Reforms/Innovations in the Teaching of Reading

Abstract

“Reforms and innovations in the teaching of reading” is an exciting and challenging topic. I have seen the development — or sadly sometimes the lack of development — of reading education in our country over the past four decades. And I have spent a good part of those years seeking to push this field in new and mare effective directions.

When we say “reforms and innovations in reading”, what immediately comes to mind? Many of us think of new materials, new tests, more seminars, maybe even new devices and gadgets. It is easy to think in such terms, since these are concrete, visible and tangible.

But how many of us have seeen new books, tests and devices come and go — and yet our students' reading levels remain wanting? What could the problem be?

As I see it, the problem is that such reforms and innovations merely address the externals, the surface of the situation. What is needed is something far more fundamental. Genuine reforms and innovations can only come with an underlying change of attitude, of philosophy in the teaching of reading. To borrow a term from the corporate world — what we need is a “paradigm shift”, a change of mindset. The article will examine what is meant by “paradigm shift”.