Teaching and Testing Reading: Useful Resources

Deborah Healey, Ph.D.

Inter-Regional Seminar on Teaching and Testing Reading: Tunisia February 2006

Suggested Resources

• E-journals from the US Department of State. Available at http://usinfo.state.gov/; accessed February 28, 2006. A range of freely-usable publications.
• English teaching resources from the US Department of State. Available at http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/; accessed February 28, 2006. Materials for teachers.
• ESL: Reading links from Internet TESL Journal. Available at http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Reading/; accessed February 8, 2006. A large collection of stories, exercises, lesson plans, and research about reading
  
• Forum magazine. Available at http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/; accessed February 28, 2006. All current and back issues since 1991.
• Information about Fulbright programs. Available at http://www.amideast.org and http://www.iie.org; accessed February 28, 2006. Find out about Fulbright scholarships.
• Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Available at http://www.gutenberg.org/; accessed February 8, 2006. A constantly growing collection of hundreds of copyright-free texts that can be used freely in any classroom.
• Readings for ESL students by L. Fried-Lee. Available at http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~lfried/stories/stories.html; accessed February 8, 2006. Readings by proficiency level and topic.
• Story archives from CNN and Literacynet. Available at http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html; accessed February 28, 2006. Stories from the news with exercises; best for advanced learners. Some are abridged and usable with intermediate learners.
  
• TOEFL information, including practice tests. Available at http://www.toefl.org/; accessed February 28, 2006.
  
• Virtual libraries and other sources of free texts. Available at http://oregonstate.edu/~healeyd/digitallibraries.html; accessed February 28, 2006.

• Alderson, J.C. (2000). Assessing reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A helpful discussion of the theory behind teaching a assessing reading, including practical suggestions.
• Carrell, P.L., Devine, J., and Eskey, D.E. (Eds.) (1988). Interactive approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A collection of essays about theory and practice in teaching reading.
• Council of Europe (1996). Modern languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. A common European framework of reference. Strasbourg: Council for Cultural Cooperation, Education Committee. Available at http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/education/Languages/Language_Policy/Common_Framework_of_Reference/; accessed February 8, 2006. This provides a way of thinking about levels of proficiency in foreign language reading, with reference to general as well as specific competencies.
  
• Forte, I., Pangle, M.A., and Drayton, M. (2001). ESL Reading and spelling: Games, puzzles, and inventive exercises. Nashville, TN: Incentive Publications. Some interesting ideas for creating games, especially for beginners.
  
• Freeman, D.E. and Freeman, Y.S. (2004). Essential linguistics: What you need to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. A theoretical view that promotes a top-down approach to teaching reading within a larger look at applied linguistics.
  
• Goodman, K. (1988). The reading process. In P.L. Carrell, J. Devine, & D.E. Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading, pp11-21. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A cognitive science perspective on how the brain works in reading.
  
• Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 15 (3), 375-406. Research results and practical applications.
• Herrell, A. and Jordan, M. (2004). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. More than just reading, this book offers 50 very practical suggestions for classroom teaching.  
• Ray, R.R. (Ed.) (1993). New ways in teaching reading. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Practical classroom-based suggestions for activities to enhance reading. 
• Ripley, A. (1962). Minute mysteries. New York: Pocket Books. Another type of pleasure reading. Find similar stories at the mystery website.
• Tollefson, W. (1989). A system for improving teachers' questions. English Teaching Forum, 27 (1), 6-9.