Extensive Reading: The Key to Language Fluency Lesley Speer - Jose Lara UECA PD Fest 2018

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Reading Intensive vs Extensive Intensive Teacher directed Accuracy / Comprehension Words/Grammar Not much Often challenging Extensive Student directed Fluency / Enjoyment Meaning A lot Should be comfortable Control Purpose Focus Amount Level MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE 2

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Ten Principles Reading material is easy. A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available. Learners choose what they want to read. Learners read as much as possible. Purpose is related to pleasure, information and general understanding Reading is its own reward. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower. Reading is individual and silent. Teachers orient and guide students. The teacher is a role model of a reader. (Day & Bamford, 2002) MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE 3

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Why do we need it? “Extensive reading is essential for reading fluency development” (Macalister, 2018) “Learners need 8000 word families in order to read fluently.” (Waring, 2018) MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Four Strands Approach Four Skills Reading Listening Speaking Main goal: make our students do more reading (for pleasure). Writing MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

Meaning focused output Language focused learning Extensive Reading Four Strands Approach Four Skills Four Strands Meaning focused input Reading Meaning focused output Listening Speaking Main goal: make our students do more reading (for pleasure). Language focused learning Fluency development Writing (Macalister, 2018) MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Reading without meaning The Snolls The grifty snolls cloppered raucingly along the unchoffed trake. They were klary, so they higgled on sperately. "Ah, chiwar kervay," they squopped rehoply. "Mi psar Quaj!". "Quaj!" snilled one, and flitted even jucklier. Answer the questions below Where did the snolls clopper? What was the trake like? Why did they higgle on? How did they squop? Along the trake. Unchoffed. They were klary. Rehoply. (Waring, 2018) MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Vocabulary acquisition Intermediate students will need 2000 word families Advanced learners will need 4000-6000 word families To read materials written for English speakers (L1), 8000-9000 word families are needed (Waring, 2018) MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Vocabulary acquisition V n adj adv beautify beauty beautiful beautifully work worker workable - - - effective effectively affect effect - - effect employ employer employable - employee employment unemployment unemploy eat eater/eatery edible/inedible - MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

Oh, my God! Oh, gosh! My goodness! Extensive Reading Vocabulary acquisition There are around 1500 common idioms There are around 1200 common phrasal verbs get across get along get around get at get away get on get out of get over get down get down to There are hundreds of formulaic phrases/expression Oh, my God! Oh, gosh! My goodness! Goodness me! (Waring, 2018) MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

sufficient vocabulary Extensive Reading Extensive reading constitutes meaning focused input and it is the best way to expose students to sufficient vocabulary to develop language fluency . MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Book Club Cafe Week 1 Week 1-5 Week 1-5 Set-up Reading Book Club Café (20-30min class time) Introduce: Book Club Café Websites for reading Reading logs Importance of reading Students Students Share information (groups of 3-4) Read outside class time Choose their own texts Enjoy a relaxed and fun atmosphere Record information to share See immediate benefits of reading Now that we have the ingredients for extensive reading, let’s proceed to look at how it all is done. In week one, the first step is to introduce the Book Club Café to students. The main point here is to inform students of the importance and the benefits of reading in the development of their English language skills. Give the students a practical reason, a reason that is not linked to an assessed task, a reason that is voluntary rather than imposed. Once this is done, students are introduced to the online reading tool. At our centre, we have used a couple of websites, but most recently we have been using ER-Central, a website that contains a bank of more than 1000 texts graded into 20 different levels of proficiency. Because of this, students have the liberty to choose from a wide variety of texts and difficulty. One of the advantages to using this website is that texts are varied in topics, and fairly short, which gives the students a quick and tangible sense of achievement. In this same introductory session, we teach students how to properly find the meanings of the new words that they find. As teachers, you may well know that, when encountered with a new word, students tend to only consider the first entry they find in their dictionaries, not being aware that this may not be the most appropriate meaning given the context of the sentence where they’ve found that particular word. We make reference to word forms (noun, verbs, adjectives), the number of different meanings that a single word may have, and words found in phrases and collocations. The last step in MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE Extensive Reading Considerations Resources: Graded readers, websites, (ER central, Texthelper, Newsinlevels, WeSpeke, etc.), apps Budget/cost Time Follow up (essential) Motivation Sustainability Routine for students (place + time) MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE

Extensive Reading Foundation (in Australia) jose.lara@mq.edu.au lesley.speer@mq.edu.au Thank you