INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 08,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
74
MODERN APPROACHES TO TEACHING READING SKILLS
Urunova Shakhlo
Doctor of philosophy in pedagogical sciences (PhD) of
Andijan state technical institute
Abstract.
This article examines the significance of texts in the process of teaching foreign
languages to students of non-philological specializations. It emphasizes that texts serve not only
as linguistic material but also as an effective pedagogical tool that helps develop students’
professional and communicative competence. The study explores how authentic and
professionally-oriented texts contribute to students’ mastery of specialized terminology,
grammatical structures, and reading strategies necessary for understanding field-specific
content. The paper also discusses the psychological and cognitive aspects of text perception,
highlighting the importance of motivation, background knowledge, and interest in effective
foreign language learning. Special attention is given to selecting texts that meet students’
academic needs, age, and specialization to foster meaningful and goal-oriented language
acquisition.
Keywords:
foreign language teaching, non-philological students, authentic texts, text-based
instruction, professional competence, terminology acquisition, reading strategies, motivation,
ESP (English for Specific Purposes), cognitive approach
Traditionally, the purpose of learning to read in a language has been to have access to
the literature written in that language. In language instruction, reading materials have
traditionally been chosen from literary texts that represent "higher" forms of culture. This
approach assumes that students learn to read a language by studying its vocabulary, grammar,
and sentence structure, not by actually reading it. In this approach, lower level learners read
only sentences and paragraphs generated by textbook writers and instructors. The reading of
authentic materials is limited to the works of great authors and reserved for upper level students
who have developed the language skills needed to read them.
The communicative approach to language teaching has given instructors a different
understanding of the role of reading in the language classroom and the types of texts that can be
used in instruction. When the goal of instruction is communicative competence, everyday
materials such as train schedules, newspaper articles, and travel and tourism websites become
appropriate classroom materials, because reading them is one way communicative competence
is developed. Instruction in reading and reading practice thus become essential parts of
language teaching at every level.
Reader knowledge, skills, and strategies include:
Linguistic competence
: the ability to recognize the elements of the writing system;
knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences
Discourse competence
: knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts of
the text to one another
Sociolinguistic competence
: knowledge about different types of texts and their usual
structure and content
Strategic competence
: the ability to use top-down strategies as well as knowledge of
the language (a bottom-up strategy)
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 08,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
75
The purpose(s) for reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge, skills, and
strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading comprehension is thus
much more than decoding. Reading comprehension results when the reader knows which skills
and strategies are appropriate for the type of text, and understands how to apply them to
accomplish the reading purpose.
Recent research emphasizes that effective reading instruction should integrate
metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating comprehension, which
significantly influence learners’ autonomy and success in academic contexts [9].
Different suggestions were offered by linguists. For instance, F.L. Stoller, N.J. Anderson,
and W. Grabe differentiated 5 steps in teaching reading skills in their article Instructional
Enhancements to Improve Students’ Reading Abilities (2013).
They were: extensive practice and exposure to print, commitment to building student
motivation, attention to reading fluency, vocabulary building, comprehension skills practice and
discussion.
According to Ur (1996), reading is not just a receptive skill but an interactive process that
requires engaging learners in meaning-focused tasks [11].
Similarly, Brown (2001) emphasizes that encouraging learner interaction with texts through
summarizing, questioning, and reflecting supports long-term retention [2].
Let’s focus on two approaches to strategic reader training:
a)Directed Reading–Thinking Activity (DR-TA)
b) Question the Author
Teachers should guide students through these steps in DR-TA approach:
Step 1:
Have students brainstorm ideas related to the text topic
Step 2:
Ask students to make predictions about what they will read, using clues from the text
(such as text headings, pictures, charts)
Step 3:
Have students read one section of the text, then stop and revise their predictions
(teacher should choose a good stopping point so that predictions will come naturally)
Approach2: Question the author
Using this approach, encourage students to ask the following kinds of questions as they read:
What is the author talking about?
What does the author want us to know?
That’s what the author said, but what did the author mean?
Does that make sense when we think of what the author told us before?
The purpose of the DR-TA approach is to activate students’ knowledge on the topic of the
text, help students to monitor their comprehension as they are reading, and set goals for reading.
The Question the Author approach is another way to encourage students to interact with a text
before, during, and after reading.
Moreover, studies by Alderson (2000) show that background knowledge plays a crucial role
in text comprehension, especially among second language learners who often struggle with
unfamiliar cultural references and textual organization [1]. This is an excellent way to help
students draw inferences from a reading and notice tone and author purpose.
Recent research in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) pedagogy has highlighted the
growing importance of tailoring reading instruction to the professional and academic needs of
learners. According to Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998), ESP reading activities should be
situated within the learners’ discipline, utilizing authentic texts that reflect real-world language
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 08,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
76
use in their field of study. This approach not only enhances reading fluency but also deepens
students' familiarity with field-specific terminology and discourse structures [5].
Furthermore, contemporary scholars emphasize the role of
schema theory
in reading
comprehension. Carrell and Eisterhold (1983) argue that reading is an interactive process in
which readers actively construct meaning by integrating textual information with their pre-
existing knowledge (schema) [3]. This underlines the importance of activating background
knowledge before reading and using pre-reading activities to improve understanding and
motivation.
Another noteworthy development is the integration of
metacognitive strategies
in reading
instruction. Research by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) identifies three categories of
metacognitive reading strategies: global reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, and
support reading strategies [8].By teaching these strategies explicitly, instructors can help
students become more autonomous and reflective readers, better able to adapt their reading
approaches depending on the text type and purpose.
Practical Recommendations for ESP Reading Instruction
1.
Task-Based Reading
: Implement real-life tasks that require students to use the text to
solve a problem or make decisions (e.g., interpreting a user manual, analyzing a lab
report).
2.
Corpus-Informed Materials
: Use discipline-specific corpora to identify high-
frequency terms and common syntactic structures to include in reading activities.
3.
Digital Literacies
: Incorporate online reading platforms, digital articles, and
multimodal texts, preparing students for professional digital communication
environments.
4.
Scaffolding Academic Texts
: Guide students through the structure of abstracts,
introductions, and research articles using graphic organizers and text-mapping exercises.
These approaches not only help learners develop stronger reading skills, but also promote
higher-order thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation — critical for academic
and professional success.
References:
1. Alderson, J.C. (2000). Assessing Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language
Pedagogy. 2nd ed. New York: Longman.
3. Carrell, P. L., & Eisterhold, J. C. (1983). Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy.
TESOL Quarterly, 17(4), 553–573.
4. Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Snow, M. A. (2013). Teaching English as a Second or
Foreign Language. 4th ed. Boston: Heinle Cengage.
5. Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes:
A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Cambridge University Press.
6. Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a Second Language: Moving from Theory to Practice.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7. Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2011). Teaching and Researching Reading. 2nd ed. New York:
Longman.
8. Mokhtari, K., & Reichard, C. A. (2002). Assessing students’ metacognitive awareness of
reading strategies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), 249–259.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 08,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
77
9. Mokhtari, K., & Reichard, C. A. (2002). Assessing students’ metacognitive awareness of
reading strategies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), 249–259.
10. Stoller, F. L., Anderson, N. J., & Grabe, W. (2013). Instructional Enhancements to Improve
Students’ Reading Abilities. New York: Routledge.
11. Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
12. Flowerdew, L. (2012). Corpus-Based Language Studies in ESP. In B. Paltridge & S.
Starfield (Eds.), The Handbook of English for Specific Purposes. Wiley-Blackwell.
