Reading Comprehension as Text Navigation
Erich Beer, a faculty member of the Faculty of Languages and Translation, recently delivered an engaging seminar entitled "Some Practical Considerations Regarding the Teaching of Reading Comprehension." This presentation was a part of a series organized by the Language Research Center at King Khalid University on September 26, 2018. His insights were drawn from a half-decade of teaching reading comprehension within our faculty.
Beer launched his talk by sketching out his teaching philosophy and the methodology he has developed over time for instructing students in Reading Comprehension. He underscored the importance of teaching students the process of finding answers, thereby enhancing their text navigation skills. He perceives reading comprehension fundamentally as students navigating their way through texts and extracting basic meanings with increasing ease and proficiency.
He posited that higher-level thinking is a natural outcome once students have established a foundation of ease and fluency in their reading. For the rest of his presentation, Beer shared practical tips on selecting, utilizing, and reusing texts in the classroom.
His seminar stimulated thoughtful discussions and elicited a spirited response from the attendees, underscoring the relevance and practicality of his approach.
