts and not having prior knowledge about the topics of the texts. These possible reasons have led to new innovations and students have demonstrated a high level of concentration. It is clear that without discovering learners’ needs, it is not possible to attract their attention and motivate them to read. However, teachers should decide what serves best for the reading purposes of their particular student groups, and thus design materials accordingly. Keywords: EFL reading, learners’ needs, increase time of reading, motivation, design materials.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2014

3370