Brown Chapter 20 & 21

Chapters 20 and 21 in Brown talked about the teaching of reading and writing. The chapters discuss the importance of teaching reading and writing in addition to speaking. Brown talks about ways in which we can improve the way we teach each of these areas. There are many bottom-up and top-down strategies that are mentioned throughout the chapters. Brown gives great strategies for teachers to encourage reading comprehension and the principles for teaching reading skills. It's important for students to be able to choose a text that will help students achieve strategic reading skills. Choosing text that is readable and authentic (in target language). Choosing reading that is interesting and relatable to students is necessary because students will be more motivated to read something that they have some interest in. Not only should students have an interest, but the reading material should be appropriate to the level and difficulty of the learner. A common theme that has been occurring within our class has been about meaningful and authentic learning. In the context of reading, using a text that is meaningful and authentic is more beneficial to an ELL's learning than a text that is not.
I found chapter 20 and 21 to go hand in hand, and were very appropriate to read together. While reading is important, I don't think you can have reading without writing. To be successful at reading, there must be writing involved. However, it is interesting because each student's culture has a different way of writing. For example, American writing tends to be more direct and to the point about the argument, whereas another culture may sort of "beat around the bush" before actually getting to the point. When our students write in a style that we do not recognize, it is important for us to remember that it doesn't necessarily mean that our students are inadequate in writing. I think that one of the important points that I can take away from the readings is that using meaningful and authentic materials is extremely important to effective learning, as well as having the understanding that our students come from different places where our style of writing may be something completely foreign to them.