Material Selection for Esl Reading Class

Comprehension of a reading text is made difficult due to the interactive nature of the reading process. Different readers respond in different ways to the same text. The reading lesson therefore needs to make allowances for both the variety of texts and the variety of readers. ( Nuttal,1996). As reading is a complex task, teacher need to be focused on the learning goals of the reading lesson and steer the learners towards achieving these goals. Even if the reading programme has a prescribed textbook, it is highly recommended that teachers use additional reading as supplementary materials.. Since the focus of the ESL reading class should be on a specific aspect of reading, the selection of an appropriate reading text is critical. If the text chosen is inappropriate for whatever reason, the chances of success for that particular lesson are substantially lessened.

Criteria for Selecting Reading Texts

1. Interest

The most important factor in selecting a reading material is interest. William (1986:42) claims that “ in the absence of interesting texts, very little is possible.” Carrell (1984:339) states; “ First, reading teachers should use materials the students are interested in, including materials self-selected by the student.”
Eskey (1986:4) reminds teachers that “ the first concern of any reading teacher is to find or create, a body of material that his particular students might find interesting to read, and then do everything in his power to make it as comprehensible to them as he can.”

One way that teachers can stimulate students’ interest is to use materials which do not have over-familiar content. A passage which contains relatively little new information or one over-loaded with new information would increase the complexity level of the text and affect students’ interest to read further.. It is important that teachers select texts that can provide learners with a reasonable amount of new information.
Nuttal (1982:30) provides guidelines that can help

References: Carrell, P.L. (1984). The effects of rhetorical organisation on ESL readers. TESOL Quarterly 18, 441-469. Carrell, P.L. (1985). Facilitating ESL reading comprehension by teaching text structure. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 4, pp. 727-52. Carrell, P.L. (1987a). Content and fotrmal schemata in ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 3, pp Carrell, P.L. (1987b). Readability in ESL. Reading in a Foreign Language, 4,1, pp. 21-40. Dubin, F. (1989). ‘The Odd Couple Reading and Vocabulary’ ELT Journal 43/4. Eskey, D.E. (1986). Theoretical Foundations. In Dubin, F. Eskey, D.E. and Grabe, W. (eds), Teaching Second Language Reading for Academic Purposes, pp 3-23 Reading, Ma: Addison- Wesley. Johnson, P. (1981). Effects on reading comprehension of language complexity and cultural background of a text. TESOL Quarterly, 15, 1, pp. 169-81. Nuttall, C. (1982). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. London. Heinemann Educational Books. Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford: Heinemann English Language Teaching. Pearson, P.D