Tips-Reading Extensively
Tips-Reading Extensively
Tips-Reading Extensively
J A P A N A N D U N I T E D S T A T E S
Tips for
Reading
Extensively
E XTENSIVE READING HAS THE POTENTIAL TO HELP ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
become better readers and make improvements in other aspects of their English
skills. However, most students are not accustomed to the autonomy accorded by
extensive reading. In addition, they may be used to struggling through short, bor-
ing, and extremely difficult texts, which, for many learners, entails painfully care-
ful reading and constant use of a dictionary. In short, language learners may not
material is not interesting or is too hard; over time, students are also encouraged
to expand their reading comfort zone—the range of materials they can read easily
and with confidence. To capture these aspects of extensive reading, Day and
12 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M
Bamford suggest that the motto of extensive • Help improve writing proficiency and
reading be “reading gain without reading pain” oral fluency.
(1998, 121; emphasis in the original).
There are several reasons why it is benefi- Tip 2: Read easy books.
cial to encourage language learners to read Generally, it is hard to read books that have
extensively. Studies show that when students many unknown or difficult words. Frequently
read extensively, they not only improve their encountering challenging vocabulary can be
reading fluency, but they also build new frustrating, if not discouraging. The same can
vocabulary knowledge and expand their be said for the level of grammatical and organi-
understanding of words they knew before. zational difficulty of books. So it is very im-
Additionally, extensive reading can help stu- portant for students to choose books that they
dents write better, as well as improve their lis- can read quickly and easily. This will increase
tening and speaking abilities. And perhaps the their confidence and help them to become
best result is that students develop positive more comfortable with the process of reading
attitudes toward reading in English and in the foreign language.
increased motivation to study it. Unfortunately, many students (and per-
Teachers have an important role to play in haps some teachers) are conditioned to believe
helping their students get the most out of that they must read books that are difficult,
extensive reading. As Day and Bamford that the only way to learn to read is by reading
(2002) point out, teachers need to introduce material that is beyond their capabilities. Day
their students to extensive reading and provide and Bamford label this the “macho maxim of
essential guidance as they read extensively. In second language reading instruction: no read-
this article, we offer ten tips that teachers can ing pain, no reading gain” (1998, 92; empha-
give to students when they engage in extensive sis in the original). This is the wrong
reading. The title for each tip is addressed approach. When learners read a lot of easy
directly to the learner, whereas the rationale books, it allows them to become more fluent,
and instructional advice are written to you, effective readers. In addition, they are able to
the teacher. We discuss the rationale for each learn new words and phrases, over time, while
tip and suggest ways to present these tips to enjoying what they are reading. To help wean
your students. We recommend that you pre- students from the macho maxim, ask them to
sent them before students begin to read exten- reflect on their experiences of learning to read
sively and then revisit them periodically in their first language—what types of materi-
throughout the semester or school year. als did they read? Most likely standardized
testing material was not in their selection of
Tip 1: Read, read, and read some more. bedtime stories.
This is perhaps the most important piece You can help your students select material
of advice that you can give your students. You at the appropriate level—books well within
might want to introduce this tip by emphasiz- their reading comfort zone. Ask them to scan
ing to your students that we learn to read by two or three pages of a book, looking for
reading; this is true for both a first or second words they do not recognize. If there are more
language. The more students read, the better than four or five difficult or unknown words
readers they become. on a page, the book is probably too difficult
When you encourage your students to for extensive reading.
read, read, and read, you might want to point Even after your students choose a book
out that reading extensively can: that appears to be appropriate, they may find
• Help them read faster and understand that they are re-reading a few grammatically
more. difficult sentences to try to figure out the
meaning. If this is the case, the book is proba-
• Help them to read in meaningful phras-
bly too difficult, so they should find another.
es, rather than word-by-word.
Extensive reading materials can be any
• Increase their confidence in their reading. material in English that is easy enough for
• Increase vocabulary knowledge. your students to read with overall comprehen-
• Consolidate grammatical knowledge. sion. Depending on the abilities of your stu-
E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 13
dents and the resources available to you, such language (or, if they do not read much in their
materials may include children’s books, comic native languages, ask the students to think
books, or online texts. Additionally, a useful about watching television or movies). Most
source of language learner literature, reading likely, they do not fret over every detail in their
material written for an audience of language native language, so they should not expect to
learners, is graded readers. Graded readers are understand every word when they read exten-
simply books, fiction and nonfiction, in which sively in English.
the content is controlled to match the lan- Another way to encourage reading for gen-
guage ability of learners. All the major pub- eral understanding is to remind students that
lishers have graded readers. Hill (2001) pro- they are reading for pleasure, and for benefits
vides an insightful review of readers published such as increasing fluency and vocabulary
in the United Kingdom. knowledge. You might want to stress that there
is no penalty for not understanding every
Tip 3: Read interesting books. detail because they will not be tested.
Because students need to read many books,
it is important that they are interested in and Tip 6: Ignore unknown or difficult words.
enjoy what they are reading. If the learners are Skip them and continue reading.
excited about their books, they won’t want to Although extensive reading material should
put them down. Additionally, they will be more be easy for students, they will inevitably
likely to attend to the content (meaning) of the encounter unknown or difficult words on occa-
text, rather than merely focusing on grammati- sion. Students do not need to understand every
cal aspects. If your students do not find their word. Often, they can ignore words they do not
books interesting or exciting, advise them to know and still maintain a general understand-
stop and find other books they may enjoy more. ing of the passage. Sometimes they can guess
At the same time, you might also want to the meaning of words from the context.
point out that they should not give up on a You can be of particular importance here
book prematurely. Some books start slowly. by helping learners get used to living with a bit
of ambiguity when they read. One way to do
Tip 4: Reread books you found this is to have students skim a page or two of
particularly interesting. their books, circling any words they do not
Reading books a second or third time is understand. Next, have your students read
useful for several reasons. Having already read those same pages, encouraging them to focus
a book once, students will be able to read it on the general meaning and ignore any circled
more fluently the second time. This helps words. After they have finished, find out how
build vocabulary knowledge as well as confi- successful they were by asking general ques-
dence, and this, in turn, leads to increases in tions about their texts, such as: Who are the
reading rate. Also, reading gains aside, it is fun characters? Where are they? What are they
to reread a favorite book! doing? Most likely, students will grasp the
overall meaning, despite encountering a few
Tip 5: Read for general understanding. unfamiliar words. If a student is unsuccessful,
When students read extensively, it is not then it is likely the book is too difficult.
necessary to read for 100 percent comprehen- (Recall Tip 2—if the book has more than five
sion. On the contrary, they should simply read unknown words on a page, then it is probably
for general, overall understanding. This means too difficult.)
that they should be able to follow the general
storyline and grasp the main ideas of the text. Tip 7: Avoid using dictionaries.
In extensive reading, the aim is to read a great Although students often resort to using their
many books, so it is in the learners’ best inter- dictionaries whenever they encounter new
est not to struggle over every detail and worry words, convince them to break the dictionary
about the exact meaning of every word or habit. Stopping two or three times per page to
phrase. look up words in the dictionary is laborious and
To reinforce this idea, you could ask your time-consuming, and it can distract students
students to think about reading in their native from reading for general understanding.
14 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M
It can be difficult for students to ignore soon. Thus, it is important to pay attention to
unknown or difficult words when they have what your students are reading and to make
their dictionaries right beside them. Some stu- sure that they are not struggling with texts that
dents, when they engage in extensive reading, are too difficult. It makes sense to help build
make a point of putting their dictionaries learners’ confidence and fluency with easier
across the room, out of the way. Thus they will books, bearing in mind that books that were at
be less inclined to reach for their dictionaries one time too difficult will later become easier
when they come across unknown words. to read.
But sometimes it is not possible, or advis-
able, to avoid the use of dictionaries. There are Tip 9: Set reading goals and keep a
times when not knowing the meaning of a reading log.
word prevents overall understanding, or the Setting personal goals can often be a strong
unknown word reoccurs frequently in the text. motivational factor. This is especially true for
In such situations, tell your students to use a reading. Advise your students to consider their
dictionary. schedules and to set aside times to read (at
lunch, before going to bed, etc.). You might
Tip 8: Expand your reading comfort zone. want to help your students set a reasonable
As your students read more and more, their target number of books per week or month, as
reading fluency will increase and their reading their schedules allow; encourage them to meet
comfort zones will expand. As learners increase those goals. An extensive reading target can be
the size of their reading comfort zones, they expressed in pages, chapters, or even time—
will be able to read books that were initially two hours a week, for example. Extensive
too difficult. reading targets are flexible and can be adjusted
To assist students with expanding their to fit the reading abilities and schedules of
reading comfort zones, it is important that you your students.
are familiar with the level of texts they are read- One way to set and monitor reading goals
ing and the extent to which they are able to is to encourage, or require, your students to
achieve general understanding. You can moni- keep a log of their extensive reading. This will
tor your students’ overall comprehension of allow them (and you) to see their progress.
their reading by incorporating extensive read- Concrete, visible evidence can be very moti-
ing activities in the classroom. One idea, sug- vating. Two samples of simple extensive read-
gested by Iwano (2004), is that teachers briefly ing logs are provided in the Appendix. These
interview their students individually while the can be modified according to the needs of
rest of the class is reading. For other useful your students and the extent to which you
activities for monitoring your students’ exten- integrate extensive reading activities into your
sive reading, see Bamford and Day (2004). curriculum. Some teachers have found it use-
Additionally, it is a good idea to be familiar ful to monitor extensive reading according to
with the range of extensive reading materials the weeks of a school semester (see Appendix,
available to your students. Being familiar with Form 1); others require students to provide a
extensive reading materials and having an very brief summary of each book entered into
awareness of each student’s level and reading the log in order to monitor general compre-
interests will allow you to better help students hension (see Appendix, Form 2).
while they expand their reading comfort
zones; you can offer useful recommendations Tip 10: Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!
when students choose new books. The more your students enjoy what they
We should add a note of caution, however. are reading, the more they will read. If they do
Students can easily be confused about the bal- not enjoy reading, their desire to stick with it
ance between reading easy, enjoyable books will probably dwindle, and they may give up
and challenging themselves with books at a on reading. And they need to keep reading in
slightly higher level to expand their reading order to improve their reading fluency and
comfort zones. Because everyone has a desire increase their vocabulary knowledge. Recall
to improve as quickly as possible, some learn- the motto of extensive reading: reading gain
ers might challenge themselves too much, too without reading pain.
E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 15
As teachers, our goal is to spark our stu- attitudes and behaviors of a reader.” (2002,
dents’ interest in reading and find encouraging 140; emphasis in the original). If you are a first
ways to make sure they keep on reading. If you language reader of English, then consider
find that some of your students are starting to reading extensively in your students’ first lan-
lose their enthusiasm, it might help to read guage. If English is a foreign language to you,
aloud to them from a book that is easy, but then read English with your students. As Nut-
captivating. Your enthusiasm when you read tall observed, “reading is caught, not taught”
aloud can help them to get back into the (1996, 229).
frame of mind where they want to pick up a
book at every opportunity. References
Bamford, J. and R. R. Day, eds. 2004. Extensive
Conclusion reading activities for teaching language. Cam-
Most teachers, above all else, must help their bridge: Cambridge University Press.
Davis, C. 1995. Extensive reading: An expensive
students do well in their courses and pass the
extravagance? ELT Journal 49 (4): 329–36.
required examinations. However, at the same Day, R. R. and J. Bamford. 1998. Extensive reading
time, teachers can increase their students’ com- in the second language classroom. Cambridge:
petency in English and help them become flu- Cambridge University Press.
ent readers in English by engaging them in Day, R. R. and J. Bamford. 2002. Top ten principles
extensive reading. It is important to realize that for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a For-
the increased fluency, confidence, and motiva- eign Language 14 (2). http://nflrc.hawaii. edu/rfl
Hill, D. R. 2001. Graded readers. ELT Journal 55
tion that so often result from reading extensive- (3): 300–24.
ly will help students in their academic endeav- Iwano, M. T. 2004. Individual interviews. In Exten-
ors, such as improving exam performances. As sive reading activities for teaching language, 80–81.
Colin Davis said: “Any ESL, EFL, or L1 class- Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
room will be poorer for the lack of an extensive Nuttall, C. 1996. Teaching reading skills in a foreign
reading programme of some kind, and will be language. 2nd ed. Oxford: Heinemann.
unable to promote its pupils’ language develop-
LESLIE ONO is an English lecturer at Kwan-
ment in all aspects as effectively as if such a pro-
sei Gakuin University in Japan. Her research
gramme were present” (1995, 335).
interests include EAP reading, needs analy-
We hope that these ten tips will help your sis, and materials design.
students get the most out of reading exten-
RICHARD DAY, a professor in the Department
sively. When you provide insightful and care-
of Second Language Studies, University of
ful orientation and guidance to extensive read- Hawaii, is the co-founder and chair of the
ing, you are not only helping your students Extensive Reading Foundation (www.erfoun
improve many aspects of their overall reading dation.org). His most recent book, co-edited
and language ability; you also might be open- with Julian Bamford, is Extensive Reading
ing a door to the variety of worlds that reading Activities for Teaching Language.
can present. KENTON HARSCH is Assistant Director of the
We close with a tip for you, the teacher: Be English Language Institute at the University
a role model as a reader. Day and Bamford of Hawaii at Manoa and is a co-author of
claim that “effective extensive reading teachers Impact Listening 3 and Impact Words and
are themselves readers, teaching by example the Phrases.
16 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M
A P PE N D I X | EXTENSIVE READING LOGS
Tips for Reading Extensively • Leslie Ono, Richard Day, and Kenton Harsch
E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 17
B A P PE N D I X | EXTENSIVE READING LOGS
Tips for Reading Extensively • Leslie Ono, Richard Day, and Kenton Harsch
18 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M
On Native Language Intrusions… | M attioli
continued from page 25
Harbord, J. 1992. The use of the mother tongue in Norton, B., and K. Toohey. 2001. Changing per-
the classroom. ELT Journal 46 (4): 350–55. spectives on good language learners. TESOL
Kramsch, C. 1993. Context and culture in language Quarterly 35 (2): 307–22.
teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Papaefthymiou-Lytra, S. 1987. Classroom interac-
Lin, A. M. Y. 1990. Teaching in two tongues: Lan- tion: The L1 in the foreign language classroom.
guage alternation in foreign language class- PhD diss., University of Athens.
rooms. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse Pica, T., R. Young, and C. Doughty. 1987. The
on Languages and Linguistics. ERIC Digest impact of interaction on comprehension.
ED399799. TESOL Quarterly 21 (4): 737–58.
Long, M. H. 1996. The role of the linguistic envi- Polio, C. G., and P. A. Duff. 1994. Teachers’ lan-
ronment in second language acquisition. In guage use in university foreign language class-
Handbook of second language acquisition. ed. W. rooms: A qualitative analysis of English and tar-
C. Ritchie and T. K. Bhatia, 413–68. New York: get language alternation. Modern Language
Academic Press. Journal 78 (3): 313–24.
Macaro, E. 2001. Analysing student teachers’ Schweers, C. W. Jr. 1999. Using L1 in the L2 class-
codeswitching in foreign language classrooms: room. English Teaching Forum 37 (2): 6–13.
Theories and decision making. Modern Lan- Wells, G. 1999. Using the L1 to master L2: A
guage Journal 85 (4): 531–48. response to Anton and DiCamilla’s ‘Socio-cog-
Mackey, A. 1999. Input, interaction and second nitive functions of L1 collaborative interaction
language development: An empirical study of in the L2 classroom.’ Modern Language Journal
question formation in ESL. Studies in Second 83 (2): 248–54.
Language Acquisition 21 (4): 557–87.
Murphy, J., and P. Byrd, eds. 2001. Understanding
the courses we teach: Local perspectives on English
language teaching. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press. GYL MATTIOLI holds a CELTA and an MA in
Murrah, S. 2001. To use or not to use L1: Does Applied Linguistics and has been teaching
native language have a role in the foreign lan- EFL/ESL for 15 years. She recently returned
guage classroom? Unpublished manuscript. to the United States after a 10-month stint as
Georgia State University. an English Language Fellow in Madagascar.
E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 19