Masaryk University
Pedagogical Faculty
PEDAGOGICAL DEPARTMENT
English Language and Literature Department
The Benefits of Extensive Reading in EFL
Supervisor: Author:
Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková Mária Kredátusová
1
Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci zpracovala samostatně a použila jen prameny uvedené v seznamu literatury.
Souhlasím, aby práce byla uložena na Masarykově univerzitě v Brně v knihovně Pedagogické fakulty a zpřístupněna ke studijním účelům.
Mária Kredátusová
2
I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková for her help in connection with my work. Mária Kredátusová 3
Contents:
Introduction 1 I. Theoretical part 3 1. What is extensive reading? 3 1.1 The Benefits of Extensive reading 3 1.2 The basic principles of Extensive Reading by Julian 4 Bamford and Richard R. Day 1.3 Extensive reading vs. Intensive reading 7 2. Establishing an Extensive Reading programme 9 in the Second Language Classroom 2.1 Teacher’s preparation 9 2.2 Curriculum 10 2.3 Funds 10 2.4 Choosing books 11 2.4.1 The number of books 12 2.4.2 What books to choose? 12 2.4.3 Graded readers 13 2.4.4 What exactly happens when we are reading graded readers? 14 2.4.5 Graded readers or authentic material 15 2.4.6 Check out system 16 2.4.7 Classifying the books 17 2.5 Teacher’s role 19 2.5.1 Introducing the ER to students 19 2.5.2 Helping students to choose books 19 2.5.3 Encouraging students to read 20 2.5.4 In class activities 21 2.5.5 Monitoring students’ reading 21 2.5.6 Rewards 22 II. Practical part 23 1. A long term project 23 2. Research 58 4 2.1 Subjects 58 2.2 Evaluation 58 2.3 Motivation 59 2.4 Monitoring 59 2.5 Results 60 2.6 Comments 62 III. Conclusion 63 Appendices 64 Bibliography
5 Introduction
“The best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers. The next best way is to read extensively in it” (Nuttall, 168). Reading is one of the skills that a learner of foreign language should acquire. In the language classroom it is most often taught by careful reading (or translation) of shorter, more difficult foreign language texts. The goal of reading is usually complete and detailed understanding. But reading is also considered by many people as a very pleasurable free time activity that broadens ones knowledge and vocabulary. However, if you ask pre intermediate learners of English whether they like reading in a foreign language their answer will tend to be mostly negative. Students who are learning to read in English usually dislike it and the time they spend reading is very limited. Stanley, Graham. “Extensive Reading”. BBC /British Council teaching English – Reading. 7 May 2007.
6 If one is asked to fulfil a task after reading and has to bear this task in mind while reading, the purpose of reading is diverted from its principal aim i.e. to read for pleasure and information. Considering these propositions the students’ answers to the question whether they like reading in English do not appear that surprising. After all, students did not have the real possibility to establish the attitude towards reading as an engaging and pleasurable activity. Their idea of reading is associated with tasks that have to be fulfilled, they view it as one of the exercises they do during class. The aim of this thesis is to present an alternative approach to intensive reading, an approach that will not focus on exact translation of the text but that stresses the pleasure of reading Extensive reading. Extensive reading involves students in reading large quantities of books at the level appropriate for them; only one to two words per page should be unknown to a reader. The primary goal of Extensive reading is reading in order to gain information and to enjoy texts. A variety of books that cover various topics are provided and students choose titles according to their interests. Students who find a book difficult or not interesting might stop reading and choose another book instead. Their reading is based on choice and purpose that are the basic elements of real life reading (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 1). No exercises, no questions at the end of the chapter, and no looking up every word in a dictionary are required. “It is the kind of reading highly literate people do all the time” (Krashen, Power of Reading 1). ER programmes have become very popular in many countries over the last decades. The success that lies behind this approach is that students do not feel the pressure of requirements and are aware of their own choice. It is ‘strictly forbidden’ to give students grades or any rewards after reading, the reading should be solely voluntary. Presently, there have been many complaints about our students’ lack of independent reading at the primary, secondary and even university level. Students seem not to have developed the habit of reading. Steven Krashen, who calls this situation ‘a literacy crisis’, sees the cure “in doing one activity, an activity that is all too often rare in the lives of many people: reading” (Krashen, Power of Reading 1). As Bamford suggests EFL teachers should pay attention to developing a habit, indeed love, of reading in their students (Bamford, Extensive Reading: What Is It?” 1). If students are not given the opportunity to experience reading in English as a pleasurable and useful activity and on
7 the other hand are exposed to texts that are above their level and that they have to translate word by word, they will hardly create a positive attitude towards reading. Extensive Reading programme offers a solution how this change may be done. The reading material is deliberately chosen to be easy for student and therefore larger amounts of text are read. Students have the possibility to enjoy reading what strengthens their confidence in reading and increases their motivation to read further. And this is in fact the only way how they can become fluent readers – by reading.
8 I. THEORETICAL PART
1. What is extensive reading? “We learn to read by reading” (Nuttall 168). Extensive reading is a language teaching procedure where learners are supposed to read large quantities of material or long texts for global understanding, the principal goal being obtaining pleasure from the text (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 1). The reading is individualized, what means that students choose books they want to read, they read it independently of the teacher and they are not required to do any tasks after reading. Moreover, they are encouraged to stop reading whenever they consider the material not interesting or too difficult. Extensive reading can be introduced to any kind of EFL class whatever the content, intensity, age of students or their language level, the only condition is that students already have a basic knowledge of foreign language and are literate in it (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 1). Extensive reading belongs to Free Voluntary Reading approaches that share the common idea of independent, voluntary reading. Other examples of FVR are Sustained Silent Reading or Self Selected Reading (Krashen, Power of Reading 2). 1.1 The Benefits of Extensive reading Extensive reading is a topic that has been widely discussed over last decades and its benefits have been generally approved by many researches. Bamford states that students who read more will not only become better and more confident readers, but they will also improve their reading, writing, listening and speaking abilities and their vocabularies will get richer (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 1). Bamford praises the motivation aspect of Extensive reading, seeing its primal benefit in developing positive attitudes toward the foreign language and increased motivation to study this language (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 1).
9 1.2 The basic principles of Extensive Reading by Julian Bamford and Richard R. Day It will be useful to familiarize the reader with the basic principles of extensive reading approach as they are presented in Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching Language by Julian and Richard R. Day. 1. The reading material is easy. Learners read material that contains few or no unfamiliar items of vocabulary and grammar. (There should be no more than one or two unknown vocabulary items per page for beginners and no more than four or five for intermediate learners). Students would not succeed in reading extensively if they have to struggle with difficult material. 2. A variety of material on a wide range of topics is available. There should be a variety of materials available in the library for students to choose what they really like. This contains graded readers, magazines written for language learners at different ability levels and children’s literature. For high intermediate learners young adult literature can offer a bridge to ungraded reading materials. Advanced learners are supposed to read books, magazines and newspapers written for native speakers of English. The variety encourages a flexible approach towards reading as the learners are reading for different purposes (for information or pleasure). 3. Learners choose what they want to read. Self selection puts students in a different role from that in a traditional classroom, where the teacher chooses or the textbook supplies reading material. This is what students really enjoy about extensive reading. They are also encouraged to stop reading anything that is not interesting or that they find too difficult. 4. Learners read as much as possible. The language learning benefits of extensive reading come from quantity of reading. For the benefits of extensive reading to take effect, a book a week is an appropriate goal. This is a realistic target as books written for beginning language learners are very short.
10 5. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower. Because of the fact that material is easily understandable for students their reading is fluent. Students are discouraged from using dictionaries as this interrupts reading and makes fluency impossible. Instead, learners are encouraged to ignore or guess the meaning of a few unknown items they may encounter from context. 6. The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding. In spite of intensive reading which requires detailed understanding, extensive reading encourages reading for pleasure and information. The aim of reading is not a hundred percent comprehension; to meet the purpose of reading sufficient understanding is satisfactory. 7. Reading is individual and silent. Learners read at their own pace. Sometimes silent reading periods may be reserved from class time when students read their self selected books in the classroom. However, most of the reading is homework. Students read out of the classroom, in their own time, when and where they choose. 8. Reading is its own reward. Extensive reading is not usually followed by comprehension questions. The goal of reading is reader’s own experience and joy of reading. However teachers may ask students to complete follow up activities after reading. These are designed to reflect student’s experience of reading rather than comprehension. 9. The teacher orients and guides the students. Before starting an extensive reading programme students have to be familiarized what it is, why they are doing it, what benefits it will bring them and how are they going to proceed. The teacher keeps track of what and how much students read, he/she is interested in their reactions to what was read in order to guide them in getting the most out of their reading.
11 10. The teacher is a role model of a reader. Teacher gives students a model of what is to be a reader e.g. during the silent reading periods teacher should read as well. He/she should also be familiar with all the books students are reading in order to recommend reading to individual students and share their reading experiences. If teacher and students talk about what was read they create an informal reading community, experiencing together the value and pleasure to be found in written word (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 12 3). 1.3 Extensive reading vs. Intensive reading Extensive reading as a term naming an approach to teaching a foreign language reading was introduced by Harold Palmer and Michael West after piloting a project of ER in India. The term was chosen to distinguish extensive reading from intensive reading. Intensive reading refers to “careful reading (or translation) of shorter, more difficult foreign language texts with the goal of complete and detailed understanding” (Bamford and Welsh 1). On the other hand Extensive Reading is based on reading easy material that contains mostly one to two unknown words per page for general understanding. Students choose their own materials and can stop reading if the material is not interesting for them. There are no tests after reading; student’s personal reaction to reading is the goal. ER imitates reading in the first language in the way that its key elements are purpose and pleasure (Bamford and Welsh 1). Bamford states that Intensive reading can be associated with teaching of reading in terms of its component skills i.e. distinguishing the main idea of a text, reading for gist etc. Extensive reading, in contrast, is generally “associated with reading large amounts of text with the aim of getting the overall meaning of the text rather than the meaning of individual words or sentences.” (Bamford and Welch 1)
12 The following chart offers basic characteristics of each approach: Intensive Reading Extensive Reading Analysis of the LINGUISTIC FOCUS Fluency, skill forming language Usually difficult DIFFICULTY Very easy Little AMOUNT A book a week teacher selects SELECTION Learner selects All learners read All learners study the different things WHAT MATERIAL same material (something interesting to them) In class WHERE Mostly at home Checked by specific Checked by reports / COMPREHENSION questions summaries Table 1. (Welsh qtd. in Waring, Getting An ER Program Going 3) Bamford and Day further claim that skill based and other traditional foreign language reading instructional approaches appear to have their properties the wrong way round. Only after finding reading pleasurable and useful students are eager to read the amounts of texts that will make them fluent readers. Only then they develop the urge to learn new skills which would help them to become better readers (Bamford and Day 1). However, ER is not necessarily the entire answer to teach reading. There are students who need special help with certain reading skills, or those who need these skills to achieve particular goals e.g. academic reading proficiency. Here the intensive reading is appropriate. What is supposed is to find balance between these two approaches in EFL teaching. Intensive reading helps with faster vocabulary acquisition and awareness of certain language structures. In addition, ER practices the skill of reading. As Bamford and Day rightly state teachers’ concern with developing the ability to read should be combined with developing the habit to read as well (Bamford and Welch 1).
13 2. Establishing an Extensive Reading programme in the Second Language Classroom “We want our students to be able to read better : fast and with full understanding. To do this they need to read more . And there seem to be two ways of getting them to read more: requiring them to do so and tempting them to do so” (Nuttall, 168). When establishing an ER programme teachers need interest, enthusiasm but also adequate planning and cooperation with their colleagues, students and parents. It is not an easy task but it is certainly worth the effort. 2.1 Teacher’s preparation Because of its complexity, Extensive Reading programme involves thorough planning and well timed preparation. It is therefore advisable for the teacher to prepare himself/herself for the work of teaching Extensive reading and coordinating a reading programme in following ways: a) teacher should familiarize himself/herself with the rationale of Extensive reading and its organization. A book Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom by Richard R. Day and Julian Bamford or an Internet page
14 2.2 Curriculum Hill suggests that firstly, it is probably better to think in terms of starting a reading club outside the reading timetable which charges membership fee or lending fee (Hill 2). This way teacher gains experience in using graded readers and gathers evidence that his/her students enjoy ER and benefit from it. It is also possible to run a three month extensive reading programme as a part of EFL classes during which students read extensively as presented in the practical part. Once the programme is successful and the teacher wants to make it a part of his/her school’s curriculum he/she has to create a detailed design of the programme that will be presented to his/her authorities. It is crucial that colleagues, parents and students understand the programme, its aims, goals and objectives. If a teacher is planning to establish an ER programme that will cover more years Hill suggests to project methodology that will help colleagues to establish ER in their classes and to continue in it even without the founder’s presence (Hill 2). 2.3 Funds Funding the ER library should be thoughtfully planned before starting an ER programme. There are more possibilities how to finance an ER library (Nuttall 172; Hill 3; Conley 1): a) a teacher can ask his/her headmaster to allocate some money for the program. He/she should be prepared to present budget and the organization of the programme (lending books, time devoted to ER etc.) b) a teacher can ask each student to contribute money for one book. This is a good start but more titles have to be added later. c) a teacher can also appeal to local donors (individuals, firms, organizations) d) a teacher can gain money from grants e) a teacher can also contribute books from his/her personal library or ask his/her colleagues to lend books f) a teacher can involve students and their parents, so that students will pay a fee for borrowing a book, or attending the extra reading class
15 2.4 Organizing a library 2.4 Choosing books When deciding about the type of books teachers are going to buy the most important factor is whether the books will be interesting for their students. It is therefore advisable to make a small in class research about the students’ preferences. Teachers can also guide students in finding their own material for reading in the local library or on the Internet. It is also interesting to use student written texts as additions to the library. Conley does not recommend the use of short stories and non fiction for ER as the reading should be smooth and quick (Conley 1). Non fiction requires a close attention that can result in “a stop and start style of reading” (David qtd. in Conley 1). Conley further states that a book of short stories is usually read at more sittings what results in fewer pages read at once (Conley 1). He sees the main advantage of fiction in speeding the reader along as the plot develops (Conley 1). Christine Nuttall (Nuttall 172 3) suggests four basic criteria for choosing ER materials: a) Appealing The books must appeal to readers; the topics should be interesting and suitable for the students. During the programme presented in practical part it was proved that it is better if books are attractive in appearance, well printed and with good coloured illustrations. “The books should look like the books we buy from choice: i.e. they should not smell of the schoolroom” (Nuttall 171). Pupils in our programme did not like the older school library books some of which were bought in second hand bookshop. On the other hand, when new books from British Council were brought to class few of them were left, some of the pupils borrowing more than one book. If older books are used it is advisable to erase notes that may be left in books. (Nuttal 171) b) Easy Reading material should be easy in order to be read extensively. The first book students read should be well below their competence and they should find their comfort reading zone after they start reading.
16 c) Short With lower intermediate students the books should be fairly short so that the students do not feel intimidated by the length of the book and do not feel strained or get bored. d) Varied Students should be offered a variety of genres and topics to suit their needs 2.4.1 The number of books Students should have plenty of attractive material to choose from. Conley suggests that it is ideal to have at least four times as many books of a suitable level as there are students (Conley 1). However, books that are a level above should be also present for student to move to the next level. Hill recommends that there should be approximately 15 titles per one level for the student to be able to proceed to the next level (Hill 3). Of course teachers will need to buy multiple copies of each title so that there will be always enough books to read. The limited number of titles at one level also indicates to students when should they move up to the next level (Hill 3). The advantage of having a limited number of titles is that most of the students will soon read similar titles and they can then share their experiences together and a variety of group activities can be done in class (Hill 4). 2.4.2 What books to choose? The best reading material is material that is easy. Therefore for lower intermediate students graded readers, magazines written for language learners and children’s literature are advisable. Teachers need to be careful when choosing children’s literature, some of the titles may contain fairly difficult authentic vocabulary. For high intermediate learners young adult literature can offer a bridge to ungraded reading materials. Advanced learners will be able to read books, magazines and newspapers written for native speakers of English. The publishers also offer schemes that implement Graded readers within European Framework of Reference and teachers can conveniently check the level of their students.
17 2.4.4 Reading target How much reading will be set to your students depends prevailingly on the level of your students, for lower intermediate levels a book weekly is a reasonable goal. More intermediate students or high school students may be asked to read more. Waring advises to set a weekly target and an overall target for semester (Waring, Graded or Extensive 3). He says that reading targets give students something to work toward. If teachers do not set page targets for each semester there might be not much reading done at the end of semester (Waring, Graded or Extensive 3). However, it has to be remarked that appropriate reading materials, teachers’ encouragement and peer example are the best incentives for reading extensively (Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities 12). We were happy to observe that in our research students kept bringing their books to school and were reading before their lessons started. Students were also let to read their books when they had finished their class work earlier than their peers or after having written a test earlier. Once the students found that books were easy and interesting they were eager to read a lot. We could see the satisfaction that they had after finishing a whole book, especially of those who had not read books in English before and probably did not know that they can manage to read a whole book. Some of the students offered to read books they found at home. 2.4.3 Graded readers Graded readers are ideal source of material for lower intermediate independent readers. The typical features of graded readers are simplified sentence structure and the use of head words which are chosen by the publisher as the words that are most frequently used by native speakers. If students find their appropriate level they can make progress in reading quite smoothly without teacher’s instruction and thus develop their reading fluency. Nowadays there is a wide variety of EFL readers available from
18 different publishers and their quality is high enough to call them ‘language learner literature’ (Bamford, Extensive Reading: What Is It? 3). Readers may be of course supplemented by children’s books for native speakers, low level vocabulary magazines and comics but the teacher has to be cautious to choose only authentic material that is comprehensible for his/her readers so that the overall pleasure aspect is maintained. If the reading material is too difficult for readers and they have to look up too much unknown words in a dictionary, extensive reading turns into intensive reading. 2.4.4 What exactly happens when we are reading graded readers? The main purpose of graded reading is to provide material that is easy enough to enable the reader to read extensively and to develop sufficient fluency in reading. Graded reading develops reading speed, comprehension, fluency and it enables the reader to move from “working with words to working with ideas” (Waring, Graded or Extensive 1). This means that a learner will move from reading each single word of a sentence and starts to decode language in chunks or short phrases or “ideas”. According to Waring, when a learner is beginning to read in the second language he looks at each letter of each word, decodes the word and keeps it in his working memory while the next words are processed. By the time he reaches the end of the line the words from the beginning may easily be forgotten and very little meaning of the text might be retained. e.g. The / old / lady / took / her / dog / to / the / park. (Waring, Graded or Extensive 1)
19 As the reader reads more, he decodes words faster and easily remembers the earlier words. He can therefore read more words within the limited space of his memory i.e. process the chunks of text or ideas. e.g. The old lady / took her dog / to the park. (Waring, Graded or Extensive 1) At this level reader can make more effective use of background information about the topic to fill in non comprehended parts of the text. Furthermore it has been proved that we tend to remember ideas much better than actual words. Warring uses the example with recalling words of a text that was read lately. A reader is able to retell an article from morning’s newspaper in one’s own words far more easily than trying to recall the exact words in which the article was written (Waring, Graded or Extensive 1). 2.4.5 Graded readers or authentic material We have described the benefits of Graded Readers for an ER programme, however some authors claim (Widdowson qtd. in Bamford, Extensive Reading 57) that graded readers lack authenticity, are simple in their use of sentence structure and also the vocabulary is limited and therefore do not provide the real life reading experience. We sympathise with teachers that claim that “however good the simplification, something is always lost” (Nuttall 32). Therefore if you are able to find unabridged material at right level it is vital to add it into your ER library. However, it is difficult to find enough titles for elementary level and you will almost certainly have to use simplified materials at the beginning. When choosing authentic materials for your students, always bear in mind whether they will be able to read them independently. When questioning authenticity of simplified materials it is worth presenting the ideas of Janet Swaffar. Swaffar argues that authentic material does not need to be material written deliberately for native speakers. What is important about the authenticity of material is whether it was written to communicate meaning.
20 For purposes of the foreign language classroom, an authentic text . . . is one whose primary intent is to communicate meaning. In other words, such a text can be one which is written for native speakers of a language to be read by other native speakers . . . or it may be a text intended for a language learner group. The relevant consideration here is not for whom it is written but that there has been an authentic communicative objective in mind.
(Swaffar gtd. in Bamford, Extensive Reading: What Is It? 3)
Swaffar admits that the artificiality may appear in texts written for language learners especially when writers or editors are concerned less with communication than with e.g. the usage of particular words or a need to reduce a complicated story to a few pages of text. (Swaffar gtd. in Bamford, Extensive Reading: What Is It? 3)
We do not deny the importance of reading authentic materials; they should be well suited for advanced level but to proceed to these levels readers have to be exposed to large quantities of materials written in English and they will not continue reading if this was a continuous struggle with unknown words. 2.4.6 Check out system There are several ways of organizing the Extensive reading library mostly depending on the organization of a particular school. Books can be kept in a school library, shelved in the classroom, or brought to class. It is probably best to set up an ER library in your classroom. Besides convenience and flexibility books are always at hand to be borrowed by students. The checkout system depends on the number of books you have. If there are few books, a checkout notebook or sheet placed on a desk is sufficient.
April April April April Name 1 8 15 22
Akiyo Nagai G5345 G2453 G3232
Bert Nuefelt Y1785 Y2121 Y2778
Shu Wei P2352 P2099 G6435
21 Carlos 543 547 444 Sanchez
Table 2. A simple checkout sheet for a single class. (Waring, Getting a ER Program Going 3) If there are a lot of books it is useful to paste a pocket in the back of each book to put a library card in. When the book is borrowed the card is taken from the book and the date of borrowing and name are marked on it. Other alternative is to set up a personal reading card for each student on which the student can list the books borrowed, the date borrowed and date returned.
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Number … Name Akiyo Nagai 032012
Book Date Date Title numb borro retu er wed rned
Alice in April April G5345 Wonderland 13 16
April The green eye Y1785 16
Table 3. A checkout sheet for a single learner. (Waring, Getting a ER Program Going 3) 2.4.7 Classifying the books To help students find an appropriate book easily the level of each book should be marked visibly by the use of differently coloured strips on the spine of each book. Books should be grouped on shelves according to reading level and they may as well be put into separate boxes according to their level so that they will not get mixed. In larger extensive reading libraries books can be further shelved by subject or genre within each reading level. Several major publishers offer their own schemes of grading readers. However these schemes often differ and therefore it is advisable that you create your own scheme according to the number of head words present in each title. The sample system created adapted from Hill is offered below.
23 Table 4. Books categorized by level
Level Number of headwords
1 red 300
2 blue 600
3 yellow 700 1200
4 pink 1300 1700
5 orange 1800 2300
6 green 3000
(Hill qtd. in Conley 1)
The Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading has up to 9 levels, therefore if you wish to create more precise categorisation the suggested number of 15 books per level will have to be changed according to the number of levels you decide on. The more precise the division the less books are needed to reach the next level.
24 2.5 Teacher’s role 2.5.1 Introducing the ER to students After having prepared themselves for teaching Extensive reading, teachers’ task is to introduce ER programme to their students and to familiarize them with its aims and benefits. It is challenging to introduce the programme by asking students about their attitudes and past experiences of reading. It may be also useful to contact institutions that did these programs and ask them for handouts or posters with comments from students who absolved this programme. Videotapes of interviews with students talking about the program can be especially powerful source of motivation for your students. Students should also know how to read extensively – teacher has to note that dictionaries should be avoided as reading fluency and a general, less than 100 percent understanding of what is read is appropriate for most reading purposes. Teacher should also emphasise to his/her students that there will be no test after reading. He/she will be only interested in student’s personal experiences of what they read e.g. whether they found the material enjoyable or interesting and why. After the explanation of the organization of the library and the check out system students should find books that are of a suitable reading level for them. Teacher may assist in selecting appropriate reading material that will be interesting as well as easy. 2.5.2 Helping students to choose books Students should find the first books they read really easy and finish them quickly. They should move quickly (after reading a minimum of ten and maximum of fifteen books) to the level that is comfortable for them and continue reading at this level. The starting level can be found by using a placement test developed by EPER (The Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading) or by the use of a cloze test. Teachers can also copy pages from different readers and have students simply read them. The activity ‘Find Your Level’ is useful in helping students to find the reading level at which they can read comfortably and fluently and it is described in the practical part.
25 2.5.3 Encouraging students to read “The foundation is teacher attitude and example” (Bamford 207) As already mentioned in the introduction, example is the best motivation, therefore teacher should be familiar with all titles that are in ER library so that he/she can talk with students about their reading and recommend titles according to students’ needs with knowledge and enthusiasm. Students will be very pleased to discuss their own experience with the teacher. This way teacher will also control the quality of chosen material. It is advisable to schedule silent reading periods or shared reading in class regularly. By doing so, teacher demonstrates the importance he/she attaches to reading. If he/she reads and if students see him/her reading the same books they are reading extensively, it is a great encouragement to them. “Students follow the example of people they respect. If the teacher is seen to read with concentration, to enjoy reading and to make use of books, newspapers and so on, the students are more likely to take notice of her when she urges them to do the same” (Nuttal 171). If silent reading seems odd to students, administrators or parents explain its benefits to them (Nuttal 171). Using class activities is an invaluable source of motivation for students. Hitosugi and Day observed that students who have not done their reading felt left out and this motivated them to read (Hitosugi and Day, ER in Japanese 8). They see performing the activities in class as a way how to show students that ER is an integral part of their course. Students’ presentations of their personal readings are valuable in terms of strengthening the class as a language learning community (Hitosugi and Day, ER in Japanese 8). Making posters based on students’ reading and displaying them in class creates a pleasant atmosphere and gives students the possibility to share their experience. A notice board where students’ book reports and achievement are traced should be present in each class. At the beginning of the course students can make a poster about the benefits of the ER programme that can be put on the notice board. The overall idea is to incorporate students in creating the program and thus foster reading community.
26 2.5.4 In class activities The most basic activity is a book report in which students are asked about their personal experiences of what they read e.g. whether they found the material enjoyable or interesting and why, whether they liked some characters from the book or what did reading make them think of. They can also be asked whether the reading was easy or difficult for them. There are also many activities that utilize students’ reading for learning language skills such as oral fluency, writing, reading or vocabulary. Students are not required to demonstrate their understanding by answering comprehension questions; however teachers may need to ask students to engage in follow up activities after reading for a number of reasons: a) To discover what the students understood or experienced from their reading b) To keep track of what students read c) To monitor their attitude towards reading d) To link reading with other aspects of the curriculum (Hitosugi and Day, ER in Japanese 1) 2.5.5 Monitoring students’ reading There are several ways how teachers may monitor their students’ reading. Students fill in Instant Book Records and present their reading during classes. Teacher may use one to one interview to check sensitively whether students are reading. Another possibility is to ask students to finish sentences that describe events in the story they read. Nice variations of book reporting are e.g. choosing an appropriate gift for the character in the story or comparing the character with the schoolmates. All activities can be found in Bamford, Extensive Reading Activities for Language Teaching .
27 2.5.6 Rewards Even if rewards in form of points or grades are not recommended to be used in an ER programme we found that for younger learners it is very motivating to run a competition for the best reader that is presented as ‘Reading Marathon’ in the practical part. Students are not given grades for reading but everybody who reaches the target number of books is rewarded. The reader who reads most titles is given a special award. The competition brings challenge to reading and it is associated more with fun than learning and we therefore do not consider it harmful.
28 II. PRACTICAL PART
1. A long-term project Further a long term project for teaching Extensive reading is provided. The project was designed for a group of 15 students at a pre intermediate level. It covers the period of three months provided that 45 minutes a week are allocated for Extensive reading. This frequency is sufficient as the main students’ task was reading that takes place outside the class as homework. The goal of the programme was to read one book a week i.e. students should have read twelve books after finishing the programme. The project suggests how an Extensive reading programme can be designed. The aim was to start with motivating activities and activities that provide enough input for students and to proceed to activities that include more active participation and output of students. The project offers only theoretical background as the activities were not piloted in class. The project was designed to follow the rationale of Extensive reading programme described in theoretical part. The aims of the project are: 1. to inform students what Extensive reading is 2. to teach reading and ‘reader’s’ skills a) how to choose materials from a library (e.g. finding appropriate reading material, distinguishing different genres, knowing one’s preferences, reading blurbs, predicting what the book is about according to the title) b) reading skills (e.g. ordering events from a story, predicting how a sentence will finish) 3. to integrate extensive reading with other skills a) oral skills (e.g. expressing opinions about reading, presentations, talking about what was read) b) writing skills – reporting about what was read (Instant Book Reports, writing short poems) 4. to create positive feelings about reading ( e.g. learning about other students, playing drama, making posters, teacher reading stories to students) 5. to motivate students to continue reading after the programme finishes (presenting reading as a pleasurable activity – teacher as a role model of reader)
29 A long term project was chosen because of the nature of Extensive reading – it supposes continuity and thorough planning. It is advised to plan the whole procedure of Extensive reading programme before starting it. All activities were adapted from Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching Language by Julian Bamford and Richard R. Day because this title contains activities deliberately designed for ER programme. Activity 3.4 “It was Proved That ...” was self created, the facts being taken from The Power of Reading by Stephen Krashen; activity “Remember when” was taken from Top Class Activities by Peter Watcyn Jones.
30 Lesson 1 Level: Pre intermediate Length of lesson: 45 minutes 1.1 Brief introduction of the extensive reading programme Time: 3 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aims: to inform students that they are going to participate in extensive reading programme Procedure: 1. Tell students that their class is going to join an extensive reading programme what means that they are going to read a lot of interesting and easy books in English at home for a period of three months. Before you explain this in more detail tell them that you are interested in their opinions on reading in their first language and in English. 2. Proceed to the following activity. 1.2 What do you think? (Bamford 18 20) Time: 15 minutes Interaction: ind. Ss, pairs, T – whole class Aids: one enlarged copy of eight sentences per three students, blu tac Assumptions: students have already read some books in their first language and probably some of them have read books in English Aims: students state their opinions about reading students learn more about extensive reading
31 Procedure: 1. Copies of the sentences are attached to the walls of the classroom. 2. Students take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. One is headed “I think ...“, the other “I don’t think ...” 3. This is a memory activity. Students will walk to the wall, read one sentence, remember it and return to their desks. If students agree with the sentence they write it under “I think...“, if they disagree they write it under “I don’t think...” They will continue like this until they copy all the sentences. 4. Students compare their opinions in pairs and find out how many times they agree with their partner. 5. Have a whole class discussion of the answers.
Sentences for discussion (Bamford 19) Reading in my first language is fun. Reading English is difficult. I should usually look up new words in my dictionary. Reading English is boring. It is easier to read about sports than science. If I read very fast, it is hard to understand meaning. Reading out loud is a good idea. Reading English is fun. Points to share with students during discussion. (Bamford 20) Reading in my first language is fun. Most students like reading at least certain things in their language: children’s books, magazines, romances, adventure books or encyclopedia. Explain that Extensive reading in a foreign language is the same: People choose things they enjoy reading and then it is fun. Reading English is difficult. Explain that with extensive reading students will read a lot of easy materials and that there will be no more than two new words per page.
32 I should usually look up new words in my dictionary. A dictionary is a tool. It can be useful but many learners use dictionaries too much. Most of the time, they should just skip over new words. If the word seems important, they might want to guess at it. If they try that and they really cannot figure out the word, then it is OK to look it up. Reading English is boring. This depends on students’ interests. They should choose books they are interested in. It is easier to read about geography than computers. This again depends on students’ interests and background knowledge. Most of us find it easier to read things when we already know a bit about the subject. If I read very fast, it is hard to understand meaning. The opposite is often true. To really understand, one needs to read fairly quickly (for example 200 words a minute). That means reading easy books. Reading out loud is a good idea. Reading out loud is not very useful if one person is reading while the rest of the students look out of the window, go to sleep, or wait for the reader to make a mistake. However, reading to students, or using recordings can be useful and enjoyable. Reading English is fun. This should be the goal of a language teacher, to develop both ability and attitude that make reading fun. Extensive reading programme is a way how to make it happen. Evaluation: This activity was chosen in order to make students realize how important reading in their first language is and to compare it with reading in the foreign language. The positive aspects in L1 were emphasized in L2 as well and several principles of Extensive reading procedure were introduced.
33 1.3 Introducing the Extensive reading programme - rationale, procedures (library, reading marathon, Instant Book Reports – not too broadly at this stage) Time: 12 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aids: a poster for running marathon, a book from library that has been labeled for level, copies of filled in Instant Book Reports (one copy per student) Assumptions: students are literate in English, students know the benefits of Extensive reading (previous activity) Aims: to inform students about the rationale and organization of Extensive reading programme Procedure: 1. Explain to students that in the following three months they are going to read interesting and easy books in English. 45 minutes a week will be allocated for doing different activities connected with reading (e.g. they will listen to a serial, learn predicting the context, create posters, play drama and have fun) 2. Explain the organization and the check out system of the library. Tell students that books will be labeled for levels with coloured stickers that are on the spine of each book, show them example. 3. Explain that a competition called reading marathon will be a part of Extensive reading programme. Explain the rules. 4. Tell student and another activities will accompany the Extensive reading programme (e.g. Top ten chart, Rate it chart) 5. Show students a copy of filled in Instant Book Report; tell them that they are going to fill in this report after reading each book. Give out the master copies of Instant Book Report. 6. Write three rules of Extensive reading on the board and have students write them into their notebooks: 1) Enjoy! 2) Enjoy! 3) Enjoy!
34 Evaluation: It is important that before starting the Extensive reading programme students are familiarized what it is, why they are doing it, what benefits it will bring them and how are they going to proceed. 1.4 Find your level (Bamford 31) Time: (10 minutes) Interaction: ind. Ss, T – whole class Assumptions: students are literate in English Aims: to help students find reading level that is convenient for them Preparation: For each of the reading levels of your library find a book that starts in a clear and interesting fashion, with language fairly representative of that level. Copy the first page of each selected book and paste all these first pages on one large sheet of paper, with reading levels clearly marked (Box 1c). Include also the title, author and publisher of each extract so that students can borrow the book itself if they wish. Make a copy of this Find Your Level sheet for each student.
Procedure: 1. Tell students that this activity will help them make a quick, rough estimate of a comfortable level at which to begin reading. 2. Distribute the Find Your Level sheets. Instruct students to read each passage, circling or underlining any words, phrases, or sections they cannot understand or follow clearly. 3. After students finish, point out that they should start at a level with no more than two difficulties per page. They should be able to read comfortably, with enjoyment. Evaluation: This activity was chosen to help students find the reading level to start with. It is crucial that the first book students read is within their comfort zone.
35 1.5 Homework - Reading and you Questionnaire (Bamford 10 12) Time: 5 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Assumptions : students have already read some books in their first language and probably some of them have also read books in English Aims: to present students how to fill in a questionnaire Aids: copies of a questionnaire (one copy per student) (see Appendix)
Procedure: 1. Distribute the questionnaire in class and go over any questions that might be difficult. Give examples of possible answers. Assure students that there are no right or wrong answers. Ask students to answer the questions for homework. Ask students to write the answers on computer on a separate paper and bring it together with answers to the next lesson. Goals of the lesson students are informed about the rationale and organization of ER students know what library level they should start reading students can express their opinions about reading
36 Lesson 2 2.1 Reading and You Questionnaire + Getting acquainted (Bamford15 16) Time: 25 minutes Interaction: whole class, groups Assumptions : students have already read some books in their first language and probably some of them have also read books in English, students know each other Aims: to help students examine their general reading habits and attitudes, as well as their feelings about reading in the new language; to give teacher insight into student’s reading preferences and their attitudes toward reading in the foreign language for enjoyment and learning Procedure: 1. Collect the sheets with students’ answers to the questionnaire. 2. Give each student one sheet with his peers’ answers. Students try to identify the author of the answer sheet. They mingle and ask Yes/No questions e.g. Are your first memories of reading ‘your mum reading to you before going to sleep’? 3. When students find the author of the text they give him/her the answer sheet. 4. Students work in groups and share their answers. They can discuss whatever items seem interesting to them, in no particular order. Ask students to take notes on their peers’ answers if the answers seem particularly important, unusual or interesting. Explain that they will create a reader ID for each member of the group. Explain to the class that ID is something that helps others to identify the person. 5. Tell each group to decide on one interesting fact about each group member’s reading experiences. This fact will be that student’s “Reader ID.” 6. Call on the groups in turn. Ask a member of each group to introduce the other members to the rest of the class by name and Reader ID. Model an introduction: “This is Jane. She likes love stories.” Note down the information about each student so that you can end the class by reviewing each student’s name and Reader ID. 7. In the next lesson, ask for volunteers to recall another student’s name and Reader ID. You may have to be the first volunteer.
37 Evaluation: This activity enables students to state their opinions about reading. It is a chance for the teacher to see how the students feel about reading. Student are made to remember the positive memories they have on reading from childhood and the ideas that are raised during the discussion may offer a nice bridge to introducing Extensive reading programme.
2.2 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” (Bamford 60 61) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aims: to provide tips on good book to model reading for knowledge and pleasure to model oral presentation skills to provide listening practice to keep the extensive programme in the forefront of students’ minds to model book reporting Preparation: Keep a written log of the books you have read from the Extensive reading library. Note any points that particularly interested or impressed you. Bring one of these books to class. Fill in a copy of Instant Book Report according to your reading and make a copy for each student. Procedure: 1. Offer a quick book recommendation. Present a preview of the plot or content and say what particularly impressed you or why you enjoyed the book. While you are talking hold the book up for all to see. 2. Present an Instant Book Report that you filled in according to your reading so that students get the idea of how to fill the form themselves. Ask them to fill in such report after each reading and hand it in to you. Copy sufficient amount of unfilled Instant Book Reports and place them in class for students to take away any time. 3. Invite anyone who would like to read the book to come up and get it after class.
38 Comments: Use a few spare minutes at the end of each following lesson by offering a new book recommendation. When students are used to this procedure (after three lessons), invite them to offer their own book recommendations. Evaluation: This activity gives the teacher opportunity to present several books from the ER library what is especially useful at the beginning of the programme. Later in the course it enables students to state their opinions about books they read and to practice oral reporting skills. 2.3 Radio Serial (Bamford 55) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aids: an appropriate graded reader Aims: to give students opportunities to experience extensive listening which motivates extensive reading Procedure: 1. Read the first chapter of graded reader to the class. 2. Set aside some class time each week for the next few weeks to read successive installments of the book, so that it becomes a serial story.
Goals of the lesson students know they can read for knowledge and pleasure students are aware or the importance of ER students are motivated to read extensively Evaluation: This is a very important activity in terms of motivation. A teacher as a model reader has invaluable effect on students’ enthusiasm to read. Moreover, it creates positive atmosphere in class and develops listening skills. The Radio Serial extends over seven lessons.
39 Lesson 3 Warmer – Reader’s ID (Bamford 16) Time: 5 minutes Interaction: S – whole class Aim: to personalize teaching, to practice oral presentation Procedure: 1. Ask for volunteers who remember some of the student’s IDs from previous lesson and have them present it. Evaluation: This activity creates a nice atmosphere at the beginning of the lesson. 3.1 Identify the Books (Bamford 21 22) Time: 15 minutes Interaction: individuals, T – whole class Preparation: Select ten books that you plan to introduce to your students. On a sheet of paper, copy the blurbs from nine of ten books. Number the blurbs. Photocopy the list for each student. Aims: to introduce new books to students, to teach reading blurbs Procedure: 1. Tell students that many books have blurbs (short descriptions of the content) on back covers. Explain that the purpose of a blurb is to tell readers what the book is about and to interest people in reading the book. Tell students that they will read some blurbs and will try to guess the names of the books the blurbs describe. 2. Arrange the ten new books around the room. Be sure only the front cover of each book can be seen. Distribute the list of nine blurbs to each student. Ask students to examine the books on display. Tell them to look carefully at each book – the title, cover design, pictures and so on – but not to pick up the book or look at the back cover. Students should match each blurb on their list with a book on display and write the book title on
40 their sheets below the blurb describing that book. Also tell students that one of the books on display has no blurb on their lists. 3. After all the students have finished the task, pick up the books one by one and read the blurbs aloud. Evaluation: This activity is enjoyable and it helps student to find books they are interested in.
41 3.2 It was proved that... Time: 10 minutes Interaction: pairs, T – whole class Aids: slips of cut sentences (one sentence per pair), one marker per pair Aims: students learn about the benefits of reading Procedure: 1. Write “It was proved that...” on the board. 2. Give out the cut sentences into pairs. 3. Tell students that they are going to unscramble the sentences about the facts that have been found about reading and write them on the board. 4. After all the sentences are on board have a class discussion asking the students why they think reading helps to improve the mentioned areas. Cut sentences Students/ who/ read/ a lot become /better/ readers. write/ better. are/ better/ at/ listening. are/ better/ at/ speaking. have/ greater/ vocabulary. have/ better/ spelling. are/ better/ at/ grammar. know/ more. have/ better/ scores/ at/ tests. read/ faster. read/ better. (Evidence taken from Krashen The Power of Reading )
Evaluation: This activity was designed to make students aware of the benefits Extensive teaching brings them.
42 3.3 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” Time: 5 minutes
3.4. Radio Serial Time: 10 minutes
Goals of the lesson students know how to read blurbs students can select important information about their partners and present it students are aware of the benefits of ER
43 Lesson 4 4.1 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” Time: 5 minutes 4.2 Genre corners (Bamford 47) Time: 25 minutes Interaction: groups Aids: three CD players, a number of CD recordings of graded readers of different genres Aims: to interest students in reading to provide extensive listening practice to cater to individual learner preferences to make students distinguish genres Preparation: Assemble three or four CD players, a number of CD recordings of graded readers covering a range of genres (e.g., romance, thriller, science fiction and comedy), and copies of the graded readers. Procedure: 1. Place a player and a small supply of CDs and their graded readers in each corner of the classroom. Devote each corner to a genre. 2. After explaining how the classroom is setup, invite students to choose which kind of book they would like to listen to and gather in that corner to listen. 4.3 Radio Serial Time : 10 minutes Goals of the lesson students can distinguish different genres and know their preferences
44 Lesson 5 5.1 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” Time: 5 minutes 5.2 Mind’s Eye (Bamford 107) Time: 15 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aids: a CD with soft music, CD player Assumptions: students have read a book from Extensive reading library Aims: to give students some preparation time before telling a story, so they can speak more fluently Preparation: Familiarize yourself with the Mind’s Eye Script so that you will be ready to read it out for the students. Procedure: 1. Have students think of a book they read recently. Tell them that, in a moment, they are going to close their eyes and think about the story. You will tell them what to do. When students are ready and comfortable, start reading the Mind’s Eye Script, which guides the students in visualizing the story. While reading the script, play soft background music during the pauses while students think and imagine. 2. When students have opened their eyes at the end, tell each to work with their partner. Students will tell their stories to their partner. They will end by telling the name of the book and whether they enjoyed and recommend it.
45 Mind’s Eye Script (Bamford 107 108) (Read the following in a slow relaxing tone.) Think of a story you’ve read recently. (Pause) Close your eyes. In your mind, think about the story. Imagine the main characters. Who are they? What are their names? What do they look like? Try to get a picture in your mind. (Pause) Notice their faces. Notice the clothes they are wearing. (Pause) What are they saying? What do they sound like? Imagine their voices. (Pause) Where are they? In your mind, get a picture of that place. (Pause) Think about the action. What are they doing? Watch the story as if it were a movie. What are they doing? Listen to what they say. How do they feel? How do they feel about each other? (Pause) How do you feel about them? (Pause) In your mind, watch the story. Listen to the story. Feel the story. (Pause for about 30 seconds.) Now imagine that the story was a video. Rewind the video. Go back to the beginning. Watch it again. This time, as you watch, think about how you will describe the story in English. (Pause for about a minute.) Now take a deep breath. Slowly open your eyes. Evaluation: This is the first time students talk about their reading in broader terms. The idea behind this activity was to help students create a mental picture of the story that they read and thus facilitate oral presentation.
46 5.3 Draw a picture (Bamford 103 104) Time: 15 minutes Interaction: ind. Ss, pairs Aim: to develop oral fluency Assumptions: students have read a book from Extensive reading library Preparation: Make a copy of the Talk about a Book handout for each student. Each student will also need blank sheet of paper for drawing. Be ready to model the activity by drawing a simple picture based on a book you have read. Procedure:
1. In class, distribute a blank sheet of paper and a Talk about a Book handout to each student. Tell students to think again about the book they have read from previous activity and to draw a picture about the book. It should be a picture from their imagination, not a copy of an actual illustration. Simple pictures are fine. Demonstrate by drawing a picture on the board. 2. Tell students they have only five minutes to draw and that they cannot use erasers. 3. When time is up, have students, working in pairs, show their picture and talk about their books using the handout as a guide. Evaluation: Again, drawing a picture gives prompt to talk about reading. This time students may want to change their partners and by retelling the story enforce their oral presentation. Talk about a Book (Bamford 104) (see Appendix) 5.4 Radio Serial Time: 10 minutes Goals of the lesson students are able to retell the story students are able to talk about what they have read
47 Lesson 6
6. 1 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” Time: 5 minutes 6.2 Predicting content from title (Bamford 127) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: ind. Ss, groups Aims: to give practical experience in predicting. Preparation: Select five books from the extensive reading library that seem interesting but that most or all of the students have not read. Prepare a handout, listing the five book titles under the heading Book Title. Make a copy of the handout for each student. Procedure: 1. Distribute the handout to the class. Tell students to work individually for about five minutes, predicting what each book is about from looking at the titles only. Ask students to write down these ideas under the “ About What?” heading on the handout. They should then circle Yes or No to indicate they are or are not interested in reading the book based on what they have predicted. Finally, for books they marked “ Yes”, have students give two or three reasons why they think the book might interest them. 2. When time is up, have students form small groups to work for another five minutes comparing notes on their story predictions and reactions. Ask them to find out who in the group predicted the same or similar content. Have them find out what might have led others to predict something different. Format for Predicting Content from Titles (Bamford 128) Book title About What? Interested? If Yes, explain 1.______ Yes/No 2.______ Yes/No 3.______ Yes/No 4.______ Yes/No 5.______ Yes/No
48 Evaluation: Predicting titles is a reader’s skill that makes it easier for students to choose the book that is appropriate for them and gives provisional idea of what the book is about.
6.3 Radio Serial Time: 10 minutes 6.4 Homework – What next? (Bamford 123 124) Procedure: 1. Tell several students (a third of the class) to cut a sheet of paper into six strips. On one strip, the student writes, in large letters, the title of the book he or she has read. On each of the other five strips, the student briefly writes a different key event that happens in the book. They cannot include the ending of the story as one of the key events. The student should not number, order or use connecting words to indicate the sequence of events. The strips are shuffled so they are in random order. Goals of the lesson students can predict what the book is about according to its title
49 Lesson 7 7.1 What Next? (Bamford 123 124) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: groups Aims: to help students make inferences, to practice listening and speaking Procedure: 1. Introduce cues and encourage students to use them: “Maybe this comes first because...”, “I think this comes afterward because...”, “This must be last because...” 2. Divide students into small groups, with one student who has done the homework in each group. Each group looks at the strip of paper with the title of the book. Students should make sure they are in a group that is working with a book they have not already read. Each group has five minutes to arrange the events in the order they appear in the book. 3. When a group is finished, or when time is called, the student who did the homework tells the group members how “hot” (close) or “cold” (far) they were in inferring the order of events. The student then explains how the events connect but does not reveal how the book ends. Evaluation: This activity offers students to realize that each story is organized in a logical and meaningful way.
50 7.2 I Know What Comes Next! (Bamford 200 201) Time: 20 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aims: to encourage students to improve their reading by anticipating what will come next through an understanding of collocations and discourse markers Preparation: Students need books they are reading or have read recently. Procedure: 1. Explain to students that when we read, most of us are able to anticipate what comes next. It is the same as when we look at the title of a book and have a reasonable idea of what the book is going to be about and what kind of language we can expect. This way we often have a reasonable idea of how a sentence is going to end. 2. Tell the students that you are going to carry out a little test: How good are they at anticipating? Explain that you are going to dictate part of a sentence to the students. You will then tell them how many words they must use to finish the sentence. Ask students to write down the words they think will follow. For example: I love Jutta but ... (four words). [she doesn’t love me] 3. Have students mark their own answers, giving themselves one point for each correct word. Students will get no points if the first word is wrong, even if the other three are correct. However, they will get one point if their first word is correct, even if their other words are incorrect. 4. More sentences to complete: a) My sister used to live in the south of Scotland, but ten years ago... (five words). [she moved to the north] b) I didn’t want to go swimming because the water wasn’t ... (two words). [warm enough] c) Two children are talking. Boy: Do you like my new bike? Girl: It’s great! Where did you get it?
51 Boy: My uncle ... (seven words) [gave it to me for my birthday] 5. Congratulate the student who has earned most points. Instruct your students, as homework, to look in their books for sentences they think have endings that classmates might be able to anticipate. Tell students it is up to them to decide how many words their classmates must guess. In addition to the same point system as the one used in the game, say that if at least one student guesses the full correct answer, the student who selected the sentence receives double the number of points. (For example, if the selector’s sentence has four words to guess, he receives eight points). 6. If students found it difficult to find good sentences in their books, ask them to make up their own sentences. Evaluation: Students like this activity and they unconsciously practice the word order rules. Predicting how a sentence will finish is a useful reading skill that makes reading easier and that helps readers speed their reading and grasp the meaning more quickly. 7.3 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” Time: 5 minutes 7.4 Radio Serial Time: 10 minutes Goals of the lesson students can order events from a story students can predict how a sentence will finish
52 Lesson 8 8.1 I Know What Comes Next! Time: 25 minutes 8.2 Where’ the Drama? (Bamford 113 114) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aims: to help students understand the dramatic and musical qualities of a reading (stress, rhythm, intonation and pitch) to allow students to realize the emotional power of text Preparation: Select a short passage from a book you have read. Choose something that has will excite your students. Rehearse reading it aloud. Make a copy of the passage for each student. Procedure: 1. Introduce your dramatic reading to your class. You might want to give some background to your passage. Then read you passage aloud with appropriate drama. After your reading, ask your students to discuss in groups why they think it is dramatic. Then distribute the copies of your passage to the class and read it again. 2. For homework, have students select brief passages (about one minute of oral reading time) from the books they are reading. Each student should choose a passage that seems interesting and dramatic and practice reading it aloud. Students should bring their books to class so that they can read out from them. 8.3 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” Time: 5 minutes 8.4 Radio Serial Time: 10 minutes
53 Goals of the lesson students understand the dramatic and musical qualities of a reading (stress, rhythm, intonation and pitch) students realize the emotional power of text
54 Lesson 9 9.1 Where’ the Drama? (Bamford 113 114) Time: 20 minutes Interaction: groups Aims: to help students understand the dramatic and musical qualities of a reading (stress, rhythm, intonation and pitch) to allow students to realize the emotional power of text Procedure: 1. Divide students into small groups and have them read their passages to one another. Ask them to talk about where the drama is in each passage. 2. After all the students have given their dramatic readings, tell them to choose the most dramatic reading in their groups. The students whose readings were chosen read their passages to the entire class. Evaluation: Students are very happy to perform drama. It also gives them the idea that a text is a lively portrayal of life. 9.2 Sentence Detective (Bamford 164 166) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: T – whole class, ind. Ss Aims: to improve writing proficiency Preparation: Students bring books they are reading to class. Procedure: 1. Write a simple sentence on the board, e.g. Jeremy writes books. 2. Ask the students whether the sentence is grammatically correct. (Yes, it is.) 3. Ask students to embellish the sentence with one additional word: Jeremy Taylor writes books. Jeremy writes excellent books. Jeremy writes books quickly .
55 4. Students may also try to embellish sentences with two or three words, but they have to be written together. Two words added: Every day Jeremy writes books. 1. Jeremy writes books for teenagers . Three words added: Almost every day Jeremy writes books. Not possible: *Interestingly Jeremy Taylor writes exciting books. 5. Have students browse through their books to find a sentence that they can embellish with one, two or three words. 6. Have students write down the embellished sentences without indicating which words were added. They also note down the book’s title and the page on which the original sentence is found. 7. The Sentence Detective – the teacher should then examine the sentence carefully and to determine which word or words have been added. If the SD detects the added words, the student loses that number of points. If the student successfully tricks the SD, then the student is awarded points equal to the number of added words. 8. Ask students to prepare a set number of embellished sentences for homework for the next lesson. Evaluation: The benefit of this activity is that students create numerous sentences and at the same time they enjoy themselves and realize the word order and words’ connotations. 9.3 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day” Time: 5 minutes 9.4 Radio Serial Time: 10 minutes Goals of the lesson students realize different word classes and word order of a sentence
56
57 Lesson 10 10.1 Sentence Detective
Time: 20 minutes Variation: Students work in group after they have appointed their Sentence Detective 10.2 Instant Book Report (Bamford 93 94) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: pairs Aims: to give students a chance to tell each other about the books they have read to improve oral fluency Procedure: 1. Write the following on the board: I read a book called ______. It’s a(n) ______ story. i. (adventure, mystery, science fiction,, love, detective, true) It’s about ______. The main characters are ______. ii. (names, jobs, personalities) In the story there was a problem. ______. I liked/didn’t like this book because ______. 2. Have students work in pairs. They each choose a book they have read recently and tell their partner about it. They use the sentences on the board to help them get started. Most students’ reports last two or three minutes. It is reasonable to give students a few minutes before they start to speak. You might want to ask them to close their eyes, imagine the story and mentally listen to themselves narrate it. 3. After students tell each other their stories they can change partners and repeat their book reports.
58 Evaluation: Again students share their reading this time with the help of prompts written on the board. While students are talking about their reading teacher can monitor whether students have done their reading. This activity is important because students are stimulated to share their reading experience with peers and thus create a reading community. 10.3 Poetry with a Character (Bamford 158 159)
Time: 5 minutes Interaction: ind. Ss Aids: dictionaries Aims: to improve writing skills to help vocabulary development and enrichment Procedure: 1. Ask students to write a five line poem about one of the characters in the following way: the student writes the name of the character on the first and fifth lines. On the second, third and fourth lines the student writes a two word phrase that describes the character. The first word must begin with the letter of the alphabet that the character’s name begins with, the second word with the letter that the character’s last name begins with. Write an example on the board: Frank Wormold Frequently weary Feeling weak Film writer Frank Wormold 2. Begin the activity by having the students write the five line poem by using their own names. 3. Have the students read their finished poems to the class.
59 Evaluation: This activity lightens up the lesson and shows students that writing can be fun. 10.4 “I Read a Good Book the Other Day”
Time: 5 minutes
10.5 Dramatic conversations (Bamford 115 116) Time: 5 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Aims: to improve oral fluency Procedure: 1. Divide students into groups of three. Tell them to select a conversation involving three characters from a book they have read for a three to five minute dramatic performance. For homework, ask students to make photocopies of their conversation for the number of characters taking the part in the conversation. The number of characters should be equal with the number of students in the group. Students should also prepare short introductory remarks about the book from which the conversation is taken (e.g. the title of the book, author, and type of book) and about conversation (e.g. who is talking, where they are talking, and what the conversation is about). 2. Have the groups rehearse their conversations and then introduce and perform them for the class. Goals of the lesson students can talk about what they read
60 students can create a short poem about one of the characters students can select an interesting dialogue from a book
61 Lesson 11 11.1 Dramatic conversations Time: 20 minutes Interaction: groups 11.2 Shared dictation (Bamford 128) Time: 15 minutes Interaction: T – whole class, pairs Aims: To practice listening and speaking, to learn how to correct errors comparatively Preparation: Choose or write a short paragraph to dictate to your students Procedure: 1. Read a dictation paragraph aloud to the class at natural speed with no pauses while students listen. Then read it again phrase by phrase in sense groups so that students can write what they hear. Finally, read the whole paragraph again at natural speed. Have students correct their own work, using a pen of another colour. Students make correction by asking classmates. Evaluation: In this activity students realize the dramatic and musical qualities of reading (stress, rhythm, intonation and pitch) and have the possibility to practice imitating these qualities.
62 11.3 Poster Presentations (Bamford 108 109) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: T students Aims: to allow students to report on their reading in a way that is creative and that integrates language skills to let students share enthusiasm for what has been read to introduce students to good books they have not read
Preparation: Gather a few examples of posters in any language or make a poster based on a book you have read, so you can demonstrate a poster presentation. Procedure: 1. Put some example posters around the room and let students circulate and look at them. 2. As a whole class discussion elicit what makes a good poster (a few words written large, some text, but not too much, an appropriate use of colour, arrows or lines to link ideas, visual impact and general design). 3. Introduce the idea of poster presentation. Show the students the poster you have made, talk about the book briefly, using a poster as a visual organizer. 4. For homework ask students to prepare a poster about an interesting book they have read recently. Goals of the lesson students can perform a short dialogue students know how to create a good poster Evaluation: This activity rounds a course off nicely. Students will create beautiful posters and will be eager to present them to their peers. This raises motivation to further reading and develops oral presentation skills.
63 Lesson 12
12.1 Poster Presentations
Time: 20 minutes Interaction: groups Aims: to allow students to report on their reading in a way that is creative and that integrates language skills to let students share enthusiasm for what has been read to introduce students to good books they have not read Procedure: 1. Have students work in small groups. Ask students to give a poster presentation to the other students in the group. 2. Display the posters around the room. 12.3 Evaluation of Extensive reading programme
Time: 15 minutes Interaction: T – whole class Assumptions: students have been reading extensively, they have been handing out Instant Book Reports and filling in their Reading Marathon’s forms Preparation: prepare certificates for all students and awards for students who have reached the goal of 12 books read Procedure: 1. Congratulate winners and give out awards and certificates for taking part in an Extensive reading programme. 2. Evaluate Top ten Books. 3. Paste posters in class with students’ help. 4. Encourage students to follow reading.
64 12.4 Remember when ... (Watcyn Jones 10) Time: 10 minutes Interaction: ind. Ss, whole class Aims: to boost morale and create positive feelings, to round off the course Preparation: Cut out strips of paper and write Remember when ... on each strip, leaving enough space for a complete sentence. Make at least 20 strips for each student. Procedure: 1. Ask the class to think back over the Extensive reading classes and to try and remember nice or funny things that have happened to the group. 2. Ask them to complete the strips in as many ways as possible. 3. After they have been writing a little while, join them up with a partner and ask them to share their sentences. Then ask them to go on writing, jogging each others’ memories. 4. Finally, ask everyone tin the class to share their memories.
Goals of the lesson students can make and present poster students find reading an interesting and pleasurable activity Evaluation: This activity was designed to make students remember on the positive experiences they had during Extensive reading programme.
65 13. Activities accompanying Extensive reading programme 13.1 Reading Marathon
Aims: to encourage students to read books to bring a sense of excitement to a reading programme Preparation: The marathon will last three months and 3.5 km will be awarded per a book read. This means students have to read 12 books (a book a week) to reach the goal. Prepare and copy a Marathon Course form for each participating student. If you are awarding certificates of completion or prizes, prepare those. The best prize is a book (this contributes also to intrinsic motivation of students) Procedure: 1. Announce to the class that there will be a reading marathon. Specify that the marathon will take for three months. Explain that participation is voluntary. Students who read books during the marathon will be awarded points in the form of kilometers. Stress that there will be more than one winner as anyone who completes the course will win. 2. Give each participating student a Marathon Course form on which a route is drawn and marked off in kilometers. Explain that when students complete a book, they will colour in their route to show the progress made. 3. Recognize students who successfully complete the marathon by presenting certificates of merit and books and by posting the names of successful students. Marathon Course form Appendix
66 13.2 Picking the Top Ten (Bamford 73) Aim: to find out which books in the Extensive reading programme are most popular Assumptions: This activity requires that students record their opinions of books using a rating system (Instant Book Report) Procedure: 1. Keep all the ratings that students have d=given to the books they read. At the end of the course, add the total point given to each book (Good=2 points, Fair= 1 point, Poor= 0 points) 2. Make a list of top ten books. Make copies of the list to give to each student at the beginning of the next term and put the list on the library wall.
13.3 Stimulating Ads (Bamford 74 75) Aim: to interest students in books through peer recommendations Assumptions: students write Instant book Reports after reading
Procedure: 1. In the middle of the course, when a fairly large number of student book records have been collected, read the reports to find appealing comments for ads. Collect such comments for perhaps half dozen books. 2. Copy, cut out, and paste comments for one book on a sheet of paper. Add the title and author of the book. 3. Put the ads on the board in class.
67 2. Research 2.1 Subjects Two classes that attended courses for children at a language school were chosen. Both groups were approximately of the same age and sex. Both courses had two hours a week timetable. The teacher of the control group was similar to the teacher of the experimental group. Both were young students, aware of contemporary methodologies, non authoritarian, outgoing with a good rapport with their students. Both experimental (the ER group) and the control group were taught two hours a week. The experimental group followed the school lesson plans and in addition to this an Extensive reading programme was introduced. Students were encouraged to choose from a stock of books and students’ progress after the project was measured in three areas – reading speed, vocabulary acquisition and attitudes towards reading. 2.2 Evaluation The students’ growth in reading speed was measured by reading speed tests. Before starting the Extensive reading programme students were asked to read an extract for a minute in their natural speed. After one minute they were asked to mark the place where they finished reading. They did the same test after they finished the programme and their reading speeds were then compared. A close test was used to assess vocabulary acquisition for its ease of construction and its high correlation with standardized English level tests. A narrative passage from Johnny English from Penguin Graded Readers was chosen. Even if the experimental group was at lower level, this narrative should be considered appropriate for both levels. The introductory sentences and the end were left unaltered. Twenty five words were deleted at intervals of every ninth word. The deletions included articles, pronouns, adjectives, nouns, and conjunctions. The motivating activities were measured by a questionnaire that was filled in after the project. Its aim was to assess students’ attitudes to reading. Student used emoticons to mark their attitudes to different types of activities that take place during the lesson. We focused on the attitudes towards ‘reading stories’ that was one of the activities that students had to mark.
68 2.3 Motivation To motivate students a score system was developed – students played a game ‘Reading Marathon’. They gained points kilometres for each book they read and these were then recorded into a chart that was displayed in class. The display of points gained – ‘Reading Marathon Chart’ motivated the students to keep up with others. The student who read the target of twelve books had enough points i.e. ran the marathon and were awarded by a book.
2.4 Monitoring
Students were asked to fill in Instant Book Reports after reading each book. This was mainly for the teacher to monitor whether the students have really done their reading. Moreover, it helped students to learn how to state their opinions about reading and developed writing skills. Instant Book Reports were then displayed on the class board designed deliberately for Extensive reading. These reports also served as book reviews that helped other students with their book selection.
69 2.5 Results
1. Cloze test
Experimental group Reader Pre test Post test Gain 1 13 15 2 2 7 6 3 6 12 6 5 11 8 6 18 18 Total mean: 1.6 Control group Reader Pre test Post test Gain 1 4 13 7 2 10 18 8 3 14 17 3 4 17 16 5 18 19 1 Total mean: 3.8
70 2. Reading speed test The results are in words per minute. Experiment group Reader Pre test Post test Gain 1 142 240 98 2 256 453 197 3 213 318 105 4 144 316 172 5 138 231 93 6 282 402 120 7 213 288 75 Total mean: 122.86 Control group Reader Pre test Post test Gain 1 318 564 246 2 174 433 259 3 168 370 190 4 274 433 159 5 174 338 164 Total mean: 203.6 3. Questionnaire Like reading Neutral Experimental group 5 Control group 3 2 71 2.6 Comments It can be seen that control group outperformed the experimental group in both reading speed tests and cloze test. This might be caused by the higher language competence of the control group. The other fact to consider is that the control group was at slightly higher level than the experimental group. 1. Cloze test Even if the overall gain is not high we were pleased by the performance of Student 1 and 3 as these students belonged to those who had read most. The lower scores of students 2 and 5 could be ascribed to the low level of concentration during the post test. 2. Reading speed test The results of the experimental group were very dissimilar. This can be due to the fact that students have not developed the idea of constant reading speed yet. Students were reading either too slowly or they tended to skip some words. We do not consider reading speed test an appropriate means for measuring reading speed at this age. The results are also not objective as marking of the part that was read is only up to students’ honesty. A computer programme for measuring speed would be more suitable for this level. On the other hand, the results of the control group were more consistent. It was probably because of their age that was one to two years above the experimental group and their language experience. 3. Attitudes questionnaire The questionnaire showed the positive attitudes of experimental group to reading stories that was one or the aims of implementing Extensive reading in ELT teaching. In control group two of the respondents showed neutral attitudes to reading stories. All members of experimental groups proved to like reading stories. 72 Conclusion The aim of this thesis was to introduce Extensive reading approach as a valuable alternative to traditional teaching approaches. ER has proved to developed students’ reading speed, vocabulary acquisition, writing as well as speaking skills ( Elley et. al.; Bell). Positive effects of ER on readers’ motivation have also been stated (Mason). The small gains in vocabulary acquisition and reading speed in our research may be ascribed to a short period students were exposed to reading materials. Even if the results of our research did not confirm the gains in reading speed and vocabulary sufficiently, the fact that students enjoyed reading can be seen as very positive. All students stated in their Instant Book reports that the material was interesting and even the reluctant students evaluated the books they read positively. Students kept bringing their books in class and read them before the lessons. Their interest in reading was also seen after the programme had finished. Some of the students asked whether they can continue borrowing books from the library. Implementing Extensive reading into our teaching was a useful experience as we observed that if students are given the opportunity and encouragement to read they like reading. We are aware of the fact that introducing Extensive reading into ELT teaching places more demands on teacher in terms of organizing and performance but the results are certainly worth the effort.
73 Bibliography Stanley, Graham. “Extensive Reading”. BBC /British Council teaching English – Reading. 7 May 2007.
Bamford, Julian and Roberta Welch. “Starting Extensive Reading Programs at Universities, Vocational Schools and Language Schools”. 7 May 2007.
Elley, Warwick, Brian Cutting, Francis Mangubhai and Cynthia Hugo. “Lifting Literacy Levels with Story Books: Evidence from the South Pacific, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Africa. 7 May 2007.
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Hitosugi, Claire Ikumi and Richard R. Day. “Extensive Reading in Japanese”. Reading in a Foreign Language. Vol. 16, No. 1, Apr 2004. 7 May 2007. < http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/>
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74 Waring, Rob. “Graded and Extensive Reading – Questions and Answers”. The Language Teacher Online. 7 May 2007. < http://www.jswl.cn/course/czwyjx/refrences/Arob2/049.files/index.htm>
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Ioannou Georgiou, Sophie and Pavlos Pavlou. Assessing Young Learners . Oxford: OUP, 2003.
Soars, John and Liz. New Headway. Oxford: OUP, 2000.
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