Bloor´s approaches are divided in four categories and lie in the assumption that in order to develop reading skills, written activities should be done to foster comprehension, acquire vocabulary, etc. (as cited in Pintos, 2008, p. 33). This paper will aim at outlining the main characteristics of each approach and relating them with real-life examples.
The Psychological approach is, according to Bloor, (1985) “related to students’ interpretations”. A good example could be, a for and against reading activity, in which each student has to choose a side and stand for it. Another example could be related to a reading task, which triggers debates and discussions.
The Linguistic approach “draws the aim to students´ attention to the words and sentences of a given text”. (Bloor, 1985). One example could be related to the activity in which the teacher provides different texts: e-mails, faxes, memos; and students analyze the texts as objects; finding differences among the three and highlighting singular expressions in each text.
The Content-oriented approach is “closely related to student`s needs and interests”, (Bloor, 1985). Real examples could be found when teachers provide texts related to computers and technology (fotologs, the Sims, etc) to teenagers, or a real article from the Financial Times to students working in a finance department.
The Pedagogically-oriented approach takes into account the students’ learning styles giving each student the possibility to organize their own reading pace, according to Bloor, (1985). One example could be related to a short story or novel reading activity in which the teacher provides the possibility of reading the novel at home. Another option could be giving the possibility of choosing the book, story, novel, etc.
When teaching academic writing and reading, ideally Bloor`s (1985) four approaches should be taken into consideration because these two skills are closely related and interact one with the other.
Reference
Pintos, V, (2008) Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved August, 2009 from http://caece.campus universidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=273
12/16/2009
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