Do we need to teach reading in ESL?

When reading is being taught in language institutions, the Korean students became a bit skeptical on the benefits of what it could bring them. They would normally say that it would be better for them to learn reading in Korean where teachers would be able to explain the text in L1 which is of course very convenient for them.

However, there is something in language learning that makes reading the most important area to explore – comprehension. It could easily be mediated since there is a common modality between the teacher and the student. I always tell students when they become very negative to reading tasks that it is the only way for me to see their brain (at least the area where English is).

Do we really need to teach reading?

The answer is a big yes. Reading is the gateway to speaking. At times, we only thought that reading is correlated with listening in terms of comprehension. But, reading is the pathway to a good speaking class particularly to beginners that are less communicative if not short to the cultural and knowledge background of the English material. It gives student ideas on what to say and how to say it. It could also improve the pronunciation of the students instead of simple drilling. Or, it could teach them how to articulate or how to discuss.

There are various benefits reading could give our students if we only knew how to do it well.