1. Universidad Católica de Santísima Concepción
Departamento de Lenguas
Didáctica del Inglés I
Reading Skill
Comparative Essay
Students: Constanza Muñoz
Ignacio Ulloa

2. Each learning skill has its own strategies. This is a well known fact, especially by teachers,
but what kind of strategies? What are the steps to follow in order to teach English, or any
other language effectively? The following comparison and contrast of the texts “How to
Teach English” by Jeremy Harmer, “Practical English Language Teaching” by David
Nunan and “Reading Comprehension Strategies” by David Moore will give us a general
idea of how various authors deal with different strategies to help students to learn new
languages.
One of the seven strategies for improving reading comprehension in adolescent readers that
is mentioned by Moore () is asking questions, which he defines as “interrogating texts for a
variety of purposes, such as checking one’s understanding, ...” This strategy concords with
the technique mentioned by Anderson (1999) inside his third principle for teaching reading
called Teach for Comprehension, which “requires that the teacher model the reading
behavior of asking questions in order to make sense of what is being read”. Harmer () also
makes a brief reference to this aspect when he states “we (teachers) may ask students to
tease out details of meaning…” The three authors (Moore, & Anderson, 1999) emphasize
the importance of engaging in queries about the text in order to grasp the meaning of what
is being read.
The second similarity that we can mention is the fact that the three authors emphasize the
relevance of reading in other learning areas, whether it is in developing other skills, as
mentioned by Harmer () when he states that “reading texts also provide good models for
English writing; or in other learning areas as stated by Anderson () “(reading) ensures
success not only in learning English, but also in any content class…” and Moore () “when
reading, …. They (proficient readers) actively engage one another in conversations about
the novel and learn from different perspectives.” According to these three authors
developing comprehensive reading enables students not only to become more fluent users
of the language, but also to increase their general knowledge.
The third and final similarity we will focus on is the one related to the importance of
teaching reading strategies in order to develop a reading comprehension in students.
Moore(), Anderson() and Harmer() make reference to this point, although not all of them
provide the same level of rigorousness in their asseverations on how explicit the teaching of
reading strategies must be. For instance, Moore () thinks that “Effective comprehension

3. instruction teaches students both what these strategies are and how and when to use them”;
Anderson says that “ … students need to learn how to use… reading strategies… Teaching
them how to do this should be a prime consideration in the reading classroom.” finally,
Harmer () states that “ They (students) need to be able to scan…Students also need to be
able to skim…” .
One of the most important differences between the authors is the importance they give to
other skills related to reading. Harmer explains that reading can be used to enhance other
learning skills such as speaking or writing, and exemplifies this with several activities that
start with reading tasks but finish with other kind of exercises. Nunan says that reading
must be a silent activity, so speaking or writing should be taught in an unrelated way or in
another time. He privileges the fluency of reading and explains that every skill should be
taught separately. Moore gives more importance to cognitive processes in order to make the
student think on what he or she is reading and then realize what he or she learned.
Harmer proposes a series of activities in which students must follow instructions given and
also work with creativity. Prediction is a major factor and a tool that encourages students to
be more interested in a text. If students are aware of the context of the piece of reading with
they are about to work then they will be able to use their imagination and try to guess what
the activity is going to be about. Nunan says that students must read without testing their
skills. Teachers should be more aware on teaching reading strategies than contextualizing.
If students are well prepared in strategic reading and fluency, then they will not need
contextualization to understand what the writer is trying to explain. Moore is more assertive
in explaining that students use their skills unconsciously, but teachers should deliver direct,
explicit instructions and not only tell the students what they have to do, but also show them.
He also gives a different importance to strategies by saying that reading is a matter of the
appropriate use of them.
The most contrastive characteristics of the three different authors are the aims they have for
reading. Jeremy Harmer explains that the most important part of reading is to get students
interested in texts. To encourage students to read and to work on engage them on reading is
one of the main focus of this author. David Nunan is more interested in students’ fluency
while reading, and also on students’ background knowledge. He explains that a good reader

4. is not the faster one, but the one who understands what he or she is reading. Nunan also
explains that students will learn faster if they are contextualized or have previous
knowledge of what the teacher is about to deliver. David Moore’s work explains that the
importance of inferences is determinant in students’ apprenticeship. Learners should be
able to question themselves and to create their own thoughts before being guided by the
teacher.
We might find many similarities and differences between authors, but they all concord in
on aspect: reading is compulsory in order to learn a new language properly. We as future
teachers must be completely aware of this in order to deliver to our students enough
knowledge to become proficient speakers of English.