The missing piece of the puzzle

The indisputable case for Extensive Reading

TESOL Arabia - March 16, 2013Dubai

Rob Waring

waring.rob@gmail.com

What do learners need to know?

Learners need 7000-8000 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? 2Adjective 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? 3Colligations

Give something to someoneDepend on someoneAllow someone to do somethingBe interested in something

Phrasal verbsGive in to, catch up with, bring about, play down

Idioms and expressionsLet the cat out of the bag, flash in the pan, slippery slopeA welcome change, to cut to the chase,

Plus THOUSANDS more

What else do they need to know? 4Lexical 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? 5The 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 continuousActive or passiveShort answers and questions tagsRegular and irregular - has vs. have walked vs. boughtPresent 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 givenThey 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 givenThey 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 givingThey 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 awarenessacademic vs narrative prose,norms for writing emails and lettersetc.

Cultural capitalbackground knowledgecultural 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 otherTaught individually and sequentiallyUnsystematic and randomLike 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 30-50 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 readingWe know nothing at all about how long it takes to master a particular grammatical form e.g. a tense

A Typical Reading Text

Short textsShort texts

Many difficult words

Many difficult words

Many exercisesMany exercises

Definitions givenDefinitions 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, studentsRead something Enjoyably and quickly withAdequate comprehension so they Don’t need a dictionary

SSR = Sustained Silent ReadingSURF = Sustained Uninterrupted Reading for FunDEAR = 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

Phonics Easy vocab More difficult vocabEasy grammar More difficult grammar

Nativebooks

Non-fiction too

Beginner level

Easy vocabularyPresent tenses onlyVery simple plot

High beginner level

Little bit more difficult vocabulary

More difficult grammarHarder 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 known Partially Known Probably unknown

50+ 30-49 20-29 10-19 5-9 1-4 Total

Course book only 523 210 229 472 580 1,261 3,275

Data from Sequences, Foundations, Page Turners and Footprints by Heinle Cengage 225,000 60,800 570,000 174,000 (=1,029,000)

Add one reader a

week1,023 283 250 539 570 1,325 3,990

Add two readers a

week1,372 380 367 694 877 2,882 6,572

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?

SlowReading speed

High

% of known vocabulary100%

LowComprehension

High

90% 98%

ReadingPain

(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 objectionsNice 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.

Extensive Reading Foundation Congress

September 13-15, Seoul Korea

www.ER-Central.com

The go-to place for all our Extensive Reading needs

About us

Extensive Reading Central is:• a brand new website developed for the ER community by EFL Technologies•completely free•still building the site, so bear with us as we add content.

www.er-central.com

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