Planning and Designing a Reading Course

The planning and design of a reading course involves many important decisions and a great amount of time. This article discusses the specific steps involved in this process. These steps include deciding what to teach in the reading course, the course goals and objectives, the structure or approach of the course, materials selection, and student and course evaluation. Examples from a specific ESL intermediate-level college reading course will be used to illustrate various components that should be included in course design.

Conceptualizing the Reading Course
Before teachers begin to design a reading course, they must be able to conceptualize the purpose of the course. In other words, teachers have to formulate an overall description of the course which briefly explains what the course is about, and in general terms, what will be accomplished. A course description does not have to be complicated and can simply look like the following which is a course description for an ESL intermediate-level college reading course (Effective Reading for ESL Students).

Course Description
“Effective Reading for ESL Students” is designed to improve students’ ability to comprehend written English, primarily academic prose and fiction, and focuses on using lexical and grammatical clues to derive sentence meaning; develop vocabulary; extract the main ideas; extrapolate information; draw conclusions; recognize basic written discourse conventions; interpret charts, timelines and tables; and interact with text through writing.
Table 1 Course Description for ESL Reading Course

Once the purpose has been established, teachers need to think about the course goals and objectives well in advance of any other aspect of course design. This is one of the most important tasks in the design of a reading course as the goals are used to guide teachers as they begin to plan the structure of the course and how students’ performance will be assessed. Goals or course objectives can be stated in fairly general terms but they should reflect the expected outcomes, that is, the reading abilities that students should develop over the course and should indicate what students will achieve during the course. It is essential that before goals are written, teachers consider specifically what students must be able to do by the end of the course with the reading abilities. Students may need to meet specific standards or meet prerequisites for academic programs and courses. In essence, teachers should have a clear picture of where their students should and will be academically and therefore student needs play an important part in the formulation of course goals and objectives. The following statements are course objectives for the intermediate-level ESL reading course.

Expected Outcomes for Student-Course Objectives
1. Read with increased proficiency.
2. Comprehend selected non-adapted short stories written in standard American English.
3. Interpret and assess story lines and themes.
4. Distinguish and write about irony and figurative language.
5. Comprehend a corpus of non-technical and semi-technical vocabulary and compare and analyze similar terms for precise meaning and effectiveness within a piece of discourse.
6. Analyze single and multiple charts, tables, and timelines, solving problems, formulating conclusions and posing further questions in written and oral discussion.
7. Differentiate cohesive devices and their function across sentences and paragraphs.
8. Use flexibility in strategy application, depending on text complexity, purpose for reading, familiarity of topic, and learner strengths and weaknesses.
9. Examine author purpose in discourse text.
10. Compare narrative, descriptive, analytical, and argumentative rhetorical modes and combinations thereof.
11. Analyze and evaluate lexical choices.
12. Formulate conclusions; make assumptions, generalizations, and predictions.
13. Compare and contrast reader responsibility in American English discourse versus that of their own language/culture.
14. Select reading strategies appropriate to the task, situation, and personal learning style.
Table 2 Course Objectives for ESL Reading Course

Once the goals or objectives have been identified, the teacher needs to select appropriate materials for the course. The materials will be used to fulfill the course goals. Most teachers will likely decide on one or two required texts and will also have a number of other texts on hand at the students’ level of proficiency. Required texts, including nonfiction and fiction, must be chosen so that they include a range of readings in terms of genre and also provide the types of reading and reading skills and strategies teachers wish to cover in the course. However, the important point to remember is that fiction and non-fiction texts have different textual features and readers need to be made aware of such features. A general distinction between nonfiction and fiction texts is that nonfiction texts present information and are generally the type of texts encountered throughout a reader’s academic life. Fiction, on the other hand, can teach language and can also introduce readers to social, cultural, and political themes and issues. Both texts, as stated, are quite different and therefore require a teacher to use different methods when incorporating such texts in the course.

The next phase of the course design, the course content itself, involves careful planning and decision-making as teachers decide what is to be learned and the specific approaches through which course goals will be achieved. Approaches, as used here, refer to the theoretical underpinnings of language learning that guide or inform language practice and teaching. Teachers’ approaches will vary depending on their beliefs about how reading and reading skills are best taught and learned. For example, an extensive approach to teaching reading is based on the idea that when students read large quantities of text, their reading ability and reading comprehension will improve. In an extensive reading program or approach, students are given more choice in terms of what they want to read. They are often encouraged to read several texts about the same topic to build background knowledge. Reading in this type of approach is used to accomplish something else such as a written summary or report, group discussion, and so forth. The focus of the extensive reading program, therefore, is not on the detailed comprehension of the text itself or textual features which contribute to the meaning of the text, or even the building of reading skills or strategies through reading exercises, but rather reading is a means to an end. On the other hand, an intensive reading approach is more commonly used and practiced in second and foreign language classrooms as texts are read carefully for comprehension. Students engage in reading exercises before, during, and after reading which allow them to practice a range or reading skills, and also which require them to focus on various aspects of the text. The content of a reading course is in large part determined by the teachers’ views on reading theory and pedagogy. The following provides an overview of the course content outlining the concepts and topics to be covered in this course. Instructors of this course employ an intensive approach to the teaching of reading.

Course Content
Part I. Grammar, linguistics, and strategy building for extended prose (12 hrs/2 wks)

A. The structure of the English sentence as a key to meaning:
1. Identifying the subject, verb, and complement in non-simple sentences; in periodic (subject postponed) sentences; and in sentences with verbal subjects

2. Identifying noun modifiers: nouns, adjectives, prepositional phrases, adjective clauses, and reduced adjective clauses; and recognizing the punctuation of relative and reduced relative clauses as keys to their functions

3. Identifying verb and sentence modifiers: adverbs, adverb clauses, reduced adverb clauses, prepositional phrases and their grammatical and semantic roles

4. Formulating strategies to comprehend dense passages using basic element breakdown and modification information

B. The verb form as a key to meaning
1. Distinguishing tense vs. time aspect in finite verbs

2. Recovering tense, time, and aspect information in non-finite verbs

3. Formulating strategies to understand instructions and processes using tense, time, and aspectual information

C. Voice as a marker of focus.
1. Identifying lexico-grammatical structure in determining active, passive, and impersonal voice

2. Making assumptions about the writer’s reasons for choosing a particular voice.

3. Formulating strategies to understand the focus of the sentence using voice information.

D. The modal as a clue to a writer’s attitude
1. Distinguish between time and tense

2. Interpreting the tense as past or non-past

3. Determining modality: intrinsic freedom (having control over an event) vs. extrinsic freedom (not having control over an event)

4. Disambiguating areas of semantic overlap

5. Linking the modal to inference and speculation

6. Formulating strategies to recognize, evaluate, and paraphrase a speaker/writer’s attitude through an awareness of time, tense, and constraining factors of meaning

E. Cohesive devices in English and their function across sentences and paragraphs
Part II: Vocabulary improvement (24 hrs/4wks)

A. Prepositions

1. Combinations with adjectives and verbs

2. In phrasal verbs

B. Strategies for understanding

1. Using context clues

2. Using thematic associations

3. Using lexicogrammatic markers

C. Mastering of selected words and idioms

Part III: Overall-comprehension-fostering strategies: semantic mapping/experience-text-relationship/(instructor’s choice) (12 hrs/2wks)

A. Research on using these reading strategies

B. Intensive instruction in these strategies

C. Selection and adoption by the student of at least one of these strategies

D. Keeping a journal record of the experience and process with chronological, descriptive, and evaluative entries (optional but recommended)

Part IV: Academic readings (conceptual paragraphs and short chapters) (42hrs/7wks)

A. Recognizing the author’s purpose for writing

B. Recognizing the main ideas and the major support details

C. Extrapolating information — literal and inferred meanings

D. Recognizing the writer’s and reader’s assumptions

E. Drawing conclusions based on logic, lexical choices, assumptions, and weight of supporting evidence

F. Interpreting charts, tables, and timelines

G. Recognizing four basic rhetorical patterns, their markers and functions as an aid to making predictions (introduction)

H. Interacting with the text in both written and oral discussion

Part V: The short story (18hrs/3wks)

A. Analyzing and interpreting the text: (see Part IV A-E); making inferences; retelling the story

B. Understanding literary concepts: identifying setting, plot, conflict, characterization, symbolism, and multi-level themes; interpreting figurative language; recognizing irony

C. Identifying cultural influences: examining cultural values and behaviors that figure importantly in the text

D. Interacting with the text in both written and oral discussion
Table 3 Course Content for ESL Reading Course

Teachers also need to consider the amount of time to be spent on each aspect of the course, and this should be done while course content is being planned. This particular course is 18 weeks long, and the students meet twice a week for a total of six hours. The hours shown indicate the average number of hours that are spent on each topic. In this course, content is not necessarily covered in the order given, nor are components separated. Teachers may find it helpful to arrange the course content so that it is somewhat sequential in terms of skills. If skills are ordered progressively from easy to difficult, for example, such a logical progression will undoubtedly facilitate learning as students form the foundation for more complex skills and tasks.

While the above serves as an important and essential guide to teachers, it must be remembered that classes have a life of their own. Unplanned events often occur in the classroom, and teachers need to take advantage of these moments and opportunities, which often lend themselves to great teaching and learning episodes. A student might ask a question which would require the introduction or explanation of a concept, or even practice of skills which was meant to be covered at a later time. Teachers need to be aware of these instances and be prepared to step away from a rigid, pre-determined format or lesson to introduce or explain something new to their students.

Methods of Instruction
Methods of instruction must also be decided on when designing the reading course. Once again, the way in which content is approached in the classroom, and the activities through which students will enhance their reading skills will depend largely on teachers’ views about how reading skills are best taught. The instructional methods and activities used in the classroom must be well thought out as they are used to meet the course objectives, and at the same time must expand students’ opportunities to learn while maintaining their interest. It is important, that teachers have a clear plan about the specific methods of instruction in their course. Teachers need to identify and describe the typically used instructional methods as they relate to the learning objectives and content of the course. The following describes the instructional methods used in this course.

Lecture

· Instructor lectures on features that facilitate comprehension of academic and literary texts (English rhetoric, rhetorical clues, organizational patterns, vocabulary building, and identification strategies, reading strategies, figurative language, literary concepts) and on techniques for further comprehending, analyzing, summarizing, organizing, and evaluating texts. Students demonstrate acquisition of basic principles in written and oral exercises/exams.

· Instructor explains note-taking symbols and effective note-taking methods.

Demonstration

• Instructor models how reading strategies can be used effectively in a variety of textual contexts.
• Instructor demonstrates critical reading strategies including summary analysis.

Discussion

• Students participate in discussions on issues and concepts in texts.
• Instructor guides students in discussions and exercises related to text content and text features.
• Instructor guides students in discussions on the effectiveness of rhetorical strategies used by the writer on a given text.

Technology

• Instructor utilizes online and software exercises for improvement of reading skills and strategies, and vocabulary expansion.
• Instructor incorporates Internet research for writing and discussion topics.
• Instructor utilizes discussion boards and Zoom for group discussion and explanations.

Video Presentation

• Instructor utilizes video content as listening practice. Videos on topics addressed in class build content knowledge.

Collaborative Learning

• Students participate in discussions on issues in texts.
• Students participate in group discussions on the effectiveness of rhetorical strategies used by the writer on a given text.
• Students engage in group and partner work in order to research and evaluate sources found on the Internet.
  Table 4 Methods of Instruction for ESL Reading Course

Planning Course Assignments
Teachers must also spend some time thinking about the types of assignments that will assist students in achieving the learning objectives. The objectives, listed above for this for this particular course, are to improve and develop students’ reading abilities, and reading comprehension skills and strategies. The assignments for this course include higher-level critical thinking skills and application of concepts so students have opportunities to apply and practice the skills that are taught.

Course Assignments

Essays

• Students write essays and complete written homework assignments that challenge their ability to analyze, summarize, define, discuss, and examine texts and inherent issues and concepts.

Reading Assignments

• Students use critical thinking skills to demonstrate literal and general comprehension of assigned narrative, descriptive, analytical, and argumentative readings.
• Students read an academic text covering several college-level topics in order to acquire skills in recognizing main ideas and supporting details, determining author purpose for writing, and formulating conclusions based on logic, lexical choices, assumptions, and weight of supporting evidence.
• Students read ten short stories and identify the story line, formulating themes and discovering and evaluating for effectiveness elements of irony, foreshadowing, and figurative language. Students will examine cultural values and behaviors that figure importantly in the text.

Presentations

• Group presentation of paragraph analysis exploring main idea, supporting details, and grammatical structure in text.
• Group discussion analyzing text paragraphs in terms of main idea and supporting details to derive meaning.
• Students work collaboratively to engage in research and evaluate sources found on the Internet based on given criteria.
• Students work in groups to formulate arguments and debate aspects of a topic.

Journal

• Students are encouraged to use inference in weekly journals to respond and react to readings on a continuing basis throughout the semester.

Portfolio

• Students engage in self-evaluation and self-reflection of performance portfolios.
  Table 5 Course Assignments for ESL Reading Course

Methods of Evaluation
Finally, no course design would be complete without an evaluation component. Teachers must consider the methods of evaluation, decide, and explain how student work will be evaluated. When designing the reading course, teachers should ensure that the methods evaluation demonstrate that students have met the expected outcomes for the course.

This process requires the re-visiting of course goals, which are then converted into statements that can be measured in some way through a measurement instrument or evaluative task. Such instruments and tasks might include tests, quizzes, homework, reports, and presentations. The following chart gives examples of the various methods of evaluation used in this reading course.

Essay Exams

• Student mastery of skills in analyzing, examining, critiquing, synthesizing, defining, discussing texts, and inherent issues and concepts is evaluated by comprehensive essay exams.

Exams and Quizzes

• Objective examinations, such as: multiple choice, true/ false, matching items, completion, etc.
• Student ability to select, connect, classify, and relate researched data following an organizational pattern is evaluated by achievement tests.
• Students’ ability to summarize, organize, and analyze information presented in texts is assessed by classroom tests.
• Student retention of information in texts is assessed by discrete-point quizzes.
• Students are evaluated on their application of appropriate reading strategies to selected texts.

Written Homework

Students’ written assignments determine their ability to recognize author purpose for writing, to identify main ideas and major supporting details, to extrapolate information, to recognize writer and reader assumptions, identify rhetorical patterns and their markers.

• Written homework, judged on instructor established criteria, provides practice in further comprehending texts, analyzing and evaluating texts and implementing reading strategies and skills.

Reading Reports and Summaries

• Reading reports and summaries that are evaluated according to established rubrics and that assess student ability to research, organize notes, and assimilate information.

Organization of Information

• Student comprehension of the organization of information in academic texts is tested by their ability to reorganize prose into outline and graphic organizer formats.

Portfolio

• Students will collect samples of work over the semester and assess their own skills and select areas for improvement. Semester portfolio is evaluated on the basis of instructor-established criteria.
  Table 6 Methods of Evaluation for ESL Reading Course

The design of a reading course is time-consuming but most essential as it creates a framework for the reading course and what takes place in the classroom. The well-thought out course serves as a guide for both teachers, as they introduce the goals of the course and implement the methods by which to achieve them, and students, as they embark on the journey of understanding the reading process, and the exploration of their experiences as readers.

Summary
The planning and design of a reading course requires teachers to make careful decisions, often taking up a great deal of time during the initial stages. Teachers must begin by conceptualizing the purpose of the course — that is to formulate a description of the course which explains what the course is about and what will be accomplished in the course. The next step is to think about the goals and objectives which should reflect the expected outcomes which are the reading abilities students should develop and achieve in the course. Appropriate materials must then be chosen to fulfill course goals. The course content is likely to involve the greatest amount of time in terms of planning and decision-making as teachers decide what is to be learned, the specific approaches through which course goals will be achieved, the time that will be spent on each aspect of the course, and the specific assignments that will help students achieve the identified learning objectives. Once that has been established, the methods of instruction, largely dependent on objectives and the teacher’s view how reading is best taught need to be decided on. Finally, teachers must consider the methods of evaluation which demonstrate whether students have met the expected outcomes and the extent to which this has occurred.