Reading in the ESOL Classroom: A Technique for Teaching Syntactic Meaning

Abstract

It is the purpose of this paper to present one technique for teaching grammar patterns in the reading class in ESL or EFL. The students are expected to lear the patterns only for recognition and are never expected to produce them. Three theoretical assumptions lie behind this technique and there is research evidence to support their acceptance. The assumptions are 1. The processes of decoding a language as in listening and reading are different from the processes of encoding a language as in speaking and writing. Further, reading is a problem solving activity. 2. Syntactic meaning is important in reading. 3. Certain aspects of the transformational model of describing syntax have psychological reality and are therefore useful in preparing reading materials. The paper concludes with a description of how to present two grammar patterns to a university level reading class of foreign students.