Week 4. CALL in Reading

I am very interested in CALL in general, but CALL in Reading is my favorite one. I think that reading is the very important, it impacts all other language learning spheres. It not only broadens the range of vision, but also affects grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation (if you read aloud).

I teach the class where students learn through the tales. We read the tale and analyze it, do exercises on understanding the meaning, look for grammar used in the texts. I can angle the tasks in whatever direction I want. If I see that my students don't understand grammar used in the text, I work with grammar, but I tie that grammar with the text. I enjoy that type of learning.

Larry J.Mikulecky in his article "Using Internet-Based Children's Literature to Teach EFL" and Mei-Ya Liang in "Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-Books"  offer some websites, such as http://en.childrenslibrary.org/, http://www.tumblebooks.com, http://www.magickeys.com/books, http://www.bygosh.com where students can read books online. 

Mei-Ya Liang suggests some groups of questions which can be applied for discussions.

First, for choosing the book:

1. What is the title of this story? 
2. What type of story is it? 
3. Who is the main character in this story? 
4. Is it suitable for me, too easy or too difficult? 
5. Is this book interesting to me? 

Next, the questions for picking up the main ideas and summarizing:

1. Who is in the story? 
2. Where does the story take place? 
3. When does it happen? 
4. What is it about? 
5. How does it turn out? 

Then, the questions for eliciting more details:

1. What are the main characters like? 
2. How does the setting affect the characters? 
3. What are the unexpected developments or problems in the story? 
4. How did the author create the mood (the overall impression)? 
5. What is the lesson of the story? 

Finally, the questions for evaluating the story:

1. Does this book tell a good story? Is this story original and fresh? 
2. How well do events build to a climax? Are these events plausible and logical? 
3. Does the theme emerge naturally from the story or overpower the story? 
4. How well are the characters developed? Are they convincing or stereotyped? 
5. How does the style of writing compare with other books? 

And additional questions for evaluating the multimedia and text interaction:

1. Do we have to consider other aspects than the text itself? 
2. How well designed is this book? Is it aesthetically satisfying? 
3. Do the sound or the graphics enhance the story? 
4. What is the quality of the web pages? 
5. How are the parts of the story presented and linked? 

I think I will use some of these questions to structure my reading lessons. Now they are very unpredictable. I would like to add something stable that students feel more confidence.