Predict from Title

Before reading or listening, the teacher shows only the title (and perhaps an image). Students predict content, tone, audience, and structure. The actual reading becomes a confirmation-or-contradiction of their predictions.

Procedure

1. Display title only: "Why Loneliness Is the Next Global Health Crisis"
2. Pairs discuss for 3 minutes:
   • What will the article be about?
   • What three points might the writer make?
   • What tone do you expect — academic, journalistic, alarmist?
   • Who is the intended reader?
   • What kind of evidence will appear?
3. Collect predictions on the board.
4. Read the text.
5. Verify: which predictions matched? Which were contradicted? Which were partially right?

Why It Works

• Schema activation: readers who activate prior knowledge before reading comprehend more.
• Prediction-driven reading: the reading has a goal (checking predictions) rather than passive processing.
• Metacognitive awareness: students notice how much meaning comes from titles, before the body even begins.
• Low-stakes discussion opener: predicting is fun; no one's "wrong."

Good Title Types for Prediction

• Question headlines: Should We Ban Private Cars in Cities? — invites opinion before content.
• Claim headlines: The End of the Office Era — invites confirmation/disagreement.
• Surprising numeric: 70% of Vietnamese Under 30 Plan to Emigrate — triggers curiosity about evidence.
• Metaphorical: The Loneliness Epidemic — forces literal-vs-metaphorical reading.
• Two-part titles: Why X: The Case for Y — structure signals specific argument.

Variations

• Title + image only: add a photo. Expand predictions.
• Title + first sentence: more information; predictions narrow.
• Compare predictions across pairs: different starting predictions → different readings.
• Reverse engineering: give students the content; have them invent a title. Compare to the original.
• Listening predict: before a podcast, show the title. Listeners confirm.

Tips

• Resist revealing content during the prediction. Fifteen seconds of speculation rewarded by the reading is the whole mechanic.
• Honour all predictions, even silly ones. Something often turns out to be closer to truth than students expect.
• Use for every text — a two-minute habit that permanently upgrades reading.
• Great for exam reading: trained predictors finish tests faster because they read with a question in mind.

Source

Anderson, R.C. (1977) Schema theory. In Anderson, Spiro & Montague (eds.) Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge. Erlbaum. Grabe, W. (2009) Reading in a Second Language. CUP.