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The article touches upon the problem of ESL reading strategies and skills development in the first year of studies at university. Reading is seen as a complex interactive process between a reader and a text where various kinds of knowledge are used: linguistic (through bottom-up processing) as well as schematic knowledge (through top-down processing). By the end of the first year students are to acquire Level B2 (Vantage) according to Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This means that they can read articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems in which the writers adopt particular attitudes or viewpoints; adapt style and speed of reading to different texts and purposes; scan quickly through the text locating relevant details; identify the content and relevance of news items on a wide rage of topics, etc. The authors of the article believe that the recourses of the websites News in Levels and Breaking News English meet all the requirements for texts aimed at developing key reading strategies and skills. The reading tasks introduced in the article involve three-phase procedures: pre-, while-, post-reading stages. The pre-reading stage helps to activate the relevant schema and motivate students before the actual reading takes place. The while-reading stage is aimed at developing students’ linguistic and schematic knowledge as well as crucial reading skills. The post-reading stage is used as a springboard for further language practice. The use of a balanced approach to teaching reading which incorporates both top-down and bottom-up processes proves to be an effective way to improve reading skills in L2 Author Biographies Olena Davydenko, Nizhyn Gogol State University Hrafska str., 2 Nizhyn, Ukraine, 16608 PhD, Associate professor  Department of English Language and Teaching Methods

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