Meaning out of Madness: Comprehending in a Foreign Language
Workshop Abstract
Marva A. Barnett, Director and Professor, Teaching Resource Center, University of Virginia
Faculty, Department of French

Reading is in many ways a problem-solving process: literate people have learned how to derive meaning from words made of rather arbitrary symbols. Reading in a foreign language is, of course, even more cryptic; and most students can benefit from learning rather explicitly how to finding meaning in this “madness.”

Participants in this interactive workshop find themselves drawing on some effective reading strategies as they experience what it is like to attempt reading in a second language. They also learn ways to teach such strategies, together with basic theories about the second language reading process. Teachers leave with new techniques and understandings of their students’ struggles and sources of success.