Extensive reading

Extensive reading is an approach to language learning, including foreign language learning, by the means of a large amount of reading. The learners view and review of unknown words in specific context will allow the learner to infer the word's meaning, and thus to learn unknown words. While the mechanism is commonly accepted as true, its importance in language learning is disputed.(Cobb 2007) Extensive reading is contrasted with intensive reading, which is slow, careful reading of a small amount of difficult text it is when one is "focused on the language rather than the text".[1] Extensive and intensive reading are two approaches to language learning and instruction, and may be used concurrently;[1] intensive reading is however the more common approach, and often the only one used.[1]

Concepts
Free voluntary reading refers to using extensive reading in language education. Students are free to choose a book that they like and are allowed to read it at their own pace. The aim of a free voluntary reading program is to help students to enjoy reading, so assessment is usually minimized or eliminated entirely. The idea behind extensive reading is that a lot of reading of interesting material that is slightly below, at, or barely above the full comprehension level of the reader will foster improved language skills. Graded readers are often used. For foreign-language learners, some researchers have found that the use of glosses for "difficult" words is advantageous to vocabulary acquisition (Rott, Williams & Cameron 2002) but at least one study finds it has no effect (Holley & King 2008). A number of studies report significant incidental vocabulary gain in extensive reading in a foreign language (Huckin & Coady 1999). Advocates claim it can enhance skill in speaking as well as in reading. Day and Bamford (1988), pp. 78 gave a number of traits common or basic to the extensive reading approach. Students read as much as possible. Reading materials are well within the reader's grammatical and vocabulary competence. The material should be varied in subject matter and character. Students choose their own reading material and are not compelled to finish uninteresting materials. Reading material is normally for pleasure, information or general understanding; reading is its own reward with few or no follow-up exercises after reading; reading is individual and silent. Reading speed is usually faster when students read materials they can easily understand. The teacher is a role model who also orients the students to the goals of the program, explains the idea and methodology, keeps records of what has been read, and guides students in material selection and maximizing the effect of the program. Teachers orient students to the goals of the

program, explain the methodology, keep track of what each student reads, and guide students in getting the most out of the program and reading in general. Some recent practitioners have not followed all of these traits, or have added to them, for example, requiring regular follow-up exercises such as story summaries or discussions and the use of audio materials in tandem with the readings (Bell 1998).

Graded reader series

A "graded reader series" of books that increases in difficulty from shorter texts using the most common words in the first volumes, to longer texts with less common vocabulary in later volumes. Cobb (2008) cite Oxfords Bookworm series, which includes the 2,500 most frequent words, The Longman Bridge Series (1945), with a systematic grading up to 8,000 words, now out of print, and the new Penguin/Longman Active Reading series with its 3,000 word-family target. Many series of graded readers exist in English, and series exist in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.[2] As of 2008, readers are notably absent or scarce in Russian, Arabic, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese,[2] though since 2006, an extensive reader series is available in Japanese.[3] English readers have primarily been produced by British publishers, rather than American or other Anglophone nations. As of 1997, only one small series (15 volumes) was published in the United States, and a few in Europe outside the UK, with the majority in the UK.[4]

Limits
A really interesting opposition involved Cobb (2007), McQuillan & Krashen (2008), and Cobb (2008). All agree on the need of lexical input, but Cobb (2007; 2008) supported by Parry (1997) convincingly denounce the insufficiency (!) of extensive reading, the current lexical expansion pedagogy, especially for confirmed learners. According to Cobb (2007), Krashen (1989)'s influential and seducing hypothesis is that extensive reading (~free reading) generates a continuous hidden learning (lexical input), eventually "doing the entire job" of vocabulary acquisition. This hypothesis is without empirical evidence, neither on the extent (% of global vocabulary acquisition), nor on the sufficiency of extensive reading for lexicon learning.[citation
needed]

Cobb (2007) thus proposed a computer-based study to quantitatively assess the efficiency of extensive reading. Basically, Cobb estimated the reading quantity of common learners within the L2 language (~175.000 words over 2 years), then randomly took 10 words in each the 1st thousand most frequent words, the 2nd thousand, and the 3rd thousand, to see how many times those words will appears. Those results should be higher than 6 to 10 encounters, the number need for stable initial word learning to occur. Cobb (2007) summarize as following :"[the quantitative study] show the extreme unlikelihood of developing an adequate L2 reading lexicon [above 2000 words families] through reading alone, even in highly favorable circumstances" since "for the vast majority of L2 learners, free or wide

reading alone is not a sufficient source of vocabulary knowledge for reading". Thereafter, Cobb restated the need of lexical input, and stated the possibility to increase it using computing capabilities. McQuillan & Krashen (2008) answer that learners may read far more than 175.000 words but rather +1.000.000 words in 2 years. By digging in Krashen & McQuillan own sources and adding some others (Parry 1997), Cobb (2007) convincingly countered Krashen & McQuillan view as being excessively successful cases in reading over-simplified texts. Experiments cited by McQuillan & Krashen use easy and fast to read texts, but not the suitable material to discover new vocabulary. Non simplified texts are far harder, and slower to read. Accordingly, the problem stay at its full strength : common learners need more lexical inputs, extensive reading being insufficient, new sources of lexical input is encouraged to complete i

In my last article, I talked about intensive reading. Hopefully, Ive convinced some of you that languages are too complex to learn properly by memorizing new vocabulary and grammar structures. Now, Ill describe extensive reading. What is extensive reading? In short, extensive reading is everything that intensive reading is not. It is not hard material. It is not tedious. It is not slow. Unfortunately it is also not very common in the ESL classroom, either.

What kind of materials are suitable?

The most important thing about choosing materials for extensive reading is that they are at least 98% comprehensible to the students. There should be very little new vocabulary and very little new grammar. One or two new words per page and maybe one new sentence structure per session would be ideal. If the students can already understand that much of the text, new words can often be learned entirely through context. If these few new words appear again and again through out the text, all the better. Words learned like this arent learned all at once, of course. Students start with a fuzzy understanding of a new word, which gradually gets clearer and clearer as they encounter it again and again in new contexts. This may seem like a slow way to go, but as I argued in my intensive reading article, there really is no short-cut. Translations accompanied by a few example sentences are never enough alone. When choosing books for your students, one good test is to take a page from the text you are considering, give it to your students for a few minutes, and ask how many words they dont know. Depending on how honest your students are, youll get a good idea of whether or not they could read the text. If you are worried they wont admit what they dont know, then cover up about twenty words scattered throughout the page, and photocopy it. You can then give the students a cloze test. If they can complete over 80% of the sentences with the correct words or reasonable alternatives, use the text. If they cant, pick an easier one.

How much should they read?

Assuming, as I did in my last article, that they have an hour a day, they should read at least 25 pages a day. If they only have half an hour to spend on reading, then they need to read at least 10 pages. This may seem like a lot and, if the students are at a level where they can read normal paperback books with few pictures, it is. A native reader typically reads 40 to 100 pages per hour. There are two reasons for requiring so much. First of all, it forces them to use dictionaries sparingly. As any student of Chinese knows, every 5 minutes spent looking through a dictionary is another 5 minutes in which very little language is acquired. The second reason to read so much is that reading too slowly interferes with comprehension. In normal reading, there are certain neurological processes at work that depend on sufficient reading speed (Day and Bamford, 1998). According to Nuttall, speed, enjoyment and comprehension are closely linked with one another (1996: 128). When adults read in their own languages, they take in entire phrases at a time, not individual words. If an L2 learner reads too slowly, word by word, it is even possible to forget the meaning of the first few words in a sentence before reading the last.

What are the benefits?

It seems obvious that it is better for a student to learn 20 new words while reading 20 pages of a fairly easy and interesting text, than it is to spend 20 minutes memorizing the same words and then struggle through 2 difficult, boring paragraphs and then do various grammar and translation drills. (For a look at one such difficult text look at page four of this report.) However, Ill outline the main points below:
y y y y y y y y y

It can provide massive comprehensible input It can enhance learners general language competence It can increase knowledge of previously learned vocabulary It leads to improvement in writing It can motivate learners to read It teaches learners about the culture of the target language users, which will allow learners to more easily join the L2 speech community It can consolidate previously learned language It helps to build confidence with extended texts It facilitates the development of prediction skills

How can these benefits be maximized?

Remember that newly acquired vocabulary is fragile. Therefore, the most important vocabulary to use is the vocabulary just learned. Obviously, you dont want to introduce too much new vocabulary at one time, either. Aside from making sure that the difficulty of your texts is appropriate, it is also important to make sure that they are interesting to the students. The more interesting the texts are, the more the students will like reading (and the language in general), and the sooner they will start doing voluntary reading on their own. See this diary of a JFL (Japanese as a foreign language) learners extensive reading experiences.

What are the difficulties?

Using extensive reading in a classroom is, by nature, a difficult thing to do. Different students are at different levels. It takes some work to make a viable curriculum in which not everyone is necessarily reading the same thing at the same time. Some students, who have been studying a foreign language for a while in traditional a class, resist extensive reading at first. They feel that if it isnt hard, it isnt real learning. It is absolutely vital to explain the rational and benefits to them. Most difficult of all, particularly in an EFL as opposed to an ESL environment, is getting the appropriate reading materials. They can be expensive, hard to find, or simply unavailable, depending on where you are. It also takes some planning to effectively keep track of which students have which books and make sure they are all returned. In my next article on language learning, Ill talk about some of the extensive reading materials that I have found useful.

A reading is a receptive skill, a lesson based around the comprehension of a reading text is similar in many ways to that designed to another receptive skill, listening. Reading is part of the language acquisition. It makes students more or less understand what they read, the more they read, they will get more. Moreover, reading also give multiplier positive effect such as; knowledge, spelling, writing, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and also a model for writing skill. There are two kinds of reading, they are extensive and intensive reading. In this writing we focus on extensive reading. This is the way we usually read when we are reading for pleasure for example; a novel, biography or graded reader. In this writing introduce ten tips from Day and Bamford for extensive reading.

1.

Students read as much as possible Perhaps in and definitely out of the classroom.

2.

A wide variety of materials is available So as to encourage reading for different reasons and in different ways.

3.

Students select what they want to read Have the freedom to stop reading material if it fails to interest them.

4.

The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure Information and general understanding.

The purposes are determined by the nature of the material and the interests of the student. 5. Reading is its own reward. There are few or no follow-up exercises After reading. 6. Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students In terms of vocabulary and grammar. Dictionaries are rarely uses while reading because constant stopping to look up words makes fluent reading difficult. 7. Reading is individual and silent. At the students own pace, and outside class, done when and where the student chooses. 8. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower As students read books and other material they find easily understandable. 9. Teachers orient students to the goals of the program, Explain the methodology, keep track of what each student reads, and guide students in getting the most out of the program. 10. The teacher is the role model of a reader for the students. An active member of the classroom reading community, demonstrating what it means to be a reader and the rewards of being a reader.

I think as an instructor, I absolutely agree with Bamford. We promote the advantages of the reading particularly for an extensive reading. As a teacher we have to know the appropriate reading material for our Student grade for reading. Then, I believe that by reading we can get a lot of benefit that we are going to get from this skill such as; vocabulary, grammar, writing skill and knowledge. Furthermore in achieving the target course for our student we have always to encourage our student to read more the reading material because this is one of the way to improve their skill.