USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS FOR TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION IN A MEANINGFUL WAY

Ana Rojas
Universidad Nacional,
Costa Rica
Another aspect to consider when using the material we choose is:
 the various learning styles we can find in the classroom.

There are various models that provide different categories of leaning styles:
For example, one presented by Ricky Linksman, 1996; states that
the learning styles are: -Visual, -Auditory, -Tactile and -Kinesthetic,

which cannot be considered alone since each one should be linked to the brain hemispheric dominance (left or right). That is, according to this author, most people have one side of the brain more developed than the other
due to various factors, and that side of the brain should be considered as well as the person’s learning style when teaching. However, there are other proposals like the one proposed by Feldger and Henriques.

They have stated the following learning styles:            sensing and intuitive, visual and verbal,
active and reflective, sequential and global, and inductive and deductive
learners.
(http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/FLAnnals.pdf)
Another model is the one proposed, with many details, in the web page of Advanogy.com.
They stated that there are seven
different categories: visual, aural, verbal, physical, logical, social, and solitary.
There are indeed many differences in these and other models; however, what’s important is to keep in mind that
we have many students in the class, and each one may have a different learning style.
That is why we need to choose a variety of texts and teaching methods to approach reading comprehension.

“The goal is a balanced teaching style, in all classes at all levels. Our hypothesis is that language
instructors who adapt their instruction to address both poles of each of the five given dimensions
should come close to providing an optimal learning environment for most (if not all) students in
a class” (Feldger and Henriques 27)

Besides learning styles, we must also consider the reading techniques we plan to
apply in the class.

Brown (298) has proposed several principles for designing interactive teaching
techniques which are very valuable for any reading course.

His principles are the following:
1- In an interactive curriculum, make sure that you don’t overlook the importance of specific
instruction in reading skills.
2- Techniques should be intrinsically motivating.
3- Techniques should utilize authentic language and contents.
4- Encourage the development of reading strategies.
5- Include both bottom-up and top-down techniques.
6- Consider subdividing your techniques into pre-reading, during-reading, and after-reading
phases.
7- Build in some evaluative aspect to your techniques.