I had the chance to contribute to a recent issue of Modern English Teacher magazine on the subject of reading. Here’s what I said:

What is the most important skill for your EAP students? For most, the ability to read well may be the most important second language academic skill. In order for students to be successful in academic classrooms, they need to be able to obtain a great deal of information through reading. EAP students typically need to read a lot and that reading is an important source of input for both language and content (Grabe and Stoller, 2014).

However, many EAP students are frustrated when they attempt to read. Those whose first languages use a different alphabet or writing system may be especially challenged. Students find that the decoding process takes a long time— much too long— and that they are often challenged with new and unfamiliar vocabulary words. Then, just when they think they have things figured out, they discover that they have misinterpreted the meaning of a sentence and haven’t got it right at all.

Read the rest of this article from Modern English Teacher in this PDF.