Boshra EL-Guindy, Ph.D LEARN Workshops September 27, 2017

Boshra EL-Guindy, Ph.DLEARN WorkshopsSeptember 27, 20171

“The vice of the poor reader is to saythe words to himself without activelymaking judgments as to what theyreveal.” E. L. Thorndike, 19172

By the end of this session, participants will:1. be aware of the importance of applying metacognitiveinnovative reading strategies for digital text analysis to enhancereading effectiveness and fluency; and2. use practical applications of these strategies new technology inthe classroom to enhance the high-level reading skills of thedigital native language learner.3

Before anyone can truly improve his/her readingskills, he/she needs to understand what happens ingood readers’ minds while they read. He/she mayeven be doing these things already. He/she justdoesn’t know it yet.4

Good readers have developed goodstrategies when they read. Strategies helpreaders understand, connect to, anddetermine the importance of what they arereading. They also visualize, ask questionsabout, and read between the lines of whatthey read.5

There is a clear consensus among researchers that a keyto high-level successful language learning ismetacognitive knowledge — that is, thoughts on how tocontrol learning, selecting study strategies, monitoringthe learning process in different states, and analyzing theeffectiveness of the learning strategies and changingthem according to tasks and personal needs.6

In fact, students can be trained to develop these metacognitiveskills (Coiro & Dobler, 2007). A stronger emphasis on developing learner-centeredenvironments and autonomous learning will call more attentionto language learning strategies. Among these strategies, readingstrategies have received a lot of attention in the field of readingresearch. Because reading is a major skill in first and secondlanguage learning, good readers’ strategies can provideinvaluable insights into the nature of reading comprehensionand how it could be taught (Stevenson, Schoonen, & Glopper,2003).7

The Net Generation has been branded as “digital natives” (Prensky, 2006).They are “native speakers” of the language of computers, video games, andthe Internet. Their experience with the technology has enabled them to master complextasks and make decisions rapidly (Junco & Mastrodicasa, 2007; Prensky,2006). Classroom exercises need to extend these capabilities that our studentsalready possess. In contrast to these digital natives, most instructors are digital immigrants.Many of us still have one foot in the past, and “digital” is our secondlanguage; we continue to learn and sometimes struggle with it on the fly.For example, digital immigrants may still print out an e-mail, print adocument to edit it, or phone someone to see if he or she received their email.8

Reading online has become an integratedpart of language education, which requiresstudents to have additional skills.Awareness and usage of online readingstrategies, known as metacognitive onlinereading strategies, are proven tools toenhance reading skills in onlineenvironments.9

Making Connections: Text to Text (books, movies, T.V., etc.) Text to Self (similar events in your life) Text to Life (real world events)10

Making ConnectionsText-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-WorldRationaleReading comes alive when we recognize how the ideas inthe text connect to our experiences and beliefs, eventshappening in the larger world, our understanding ofhistory, and our knowledge of other texts. “Text-to-Text,Text-to-Self, Text-to-World” is a strategy that helpsstudents develop the habit of making these connections.11

A high-level online reader should askhimself/herself: What do I already know about this? How do the ideas in this text remind me ofanother text (story, book, movie, song, etc)? How do the ideas in this text relate to myown life, ideas and experiences? How do the ideas in this text reading relateto the larger world – past, present and future?12

a. Previewing: Learningabout a text beforereally reading it. b. Contextualizing: Placinga text in itshistorical, biographical, and cultural contexts. c. Questioningto understand and remember:Asking questions about the content. d. Reflectingon challenges to your beliefs andvalues: Examining your personal responses.13

e. Outlining and summarizing: Identifying the mainideas and restating them in your own words.f. Evaluating an argument: Testing the logic of a text aswell as its credibility and emotional impact.g. Comparing and contrasting related readings:Exploring likenesses and differences between texts tounderstand them better.Furthermore, Burmeister (1986, qtd in Cherney 1986)defines critical-creative reading and thinking asrequiring the skills of analysis, synthesis andevaluation.14

Evaluation Keeping track of the success or failure ofone’s own ongoing efforts to understand Regulation Taking appropriate steps to deal withwhatever difficulties arise15

“Throughout the reading of the text, good readers do muchmonitoring, are very aware of characteristics of the text (e.g., itsdifficulty; relevance to their reading goals; when the text isambiguous; when the author is attempting to bias the reader; and,how the ideas in text relate to prior knowledge, for example,recognizing the ideas in the text as familiar to ones encounteredbefore). The readers also monitor when they are having problemsreading, for example, losing concentration or failing to understandterms in the text or get the meaning of the text. Such awareness ofdifficulties (or lack of them) can cause the reader to adjustreading, either speeding up or slowing down, or perhaps evenseek other text to provide some background. “Pressley & Gaskins, 200616

Afflerbach, P., Pearson, P. D., & Paris, S. G. (2008). Clarifying differencesbetween reading skills and reading strategies. The Reading Teacher, 61, 364373.Cohen, A. D. (2003). The learner’s side of foreign language learning: Wheredo style, strategies, and tasks meet? International Review of AppliedLinguistics, 41, 279-291.Eskey, D. E. (2005). Reading in a second language. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Book onSecond Language Learning and Teaching (pp. 563-579). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Grabe, W. (2004). Research on teaching reading. Annual Review of AppliedLinguistics, 24, 44-69.Koda, K. (2005). Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguisticapproach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.17

Mokhtari, K., & Reichard, C. (2002). Assessing students’ metacognitiveawareness of reading strategies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2),249-259.Phakiti, A. (2003). A close look at the relationship of cognitive andmetacognitive strategy use to EFL reading achievement test performance.Language Testing Journal, 20(1), 26-56.Ramesh, R. (2009). Metacognitive Strategies for Enhancing Second LanguageAcquisition. Manonmaniam Sundaranar University. Thirunelveli-627 012,India.Smith, F. (2004). Understanding reading (6th ed.). Mahwah, NJ: LawrenceErlbaum.18

Veenman, M. V. J. (2005). The assessment of metacognitive skills: Whatcan be learned from multimethod designs? In C. Artelt, & B.Moschner (Eds), Lernstrategien und Metakognition: Implikationen furForschung und Praxis (pp. 75-97). Berlin: Waxmann.Veenman, M. V. J., Kok, R., & Blöte, A. W. (2005). The relation betweenintellectual and metacognitive skills in early adolescence.Instructional Science, 33, 193-211.Wang, J., Spencer, K., Minjie, & Xing, M. (2009). Metacognitive beliefsand strategies in learning Chinese as a foreign language. System,37(1), 46-56.19

Making Connections Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World Rationale Reading comes alive when we recognize how the ideas in the text connect to our experiences and beliefs, events happening in the larger world, our understanding of history, and our knowledge of other texts. "Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World" is a strategy that helps