Teaching EFL students expository text structures through graphic organisersto facilitate reading comprehension

Hyeong Jun Chae

Overview

Graphic Organisers (GOs)

GOs in FL teaching and learning

GOs and Expository texts

GOs and Compare/Contrast texts

Some final thoughts

Graphic Organisers (GOs)

A very high proportion of all sensory learning is visual (Aveg erinou & Ericson, 1997).

Visual literacy refers to abilities to communicate ideas visually (Kang, 2004).

Students’ visual literacy can be improved with the use of visual means such as maps and charts, or GOs (Kang, 2004).

GOs are used to present visual representation of information in the text (Jiang & Grabe, 2007).

GOs in FL teaching and learning

GOs are deployed in FL language classes to improve students’ reading comprehension skills (Manoli & Papadopoulou,

2012).- Visual representation of information in the text- Spatial displays of text information - Depicting the organisational pattern of a reading

GOs can be used to map out the actual text structure visually, expository texts in particular (Jiang & Grabe, 2007).

GOs and Expository texts Expository texts is to inform the reader of an event or

provide general information (Dymock, 2005) .

These texts contain structural elements to arrange and connect ideas (Akhondi, Malayeri, & Samad, 2011).

- Recipe: Sequence- A news article on Global Warming and Climate Change: Cause/Effect- Volcano types: Compare/Contrast

Teaching students how to identify expository text structures via GOs improve students’ understanding of text and result in increased reading comprehension (Dreher & Gray, 2009).

The CORE model (Connect, Organise, Reflect, Extend) provides a framework for lesson design when teaching the structure of expository text (Dymok, 2005).

GOs and Compare/Contrast texts

http://creately.com/Free-K12-Education-Templateshttp://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm

ConnectOrganiseReflectExtend

Some final thoughts

The position of GOs in relation to EFL reading

- Pre-reading stage - During-reading stage - Post-reading stage

The position of GOs in relation to the constructor

- Teacher-constructed - Teacher/Student-constructed - Student-constructed

References

Akhondi, M., Malayeri, F. A., & Samad, A, A. (2011). How to teach expository text structure to facilitate reading comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 64(5), 368-372. doi:10.1598/RT.64.5.9

Avgerinou, M., & Ericson, J. (1997). A review of the concept of visual literacy. British Journal of Educational Technology, 28, 280-291. doi:10.1111/1467-8535.00035

Dreher, M. J., & Gray, J. L. (2009). Compare, contrast, comprehend: Using compare-contrast text structures with ELLs in K-3 classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 63(2), 132-141. doi:10.1598/RT.63.2.4

Dymock, S. (2005). Teaching expository text structure awareness. The Reading Teacher, 59(2), 177-181. doi:10.1598/RT.59.2.7

Jiang, X., & Grabe, W. (2007). Graphic organizers in reading instruction: Research findings and issues. Reading in a Foreign Language, 19, 34-55. Retrieved from http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/

Kang, S. (2004). Using visual organizers to enhance EFL instruction. ELT Journal, 58, 58-67. doi:10.1093/elt/58.1.58

Manoli, P., & Papadopoulou, M. (2012). Graphic organisers as a reading strategy: Research findings and issues. Creative Education, 3(3), 348-356. doi:10.4236/ce.2012.33055