Q: Suppose your younger brother, nine year
old, did not read in English yet, so your mother decided to send him to Hakwon.
But 3 months later he ended up feeling that English was simply nightmare. He
hated doing phonics workbook and memorizing words. He didn't want to go to
Hakwon anymore. Your mother was now anxious and worried about her son. Your
mother asked for your help. How would you help your brother enjoy reading in
English?
A: First of all, I would be really sad!, if my own younger brother suffers from reading English books! As an English Education major student, I can think of a few solutions to give.
From the above statement, I can guess that my brother does not fit into language-focused learning principle. Most Korean Hakwon, for its full efficiency, teaches with this principle. However, as our textbook says, good teaching L2 reading lessons should pursue a good balance among all four principles.
Plus, he is not able to read English, meaning no recognition of written English letters and no production of spelling is happening at his stage of learning experience.
Therefore, I would blend other principles, such as meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output and fluency development principles, into his L2 lessons. For example, to give him more meaning-focused input, I would encourage him to read more something that is easy enough for him to read. (i-1, not i+1) The primary focus here is for him to enjoy reading English. The books or any other materials will be fine, but they should be fun enough for him to keep reading. In my brother's case, those materials can be an easy chant book or phonics reading books for young learners.
An example for meaning-focused output practices can be a spelling test. This is primarily for L2 learners to produce some kind of output from their learning experiences, not for an evaluation purpose. Some phonics and spelling activities that L2 learners learns can be done for giving such an opportunity.
Last but not least, for his successful improvement in fluency of reading L2, he should practice 'reading aloud' activities as many as possible. Maybe, shadowing can be another good one for beginner levels. Such beginner level learners like my brother, simply need to repeat what the native speakers says spontaneously, without thinking and processing.
