Guided Oral Reading Strategies to be a Fluent Reader
AUTHORS
Eunmi Kwon,Kongju National University
Mun-Koo Kang,
ABSTRACT
This saying, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader”, is telling us how important reading is in this rapidly changing world. The importance of reading education is getting bigger and bigger these days in Korea. English education is not an exception. Korean teachers keep a record of what students have read for each semester and many universities take those factors into consideration when selecting new students for admission. Reading is a new “big” word in the college entrance examination. It is even required to allot some time for students to read, so-called in-class reading time. It seems very desirable if students can read. It might work in other subject classes because all the books are written in their friendly mother tongue, Korean. In an English class, however, it would not work that way because students are English illiterate yet. In a very unfriendly atmosphere reading alien letters, would it be possible to find a real joy of reading? My first mission, as an English teacher, is to trigger my students to read. But how? They are a novice learner and do not seem to like books, even Korean books. What if I drag them to the library and force them to read? Even if they are reading with their eyes open, there is no way to figure out whether they are reading it or spacing out. To tackle this problem, I came up with the idea that students need to read aloud so that the teacher can see their actual reading process. Oral reading makes the reading process transparent both for the teacher and student. It puts the reading process “on the table” to be observed, examined, and supported. Students also improve their fluency as they read verbally and repeatedly. This paper will explore the benefits of oral reading and give suggestions about how it could be applied for reading instructions in Korean EFL context.
KEYWORDS
Oral Reading, Repeated Reading, Readers Theater, Reading Fluency
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