Reader Response Approach to foster speaking activity at EFL contexts

In addition to the poster presentation, the explanation sheet includes a more detailed consideration of the theoretical aspect of the prepared lesson, as well as an explanation of the material and extra exercises being used. The Reader Response Theory was first introduced by J. Richards, as response to the idea of teaching reading that promoted structure-oriented views on reading text. Before that, structure-oriented reading was a commonly used strategy that suggested the tasks after reading that implied a clear structured answer or cliché phrases. On the contrary, the idea of Reader Response Theory is based on the fact that the reader has a very essential role in formulating the meaning of the text that is read. The notion ‘response’ in this perspective refers to both intellectual and emotional reactions towards the texts being interpreted. Thus, after reading students have their own interpretation to the text because it intrigued some sort of experiences they have. If we create a lesson based on the Reader Response Approach, this may actually mean that we remove any frames for reasoning and giving answers. There is no right or wrong answer to a reading response. Nevertheless, it is important to demonstrate an understanding of the reading and clearly explain and support reactions. I firmly believe that this approach makes it possible to freely formulate one`s thoughts and express ideas, which can perfectly develop language activity in the classroom, and foster speaking. What kind of tasks are suitable? 2. Material and Lesson plan The detective genre is widely loved not only by adults, but also by children, as they like solving various kinds of riddles and being involved into mystery. Hence, as a main material for the lesson, I have chosen a short detective story “The case of a room murder “. This story can be considered as an authentic material as it was taken from a website where native speakers write and share their literary works.