Making Reading Engaging Through Experiential Learning: A Teaching Module

Abstract

Reading is often viewed as a stagnant and uninteresting process. Students perceive the reading process as a task to lift specific information in the text and to fill in the questions at the end of the text. The process has deterred the students’ interest to engage with the text meaningfully. Students need to be engaged with the text in order to become effective readers. This article discusses ways in making reading engaging and to facilitate student’s reading skill. The aim of this paper is to provide techniques in making reading interesting and meaningful as well as providing reading motivation to students. A framework to teach reading through experiential learning is discussed. Students are engaged in the process of learning through fun and meaningful tasks. To reinforce the students’ understanding of the text, reinforcement such as through speaking and writing activities are employed. The tasks permit the students to discover and strengthen their understanding of the reading material. Engaging students in experiential learning implicates that students will be able to explore and discover the meaning of the text in an engaging and meaningful manner during the act of reading. Thus, the pedagogical approach using experiential learning permits students to progress gradually as engaged readers when they are given the opportunities to have personal experience, reflection, conceptualization, application and involvement throughout the act of reading.