The missing piece of the puzzle The indisputable case for Extensive Reading TESOL Arabia - March 16, 2013 Dubai Rob Waring

What do learners need to know? Learners need word families to read native novels with high vocabulary coverage (98%). About 2000 General Service word families occur in all types of English. Learners need ‘specialist words’ as well. There are two stages in word learning. 1. The form-meaning relationship (its pronunciation, spelling and meaning) 2. The deeper word knowledge – its nuances and shades of meanings – Its derivations (useful, useless, uselessness, etc.) – its collocations and colligations (blonde hair but yellow car; rely on s/one) – if it’s typically spoken, or written – if it’s useful or rare, polite or pejorative, formal or informal – the discourse domains the word lives in (e.g. science, music, biology)

What collocations do they need to learn? 2 Verb uses of one word - Idea… “Abandon an idea.” abandon, absorb, accept, adjust to, advocate, amplify, advance, back, be against, be committed/dedicated/ drawn to, be obsessed with, be struck by, borrow, cherish, clarify, cling to, come out/up with, confirm, conjure up, consider, contemplate, convey, debate, debunk, defend, demonstrate, develop, deny, dismiss, dispel, disprove, distort, drop, eliminate, encourage, endorse, entertain, explode, explore, expound, express, favor, fit, fit in with, follow up, form, formulate, foster, get, get accustomed/used to, get rid of, give up, go along with, grasp, hammer out, have, hit upon, hold, implement, imply, impose – on sb, incorporate, inculcate, instill, jot down, keep to, launch, meet, modify, negate, oppose, pick up, pioneer, plant, play with, popularize, present, promote, propose, put an end to, put forward, put – into practice, raise, refute, reinforce, reject, relish, resist, respond to, revive, ridicule, rule out, spread, squash, stick to, subscribe to, suggest, support, take to, take up, test, tinker with, toy with, turn down, warm to …

What collocations do they need to learn? 2 Adjective uses. “An idea is ………...” abstract, absurd, advanced, ambitious, arresting, basic, bizarre, bold, bright, brilliant, classical, clear, common, commonsense, confused, controversial, convincing, crazy, diabolical, disconcerting, elusive, enlightened, entrenched, exaggerated, extravagant, extreme, false, familiar, fantastic, far-fetched, feasible, feeble, fixed, flexible, foolish, grotesque, hazy, heretical, imaginative, inflated, ingenious, ingrained, innovative, instinctive, intriguing, irresponsible, mad, misconceived, mistaken, monstrous, new-fangled, novel, original, old-fashioned, outdated, out-of-date, outrageous, peculiar, persuasive, preconceived, preposterous, prevalent, provocative, (un)real, (un)realistic, remarkable, revolutionary, ridiculous, risky, sensible, silly, splendid, strange, striking, superficial, untenable, useful, vague, valid, well-defined …

What else do they need to know? 3 Colligations Give something to someone Depend on someone Allow someone to do something Be interested in something Phrasal verbs Give in to, catch up with, bring about, play down Idioms and expressions Let the cat out of the bag, flash in the pan, slippery slope A welcome change, to cut to the chase, Plus THOUSANDS more

What else do they need to know? 4 Lexical phrases and chunks of language How’s things? I’d rather not … If it were up to me, I’d … So, what do you think? We got a quick bite to eat. What’s the matter? What do you mean by that? Well, what do you know? Look who’s just walked in….. Plus THOUSANDS more

What else do they need to know? 5 The grammar systems (e.g. the present perfect tense) A government committee has been created to … He hasn’t seen her for a while, has he? No, he hasn’t. Why haven’t you been doing your homework? There’s been a big accident in Market Street. Have you ever seen a ghost? It’s very hard to see the patterns – there are many forms: Statement, negative, yes/no and wh- question forms, Simple or continuous Active or passive Short answers and questions tags Regular and irregular - has vs. have walked vs. bought Present perfect for ‘announcing news’, PP for ‘experiences’, etc. etc.

The forms of the present perfect tense I have given. You have given. He/she/it has given. We have given. They have given. Have I given? Have you given? Has he/she/it given? Have we given? Have they given? I haven’t given. You haven’t given. He/she/it haven’t given. We haven’t given They haven’t given. What have I given? What have you given? What has he/she/it given? What have we given? What have they given? I have been given. You have been given. He/she/it has been given. We have been given. They have been given. Have I been given? Have you been given? Has he/she/it been given? Have we been given? Have they been given? I haven’t been given. You haven’t been given. He/she/it hasn’t been given. We haven’t been given They haven’t been given. What have I been given? What have you been given? What has he/she/it been given? What have we been given? What have they been given? I have been giving. You have been giving. He/she/it has been giving. We have been giving. They have been giving. Have I been giving? Have you been giving? Has he/she/it been giving? Have we been giving? Have they been giving? I haven’t been giving. You haven’t been giving. He/she/it hasn’t been giving. We haven’t been giving They haven’t been giving. Yes, I have. No, I haven’t. Yes, you have. No, you haven’t. Yes, he/she/it has. No, he/she/it hasn’t. Yes, we have. No, we haven’t. Yes, they have. No, they haven’t ……, have I? ….., haven’t I? ……, have you? ……, haven’t you? ….., has he/he/it? ….., hasn’t he/she/it? ….., have we?..…, haven’t we? ….., have they? ….., haven’t they?

What else do they need to know? 6 Discourse patterns and textual awareness academic vs narrative prose, norms for writing s and letters etc. Cultural capital background knowledge cultural knowledge, norms, precepts Reading skills – skimming, scanning, Reading speed and fluency etc…..

Much of language teaching and learning is… Bitty, atomistic and largely unconnected to each other Taught individually and sequentially Unsystematic and random Like making a jigsaw without having the picture to guide you.. Like building a wall brick by brick but without the cement

How long will it take to teach this? An average word needs meetings for it to be learnt receptively from reading (more for productive use) Little research has been done into the rate learning of collocation, colligation or lexical phrases from reading We know nothing at all about how long it takes to master a particular grammatical form e.g. a tense

A Typical Reading Text Short texts Many difficult words Many exercises Definitions given

How well are our courses presenting 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 provide minimal additional practice in review units or workbooks has an overwhelming focus on new material in each lesson

A linear structure to our syllabuses Each unit has something new Little focus on the recycling of vocab, grammar and so on The theory is “We’ve done that, they have learnt it, so we can move on.” i.e. teaching causes 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 happens to things we learn? We forget them over time unless they are recycled and memories of them strengthened Our brains forget most of what we meet 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 does this all imply? A linear course structure is focused on introducing new words and grammatical features does not fight against the forgetting curve by its very design cannot provide enough repetitions of words and grammar features for long-term acquisition to take place is not focused on deepening and consolidating older knowledge because the focus is always on new things

Does this mean course books are bad? This is NOT a criticism of course books or courses. There’s too much to actually teach / learn. – Thousands of words plus their collocations, multiple meaning senses etc. – Thousands of lexical phrases – The grammar systems – Phrases and expressions – The pronunciation, reading skills, listening skills etc. etc. etc. No course book can teach all this. Course books are designed to introduce new language and give minimal practice with it not to deepen that knowledge.

So what needs to happen? We have to ensure our curriculums and courses: build in recycling and repetition of words and grammar structures, language patterns, phrases give students chances to see how the grammar, vocabulary and expressions are used together in real discourse give students chances to deepen and consolidate the language they learn in their course books (or they forget it) allow students to develop their own ‘sense’ of how the language works give students chances to use language rather than just study about it

What is Extensive Reading? When reading extensively, students Read something Enjoyably and quickly with Adequate comprehension so they Don’t need a dictionary SSR = Sustained Silent Reading SURF = Sustained Uninterrupted Reading for Fun DEAR = Drop Everything And Read

What are graded readers? They are 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

Course work and Graded Readers work together II Level 1 books Level 2 books Level 3 books …. Unit 1 Be verb Simple adjectives Unit 2 Simple present Daily routines Unit 3 Present continuous Sporting activities Unit 4 can Abilities Unit 5 …. …..

Graded readers

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

Non-fiction too

Beginner level Easy vocabulary Present tenses only Very simple plot

High beginner level Little bit more difficult vocabulary More difficult grammar Harder plot

High Intermediate Some difficult vocabulary More difficult grammar

The number of words a learner will probably learn from course work plus graded readers Probably knownPartially KnownProbably unknown Total Course book only ,2613,275 Data from Sequences, Foundations, Page Turners and Footprints by Heinle Cengage 225,000 60, , ,000 (=1,029,000) Add one reader a week 1, ,3253,990 Add two readers a week 1, ,8826,572

The aim of graded reading To recycle important and useful words and grammar time and time and time again to aid acquisition To provide massive fluent native-like reading practice To build reading speed To be enjoyable – so they read more To build depth of knowledge To consolidate and strengthen partly known language To build cultural capital and background knowledge To raise discourse competence

What’s the optimum vocabulary coverage for building fluency? Slow Reading speed High % 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

How much reading should they do? About a book a week or more. Beginners - A book at week at their ability level They can meet unknown words easily, so they don’t need to read much. Intermediates - A book at week at their ability level They don’t meet unknown words all the time, but their books are thicker, so they are reading more. Advanced – 2 books at week at their ability level They rarely meet unknown words, so they have to read more to meet language they don’t know.

Some objections Nice idea but I have no time in my course. -> If you don’t have graded reading where will your students get the massive exposure they need? -> How else will they get the ‘sense of language’ they need? We don’t have the money for this. -> Ask your schools to reallocate funds so this reading is done; ask for donations; get some free samples etc. We have to go through our set curriculum. -> Speak with your course designers to build in graded reading. Re-allocate resources and re-set class hours. We have to prepare the students for tests. -> Research shows students perform better on tests if they have a general sense of language, not a deconstructed ‘bitty’ one.

Summary Course books and graded readers are two sides of the same coin – they help each other Graded (extensive) reading should be integrated into our courses. It should not be an option. Choose books at the right level for your students (so they can read fluently with high levels of understanding and without a dictionary) Students need to learn to listen fluently too.

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