EXTENS-1.PPT

Extensive Reading
Dr. Vivienne Yu
© Vivienne Yu 2002
Motivating Students to Read
The value of extensive reading

How to encourage students to read extensively

Integrating extensive reading into the TBL curriculum

The value of extensive reading
Extensive - a wide range of texts
a large number of books
Comprehensive - of the right level
It provides exposure to extensive comprehensible language and is
therefore highly beneficial for language acquisition and literacy development
 
Revisiting vocabulary and structures in different books and contexts
reinforcing understanding of story structure ie. introduction, setting (place and time), characters, plot (problem or goal), episodes or events, resolution
Extensive practice of reading skills such as word attack skills, meaning attack skills, prediction skills → fluent reading
Extensive exposure to language not usually encountered in textbooks and simplified readers

It is an important source of ideas and information
 
It can nurture a good reading habit
 
Cycle of growth
Extensive reading – increased exposure – cycle of growth (Nuttall 1996)

Extensive reading helps student to become fluent, independent readers
who are interested in reading.

Read more
Enjoyment
Improving the extensive reading lessons and encouraging students to read extensively
Lower forms
No interest in reading
Some books are boring
Reading-related activities are boring e.g. taking tests
Lack of vocabulary knowledge and so find reading difficult

Upper forms
No time to read : need to prepare for examinations
Reading materials are too difficult
 
General
Not motivated
Not aware of the benefits of ERS
Lack confidence in reading
Problems identified by teachers:
 
Implications
Books / reading materials need to be interesting and not too difficult
Students need to develop reading skills - e.g. how to guess
words from context, activate background knowledge, read
for implied meaning etc
Reading-related activities should be interesting and creative
A reading culture should be developed in the school
1. Choosing suitable reading materials for an extensive
reading programme
Compare passages in the course books with stories for extensive reading. Are they different? Which are more interesting?
 
What kinds of books are suitable for extensive reading?
 
How do we find out about the interests of the students?
 
How do we grade books? Note that the input must be ‘comprehensible’!

Characteristics of good books
Entertaining
The content is rich and varied
Contain interesting and imaginative characters, themes, events and situations
The illustrations are attractive and provide appropriate support
The language is rich and creative
Children can respond to them
Good books?
What books / materials?
L2 readers
Reading schemes for English-speaking children (including picture books)

L1 books for leisure reading
adolescent literature
movie books
popular series – teenage fiction
non-fiction

Magazines / CD-Roms / websites
Secondary
Allow ‘subliterature’ e.g. movie books (Home Alone, Jurassic Park), the Apple series, The Bailey school kids, Goosebumps etc.
 
Let your students choose topics / authors they like
 
Get them hooked onto a series!!!
Finding out about the interests of students
What do you like to do in your spare time?
 
Do you enjoy reading?
 
Which of these do you like to read? Tick in the columns
If you like stories, what sort do you like?
What sort of books do you like best of all?

If you like to read books about true things, what kind of things do you enjoy?

What T.V. programmes do you enjoy watching?
2. Helping students overcome reading difficulties
Problems
 
Too bottom-up in approach – too much concentration on individual words. If they get stuck with a word, they do not know how to go on. (Even place or people’s names)

Do not know how to activate background knowledge in reading

Do not know how to work out ‘implied meaning’

Suggestions for helping students overcome these problems
Cloze reading (to develop ability to tolerate vagueness and to guess words from context)
Think-aloud protocol (to help develop awareness of the importance of background information)
Predicting the ending of short stories
Discussion of plot, characters, setting, problem, resolution etc through story frames and story maps
Read more!!! ‘We learn to read by reading’ (Smith 1978, Nuttall 1996)

References
Nuttall, C (1996) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. London: Heinemann
Smith, F (1978) Reading. Cambridge: CUP
3. Including reading-related activities that are interesting and enjoyable in
your extensive reading lessons in addition to USSR (Uninterrupted sustained silent reading)
Teachers acting as facilitator and motivator (Readers are made by readers)

Suggestions:

Introducing stories and recommending books in class
Using a multimedia approach - watch a related movie etc
Psychological preparation
Discussing a book with students (small group or individual conferences)
Teacher reading a book herself


Creating a reading community in class (Peer support and sharing are essential)

Suggestions

Literature circles
Readers’ and writers’ workshops
Readers’ theatre
Conferencing with and writing to book authors
Publishing students’ stories in the form of ‘small books’
Providing a print-rich environment (Easy access to books is important)

Suggestions:

Class libraries
Display corner for ‘Book of the month’, ‘Author of the month’
Display corner for students’ work e.g. letters to the authors, book cover design.

A whole school approach
Eg. Book week to celebrate literacy:

- Book character day
- Graphic display of number of books read by the entire school
in the form of a bookworm that ‘grows’ around the school
- Book talks by authors and community leaders
4. Developing a reading culture in school
Display of English books in the library – a book corner (Change it every month) – can adopt a theme (Detective stories) or an author approach (Roald Dahl)
 
Display of students’ work, like book reviews, letters to
the authors, book cover designs
 
Board displays with slogans – e.g. Reading is fun!
 
Activities to promote reading e.g. story-telling competition, drama competition, book report competition, best readers of the class, the form, the month etc.

Surveys on books
 
Teachers’ recommendations (the ten best books) in school newsletters
 
Opportunities to borrow books in the summer and the holidays
 
Enlist the help of parents
 

Integrating extensive reading into the TBL curriculum
Why?

Extensive reading is an important source
of ideas and language for carrying out tasks
in the English language curriculum
For example
Task: Write a letter to a friend asking for help and advice
Students each choose a character from a book they have read. They pretend to
be the character and write the letter
e.g. The Pied Piper of Hamelin - The mayor of the town asks a friend to
suggest ways of getting rid of the rats.
The Three Little Pigs – The pigs ask for ways to protect themselves
from wild animals


Task: Produce a radio play
Students who have read the same book can work as a group to
produce a radio play based on the book
ie. different groups will produce different plays

Task: A project based on the theme ‘Animals’
Students can make use of the animal stories / books they have
read in doing some of the tasks, e.g. they create / publish their own animal
stories in the form of small books.

Task: The most popular character
Each student nominates a character from the books he/she has read
and draws a picture / writes a short description of the character.
The whole class vote to decide on who the most popular character is
Task: Students create a new ending to a story they have read

Task: Students design new book covers, book marks or
cartoon strips based on a story they like

There is more variety in the students’ work because they have read
different books

Conclusion
Extensive reading materials should be actively used in completing
tasks in the TBL curriculum

Students will be motivated to read if:
The books / reading materials chosen are interesting and of appropriate level
They are helped to develop reading skills
The reading-related activities are interesting and creative
There is a reading culture in school