An Approach to Teaching Reading in a Japanese Context

Extensive Reading. What? Why? How?

WHAT IS EXTENSIVE READING?

WHY EXTENSIVE READING?

Vocabulary

Learners need 7000-8000 words to read native novels with high vocabulary coverage. To learn this they need to meet about 10-15 million words.

Learners must learn a lot about the words

• What are the nuances and shades of meanings?
• What are the collocations and colligations?
• What is the pronunciation, spelling and word stress?
• Is a word typically spoken, or written?
• Is it useful or rare, polite or pejorative?
• In which discourse domains do we usually find these words?

Verb Uses of Idea: Abandon an idea, absorb, accept, adjust to, advocate, amplify, advance, back, be against, be committed/dedicated/drawn to, be obsessed with, be struck by, borrow, cherish, clarify, clingto, come out/up with, confirm, conjure up, consider, contemplate, ………………………….plus 100 more.

Adjective uses of Idea: “An idea is ………...” abstract, absurd, advanced, ambitious, arresting, basic, bizarre, bold, bright, brilliant, classical, clear, common, commonsense, confused, controversial, convincing, crazy, diabolical, disconcerting, elusive, …………plus 30 more.

Lexical phrases

I’d rather not; If it were up to me, I’d … ; So, what do you think? ; We got a quick bite to eat; What’s the matter? The best thing to do is …

The grammar

A government committee has been created to …

He hasn’t seen her for a while.

Why haven’t you been doing your homework?

There’s been a big accident in Market Street.

Have you ever seen a ghost?

There are almost no data on the rate at which grammatical items are picked up (e.g. the tenses)

Table 1: Recycling rate in a typical 5 level course (225,000total words)

40 function words (in, of, the, by etc.) accounted for 41.2% of the total words in the series

If we set “acquisition” at 20 occurrences, then we can expect students to know:

(456+202+225=) 883 words by the end of three years receptively

200 words productively (typically productive is 20-25% of the receptive)

This does not include the learning of collocations, colligations, idioms, phrases, multiple meanings, lexical chunks, sentence heads… etc.

Common sense tells us………

• We can only hope to teach a few of these ‘word partners’, grammar patterns and lexical phrases
• The students must somehow learn these words and grammar by themselves
• Students ultimately have to be independent language learners
• We must teach them how to learn words and ‘word partners’ very quickly
• When they know about 1-200 words they can start reading
• Students cannot learn new things if the text is too difficult
• They need to know 98% or more of the surrounding words before they can guess successfully from context
• They need to meet words many many times because they forget

How can this be done?

The course book.

Advantages

They introduce new language and give practice in the language items

They provide a core syllabus

They give a sense of progression

Disadvantages

Every unit has new structures, new vocabulary (a teaching = learning)

The target language is not recycled enough

Most language is presented and taught discretely and in an abstract way

There are few chances to consolidate language

Graded Readers ....

Graded readers are story bookswritten for learners of English written at various difficulty levels

Level 1 books have very few words and only the simplest grammar

Level 2 books have slightly harder vocabulary and grammar

Level 3 increases the difficulty … and so on

The students progress through the levels reading books that mirror what they learnt in their course work

They help learners to:

• Make discrete and isolated language meaningful
• Allow learners to work in their own comfort zone (their own pace at their own level)
• Focus on deepening language awareness and knowledge not only introducing it
• Consolidate the language by recycling and revisiting the language learnt in course books
• Give massive practice in language use
• Give opportunities to get a feeling for how the language goes together
• Build recognition automaticity, reading speed and fluency to allow students to go from the word-by-word level to the idea-by-idea level of reading
• Build confidence
• Enjoy pleasurable language study
• Build a life-long habit of reading and learning

This implies

1. Keep our course books to teach and introduce language features
2. Add Extensive reading to deepen this knowledge

• it provides the massive amounts of text needed to meet new language in context
• it is the glue that helps to consolidate discrete and abstract knowledge.
• it helps students notice connections between previously abstract knowledge
• it presents discrete and isolated knowledge in meaningful contexts
• it builds recognition automaticity to allow students to go from the word-by-word level to the idea-by-idea level of reading
• it allows for massive recycling of meaningful language
• it helps build reading speed and fluency
• it builds confidence
• it is pleasurable language study
• it helps build a life-long habit of reading and learning

1. Extensive reading should NOT BE OPTIONAL or SUPPLEMENTAL
2. Extensive reading is a CORE part of language learning that pulls language together

Table 2: Vocabulary gains by adding 1 graded reader per week

76% improvement in ‘learnt’ vocabulary (880 --->1556 words)

More of the words in their course book reach the ‘acquisition’ level (27% ---> 40%)

Smaller % of unknown words

They will have a better sense of how the vocabulary and grammar fit together

They will have a better sense of collocation, and other deeper aspects of vocabulary acquisition as well as picking up phrases and so forth.

ER must be done at the right level

Read quickly and

Enjoyably with

Adequate understanding so you

Don’t need a dictionary

• 98% or more of the words and structures should already be known (so their reading does not get interrupted and they can build fluency)
• they should understand at least 95% of the story so they don’t get put off by a difficult text
• the reading should be enjoyable so they don’t get bored and put the book down

This means for ER :-

• Only the student can decide what is a comfortable reading level
• If the text is too difficult it becomes “noise” and they will become bored, disinterested and demotivated

SUMMARY

Here are some common objections to Extensive Reading and some replies

Nice idea but I have no time in my course.

-> If you don’t have extensive reading where will the students get the massive exposure they need?

-> How else will they get the ‘sense of language’ they need?

We don’t have the money for this.

-> Ask your schools to reallocate funds so this reading is done; ask for donations; get some free samples etc.

We have to go through our set curriculum.

-> Speak with your course designers to build in graded reading. Re-allocate resources and re-set class hours

We have to prepare the students for tests.

-> Research shows students perform better on tests if they have a general sense of language, not a deconstructed ‘bitty’ one.

HOW TO INTRODUCE ER INTO YOUR CLASSES

The leading causes of failure of ER programs are

1. The reading is not required.
2. The reading is not part of the curriculum – done only by enthusiastic teachers
3. Teachers and students don't understand the reasonswhy we do ER
4. Poor vision
5. Poor book management systems

Practical issues concerning the setting up of an ER program

• Ensure the Reading program complements the school / department goals and objectives

• Make sure everyone is involved in the setting up / that group decisions are made/ that all understand it (difficult to do, so double check you understand the whys and what’s first - see below for more reading) or it will become 'John's reading thing' only to disappear when John leaves.
• Start small but think big so you can expand later without pain / re-organization (e.g. one class first)
• Beg, borrow or steal some readers. (You need an annual allocation of funds)
• Number each book, assign a color code to each book by its difficulty level
• Have a good stock management system (see websites for ideas). Put them in the school library if you can. (Tip: think really hard to anticipate problems before they happen). Don't let students swap books before they go through the stock management system.
• Decide how you will assess the reading (and grade it, if at all)
• Decide when students change books (Tip for small programs: all change at the same time)
• Decide how many books they can borrow at once (and set reading goals within student reach).
• Explain to the students why it is a good idea that they do this. Tell them their objectives.
• Decide how you will evaluate the reading program and how changes will need to be made.

How many books do I need?

You need at least one book per student so they can swap. If you have 30 students you then have 30 books to share. They only cost say 450-700 yen. And you can use them next year. Try to go for variety.

How much reading?

Research shows a book a week at their own level is best before forgetting kicks in. But not all students and programs can take this level. It is important to start with a lighter load, say one book over 2 weeks.

How does the student know her 'level'?

The student looks at books at different difficulty levels. She finds one that she feels comfortable with – one she can READ (good reading speed, few unknown words, enjoyable, easy etc.). She then reads it. Stop if it is too difficult / boring and find an easier book.

How do I introduce this to my students?

1. Use the above table to explain to them WHY they need to do it.
2. Get them to look at some books (preferably a VERY one easy for them) – something achievable. It is vital that the first book is a good experience. It should be easy, enjoyable, with very few unknown words per page.
3. If they like the book, ask them to read it for 10 minutes. (silent reading)
4. If they like it, tell them to take it home and bring it back later (say after one week). If they don’t tell them to change it for a different one.
5. Make a list of who has each book
6. The next week ask them to talk about their books, what they liked and didn’t. They return the books.
7. Get them to choose another book (easier if the last one was difficult).
8. Do this again every week.

How can I assess the reading?

Because extensive reading is individualized we cannot give a general vocabulary or grammar test to all the students because maybe not all the students met all the words or grammar on the test.

• Completion of ER page / words goals e.g. xxx pages per semester / course.
• Students write a short report on each book read. Assessed by adequate completion of reports / summaries.
• Active participation in In-class discussion of ER texts.
• Demonstration of the development of strategy use.
• self-assessment (if it is not for their grades!!)
• ask the learners if they feel their reading is getting better / easier
• use the Activity Worksheets available from the publisher either online or in printed booklets
• ask them to tell you about their favourite character
• ask them to see if they can read the same book faster a second time
• they can discuss their reading.
• usespot check tests.
• Assess their reading speed development
• make wall charts, drawings and other activities
• get them to draw scenes from the story

How do I know they understand?

• Ask yourself “do they look like they understand?”
• Are they having to re-read parts of their books?
• Are they constantly looking in their dictionaries?
• Do they look bored or disinterested?
• Do they smile when they read funny parts of the story, or look a little apprehensive in exciting moments of the book?
• Can they re-tell the story with little trouble?
• Can they react to the story freely by saying what they liked, or how the story may have ended differently?
• Do you find them peeking at the book during class (or they find it hard to put down when asked to stop reading)?
• Do they seem to be reading slowly (say by moving their finger along the page?). You can secretly time a reader as she is reading to find out.

How can I convince other teachers about this?

Show them this handout and explain it to them. Ask them to visit the websites.

Ask them to read the Oxford Guide to the why and how of graded reading

English version

Japanese version

Resources on Extensive Reading

is the new Korean English Extensive Reading Association

There is a discussion list for those interested in Extensive Reading at . You can join by sending an email to .

Extensive Reading sites

The Extensive Reading Foundation

101 ideas for extensive reading

ER Events

The KAPEE Conference. January 21-22 at the Korea National University of Education.

The First Extensive Reading World Congress will be held in Kyoto, Japan. September 3-6th 2011.