Deep Reading and How to Rediscover It

Feride Hekimgil, Turkey

Feride Hekimgil was born into a multicultural, multilingual family in Basingstoke in 1955. She grew up and completed her primary and secondary education in Istanbul, after which she attended Boğaziçi University, an English medium university in the same city. After graduating in 1976 having received a BA in English Literature and her teaching certificate from the Department of Education, she started teaching English as a foreign language at the same university. She has been teaching at the same university for the past 39 years. E-mail: pheridey@yahoo.com

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The thrill of Deep Reading
What to read
The reading task
Pre-reading activities
How to read closely
Types of questions: Implications
Types of questions: Opinions
Types of questions: Drawing conclusions
Types of questions: Predictions
Types of questions: Reasons and results
Types of questions: Interpretation
Post-reading activity
Conclusion

The thrill of Deep Reading

Reading is perhaps the most deeply pleasurable, satisfying and enlightening activity we devote our time to. It can transport us to foreign lands, help us delve into the depths of our consciousness, lead us down paths and through mazes hitherto unexplored, introduce us to all manner of concepts thus encouraging us to reshape hallowed values or beliefs and promote our understanding of our fellow men, which in turn helps increase empathy and promotes all those values that make us human. Reading can bring people together and encourage them to actually listen to each other helping them to understand each other’s stand point and reach a consensus. No learning is possible without reading be it scientific or philosophical. No writing is possible without in depth understanding, which in turn is made possible by close reading. Reading is the single best pastime and a source of immense happiness as well. This being the case, reading, naturally, sits front and center of any second language course and forms the backbone of the syllabus. Various activities work up to the reading task and others lead off from it; reading forms the anchor and grounds the syllabus, thus providing substance and depth. An activity of such complexity, however, requires guidance to master. The learner needs to be guided through the build up to the reading activity, helped to grasp the intricacies of the reading text, draw from it and move on to the post reading activity. It would be wrong to assume that this is a simple task which only requires knowledge of the alphabet and basic primary education. Deep reading is a skill and requires the help of a teacher who knows what he is about.

With this in mind, one cannot help but wonder at the behavior of some English language teachers – especially those in institutions where practically all the 101 versions of most disciplines form the basis of reading lessons. They are sometimes apt to hand out the reading task, assign a certain time for the students to read it and answer the questions, and then provide the answers. No actual teaching takes place in such a reading lesson, and there is obviously minimal learning. What is more, the teacher is reduced to an automaton that could easily be replaced by some fanciful Japanese robot: the reading facilitator for example.

The damage done by such negligence of one’s duty as a teacher is manifold as the cognitive powers reading can develop remain atrophied, the depth and breadth of understanding that could have been possible is bypassed and perhaps worst of all, the student develops a healthy dislike for reading which he sees as just another hoop he has to jump through to be able to move on to his department. The long term impacts of the lack of a reading habit are phenomenal, and depending on the individual, can impact the society as a whole as such individuals will fail to develop the vision and understanding reading makes possible. The cognitive powers including analysis, synthesis, drawing conclusions, summarizing, developing a rational argument and the like not having been developed sufficiently due to a lack of emphasis on deep reading and the inappropriate teaching methods employed to tackle the task, the individual remains a shadow of the person he could have become. Society should not expect victims of such a system to be creative or innovative; neither should it expect great leaders and great thinkers to emerge from the ranks of such students. The program thus successfully churns out more dumbed-down individuals so many of whom populate major cities around the world and remain ignorant of all they have missed out on. They fill their days with mindless work a trained monkey could accomplish thanks to modern computer programs and apps, and passive entertainment which is intellectually unchallenging such as Pokémon-Go. Yet they could have so much more and be so much more.

What to read

Having established without a shadow of a doubt that deep reading is essential to the well-being and intellectual development of individuals and by association, the betterment of the human condition, it is time to turn to the issues of the choice of reading material, the nature of the reading task and the role of the instructor in guaranteeing that the language learner derives the maximum benefit from the task.

The nature of the reading text depends firstly on the age of the learner but regardless of age, the passage selected needs to be intellectually stimulating and should evoke interest and curiosity. It should carry the reader along rather like a river where the individual is happy to go with the flow and wishes to discover what is round the next bend. The reading of the passage should not resemble crossing the Gobi desert on foot or a trip to The Skeleton Coast. The ultimate purpose of any reading teacher is to instill a love of reading and help develop a lifelong habit of reading. Whereas the wonderful stories of Beatrix Potter might be appropriate for small children, texts about recent history, world affairs, environmental or social issues may be more appropriate for adult readers. The focus of this paper is adult learners of English as a second language so Beatrix Potter and whether or not her books are politically correct must be left to others to discuss although I must say that I personally find the argument that her stories are damaging to children psychologically absurd. The fact that Tom Kitten was nearly put in a pie or Little Grey Rabbit’s tail ended up on Wise Owl’s door, at least temporarily, did no one of my generation any lasting damage.

The problem with selecting the most suitable text is that individual interests vary, and not everyone may be interested in the same material. The first criterion when selecting texts for a reading program such as our own is to try and cater to all tastes through a thematic approach where a week or so is spent on various themes such as environmental issues, political systems, 20th century history, social problems and the like. The second factor to consider is the mission. The teaching in many universities in developing countries around the globe is in English, the lingua franca of the modern world. This being so, such universities enroll college graduates in their prep schools where they will, it is hoped, be furnished with the English necessary for university study, a task far more formidable than may appear at first glance.

The main issue is the current fascination or obsession with speed, a problem that inevitably spills over in to the learning environment where tests and the preparation for them take up more time than actual learning. In the modern world, the faster a journey or the process of completing a research project is for example, the better. Undergrounds zip from A to B in seconds denying the commuter the opportunity to peruse his surroundings, enjoy what he observes and interact with others. One can travel round a whole city without seeing any of it in a modern metropolis. The Japanese bullet train has replaced more leisurely journeys and trips like The Trans Siberian would probably be the modern youth’s nightmare. The art of the simple conversation with a stranger or the pleasure of observing parks, age old buildings and local idiosyncrasies has been lost forever as people chart the quickest route on their İPhones and board transport with their eyes glued to the said gadget. The current plan of the local municipality in this city is to have little green or red lights embedded in pedestrian crossings so that people don’t get run over. As for research, there is nothing more pleasant than being side tracked by something and heading off in directions hitherto unintended to then see the connection to one’s project and draw on this new avenue as well. Some of the most pleasurable activities in life are slow and therein lies our problem as this love of speed has infected the classroom as well.

There is such a thing as speed reading, that is true, but there is also such a thing as deep reading, and the latter cannot be accomplished on the hop. There are no apps, no tricks and no short cuts; in order to actually understand the text, the student has to read. I was asked recently while heading towards an examination hall to proctor a test what my advice was concerning the upcoming reading task. I responded that the said student should make sure to read both the text and the questions properly. I added that a reading test was not like completing a puzzle or doing a crossword. The problem facing many of us here in prep departments of major English medium universities is that the obsession with speed, and doing everything against the clock now dominates primary and secondary education as well. Come university, the students are suddenly faced with texts, not paragraphs which require many minutes to read properly; there are no magic formulas of the sort that they have become accustomed to in tackling their various learning activities and there are no short cuts; actual reading cannot be avoided. Expecting such a state of affairs not to provoke any reaction is unrealistic, and the burden of anyone endeavoring to teach deep reading is doubled: he has to fight against “the road runner syndrome”, help the students follow the writer’s argument and get inside his head so to speak in a second language. Throwing in the towel, sitting back and leaving the students to get on with “it” whatever “it” might be is not, however, the ethical approach to teaching reading. Anyone teaching deep reading has a moral responsibility to bite the bullet or find alternative employment.

The mantra of our prep division is to introduce the students to academic texts from the word go – academic being what comes out of text books prepared for university courses. The problem with this approach is that most students who have been through the system find the texts deadly dull. It would be easy to argue that the teacher should bring such material to life but how much easier it would be if the concept of an academic text were approached more flexibly if you will. In the 21st century where a whole alternative universe has been created on the World Wide Web, the definition of what constitutes an academic text has been transformed. Can we truly claim that an article out of The Scientific American, Scientific American Mind, Nature or off the Stratfor website is not sufficiently academic? The advantage of broadening the search and avoiding the blinkered approach is that it is far easier to find material that appeals to the modern youth. Thus, a tired old introductory chapter out of a psychology text book titled “What is psychology?” can be replaced with a text titled “The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence”, a brilliant article published in The Atlantic:
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/01/the-dark-side-of-emotional-intelligence/282720/. A cursory glance at the text should satisfy the most ardent critic of so called “magazine articles”. The Atlantic is not Hello magazine or The Cosmopolitan – although I personally have no problem with selecting texts from these magazines when push comes to shove, and it is a question of reading articles from these sources or nothing else; after all, the end justifies the means. Where is the harm in selecting reading material from Wired Magazine or using an essay out of The Guardian or The Wall Street journal? Language teachers in the modern reading class need to remember that they are preaching to a hostile audience and that there is a small window of opportunity for conversion. Taking the high and mighty attitude that the material being doled out means casting pearls to the swine and it should be rammed down students’ throats means losing the team at the word go and foregoing an opportunity to truly make a difference to some people’s lives. In short, gone are the days of rooting around in the stack room; modern academic texts are only a click away.

Having established that there is far more to choose from than may be obvious at first sight, we come to the issue of what to select. One does develop a wonderful instinct in time with every article selected becoming an instant hit but there is another option: consulting the troops. The first step in order to be able to do so is to get the students facing in the right direction and what better way to do that than with the love of their lives: modern technology. Enter Edmodo, setting up and using of which is very easy thanks to the numerous instructional videos on the Web. Here is one such video you may find useful but there are many others: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyvqoLYRyVI.Once the program is set up, written work can be posted, articles can be shared and students can be encouraged to take part in a little friendly competition finding interesting articles to read. Some of the articles on which I based reading activities on my blog were originally brought to my attention by students. Imagine their pride and pleasure when the text they have suggested arrives in front of them a few days down the line with its reading task attached. Imagine also that you have posted the news on your class Facebook page or tweeted it to the class. Follow this up with a photo of the class at work on the text, say on Instagram, and you are away. Including the students in the selection of reading material guarantees they are more committed to the activity but there is a bonus: they learn to enjoy the lessons and respect the teacher who respects them as members of the team, which in turn bodes well for future reading lessons.

At our institution, we have given up on most reading books on the market due to a variety of reasons such as the slow pace of such books and the subject matter of texts. In our modern world, most reading material at intermediate and advanced level is out of date or has lost its novelty value before the books go to print. We decided, a long time ago, to prepare our own reading material and plan the syllabi in accordance with the pace our school requires, as a result of which, we have accumulated a vast archive over the years which we are continually adding to. Returning to the issue of pace, we are yet to find a reading book that fits the bill; our pre intermediate students are intermediate half way through the first term and our intermediate students are ready to tackle freshman material with help from their teacher in the second term for example. No reading book on the market can cater to such a pace and this problem is extremely widespread. Another issue we are becoming more and more aware of is the current focus of individualism: the desire to complete a task, acquire a skill or learn something on one’s own via the internet with no formal instructor involved. Indeed the global private education sector is growing fast as entrepreneurs and educators become more aware of the soaring demand.

There are websites mushrooming all over the web that complement learning in all fields and have been proved to boost learning. One such organization is Top Dog Education, which was founded by two siblings and includes technicians, animators and teachers in various fields. With modern technology at their fingertips, this group is really able to bring the most complex lessons to life and help students really come to grips with the topic. What is more, Top Dog, www.mytopdog.co.za/, manages to tailor each lesson to students’ individual needs. Naturally, English language education features very highly on the web too with hundreds of sites addressing all manner of needs. Besides sites set up to address specific needs like Word Taboo ( www.wordtaboo.com) which aims to provide vocabulary practice, there are also sites like Learn Zillion, where individual teachers can post full lessons. Another such website is Engvid www.engvid.com, where many teachers post video lessons. There are plenty of individual websites set up by language teachers including video lessons on every grammar point under the sun like Learn English with Jennifer
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0A0C8CFFE9712B76 and Learn American English Online www.youtube.com/user/learnamericanenglish/featured. However, the main focus of these self paced learning websites seems to be grammar. When it comes to reading, although there are sites featuring reading activities with sets of true false questions, there are very few sites with challenging deep reading tasks. It is true that there are plenty of reputable sites providing reading practice for IELTS or TOEFL but what you get is training for the reading component of such tests and not deep reading. There is a growing demand for such sites as the world moves away from the traditional learning environment and towards self paced online learning. This was the reason I set up my own blog some years ago now, but it is a small drop in a very big ocean, which brings us to a second issue: the type of reading task.

The reading task

Reading tasks may be classified in various different ways one being according to whether or not the reading task is to be covered in class with the teacher to help, or on one’s own with no guidance from the teacher. In this vein, reading tasks may be self study material or class material, and there are fundamental differences between the two: anyone preparing a self study reading task needs to keep in mind that the teacher is not available to provide clarification, direct the focus of the student and otherwise direct the reading experience. What this means is that he has to weave all this into the reading task so that the student can derive maximum benefit from the activity. A reading teacher in a language class such as those in the prep division of our university is tasked with helping the students follow the writer’s reasoning through the maze of the text, see what he sees, think what he thinks and arrive at the same conclusion he does. Anyone preparing a self study reading exercise needs to remember this so whereas some questions should lead the student to focus on key points and not overlook critical twists and turns in the text, others should check to see if the student has been following the argument the writer of the text is trying make, all of which means the questions serve the dual function of teaching and testing. This constitutes the main difference between the two types of reading task mentioned at the beginning; however, there are many similarities as well and it is to them that we shall now turn.

It must be remembered that the main task of anyone trying to develop the skill of deep reading is to instill a habit of reading which derives from the joy and the intellectual satisfaction derived from that first critical exposure to deep reading. If this primary aim is overlooked and the more short sighted approach of making sure the kids finish everything on their plate is adopted, the battle will be lost. True, the students will sit through the text but will be loath to pick up another one. The next step to consider is how this is reflected in the task itself. One absolute no-no is assigning the task and timing the students to work through it; a reading teacher does need to actually drum up support, step in if enthusiasm wavers and make sure students remain interested and focused. In short, the teacher in a reading class is not a by-stander; he has to actually teach.

Pre-reading activities

A good starting point when preparing to tackle a serious reading task is the title and here the teacher is at a distinct advantage if he has selected an article from an online journal or reputable paper because the writer will have taken the trouble to couch the title in such a way as to be intriguing. Writers of academic books have no such concerns; after all, people who choose to read a particular section of a book do so because they want to and those who don’t want to can just read something else for all the writer cares. The trouble is that our university students need to read academic texts but they certainly don’t want to. The unenviable task of the teacher is to sell the text to them so it is suggested that at this stage of their university life students not be exposed to stuffy texts which even the teacher has trouble getting engrossed in.

A second advantage of online journals or newspapers is that the articles also have subtitles, whose purpose is to further wet the students’ appetite. A lively discussion centering round the title and the subtitle should, if handled adroitly, carry the students happily towards the text proper. There is also a bonus the students may not be immediately aware of: students may, during such a discussion, hit on some of the main arguments in the text and the various arguments involved. They may form opinions which they may revise or rethink while studying the text more closely further down the line. Having done a little surreptitious previewing, the teacher is ready to continue.

It would be a mistake to think that the students are now ready to tackle the text; such is far from being the case. More “razzle-dazzle”, as Billy Fynn, the sleazy lawyer from the musical Chicago stated, is always a good idea. Thus, the next step should involve a targeted activity that helps the students move several steps closer to the text. The said activity could involve a selection of carefully chosen videos for example and assuming the classroom is equipped with all the mod-cons, they can be viewed and discussed as a class. The said videos could be anything from lectures on the topic from ted.com or university websites, to panel discussions and informative videos. Such an introduction helps iron out some of the potential problems the students may encounter in the text and get students thinking about them. If you are lucky, you may even discover a video by the author of the text you are preparing to tackle where he discusses the content of the text to follow. The article “Finding Flow” is one such text; you can access the text here www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199707/finding-flow. Having done so, check out the Ted video by the writer on the same subject and see how well the two fit together www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXIeFJCqsPs. There is an additional reason for prefacing a reading task with listening material and it is the fact that there are different kinds of learners and one category of people learn best by listening and viewing. Starting with audio-visual material will help such students in the class. Finally, the class is ready to tackle the reading task proper.

Students are at an obvious advantage when tackling a well-written text in class as they have both the teacher and the task itself to help; provided the former knows what he is doing and the latter has been well prepared. It would be a good idea to reiterate that one of the functions of deep reading is to help develop an array of cognitive skills which will help with further reading and all areas of life. To be able to continue their intellectual development, which will impact the whole of their university career, students need to be able to develop a rational argument, they need to be able to analyze a text in depth, make generalizations, summarize, critique and move beyond the text. Obviously, the tasks accompanying the text and what the teacher chooses to do with the text should address this need.

How to read closely

Before students can actually answer comprehension questions on a reading passage, they are obliged to learn how to read it properly, which doesn’t mean sitting back comfortably and taking ten minutes to peruse it. It means engaging with the text, following the writer’s reasoning, all the twists and turns and ins and outs of the text because only then can they claim to have read and actually understood the text. The students need to become cognizant of all the shades of meaning, observe all the innuendoes, and implications of what has been stated. In order to be able to do this, the reader needs to be able analyze the pattern and see where the various threads converge; he needs to be able to see what holds that section of the text together. This is a tall order for a generation of students who have read nothing longer than a paragraph on standardized tests and when preparing for them and only ticked the correct answer. The students need to read closely and concentrate, and just telling them to get on with it may not be realistic.

One way to set the students on the right path is outlining. The class could develop a detailed outline of a text as they go along and the final version could be put up on the screen. Having determined what the skeleton of the text looks like, the students may find it easier to see the relationships between the relevant parts. A second way to help students to grasp how the text holds together and how sections of the text relate to each other and the text as a whole is to teach students how to annotate a text. Many good readers find it impossible to read an academic text without annotating it or making notes but this is a skill that many of the young generation come to prep departments of universities not having learnt. It is the job of the English language teachers at prep schools of major English medium universities to pick up the slack but luckily there is help at hand.

Having determined that students need to actually interact with a text and not just skim through it for pleasure, the art of annotating a text can be studied in more detail. Students in the prep schools of many major universities would be unable to understand the concept of close reading and may need certain props to be able to do so. The following two videos are ones I have used to introduce annotation. A copy of the text “President George W. Bush’s speech to the American People, Sept 11, 2010 could be distributed to the class after they have watched the following video www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXgr7_3Kw4 where the basics of annotating a text are explained; they could then be asked to annotate the text. When they are done, the second video, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ybWWBkdSi4, where the said text is annotated, could be viewed as a class. The advantage of using videos rather than demonstrating is variety; the teacher will get plenty of opportunity to demonstrate further with texts to follow. One example is certainly not going to suffice and practice makes perfect. The habit of annotating should become a permanent feature of reading lessons thus instilling the habit of close reading and actively engaging with the text.

An alternative way to learn to become a closer reader is making notes on a text, which is often also something students have never needed to do. The rote learning and memorization which is widely depended on for the teaching of social sciences has made thinking about the text completely superfluous thus making such activities as note making unnecessary. The students need to be disabused of this philosophy quickly as university education is still, thankfully, a different kettle of fish. The simple and straight forward videos the links to which are provided should help
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKKi0UlrHsk www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9jgHocI5Zw) but again the key is practice and one or the other method should be employed each time new reading material is tackled to form a habit of close reading.

Annotating and making notes provide additional opportunities to learn different skills which may not be immediately obvious and one is paraphrasing which there is nothing like to get rid of the well established habit of memorization. Thinking in terms of alternative ways of expressing an idea or concept requires a kind of mental agility which teachers should do their best to foster. The exercise will necessitate playing around with grammar and sentence patterns as well as different vocabulary items and the different shades of meaning of words which, to the uninitiated, may appear synonymous. In short, the activity will help students get really comfortable with grammar and begin to benefit from all the possibilities this offers. They will also be able to learn the subtle differences between vocabulary items; not an easy feat considering the wealth of vocabulary in the English language.

The natural next step in the process of introducing students to deep reading is summary skills as summarizing ticks every possible box; it is the ultimate reading into writing activity and the best test of detailed comprehension. Starting with baby steps, one obvious way is to encourage students to assign subtitles to sections of a text. The simplest such task would be to provide students with a list of subtitles and ask them to match them with sections of the text as is often done on reading tests; the reason being that it is more practical in terms of scoring. The teacher does not have to go along with such restrictions in class though and can actually ask the students to assign the subtitles and just make sure they are in the right ball park; naturally, this would mean dispensing with the answer key and becoming actively involved in the lesson the bonus being that the teacher too may start to enjoy himself. Consider the following example of such a question:

The first example: How color shapes our lives
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/01/how-color-shapes-our-lives/283376/

Which of the titles below would not suit the paragraph beginning “It wasn’t until the 1940’s…”?

• Pink versus Blue; Girls versus Boys
• Blame the department stores and marketers
• Classical conditioning through colors
• The far reaching influence of two colors

The second example: Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105

The digital copy of the text is divided into 5 sections but there are no subtitles.

Match the following subtitles with the sections:

• Self interest “properly” understood
• The lay of the land
• Size is not everything
• The revolt of the masses
• We look out for our own

A second way to deal with summary skills is to actually give the students a phrase or sentence that provides a summary and a selection of red-herrings in the form of a multiple choice question or a single red-herring in the form of a true or false type question. There is a fascination with such types of questions which are very much in vogue at the moment but the only reason for this is practicality, which becomes an issue on standardized tests; it should not be adopted in class as the alternative, asking students to formulate a sentence summarizing a section of the text and checking for certain key information in the sentences students come up with, is far superior. The latter would require much more mental skill and involvement as it requires production as well. The teacher could bridge the gap between the multiple choice and the open ended version of the question by presenting students with an incomplete sentence to guide them towards the answer and thus practice paraphrasing as well. Whatever route he takes, the teacher should keep the ultimate goal in mind and go for the tougher option as soon as students have been readied for dealing with them. It should be remembered that tougher means production on the part of the students and not ticking boxes.

The summary task par excellance is naturally an actual writing task: the students are directed to annotate the text as they read and work through the text with the help of their teacher. It is then a good idea to go over the main points of the text and decide what details need to be excluded from the summary and what salient points need to be included. This could be done via the Cornell method of making notes from a reading text (check out the following power point presentations for details:
https://prezi.com/_flocluqsfzu/cornell-note-taking-method/;
https://prezi.com/flocluqsfzu/cornell-note-taking-method/ ). The completed version of the notes could be projected on to the screen and discussed. The students can then be advised to use their knowledge of English grammar to write a paragraph summarizing the text. They should be reminded that there is a word limit, and the summary needs to be concise. The difficulty of teaching and correcting summary writing and also the lack of confidence of some teachers have relegated summary writing to the back burner to the detriment of students who zip through true false questions and imagine they have actually understood a text. Consider the following example to see, firsthand, some of the benefits of summary writing: you will find below two different summaries of the text titled “Snoozers Are In Fact, Losers” out of The New Yorker. You can access the text via the link:

Example: Snoozers are, in fact, losers

www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/snoozers-are-in-fact-losers. Now study the summary task below:

Summary: Snoozers are, in fact, losers, By Maria Konnikova

The first alternative: The long version

When we hit the snooze button, instead of gaining a few more minutes of sleep, we are actually slowing down the wake-up process by taking ourselves right back to the beginning of the sleep cycle. If we wake up too early or suddenly from this cycle, we can experience sleep inertia, the deceptively gradual period between sleeping and waking in which we feel groggy. Cognitive faculties, decision-making, and our ability to perform simple tasks are all inhibited in a process that takes far longer than many expect. Our natural sleep cycle is based on our circadian rhythm, or the amount of external natural light and the setting of our internal alarm clock. Social jet lag is the difference between the time we actually wake up and the most optimal and natural time for us to do so, and its effects reveal the importance of sleep timing rather than simple duration. Social jetlag can not only lead to higher use of alcohol, cigarette, and caffeine use but also to cancer and other chronic diseases. People could avoid these negative effects and eliminate social jet lag and sleep inertia by synchronizing their sleeping patterns more closely with natural light patterns. (198 words)

The second alternative: The short version

When sleep is not synchronized with natural light patterns, people experience sleep inertia: a difficult and gradual period between sleeping and complete wakefulness characterized by grogginess. The difference between our natural sleep cycle and the time we actually wake up is called social jetlag, a phenomenon that many experience which can lead to serious and negative health effects. All this shows that snooze buttons, and perhaps alarm clocks in general, do more harm than good. (75 words)

Note: Both of these brilliant summaries have been written by my friend and colleague Nick O’Gara

There are very few tasks that kill so many birds with one stone as a summary task; every possible cognitive skill and all one’s knowledge of the language need to come into play to produce a good summary, which makes one wonder why on earth it isn’t given the attention it deserves. The modern trend seems to be to lull the students into a false sense of security through simplistic reading tasks designed to skim the surface of a text and avoid going into detail. It is no surprise that deep reading has suffered so much.

Types of questions: Implications

After all this analysis of the text and assuming it is done diligently, questions become pretty superfluous. However, in the modern world, we are conditioned to believe that students have only really completed a reading task having answered questions on it. How useful these questions are and to what extent they further the cause of promoting deep reading depend on how they are formulated. As with the activities to engage in while reading the text, here too the emphasis needs to be on encouraging students to engage with the text closely and go beyond it. The students need to be able to pinpoint main ideas, identify the conclusions the writer reaches and be able to predict the possible implications. They need to understand the text well enough to contribute their own examples or critique the text. This being the case, not any old “Wh” question will fit the bill.

Questions such as “What chemicals were added to the mixture?” do not test deep reading which is what whoever is writing the questions needs to remember. Straight forward factual questions will not test for deep reading but questions targeting implications will. To most competent readers, questions such as “What are the implications of the experiment?” or “It is implied in the paragraph that crime levels…” don’t present a problem as 99% of the time, the answer is staring them in the face; not so our current prep students for one obvious reason: all they have ever dealt with is facts. If it is not printed in black and white, it is not there and that is all there is to it. Queries such as “Where did you find that answer?” or “Where does the writer actually say that?” should not come as a surprise. It is my experience that students find any question concerning undercurrents, innuendoes and implications extremely difficult, which is proof that they do not have the habit of reading closely enough. Questions of this sort should not be attempted, however, before careful preparation has been made by annotating, outlining and making notes from the text. Neglecting to do this could demoralize students and put them off reading thus defeating our purpose in setting the task. Consider the following example of a question where the students need to grasp what is being implied to be able to provide an answer:

Example: The teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

www.washingtonpost.com

Read the first paragraph of this section. It is implied in this section that more is needed. Select from the list; there is more than one correct answer.

• Sympathy
• Empathy
• Leniency
• Authority
• Reaction
• Flexibility

Types of questions: Opinions

A second type of question students struggle with for very similar reasons is one where they are asked for their opinion. You would be forgiven for thinking that students would relish this opportunity to put down their pens, sit back and voice their opinions. In a system where students learn from an early age that the only opinion that matters is that of the teacher, and that disagreeing is a cardinal sin, students have stopped “thinking” a very long time ago. They are taught to absorb facts, opinions and interpretations and regurgitate them come the test down to the last comma. Parroting having been in and thinking having been out for most of their education, suddenly being asked what they think causes borderline panic. The first “Well what do you think of the writer’s argument? Has he got a point or is he way off?” results in such complete silence that you could hear a pin drop. All the teacher will see is the tops of the students’ heads. Yet what better proof is there that the students have actually read the text closely than having them voice opinions and critique?

The best way to cover this type of question is to make sure to have a healthy discussion on the implications of the title and the subtitle and to have a reading into writing activity when all is done and dusted. Provided the writing task is worded appropriately, the students will be obliged to critique and evaluate the text. The joy they experience when it dawns on them that they are entitled to opinions and in fact, it is healthy to have them and disagree with each other and the teacher on occasion is something to see. There is an added bonus: such a realization boosts confidence and where is the harm in that in the modern world?

Types of questions: Drawing conclusions

The third type of question that will help develop deep reading is questions concerning drawing conclusions. To be able to successfully tackle such questions, students need to be able to get inside the mind of the writer and follow the path he took through the text and look at the text through his eyes. The trouble as far as the students who endeavor to tackle such questions as they would a cryptic crossword is that they are in for a very bumpy ride as the major point the writer is trying to make could be anywhere: it sometimes comes at the beginning of a section, is followed by an explanation and an example but there is nothing to stop the writer starting off with a striking example, hinting at this major point, providing more examples and to add insult to injury, mentioning the major point again with different words. Assuming that the student finds the answer, 99% of the time he will ask if the second mention of the conclusion we can draw is possible too. It is very rare that a student sees the paraphrasing of the point and recognizes it for what it is. It is the extent of the blinkered approach to reading and how endemic the problem has become that so distresses many competent readers and teachers and we have to put our best foot forward and plan a successful counter attack against poor reading habits.

Getting back to drawing conclusions, it is often the case that conclusions the reader is meant to draw are not overtly stated but alluded to, in which case another type of question is also possible. Instead of asking a straight forward question, the teacher may prefer to have an incomplete sentence in his own words and not in the words of the text that expresses the conclusion when completed. When starting out, this type of sentence could be followed by a selection of choices one of which expresses the conclusion to be drawn while the others are designed to mislead. To be affective, such questions should paraphrase ideas in the text and the same goes for the answers. When students have got the hang of this and actually started to engage the little grey cells, they could be asked to tick all the answers that fit. The added bonus here is that the students come to realize there are umpteen ways to express the same idea or concept. Further down the line, the students could be asked to use their own words, in which case the teacher can check for correct meaning. An answer key does not constitute the Ten Commandments and the teacher can and should employ different tactics in class than on a test where concerns such as uniformity, practicality and the like come into play. Only in this way can he help rekindle the flame which has become all but extinguished. Consider the following examples of questions designed to see if students can correctly draw conclusions; you may refer to my blog for the full task.

The first example: The war on stupid people
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/the-war-on-stupid-people/485618/

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the paragraph beginning “This gleeful derision”? Mark as many as necessary.

• We have created a dystopia not a meritocracy
• Those with a lower IQ may as well shoot themselves
• Nietzsche’s dream of two classes the leaders and the followers has finally been realized
• The American dream has become the American nightmare for some
• The system is rigged to favor those with a high IQ
• A system that resembles the cast system is taking shape.
• Blame your parents if you cannot get ahead in life

The second example

The cases of Terry Bradshaw, Dan Morino and Jim Kelly prove that ……………

The third example

Read the paragraph beginning “At the same time…”Which of the following conclusions cannot be drawn from the paragraph?

• Automation and technology are going to condemn millions to poverty
• The idea that technological developments always lead to new jobs is a fallacy
• People will be dealing with machines and robots in their daily life not humans
• If you want to get a job, you need a college degree.
• Even service jobs will soon be closed to many people
• Millions of Americans will be facing the prospect of living on the dole

Types of questions: Predictions

It is obvious that all questions that promote deep reading are those which require the students to draw the information together, discover commonalities and move from them to a generalization either implicit or explicit. The students need to immerse themselves in the text to such an extent that the more they read, the better they are able to predict the content of the section to come. They are not going to be able to accomplish what to competent readers is a perfectly natural task by endeavoring to tackle the reading task by following what seems to them to be word clues and not reading the text. One such question type involves inserting information into the text in the form of clauses, phrases or full sentences. This the student can only accomplish if he has really immersed himself in the text. Below you will find three sample questions; the links to the texts they are based on have been provided. To see the full task, go to my blog: http://theproproom.blogspot.com

The first example

The deconstruction of the K12 teacher
www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/

Which of the statements below would best follow the sentence beginning” Or to put it more euphemistically…”?

• That is to say, the teacher needs to guide, control and help when needed
• That is to say, the teacher needs to let students get on with the lesson
• That is to say, modern technology is in and the teacher is out.

The second example

The war on stupid people
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/the-war-on-stupid-people/485618/

• Where, in the paragraph beginning “Rather than looking…” would you place the following phrases or sentences?
• Which is really carrying it too far
• What this means is that they are testing for IQ but being secretive about it
• In other words, they are paying lip-service to the age old hiring practices

The third example

Should heritable gene editing be used on humans?
www.wsj.com/articles/should-heritable-gene-editing-be-used-on-humans-1460340173#

Read the section titled “YES: If evidence shows the technique is safe and effective” and decide how many of the following could best complete the sentence. Parents who carry gene mutations for terrible herieditary diseases …

• Now have little option but to allow the disease to run its course
• Now have little option but to have no normal kids
• Now have no option but to resort to adoption and donation
• Now suffer due to unsatisfied psychological and physical needs
• Now remain dissatisfied with the solutions they are offered

Types of questions: Reasons and results

Another obvious type of question is one where correct understanding of causes and effects are tested. You would think that this type of question would be relatively easy but this is far from being the case for one important reason: the infatuation with transition words. These traffic signs of the written text take on the role of directing the reader’s thinking leaving him to follow the signs or his so called “GPS monitor” and reach his destination: the answer to the question. The trouble is that native speakers of English are not enamored with these words preferring to trust to common sense and basic reasoning; a fact that is often ignored by those responsible for preparing material, who pepper the text liberally with such words leaving students to follow the clues. Imagine the horror of such students when they are faced with an original unadulterated text and are expected to discern the reason for something without the help of the sign posts they have grown to depend on. I remember one exasperated student visiting me at the support center and explaining to me in desperation that his teacher had told him that one stated one’s opinion and then provided reasons why he supported such a stand point. He added that he had then told him that reasons came first and results came afterwards. What he wanted me to tell him was which reason went where and how he could possibly pinpoint the reason for something, and these kids are not stupid by any means. It is just that certain cognitive skills have been allowed to be atrophied thanks to the ways in which reading is taught and the material that is used to do so. Consider the following example of a question where, to add insult to injury, the reason is implied and not stated openly allowing for the killing of multiple birds with one stone:

First example: In defense of seeing movies alone www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/

Why does the writer go to the movies?

• To be alone
• To listen to other people
• To watch a movie
• To meet people

Second example: The enormous power of the unconscious brain
www.bbc.com/future/story/20160315-the-enormous-power-of-the-unconscious-brain

Why is the efficacy of consciousness being debated?

• Because the non conscious mind is capable of forming opinions
• Because the non conscious mind is capable of doing sums
• Because consciousness is not necessary for forming opinions
• Because consciousness is not necessary for doing sums
• All of the above
• None of the above (provide your own answer)

Types of questions: Interpretation

Questions that require the reader to interpret what he has read also make very good close reading questions as they cannot be answered without correctly interpreting the subtle shades of meaning, implications and innuendoes. When the students get better at reading closely and detecting the hidden meaning in texts, they learn to love this type of question and lively discussions often ensue. When this point has been reached, the teacher can pat himself on the back for a job well done. Consider the following example from the reading task prepared to accompany the text mentioned above: In defense of seeing movies alone:

The writer feels that it is strange / unusual / unnecessary / unpleasant / pathetic / fun to be accompanied to the movies.

Naturally, once the students have grown accustomed to interpreting the text, the multiple choice format may be scrapped and the question can involve discussion, which would be more challenging as all props will have been removed. Such questions also develop students’ ability to draw conclusions, generalize from information that has been provided and practice vocabulary.

The first example: The myth of I am bad at maths
www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/the-myth-of-im-bad-at-math/280914

Read the remainder of the text and decide which of the qualities below are associated with East Asians and which with Americans.

• Studiousness
• Short holidays
• Despondency
• Perseverance
• Determination
• Resentment in face of criticism

Another such question that requires interpretation involves presenting students with a hypothetical situation. Consider the following example:

The second example: The enormous power of the unconscious brain
www.bbc.com/future/story/20160315-the-enormous-power-of-the-unconscious-brain

Which of the following would Eagleman agree with: mind control could be used for the good of mankind by (select as many as necessary)

• Helping people achieve better control of their addictions
• Helping people achieve better control of their cravings
• Helping people achieve better control of their bad habits

In the above example, the reader is faced with a considerable cognitive challenge: he needs to understand the views of Eagleman to the extent that he can correctly predict his answer to the above question. The advantage of this type of question is that it draws different sections of the text together by forcing the reader to think back to Eagleman and his views. Now consider a similar type of question from the same reading task:

The third example

What would happen if Le Bron James paid conscious attention to every move he made while playing?

James is not mentioned anywhere in the text but what if he were; how would he react? This question encourages the reader to go beyond the text and form links to outside examples; a considerable mental feat. Consider a similar type of question with multiple examples and not just one:

Fourth example: Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us www.theguardian.com

Which of the following individuals would be ‘breaking the rules governing modern society’?

• A new mother who prefers to return to work immediately and hire a nanny
• A teacher who turns down a well paying job at a private university because he feels he has more to give students of a state university.
• A young person with an excellent education who chooses to take up acting instead of pursuing a career.
• A person who uproots his family to move to another city because he has got a promotion.

Post-reading activity

Having reached this point, you may think that the reading activity has been completed but you would be wrong for without the post reading activity to consolidate learning, a lot of what has been learnt in the text is more likely to be forgotten. The best possible post reading activity is reading into writing while completing which students will be able to draw on every stage of the reading task: they will be able to use vocabulary and collocations they have learnt, emulate organizational details of the text and go beyond the text. The usefulness of the post reading activity diminishes as the time which elapses between the completion of the questions and the reading into writing activity is prolonged. Thus, it is vital that this particular writing task be done in class for maximum benefit. Consider the following example of four possible reading into writing activities designed to follow the reading task proper for this interesting text out of The Wall Street Journal:

Example: A guide to not retiring www.wsj.com/articles/a-guide-to-not-retiring-1426475064

Writing task: The first alternative

Look back to question 8. Graph writing is an integral part of the IELTS exam so put your interpretation skills to the test by completing this task.

Writing task: The second alternative

Discuss the factors that enable an individual to go on working after the socially expected retirement age. Use the text.

• Passion and excitement
• Keeping up with modern technology
• Physical and mental health – people live, on average 25 years longer
• The continued to desire to commit to the job

Writing task: The third alternative

Discuss the advantages of delaying retirement:

In terms of the state:

• The strain a large group of pensioners who live into their 90’s put on the economy avoided
• Benefitting from amassed skills and experience
• Passion and excitement allowed to spread

In terms of the individual:

• Satisfaction derived from continuing to be useful
• Satisfaction derived from doing a job one loves
• Better physical health linked to improved psychological health

Writing task: The fourth alternative

Discuss the reasons why people don’t wish to retire

Practical considerations:

• Keeping health insurance benefits
• Need money to make ends meet

Lifestyle factors:

• Want to stay active and involved (people live longer, physically fit)
• Enjoy working (passion and excitement)

One or more of the above writing tasks would help round off the reading successfully and consolidate the learning that has taken place. An additional way to achieve this aim is to ask the students to prepare a power point presentation outlining the text. This could be done as a group activity, and students could incorporate videos and pictures. This might be a good opportunity to go over the details of how to use prezi, the website that provides tools and guidance in preparing power point presentations. The advantage of this form of post-reading activity is that it includes technology, with which the modern generation is smitten. Consider the following example based on a text titled Off Shore Oil Riggs which has been prepared by students and has been posted on slideshare: www.slideshare.net/yadyokassistant/. The presentation constitutes a summary of the text. Now consider the following example posted on the same site and based on the text Sports, Academic Performance and Identity: www.slideshare.net/yadyokassistant/sports-academic-performanceand-identity. These and similar activities will provide variety, which is always a good thing, entertain and tick all the right boxes.

Students could also be encouraged to use Pow Toons ( www.powtoon.com/edu-home/) to prepare an animation to summarize either the whole text or sections of the text. This tool is very easy to use and enormous fun as it incorporates every adult’s secret passion: cartoons and cartoon characters. Alternatively, students could prepare audio-visual presentations on the text they have just read and post them. Technology presents modern students with the possibility to engage in many possible post reading activities. The post-reading activity complete, all the boxes will have been ticked, which will guarantee that the students will be able to carry what they have learnt forward into the next reading activity which is covered, and will be much more enthused by the whole activity than they otherwise would have been.

Conclusion

Deep reading can transport the reader to different dimensions and different worlds opening up a completely novel vista; it can create a parallel universe in which the reader can find solace, stimulation and deep satisfaction; it can create intellectual challenges; it can boost creativity allowing the individual to achieve his full potential and enabling him to reach heights of intellectual achievement he has never dreamt of; it can promote better understanding, empathy and sympathy, in short, it can enrich the life of the individual as well as the community as a whole. Deep reading can become a major life force, a superb motivator and a call for action, innovation, and achievement increasing the scope of human endeavor. Given its enormous potential, it cannot be denied that it is the duty of the teacher to promote deep reading in the next generation and this, we know, is possible; provided, of course, certain attitudes and policies are changed.

The most important first step in promoting deep reading is disabusing students of the deep seated belief that the faster you do something, the better. Speed has its place in life but not in the English reading class. The concept of deep reading runs counter to the basic philosophy of the current century and the teacher must not stand back and let nature take its course because in this case, it will be to the detriment of individuals and society. The betterment of the human condition depends on deep reading so teachers should be actively engaged during a reading lesson and not orbit the periphery of the classroom; they should not be invisible to the naked eye; quite the contrary, they should be at the coal face with the students guiding them throughout an arduous journey which will help them reach their full potential and bring them untold happiness. This new found involvement on the part of the teacher will be deeply rewarding and a great source of joy: he will be able to witness, first hand, the joy of students whose horizons are widened, who discover new shores and who get to delve into a deep well of knowledge and experience. There are simply no down sides to close reading. It should, therefore, be reinstated in its rightful place front and center of the syllabus.

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