This document provides tips and strategies for improving reading comprehension for English language learners. It discusses bottom-up and top-down processing models of reading comprehension and emphasizes the importance of an interactive approach. Specific strategies are described, such as skimming, scanning, summarization, and making guesses. The document also outlines steps for explicitly teaching reading strategies, including direct explanation, modeling, guided practice and application. Various methods for assessing reading comprehension are discussed, including tests, observations, oral retelling and cloze tasks.

1. This is a document in which you can find some tips to improve reading
comprehension in English Language.
MAYURI YUCUMÁ VANEGAS
03/03/2015

2. HOW TO ACHIEVE EFL STUDENTS´ READING COMPREHENSION
Some processing takes place when reading for comprehension, Brown (2001):
Bottom-up and top-down processing.
Led by Goodman’s (1970) work, the distinction between bottom-up and top-down
processing became a cornerstone of reading methodology for years to come. In bottom-up
processing, readers must first recognize a multiplicity of linguistics signals (letters,
morphemes, syllables, words, phrases, grammatical cues, discourse markers) and use their
linguistic data-processing mechanism to impose some sort of order on these signals; this
process ensures readers will be sensitive to information that is novel or that does not fit her
or his ongoing hypotheses about the content or structure of the text. This process is also
named data driven because it is evoked by the incoming data. Bottom-up reading requires
language processing at all levels: words, sentence, and discourse. In top-down the reader
draws on his intelligence and experience to understand a text; besides this processing helps
the readers to resolve ambiguities or to select between alternative possible interpretations of
incoming data (Carrel, P.L, 1983).
Same of one developmental study (U. NAL, 2009) in this one it is taken into
account the last two reading models that allow students to construct meaning from the text.
A clear example of how to use both approach is shown with non native speakers. When we
read a text tin English or any other language, we will probably use bottom-up approach first
because it will be needed to decode words, expressions, punctuation, or any other structure
in order to succed in comprehension. However, comprehension and interpretation will be
much more effective it we have prior knowledge about the subject; That is, when we go
beyond the text structure and connect both the world knowledge and the linguistic
knowledge. This is called the top-down approach. Therefore, with this explanation it is
inferred that an interactive approach is needed in the reading process which will make
comprehension effective if the reader applies it when interacting with a second or foreign

3. language text. The previously described reading theories take place when student use
reading strategies in reading (U. NAL, 2009).
Strategies for Reading Comprehension
Brown (2001) says that for most second language learners who are already literate
in a previous language, reading comprehension is primarily a matter of developing
appropriate, efficient comprehension strategies. And he also says that some strategies are
related to bottom-up procedures, and others enhance the top-down processes. The following
are some of the strategies teachers and researchers can implement in EFL reading.
1. Skim the text for main ideas. Perhaps the two most valuable reading strategies for
learners are skimming and scanning. Skimming consist of quickly running one’s eyes
across a whole text for its gist. This let learners to predict the purpose of the passage,
the main topic, or message, and possibly some of developing or supporting ideas.
2. Scan the text for specific information. It is a quickly searching for some particular piece
or pieces of information in a text. The purpose of scanning is to extract specific
information without reading the whole text.
3. Summarization. Identifying and integrating details to create a coherent and succinct
summary of a text
4. Guess when you aren’t certain. You can help learners to become accurate guessers by
encouraging them to use effective compensation strategies in which they fill gaps in their
competence by intelligent attempts to use whatever clues are available to them.
Steps to teach reading strategies
Steps to teach reading strategies: C.R Adler (2004) says teachers should take into account
that effective comprehension strategies instruction must be explicit, so in explicit
instruction, teachers tell readers why and when they should use strategies, what strategies to
use, and how to apply them, and I found this theory relevant to my research

4. implementation. The steps of explicit instruction typically include direct explanation,
teacher modeling ("thinking aloud"), guided practice, and application:
- Direct explanation: the teacher explains the students why the strategy helps
comprehension and when to apply the strategy.
- Modeling: the teacher models or demonstrates, how to apply the strategy, usually by
"thinking aloud" while reading the text that the students are using.
- Guided practice: the teacher guides and assists students as they learn how and when to
apply the strategy.
- Application: the teacher helps students practice the strategy until they can apply it
independently.
Finally, to assess learners’ reading skills it was used tests, observations, oral
retelling, relation of photographs or images to the text, finding words, completing gaps,
questions, choosing the best answer- the best word, jigsaws and workshops, this in order to
attend to what Jeremy Harmer (2007) suggests when reading is taught.
Criteria to Assess EFL Learners’ Reading
In order to know the progress of students’ reading skills, it was paramount to know that
reading comprehension assessments are the most common type of published reading test
that is available. The most common reading comprehension assessment involves asking a
child to read a passage of a text that is leveled appropriately for the child, and then asking
some explicit, detailed questions about the content of the text (often these are called IRIs).
There are some variations on reading comprehension assessments, however. For example,
instead of explicit questions about facts directly presented in the text, the child could be
asked to answer inferential questions about information which was implied by the text, or
the child’s comprehension might be tested by his or her ability to retell the story in the
child’s own words or to summarize the main idea or the moral of the story. Another
common reading comprehension assessment is called a "cloze" task — words are omitted
from the passage, and the child is asked to fill in the blanks with appropriate words. Also,
young children’s reading comprehension can be assessed by asking them to read and follow
simple instructions, such as, "Stand up" or, "Go look out of the window."

5. Reading comprehension should not be confused with reading accuracy, another very
common form of reading assessment. In a reading accuracy assessment, a child is asked to
read a passage of text clearly, without making any mistakes. The mistakes that the child
does make are analyzed to find clues about the child decoding strategies (not
comprehension strategies). Very often, an assessment combines these two different
assessments into one assessment — the child reads a passage out loud while the teacher
makes note of errors the child makes (sometimes called a "running record"), and then the
child is asked some comprehension questions about the passage. However, it is worth
noting that a beginning reader’s comprehension usually suffers when he or she is asked to
read a passage of text out loud. When children read orally, they usually concentrate on
reading accurately, and do not pay as much attention to comprehension of the content.
(SEDL Reading Resource, 2011).
Reading comprehension tips
 Emphasize the importance of reading by modeling reading to students.
 Recognize interest, read texts about sports, humor, stories and things like that.
 Identify and understand text structure: titles, headings, sub-headings, as well as
graphs, charts and diagrams.
 Use reading strategies; reader needs to understand the appropriate applications of
each.
 Emphasize the importance of reading as a life – long habit and encourage its
frequent practice.
 Periodically read the same content (Newspaper/magazines articles, textbook
sections, short stories, or chapters) and discuss its meaning. Look for depth of
understanding as well as the use of specific/key vocabulary.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, C.R (2004). Seven strategies to teach students text comprehension. U.S. reading
rockets.org.WETA, department of education.
Brown, D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy.
Second edition. Longman press, teaching reading (p. 306 and 298). New York.
Harmer, J. (2007). How to teachEnglish, new edittiions. Pearson Longman. Teaching
reading, page (99). England.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2009). Revista electrónica Matices en Lenguas
Extranjeras No. 3. Facultad de Ciencias Humanas. Bogotá.