1

Leôncio Faife Augusto

Macassar Marcos Bonifácio
Maló Carlitos Namige
Micas Albino

WORKSHEETS FOR READING AND WRITING

(Licenciatura em ensino de Inglês)

Universidade Rovuma
Nampula
2021
 2

Leôncio Faife Augusto

Macassar Marcos Bonifácio
Maló Carlitos Namige
Micas Albino

Worksheets for reading and writing

Essay to be submitted to the Department of Letters
and
Social Sciences, English Course third year, in partial
fulfilment of the subject: Didactics of English III

Lecturer: Samuel Canda, MA.

Universidade Rovuma
Nampula
 3
iii

2021

CONTENTS PAGE
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................4
WORKSHEETS FOR READING AND WRITING..................................................................5
Basic concepts.........................................................................................................................5
The purpose of worksheets......................................................................................................5
The importance of worksheets................................................................................................5
How to use Worksheets...........................................................................................................6
Building a set of worksheets...................................................................................................6
Reasons for reading.....................................................................................................................7
Building the Writing Habit........................................................................................................7
Types of reading......................................................................................................................7
Types of Writing.....................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................9
BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................10
APPENDIX...............................................................................................................................11
Examples of workshee…………………………………………….……………………………………………………..….11
 4

INTRODUCTION
The present piece of writing aims to talk about the use of worksheets for reading and writing.
The purpose of this paper, is to describe the use of worksheets for reading and writing skills
and provide some suitable worksheets for students according to their level.

Broadly speaking, a worksheet is a sheet of paper given by a teacher to students that lists tasks
for the to accomplish. In English teaching, a worksheet usually concentrates on one specific
area of learning and is often used to practise a particular topic that has recently been learned
or introduced.

This topic plays a great importance in the process of English Language Teaching once it may
help teachers to select appropriate worksheets for reading and writing depending on the level
of the students they teach deal with.

For the fulfilment of the present paper, there has been used a deep literature review of
different books which bring clear explanations of the topic. And the same references are listed
on the bibliographical page of this work. Finally, it has structured as follows: (i) basic
concepts of worksheets; (ii); the purpose of worksheets; (iii) the importance of worksheets;
(iv) how to use them; building a set of worksheets; (v) reasons of reading and building the
writing habit; (vi) conclusion; (vii) bibliography and (viii) appendix.
 5

1. WORKSHEETS FOR READING AND WRITING

1.1. Basic concepts
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “Worksheet is a piece of paper in
which there is a series of questions and exercises to be done by a student. In other words,
worksheet can be defined as a piece of paper in which work that has been done or has to be
done is recorded”.

Worksheets are exercises written or typed in a sheet of paper, which are given out to the class
and then collected at the end of the lesson so that they can be, used again, (JAMES, 2001).

UR (1996:192), defines worksheets as a page (or two) of tasks, distributed to each student to
do either in class or at home, intended to be written on, and usually taken in by the teacher to
be checked. Teacher made test can be seen as specific worksheet.

Taking into account, the definitions of the term worksheets presented above, it is clear to note
that, worksheets are written exercises designed by teachers with clear instructions to be given
to the students to do. They can either be taken from the course book or from other available
sources that the teacher finds relevant for the designed task depending on the level of the
students.

1.2. The purpose of worksheets

JAMES, (2001) points out the purposes of worksheets, as follows:

 To enable teachers to personalize tasks;

 To help students to share and synthesize learning with each other;
 To provide memorable, recoverable record of learning;
 To build a bridge between the present programmes and future learning outcomes.

1.3. The importance of worksheets

According to DOFF (2004:), worksheets help students to learn, writing new words and
structures helps the students to remember them and, as writing is done more slowly and
carefully than speaking, writing practice helps to focus students' attention on what they are
learning. It can also, help students to engage more thoroughly with specific elements of
language – both in the classroom and at home.

However, worksheets can also Help teachers organize the class in a particular way; Help
teachers add exercises of their own, which are not available on the textbook; Teachers may
 6

use worksheet simply for a variety, to make a change from the textbook and to give the
students something different to look at. And in some classes, there may not be enough text
books for all the students or the teachers may have the only copy, in this case worksheets will
be the main used by the class.

1.4. How to use Worksheets

 When using worksheets, teachers should ensure that the students understand exactly
what they have to do by printing out the task aim(s) shown at the top of the worksheet.
 Students should be allowed enough time to read through the instructions;
 Any unfamiliar term employed on the worksheet should be explained.
 The examples of the responses required should be given if the students are not sure
what is expected.

When processing the result of a worksheet, teachers may encourage individuals or sub groups
to present their findings, either by inviting them by name or asking for a volunteer. Depending
on the size of the group, there may be time for all the subgroups to present, or only some, so
teachers should be flexible about this, (JAMES, 2001).

1.5. Building a set of worksheets

According to UR (1996:93), a worksheet should be:

 Be neat, clean, with level lines of neat writing, clear margins, different components well-
spaced;
 Begin with short and clear instructions (if appropriate in the learners’ mother tongue),
usually including examples;
 Be clear and attractive to look at; have a balanced and varied layout, using underlining
and other forms of emphasis to draw attention to significant items possibly using colour
and graphic illustration;
 Be clearly doable by the learners on their own;
 Include a self-check facility.
 7

2. REASONS FOR READING

HARMER (2007:99) states that, “reading is useful for language acquisition provided that
students more or less understand what they read, the more they read, the better they get at it”.
Reading also has a positive effect on students’ vocabulary knowledge, on their spelling and on
their writing. Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. At different times
we can encourage students to focus on vocabulary, grammar or punctuation. We can also use
reading material to demonstrate the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and whole texts.

PATEL & JAIN (2008:114), on the other hand, says that the education of a child is imperfect,
unless he is supplied everything needed with the ability of reading. Reading is form of
experience. Reading brings us in contact with the minds of great authors, with the written
account of their experiences. Their recorded lines and the advancement made by them in
various fields.

2.1. Building the Writing Habit

HARMER (2007:113), supposes that many students either think or say that they cannot, or do
not want to write. This may be because they lack confidence, think it’s boring or believe they
have ‘nothing to say’. We need to engage them, from early levels, with activities which are
easy and enjoyable to take part in, so that writing activities not only become a normal part of
classroom life but also present opportunities for students to achieve almost instant success.

Therefore, if the students acquire this writing habit, they can be able to look at written genres
and involve themselves in the writing process with enthusiasm, thus not having too many
difficulties when coming across with new expressions.

2.2. Types of reading

According to HARMER (2007:327), to get maximum benefit from their reading, students
need to be involved in both extensive and intensive reading. Whereas with the former a
teacher encourages students to choose for themselves what they read and to do so for pleasure
and general language improvement, the letter is often (but not exclusively) teacher-chosen and
directed. It is designed to enable students to develop specific receptive skills such as reading
for gist (or general understanding always called skimming), reading for specific information
(often called scanning) reading for detailed comprehension or reading for inference (what is
behind the words) and attitude.
 8

2.3. Types of Writing

As HARMER (2007:330), points out that we need to make a distinction between Writing-for-
learning and writing-for-writing if we are to promote writing as a skill. Writing-for-leaning is
the kind of writing we do to help students learn language or to test them on that language.
Thus, if we say write 3 sentences using the “going to” future, our aim is not to train students
to write, but rather to help them remember the going to future. The same is true when we get
them to write (say for a test) four sentences about what they wish about the present and the
past.

When we ask student to design a good magazine advertisement, however, we are doing this so
that they may become good at writing advertisements. When we get them to write a narrative,
it is their ability to write a story that counts, not just their use of the past tense.

If we are going to build the students’ writing skills (as opposed to building their writing habit
or getting them to write for language practice), we will have to use such writing-for-writing
task as often is appropriate.
 9

CONCLUSION
Throughout the reduction of this piece of writing, it has been let clear that the use of
worksheets in class or at home fosters students’ skills to read and write. However, teachers
should bear in mind the reasons behind reading and writing skills and the kinds of reading and
writing as described in this piece of writing so that they design appropriately the worksheets.
Not only that but also the level of the students should be also taken into account. In this sense,
the importance of worksheets in the process of language learning is so notorious.

Therefore, it can be said that worksheets provide students opportunities to practice and
improve their reading and writing skills.
 10

BIBLIOGRAPHY
DOFF, A. (2004). Teach English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom.

HARMER, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Longman: Pearson Education Limited, England.

JAMES, P. (2001). Teachers in Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, United

Kingdom.

OXFORD ADVANCED LEARNER’S DICTIONARY, 9th edition. Oxford. Oxford

University Press.

PATEL, M. F. & JAIN, P. M. (2008). English Language Teaching. 1st ed. India: Sunrise
Publishers & Distributors, USA.

UR, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

United Kingdom.
 11

APPENDIX
Examples of worksheets

Turn it off!
A simple way to protect the environment is to remind yourselves to “turn it off” what does
that mean? When you leave a room, turn off the lights. When you are done watching TV, turn
it off. While you are brushing turn off the faucet. If you are waiting in parking lot, ask the
driver to turn off the car. These are great ways to save money but they are also great ways to
save resources like electricity, water, and fuel and that is important. Do this, every day
because every day is Earth Day!

Read carefully the text above, and answer the questions

below

Questions
1. What did the text say about you should do when you leave a room?
__________________________________________________________________
2. Why is it important to save to turn it off?
__________________________________________________________________
3. Which resources are mentioned in the text?
__________________________________________________________________
4. When do you turn the faucet?
__________________________________________________________________
5. What is the title of the text?
__________________________________________________________________
Worksheet for reading and writing
 12

I have a thankful heart!

Thankfully happy hungry
healthy

What does it mean to be thankful? It means seeing all the good things you have and being
happy to have them. It means seeing the food on your plate and being happy to healthy food
to eat. Some people don’t have much food. It means seeing people in your life and feeling
happy to love them.

What are the things you are thankful for? Make a list

People Things___________ places___________

________________ ________________ _________________

________________ ________________ _________________

________________ ________________ _________________

________________ ________________ _________________

 13

Worksheets for reading and writing