Teaching Ideas

Reading Strategies for the TOEIC® Test

Johannes C. Razenberg
TESOL teacher
July 2003

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Introduction
If your learners, regardless of their TOEIC proficiency level(s), are having trouble understanding the context, purpose, sociocultural usage, and so on of the texts which appear in Part VII of the TOEIC test, then you may be interested in utilizing this text-based syllabus. You may decide to include the units of work in your current TOEIC framework, adopt some of the ideas, or use this text-based syllabus as intended—a series of lessons which focuses on developing seven reading strategies across ten text-type categories.

Aim
To improve learners' TOEIC scores in Part VII of the TOEIC test

Outcome
Learners will have acquired seven reading strategies for improving their reading comprehension skills.

Objectives
Learners will:

• Use authentic texts to learn and practice the reading strategies.
• Use TOEIC preparatory texts to practice the reading strategies under test conditions.
• Think about the text-type of a given text.
• Think about where a given text is used (social and situational contexts).
• Think about the purpose of a given text.
• Think about the main point(s) of a given text.
• Think about the writer and/or source of a given text.
• Think about the audience of a given text.
• Think about the written expression of a given text.

Units of Work

Forms Faxes

Tables Memos

Charts Bulletins

Indexes Letters

Advertisements Miscellaneous reading passages

Each unit of work follows the same genre-approach methodology and addresses each of the seven reading strategies. See Figure 1 for a list of the seven strategies and how they correspond with questions frequently encountered on the TOEIC test.

Sequencing
It is highly suggested that learners first learn the strategies with very straightforward text-types such as forms and tables and gradually work up to the more difficult text-types categories such as letters and miscellaneous reading passages.

Reading Strategies for the TOEIC Test

Strategy 1: Think about the text-type What kind of text this? What type of text is this? What is the text-type? Strategy 2: Think about where this text is used Where would you likely find this ____(text-type)? Where would this ____(text-type) most likely appear? Where would this ____(text-type) most likely be found? Where would this ____(text-type) appear? Strategy 3: Think about the purpose What is the purpose of this ____(text-type)? What is this ____(text-type) used for? What is this ____(text-type) for? Why was the ____(text-type) written? Strategy 4: Think about the main point(s) What is this ____(text-type) about? What is the main subject of the ____(text-type)? What is the main topic of this ____ (text-type)? What is the main idea of this ____(text-type)? What is the topic of the ____(text-type)? What do the listings feature? What does this ____(text-type) compare? What is the focus of this ____(text-type)? What does the ____(text-type) concern? What is the ____(text-type) promoting? What is the ____(text-type) suggesting? What is the primary focus of this ____(text-type)? What are the contents of this ____(text-type)? What is this list of? What is the ____(text-type) showing? Permission to copy

Strategy 5: Think about the writer/source What does the writer expect from the reader? What is the writer's intent? Who would most likely use this ____(text-type)? What can be said about the writer of this ____(text-type)? Who would publish this ____(text-type)? Strategy 6: Think about the audience Who would most likely read this ____(text-type)? Who would most likely respond to this ____(text-type)? Who would find this ____(text-type) valuable? Who would benefit from this ____(text-type)? Where is this ____(text-type) most likely being sent to? Who is the audience? Who will read this ____(text-type)? Why might people respond to this ____(text-type)? A person doing what would read this. For whom is this _____(text-type) intended? Who would most likely use this ____(text-type)? Who is this ____(text-type) intended for? For whom is this ____(text-type) important? Strategy 7: Think about the written expression How is the ____(text-type) organized? (Source Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test)

(Fig.1)

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