Thammasat University students are cordially invited to participate in a free Zoom webinar on Extensive Reading and Principles of Learning on Saturday,18 September, at 10am Bangkok time.
The event is presented by Thailand Extensive Reading Association (TERA).
The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of extensive reading as an educational approach.
Students may register at this link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKZ2vNIUzPNK0AghEI_En0mYBNB1u2YICAvRo_SGyblO3IrQ/viewform
For further information or with any questions, kindly write to this email address:
training.tera@gmail.com
The speaker will be Professor Paul Nation.
As the TERA website indicates, Extensive reading (ER)
is an approach to language learning that encourages students to read a large amount of books, or other reading material, that is relatively easy for them to understand. Ideally, the books should be easier than their current reading level so that they can read quickly, without having to look up words in a dictionary.
Extensive Reading often makes use of “graded readers” — books that have been specially prepared with controlled vocabulary and grammar to make them accessible to the learner.
Ideally, students should choose their own reading material, with the hope that they might forget that they are ‘studying’ if the material engages their imagination.
In “extensive reading”, complete comprehension of the texts is not as important as reading a large volume of material. It is through repeated exposure to the vocabulary and syntax of the target language that the learner can eventually internalize how the words of the language are actually used — how they collocate with the words around them.
Extensive reading, also called free reading, book flood, or reading for pleasure is a way of language learning, including foreign language learning, through large amounts of reading.
By reading what they like, students can learn new vocabulary and have fun while they are doing so.
In language learning, extensive reading is contrasted with intensive reading, which is slow, careful reading of a small amount of difficult text.
Some language courses feature both approaches at the same time.
However, intensive reading is more commonly used.
The TERA website features the results of some research studies, such as a 2014 Report on the Extensive Reading Foundation Grant Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ubon Ratchathani University by one instructor using the ER approach:
This report will consist of a description of the development of the extensive reading (ER) library for the Department of Chemistry at Ubon Ratchathani University and the implementation of extensive reading into the curriculum for an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course in Thailand. Next I will provide the results of the ER program evaluation done by 85 students at the end of the course that show a very favorable attitude towards ER. In addition to this I will provide some examples of some student work produced related to books read for the ER program to show how students engaged with the reading. Finally I will end with an account of the current status of the ER library at the Department of Chemistry. After the report will be some pictures of the ER library and the students reading.
Developing an ER Library: Developing an ER library is a lot of work. The development of the project started well before leaving to Thailand. This section will focus on the steps taken to develop the library including: book selection, grading of books, getting the materials to the location, developing a check out system, and finding the location for the library.
Book Selection: I decided to purchase mostly used books from local used book stores in Hawaii. I did this for a couple of reasons. I am a fan of ESL/EFL specific graded readers however they are fairly expensive and they were out of my budget. If purchasing graded readers I would have only been able to get around 50-100 books. I had almost 100 students in three classes initially participating in the ER program so we needed at least 200 books. This program is intended for the entire Department of Chemistry so we needed many books. I was able to find many leveled readers designed for use in public schools in the US that are very similar to graded readers. They are designed for different grades depending on the difficulty of the text (vocabulary level and grammatical structures). I got both fiction and nonfiction books. I also got some books in Thailand once I got there because I had some money left over after taking care of the shipping of the materials to Thailand. I was able to purchase some ESL/EFL specific graded readers in Thailand from the local book store. In all I got 234 books for the ER library.
The point is to encourage students to find books they like so they can enjoy reading in a foreign language.
Students are not required to finish reading books they find boring.
Typically, students are not tested on what they have read.
Professor Nation is Emeritus Professor in Applied Linguistics at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies (LALS) at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
The TU Library owns several of his books.
His specialist interests are the teaching and learning of vocabulary and language teaching methodology.
He has taught in Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, Finland and Japan.
Professor Nation has suggested that learning from extensive reading should focus on the meaning of the English text, understanding the type of learning that can occur through such reading, feature interesting and engaging books with learners reading a lot at an appropriate level, while learning from reading is supported by other learning methods.
To make extensive reading possible to match the abilities of students, simplified texts are necessary.
Students interested in this approach may watch a YouTube video in which Professor Nation discusses how ER helps vocabulary learning.
Professor Nation’s Open Access book What do you need to know to learn a foreign language? is available for free download at this link.
In an interview published two years ago,
Professor Nation suggested:
One thing to believe is that teaching is not teachers’ most important job. It is only a small part of their work. I see that planning and organizing are two most important jobs of teachers. First, it is more important for teachers to plan a course so that useful material is being used and focused on… ER is meaning-focused input where the students get the input which is at the right level. This means that students only get few unknown words and that becomes the way they make progress and learn. To take the most benefit from meaning-focused input, half of the input should be extensive reading and the other half is extensive listening. An extensive reading program should also include another strand, that is, fluency development because if you can read faster you can read more. This can be reached by allowing students to spend one third of their time to read really easy graded readers, those are books that have lower levels, or reading the same book repeatedly just so they could read faster. This means that a reading or extensive reading program is required to have two parts: the two-thirds of it is reading at the right level and the other one-third is reading at a really easy level so that you can read faster. The purpose of this distribution is to develop fluency which at the same time also allows students to read more.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)