Reading lessons should combine extensive reading, reading fluency and intensive reading. A short, rule-bound speed-reading drill on easy text builds speed and confidence; early diagnostic writing shows what to teach.
Speed-reading drill (CamTESOL notes)
- Text well within level (learners know the 1,000 most common words).
- Under 10 minutes; no pens, no fingers; teacher writes 10-second intervals on the board.
- Answer comprehension questions from memory; 7/10 is “good enough”. Learners log speed and score.
- Train out three habits: fixation, regression (slide paper down), auditory reassurance (subvocalising).
- Target cited: around 300 wpm (Nation, 2005).
Also from the notes
- Diagnostic writing early: familiar topic, discussion first, loose time limit, no dictionaries, always some feedback.
- Sentence stretching: prompt who? doing what? where? why? to expand a sentence.
Critique (Claude)
This is Nation’s fluency strand: easy material, time pressure, measurable improvement. Repeated timed reading has decent support (Chang & Millett 2013). Warn learners that fluency practice is not the exam reading process, which needs careful reading for distractors.
Connections
Nation’s Four Strands - balance input, output, language focus and fluency · Look-alike distractors - train students not to word-match