Active Reading Strategies For English

Nora Afraoui

Walk into an English lesson and see how the visualiser elevates the live modelling process in so many ways!

An expert of English is an expert of active reading: firing several questions automatically into our minds as we address an unseen English Language text or an unseen Literature text.

The who, what, where, when, why and how questions arrive.

Our knowledge of semantics means that we often approach texts like detectives uncovering clues with regards to the writer’s intention (excitedly making predictions) and exploring connotations/layers of meanings.

We consider patterns of repetition and moments of change across each text in order to develop our own opinion of the writer’s message to the reader.

All of this live annotation, under the visualiser, involves teachers ‘thinking out loud’ as they annotate…

Modelling what can be collected from sometimes just one sentence.

This visually demonstrates to students the power of active reading.

Sadly, most students who struggle with English don’t see the joy of annotation. They don’t know how to start the process of active reading due to the usual barriers: also known as the arduous eight.

• Blocked by the fear of so many unfamiliar tier 2 and 3 words.
• Stunned by a lack of cultural capital knowledge blocks.
• Stifled by the cognitive load of trying to puzzle together the unfamiliar context of each text.
• Not understanding the grammatical rules for punctuation marks and how they hold meaning: especially when it comes to dialogue.

We can tackle this frustration of reading for students by providing them with the background knowledge of the text, empowering them with vocabulary definitions and connecting their current knowledge of the world with an insight into the world of the texts in front of them. For instance: Macbeth’s vaulting ambition is relevant in today’s world as betrayal is a common feature in the news. Inspector Goole’s warning on the importance of social responsibility rings true today as social class continues to divide and increase the gap between the rich and the poor.

Beyond this…we must model the process of active reading chunks.

No more passive reading whereby students fold their arms as they read only to look up after they’ve finished reading to look blankly at us (in despair) due to their lack of comprehension.

Active reading involves: writing in the margin to reduce each paragraph into a key focus point: almost converting the margin into a contents page.

We can’t annotate every single sentence under exam conditions but in lessons, students should be provided with the joy of revealing each line’s treasures (connotations/techniques) especially in poems.

Developing our students’ metacognition while we read

English is about managing several questions as we read. Some students don’t ask themselves any questions as they read. We need students to appreciate the metacognitive aspect of active reading as outlined in EEF’s Metacognitive Summary of Learning:

“Teachers should verbalise their metacognitive thinking as they approach and work through a task”. This applies to active reading.

As English teachers, we model to students patterns of repetition and moments of change used by the writer explicitly ensuring that students realise that the text is itself a construct. For instance, circling semantic fields, motifs and examples of juxtaposition across a poem: we communicate to students visually to think of a text as a whole and how its parts (sentences, words, punctuation marks) develop.

The visualiser and active reading:

The visualiser enables students to understand that we are keeping our eyes on their behaviour. It signals that we expect students to actively participate in annotating their own texts as part of the ‘I do, We do, You do’ modelling process.

We start with the basics of active reading questions. Questions rooted in VIPERS.

We then go beyond these questions and venture into questions of juxtaposition, themes, and motifs. Considering links and shifts across each text.

Intensely annotating a quote/paragraph, or two, from an important scene fares better, in our students’ long term memory, than reading out loud passively scene after scene with no questions to check for understanding and opinions.

Read a few lines and stop to discuss what has just been read. Write down what has been discussed as we stop and jot, turn and talk and develop our own opinions.

Active reading involves breaking down the process of reading into comprehensible chunks, reflecting on what seems to be developing within the text and addressing any misconceptions on our reading journey of the text.

We need to encourage students to refer back to their vocabulary definitions sheet to support their understanding if needed. Cold calling is a natural part of active reading.

Active reading involves:

• Intensely exploring lines, out loud, as a class.
• The teacher modelling the reading process by ‘thinking out loud’ steps being taken to form an understanding of what is being read.
• Using images as a form of dual coding for key moments/events in the Language/Literature text. And more active reading strategies as listed comprehensively

I highly recommend you dig into Alex Quigley’s Close the Reading Gap text. In this book, Alex’s diagram of active reading questions, before , during and after active reading is a great tool for supporting how we should address active reading in our English classrooms.

The visualiser helps us to dissect each text to identify the heart of its main messages. The English teacher who models active reading develops the critics and writers of tomorrow today.