I. Definition of Extensive Reading
- Brown (1989) explains that extensive reading is carried out "to achieve a general understanding of a text."
- Long and Richards (1971, p.216) identify extensive reading as "occurring when students read large amounts of high interest material, usually out of class, concentrating on meaning, "reading for gist" and skipping unknown words."
- The aims of extensive reading are to build reader confidence and enjoyment.
- Extensive reading is always done for the comprehension of main ideas, not for specific details.
II. Types of programs:
Extensive reading may appear as any of the following:
- a complement to an intensive reading program
- an extra-curricular activity where students read out of class
- the main focus of a reading course (termed an Extensive Reading Program) where students work with a class set of books, individual reading of material, of their own choice, with follow-up activities such as reading logs, reading journals, book reports or projects. Although it is less common for extensive reading to form an entire reading course, there are well-established Extensive Reading Programs operating around the world. They have been carried on in many countries, at varying levels of education from Elementary School to College, and in different languages.
III. Characteristics
Day and Bamford (1980) put forward ten characteristics identified in successful Extensive Reading Programs. They are duplicated (in abbreviated form) below:
- Students read as much as possible.
- A variety of materials on a range of topics is available.
- Students select what they want to read .
- The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding.
- Reading is its own reward.
- Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar.
- Reading is individual and silent.
- Reading speed is usually faster than slower.
- Teachers orient students to the goals of the program.
- The teacher is a role model of a reader for the students.
IV. Materials
With demands for both simplicity and authenticity, the teacher must choose from the following:
Graded Readers available by major publishers (e.g.. Cambridge University Press, Heinemann, Oxford and Penguin).
- These are readers with specific levels of word frequency and idiom counts and the introduction of new vocabulary at a planned rate.
- Broughton (1978) favors using graded readers where less than one word in every hundred is unfamiliar.
- These are a good choice for students whose second language proficiency makes it difficult for them to read texts written for native speakers.
Texts on the same topic
- Reading more than one text on the same topic allows students to bring more background knowledge to each new text read.
Authentic materials
- such as newspapers, magazines, that are related to the second language culture
Webresource
- These should we chosen from suggestions by the teacher so that students do not choose those that are too overwhelming
V. Activities that may occur:
Reading may be combined with a speaking component. For example, they may interview each other about their reading.
Reading may be combined with a writing component. For example, after reading the newspaper, students may be asked to write a newspaper report.
Class time may be included for book exchange, if there is an in-class library.
Students may set their own goals for their next session.
Students may progress from reading graded reading material to authentic text . It should be expected that students will "slow down" in their reading then, it it becomes more challenging.
Students may complete any of the following:
- a reading log (recording number of pages read and at what level)
- a reading journal (reflections on the text read)
A reading journal may take the following format:
- date, title of book and author
- the category of the book if known by the student
- a brief statement on what the book is about
- a summary of each part as it is read
- student's reactions to each part
Often teachers will respond to the students and if so, the student should leave room in the journal for this.
- a reflection on what they noticed about their own reading
- a book report or summary - Helgesen (1997) recommends not spending more than 20 minutes on a report
- a retelling of part of the text
- book project
In some Extensive Reading Programs, teachers will allow their students to report on their reading in their native language so as not to make the "proof" of reading more difficult than the reading itself. This, of course, only works if the teacher understands the student's first language.
Extensive reading programs are often cited as being more "pleasurable" because there are no "tedious" exercises to complete.
VI. Role of Teacher
- The teacher gives recommendations on reading materials, based on student's interests.
- The teacher guides students in choosing appropriate levels of material, beginning with easy books.
- The teacher guides students in choosing a variety of materials of their interest. This may especially be necessary for students that choose the same type over and over.
- The teacher guides students in setting specific goals for amounts read.
- The teacher provides modeling. If class time is given for reading, the teacher reads at the same time.
- The teacher overlooks if students are not aware of the exact meaning of each word. The teacher should not jump in and explain.
- The teacher leads pre-reading activities to build interest in the text, such as in the characters, places, themes, and actions. The teacher must be careful to provide just enough to stimulate curiosity but not so much that the need to read is removed.
VII. Role of Student
- The student assumes total responsibility for developing reading ability .
- The student reads without the use of a dictionary.
- The student usually chooses their own material and moves along at their own pace but must push themselves in order to show greater progress.
VIII. Advantages
The students may:
- · develop a "reading habit"
- · gain more confidence in reading
- · improve their attitude towards reading and become more motivated to read
- · feel more autonomous over their own learning and more likely to take more initiative.
- · become more " independent readers", being able to read for different purposes and being able to change reading strategies for different kinds of texts
- · become more aware of what's available to them to read and how to access materials
- · expand sight vocabulary
- · acquire "incidental" grammatical competence - that is, it may be acquired even though it was not directly taught
- build background knowledge
- · increase reading comprehension
- · improve overall language competence
- · be more prepared for further academic courses because they have read large quantities
IX. Challenges:
- An Extensive Reading program may be costly and time-consuming to set up if materials are not already available. It may be difficult to get support from Administration.
- Students need to have easy access to texts within their language proficiency level. An Extensive Reading program is easiest to establish when the students have a high level of second language proficiency. For intermediate levels, students require a specialized library within their language proficiency range. They need texts they can read without great use of a dictionary.
- It may be difficult to keep students challenged to read more difficult texts as the program continues. Some established programs use a "weighing scale" for students to record materials read, giving more "marks" for materials read at a higher level. Although this has proven to be a motivating or competitive factor in some cases, in others it becomes counter-productive if students try to read texts that are more difficult than they can manage and consequently become discouraged.
- Reading each student's journals and reports can be very time-consuming for teachers.
- Students who come from a culture in which literacy is not valued may be unwilling to participate in pleasure reading or may not get support at home.
- Some teachers prefer a skills based program and do not feel comfortable with Extensive Reading.
- Some teachers are unaware of how to use Graded Readers and so, provide a limited range of activities for students, limiting their responses.
- Some teachers feel that time spent on Extensive Reading will take away from time that could be spent on learning language skills. Others will argue that Extensive Reading provides a "richer context" for practice.
- Some people feel that if graded readers are used, they can give a false impression of the level of reading that has been achieved. They feel that some students may try "ungraded" materials too soon and may revert to using a dictionary to translate.
- Some people feel that students may place too much emphasis on the number of pages read instead of on the understanding achieved.
- Students that have only been exposed to Intensive Reading programs may not believe that Extensive Reading is a "proper" way to learn.
- Aeberscold (1997) reported that feedback from students in an Extensive Reading program indicated that they liked the "choice" but not the "load"