Topic-related vocabulary exploitation:
This activity is merely based on a number of key words taken from the text and written on the board for the students to guess the theme of the text, followed by some form of idea brainstorming in connection with it.
Exploiting the text in fragments:
To enable the students to give free rein to their imagination and stimulate their predictive potential, the teacher can either select the introductory paragraph, or a paragraph taken from the middle of the text, or the concluding paragraph, or expose the text bit by bit, and then have students read and guess the whole content of the text, or part of it, or anticipate what has happened before, or what comes next. Teachers can also have students skim the first sentences of the text paragraphs and have them guess what the text under study deals with.
Exploiting the highlighted/bold typed words in the text:
Quite often, some key words in the text are underlined or written in bold type by materials writers. These words can be drawn upon by inviting students to look at them and guess the topic of the text they are about to read.
The write-before-you-read technique:
This task requires students to write for a while from their own experience about the topic under study before they read the text. Alternatively, students can be invited to make notes about what they already know about the subject. A further option is to have students write down any questions that come to their mind during the text survey.
In sum, all the activities and techniques suggested above and the list is, by no means, exhaustive are conducted during the pre-reading stage, and handled as pre-reading activities. i.e. before students actually read the text, the purpose of which is to help stimulate their interest in reading and aid text comprehension. The second advantage lies in the fact that they encourage students to view reading as an active and interactive process that takes place between their background knowledge and the text. Because these techniques prove useful and rewarding, constant practice in them deems necessary. The choice of techniques to apply is, of course, determined by the level of students and their language proficiency.
