Set gist questions
We need to give students a reason to listen or read. There is little point in asking the students just to read a text, for
example. When native speakers read, they know what they are reading and why. There are different kinds of reading. For
example, the way you find a number in a telephone book is very different from the way you read a newspaper. So the
students need to be given some purpose for their reading or listening.
This can simply be done through the setting of gist questions. Gist questions are general questions that refer to the overall
meaning of the text. They are usually not too difficult. The students listen or read only for that information.
If you don’t set gist questions, students may try and read all of the text in detail, focussing on trying to understand every
word. It is worth letting the students know that they do not need to understand everything because:
• That is not how we listen/read in real life.
• It is extremely difficult to do and can, consequently, be quite demotivating.
Play tape/read
For a reading text, set a short time limit. This again will encourage the students not to try to understand everything.
Check in pairs
After the tape has finished or the time limit is up, let the students check with each other to see if they have the same
answers. This gives the students the opportunity to speak. Also, if they have confirmed the answers with their partner, then
they will be more confident if asked to answer in front of the whole class.
Check answer in class
Elicit and confirm the answers in open class.
Set more detailed questions
Now that the students are familiar with both the context and text, they can be given more detailed comprehension
questions to answer. These questions will require the students to identify specific pieces of information and can be different
types. For example:
• Comprehension Where did Jim go?
• True or False Jim went to Russia
• Multiple choice Jim went to a) Russia b) China c) Canada d) Romania
Play tape/read again
For a reading, set a longer time limit at this stage. Because the questions are more detailed than gist questions, they will
require more careful reading.
Check in pair s
Again, after the tape or time limit, let the students compare their answers with a partner. Monitoring carefully will let you
know whether the students need to listen again or have more time for reading.
We need to give students a reason to listen or read. There is little point in asking the students just to read a text, for
example. When native speakers read, they know what they are reading and why. There are different kinds of reading. For
example, the way you find a number in a telephone book is very different from the way you read a newspaper. So the
students need to be given some purpose for their reading or listening.
This can simply be done through the setting of gist questions. Gist questions are general questions that refer to the overall
meaning of the text. They are usually not too difficult. The students listen or read only for that information.
If you don’t set gist questions, students may try and read all of the text in detail, focussing on trying to understand every
word. It is worth letting the students know that they do not need to understand everything because:
• That is not how we listen/read in real life.
• It is extremely difficult to do and can, consequently, be quite demotivating.
Play tape/read
For a reading text, set a short time limit. This again will encourage the students not to try to understand everything.
Check in pairs
After the tape has finished or the time limit is up, let the students check with each other to see if they have the same
answers. This gives the students the opportunity to speak. Also, if they have confirmed the answers with their partner, then
they will be more confident if asked to answer in front of the whole class.
Check answer in class
Elicit and confirm the answers in open class.
Set more detailed questions
Now that the students are familiar with both the context and text, they can be given more detailed comprehension
questions to answer. These questions will require the students to identify specific pieces of information and can be different
types. For example:
• Comprehension Where did Jim go?
• True or False Jim went to Russia
• Multiple choice Jim went to a) Russia b) China c) Canada d) Romania
Play tape/read again
For a reading, set a longer time limit at this stage. Because the questions are more detailed than gist questions, they will
require more careful reading.
Check in pair s
Again, after the tape or time limit, let the students compare their answers with a partner. Monitoring carefully will let you
know whether the students need to listen again or have more time for reading.
Post a Comment