Re-examining the Role of Reading in the Era of Communicative Language Teaching

The aim of this study is to emphasize the role of reading in the era of communicative language teaching and argue that reading, as and important source of language input that is crucial for the development of communicative language ability, deserves a greater portion in the Korean student's English learning experience For this aim, the study first describes the reading process with two conflicting hypotheses, compares L2 reading with L1 reading, and introduces the component skills of fluent reading The study then examines the role of reading in the EFL context and discusses L2 reading instruction, describing factors to be considered and strategies to be used In addition, based on the results of the author's own previous studies, the study describes the problems and sources of the problems in the English reading instruction in Korea and considerations in the design of the reading instruction Finally, the study states the concluding remarks and makes suggestions to make reading play a more important role in the Korean students' English learning experience and thus contribute to developing their communicative language ability