Exploiting reading texts using Auditing

Abstract

Reading is recognized as a powerful tool for second language acquisition. However, in many countries a reading culture is confined to an educated minority, and most people do not read for pleasure. Extensive reading in these circumstances is not a good use of classroom time. Bottom-up processes which focus more on the language of a text, rather than just the meaning, do offer a constructive approach to dealing with reading texts in class. “Auditing” is one such approach. Students need practice in matching sounds to the printed word. If they are unable to do this, they will not see the written words on the page. Their “search patterns” will very likely miss those words they cannot pronounce: how can a memory of a word be stored and retrieved if its pronunciation is not known? Auditing involves simply matching the sounds of words with their written form. It is as easy as that. Auditing is concerned with developing the “inner voice”. All the activities in this workshop will demonstrate how this can be done.