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 to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary;
 communication goals:
 to improve students’ communicative competence;
 to strengthen logical reasoning in oral expression;
 to develop students' interpretative abilities.
 literary analysis goals:
 to encourage critical analysis of ideas, structure, and style in literary
texts.
The structure of exercises takes into consideration Louise
Rosenblatt’s reader-response theory, in which reading is seen as the
interaction among reader, writer, and text.
One of the challenging tasks in reading is understanding the
vocabulary. Literary works tend to contain a large number of unfamiliar
words and set expressions, and readers may be slowed down by their
inability to guess the meaning of a word or phrase from the context.
However, literary texts are invaluable sources of vocabulary building,
and each selection is followed by a list of words readers are supposed to
look up.
The recommended communication activities implement
Rosenblatt’s thesis that the reader’s personal response is considered the
central element in reading literature; therefore, they vary in format
bringing the reader’s response to the fore. Communication activities help
readers formulate and express their opinions, sharpen their critical
thinking skills and improve their communicative competence.
The textbook presents an intergrated –skills approach to teaching
reading and writing.
Reading literature involves reading for pleasure and for
knowledge. Understanding literary text demands a special sensitivity to
language knowledge. To read the selections in this book with maximum
pleasure and comprehension, the following sequence is suggested:
1. Preview reading:
a) Read the title and the first sentence (line) of the reading.
b) Skim the reading to gain a general idea of its content, form and
length.
2. Casual reading:
a) Read the selection without worrying about difficult vocabulary or
content.
b) Underline words and sentences that seem meaningful to you.
c) Think about the author’s theme.
d) Give the gist of the story.
e) Write a few questions that you have about the reading.