 Setting your Compass for Reading Dr. Rob Waring

The goals of language teaching Ensure they can read, write, speak and listen Build pragmatic, cultural as well as linguistic knowledge Develop learning strategies Develop independence Develop a sense of ownership of the language Build confidence and a ‘can do’ attitude

What do learners need to know linguistically? The grammatical systems About 2000 everyday words occur in all types of English. A word’s form-meaning relationship (its pronunciation, spelling and meaning) The deeper knowledge of a word its different meanings its derivations (useful, useless, uselessness, etc.) if it’s typically spoken, or written if it’s useful or rare, polite or rude the topic are we usually find it in (e.g. science, music, biology) its collocations and colligations

Why can’t Korean students read, listen, speak and write well? Their language knowledge is often abstract, separated, discrete and very fragile to forgetting There’s too much work on “the pieces-of-language” and not enough comprehensible, meaningful discourse They haven’t met the words and grammar enough times to feel comfortable using it They CANNOT speak until they feel comfortable using their knowledge Not enough exposure. To acquire a 7000 word vocabulary requires them to meet about 10-15,000,000 words. A typical high 3-year course book series has 250,000 words. They haven’t developed a ‘sense’ of language yet

A Typical Reading Text

How are students typically taught to read? From textbooks with short difficult texts Doing lots of exercises to practice the grammar and vocab, reading skills and strategies All students read the same teacher-selected material All students read at the same pace All students read at the same difficulty level The text may or may not interest all learners It’s hard to develop fluent eye movements – fluency and reading speed – too many ‘reading speed bumps’

Intensive Reading Provides good for the teaching of discrete language points Few chances for the development of fluent eye movements Few chances to learn the patterns in the language Little allowance for student interest in what is read Little allowance for reading at their own ability level Often difficult for students to add new language to the existing store of language because the material is too difficult

Typical Korean reading texts In Middle School -teaches the first 1000 words quite well - readability seems adequate – short passages, easy vocabulary, picture support In Senior High School - radical change to low frequency vocabulary - hundreds of the most important 2,000 words aren’t met

Why build reading speed? Natives read at words per minute Many non-natives read at less than 100 words per minute If they can read faster, they will -read more naturally -process the language more effectively and efficiently -understand more -remember more -read more text -be able to finish tests faster

How well does that course present the language students need? Research suggests an average language course: -does not systematically recycle the grammatical forms outside the presentation unit / lesson -has an almost random vocabulary selection without much regard to frequency or usefulness (mostly based on topic) -rarely, if ever, recycles taught words either later in the unit, the book, or the series -provides minimal additional practice in review units or workbooks has an overwhelming focus on new material in each lesson

A linear structure to our syllabuses Little focus on the recycling of vocabulary, grammar and so on The theory is “We’ve done that, they have learnt it, so we can move on.” Unit 1 Be verb Simple adjectives Unit 2 Simple present Daily routines Unit 3 Present continuous Sporting activities Unit 4 can Abilities Unit 5 …. …..

What happens to things we learn? We forget them over time unless they are recycled and memories of them strengthened. Our brains are designed to forget most of what we meet - not to remember it. Time Knowledge The Forgetting Curve

What will naturally happen to the learning? Unit 1 Be verb Simple adjectives Unit 2 Simple present Daily routines Unit 3 Present continuous Sporting activities Unit 4 can Abilities Unit 5 …. …..

What is Extensive Reading? Fast, fluent reading of story books with high levels of comprehension Focus on comprehension and enjoyment, not language learning Aim is to deepen already met language through massive exposure Typically this is done with ‘graded readers’ or ‘leveled readers’ Extensive reading (ER) and Intensive reading (IR) are two sides of the same coin. Intensive Reading builds language, Extensive Reading practices it. IR and ER work TOGETHER, they are NOT opposites

What are graded readers? Graded readers are story books written for learners of English written at various difficulty levels Level 1 books have very few words and only the simplest grammar Level 2 books have slightly harder vocabulary and grammar Level 3 increases the difficulty … and so on The students progress through the levels reading books that mirror what they learnt in their course work

Graded readers are GRADED PhonicsEasy vocabMore difficult vocab Easy grammarMore difficult grammar Native books

Course work and Graded Readers work together Consolidating and deepening language knowledge Extensive Reading Unit 1 Be verb Unit 2 Simple present Unit 3 Present continuous Unit 4 can Unit 5 …. Introducing language

Features of Extensive Reading Emphasis on the skill of reading All reading is in the second language – no Korean needed New words are often met in later chapters Emphasis on reading for comprehension / enjoyment Provides input for speaking and writing All the students read different books Student selected material Wide variety of material (genres) The reading will probably interest the student Longer texts Very few difficult words Reading at the student's fluent reading ability level Mostly out-of class reading

When reading extensively, students should READ It is CRUCIAL that learners read at the RIGHT level Read something quickly and Enjoyably with Adequate comprehension so they Don’t need a dictionary

When reading extensively, students should READ If they need a dictionary, it’s too hard and they will read slowly, get tired and stop Their aim is fluency and speed, not learning new language Typically students read at home or out of class- it doesn’t take much class time for HUGE benefits We add the reading to our existing program, we don’t replace it.

How do Intensive and Extensive Reading fit together? Slow Reading speed High Low % of known vocabulary 100% Low Comprehension High 90% 98% Reading Pain (too hard, poor comprehension, high effort, de-motivating) Intensive reading (Instructional level, can learn new words and grammar) Speed reading practice (very fast, fluent, high comprehension, natural reading, enjoyable) Extensive reading (fast, fluent, adequate comprehension, enjoyable)

Reading at the right level

Fluency Reading class READING PAIN does NOT equal READING GAIN Choose reading materials where they can read quickly Have a wide variety of books – something interesting for everyone Have a wide variety of difficulty levels – easy to difficult Most of their time should be reading -not translating -not answering questions -not doing reports Reading should be pleasurable Reading should be motivating Reading should be inspiring Reading is more than language practice

Summary of Extensive Reading Massive language exposure at the student's level of understanding Excellent chances for the development of fluent eye movements (fluent reading) because the text is easy leading to faster reading Excellent chances to learn the patterns in the language because the student is reading a lot High probability the student is interested in what is read and that she will become a more confident reader

Young Learners Classic Readers Enjoyable and easy reading practice of famous stories Develops their vocabulary and reading fluency with the easy-to-read adaptations 60 classics A short introduction A picture gallery of characters A story including full-color illustrations and highlighted dialog A short playlet A picture dictionary Audio recordings

Compass Classic Readers Extensive Reading Practice Fundamental reading fluency practice Extension & consolidation of vocabulary Repeated exposure to common grammar structure Acknowledged Education Value Accessible adaptations of the world’s greatest literary works Cultural and historical contexts for broader understanding of the world

Compass Classic Readers Why Compass Classic Readers? Grasp both Language Learning and Content Learning Each Reader Includes: Carefully graded retold-stories using appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure Motivating full-color illustrations (excluding level 5 & 6) Discussion questions before and after each chapter A short playlet for fun classroom activities A glossary of key vocabulary words An MP3 CD

What is Reading Oceans  Online extensive reading program containing  3-D animated nursery rhymes and songs  Complete phonics course with 70 decodable readers  600 stories from a wide range of genre at 30 levels of difficulty  Read, listen or watch  Comprehension check follow-up  Learner management system allows teachers to track each student  Placement Level Test and achievement tests

The menus

 Placement test Flashcard test English to Korean receptive test Reading Comprehension test -> Test results

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A new organization dedicated to developing Extensive Reading in Korea September th, Second World Congress on Extensive Reading at Sookmyung university

Free not-for-profit website to promote Extensive Reading Hundreds of articles and links to ER information Blogs and comments Online Graded Text Editor Information for researchers ER and EL Videos Advice Center (coming soon) ER/EL Calendar Advice for publishers and authors

Help needed Need help to translate parts of the site to Korean and other languages. Upload any Korean ER materials Send us links to things in Korean Publishers can send product announcements

Thanks you for your time