Supporting reading
Supporting reading
Academic and professional texts vary from subject to subject. Help students understand the purpose, audience, structure and terminology in the texts you use. Think of ways to get them engaging with ideas, make meaningful notes, select and read relevant sections, and understand why they have been set the reading material you have chosen.
Key questions
- Which reading skills and prior knowledge will the students have when they start this level? Which types of text will they be familiar with?
- What should they do if they don’t have this knowledge?
- How will you help students develop as readers at this level?
- What are students expected to know about the type of text they are reading (e.g. journal article): the intended audience? purpose? advantages and limitations?
- What is the purpose of reading: to develop technical skills? to gain an overview of a field? to discover a new type of text? as a starting point for discussion or debate? to understand a specific angle on a topic? to engage with an assignment question?
- Which reading skills and prior knowledge will the students have when they start this level? Which types of text will they be familiar with?
Journal article reading activities
Click on + to explore 6 activities for getting students engaged with research articles in a session.
Using reading templates
For students to actively engaging with texts, they need to have a clear purpose for reading. When setting an independent reading task, give students a template to gather notes on, or set key questions for students to focus their reading in preparation for the session.
Tools and resources
- Document annotation: Show students annotation functions, for example in Adobe Acrobat reader or Microsoft Word to help them develop the habit of highlighting text and adding comments as they read.
- Webpage annotation: Show students browser plugins such as Diigo to save, annotate and organise resources found on the web.