The Reading Approach

This approach is selected for practical and academic reasons. For specific uses of the language in graduate or scientific studies. The approach is for people who do not travel abroad for whom reading is the one usable skill in a foreign language.
The priority in studying the target language is first, reading ability and second, current and/or historical knowledge of the country where the target language is spoken. Only the grammar necessary for reading comprehension and fluency is taught. Minimal attention is paid to pronunciation or gaining conversational skills in the target language. From the beginning, a great amount of reading is done in L2, both in and out of class. The vocabulary of the early reading passages and texts is strictly controlled for difficulty. Vocabulary is expanded as quickly as possible, since the acquisition of vocabulary is considered more important that grammatical skill. Translation reappears in this approach as a respectable classroom procedure related to comprehension of the written text.
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/almmethods.htm#Reading

Introduction
Over the years teachers have used a variety of approaches to teach reading and writing.
Definition
A reading approach is a way to start teaching beginning readers.
Also known as: method

Discussion
Various approaches begin by
• teaching learners to get meaning from whole chunks of text
• teaching whole words and going on to larger chunks of text
• teaching whole words and breaking them down into smaller parts
• teaching parts of words and putting them together into whole words, or
• teaching meaning, whole words, and parts of words from the very beginning.
The approaches overlap with some common elements appearing in all of them.
The information here is introductory. You will need to study these approaches in more detail to understand the distinctions.
Kinds
Here are some kinds of reading approaches:
• An analytic approach to reading
• An eclectic approach to reading
• A global approach to reading
• A phonic approach to reading
• A sight word approach to reading
• The syllable approach to reading
• A synthetic approach to reading

reading approach is a reaction to the impracticality of the Direct Approach as few teachers could use the target language in a native-like manner to apply Direct Method successfully. In addition, reading was somehow neglected in the Direct Method, but reading was seen as the most usable skill to have in a foreign language since not many people traveled abroad around 1930s. Therefore, a new approach focusing on the development of reading skill has emerged. The basic principles of this approach are presented as follows:
1. The teaching grammar is restricted. It is only taught to ease the reading comprehension.
2. The presentation of vocabulary is highly controlled at the beginning and then expanded at the later stages.
3. Translation is regarded as a fruitful classroom practice.
4. Among the other language skills, reading comprehension receives the highest attention and it is heavily emphasized.
5. The teachers do not need to have a good oral proficiency in the foreign language since the foreign language is not used as a tool for communication in the classroom environment.