Interview on Extensive Reading

8/13/2019 Interview on Extensive Reading

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believe there(s a lot to it" even if *ust large doses of com!rehensible in!ut may not alone besufficient for advanced !roficiency in a L<. I read lots of stuff by =rashen" and I still admire hiswork and that of others such as 1avid $skey" >eff /cuillan" +eatrice 1u!uy" and Lucy ,sewho have worked in that same vein.

illy: @es two other im!ortant influences for me have been arwick $lley

0the book flood !ro*ect in i*i" as well as my own research with #eorgethishas further convinced me of the tremendous benefits of extensive reading insecondBforeign language learning.

#eorge: Could I add two more !oints? ne is $%(s link to learner autonomy"and the other the connection with co-o!erative learning. I try to view the goalof language education as not *ust to add another skill to students( re!ertoires. Ialso consider what effect instruction has on the whole !erson and on the ty!eof citiDen students are or will become of their country and of the world. or thisreason" I attem!t to use teaching methods that give !eo!le the skills and

confidence they need to stand on their own two feet rather than waiting for bigbrother to tell them what to do. $% !rovides students with a key route towardunderstanding the world for themselves.

As for co-o!erative learning" it may seem to be a contradiction to talk aboutlearner autonomy in one breath and co-o!erative learning in the next" butactually I think the two come together smoothly in $%. ,he reading thatstudents do in $% gives grou!s something to talk about and work on" whilegrou!s !rovide a great way for students to share with each other the *oys ofreading and" thus encourage each other to do more $%.

Last but not least" I saw the en*oyment that my students ex!erienced whenthey read and told each other and me about their reading. And" I heard similarstories from other teachers. I saw students going back to the library andreading beyond the re)uired amount. Eot sur!risingly" I also saw a minoritywho *ust went through the motions. ,he worst case I recall was when I wasteaching $nglish in a high school in 8awaii. $very morning" the students wereto do $% in class. In honor of 8awaii(s famous waves" this !art of $% wascalled '&% 0'ilent &ninterru!ted %eading for un2. /ost of my classconsisted of native $nglish s!eakers" but some were recent immigrants. neof these kids" des!ite all the tricks I tried" most often s!ent '&% time with hishead in his arms on the desk.

Andy: ,he en*oyment is centralat the same time" the success and theresistance sound familiarF @ou work on in-service develo!ment courses onthe teaching of reading and writing" so could I ask you" #eorge" how a teachermight need to change their !ractice to hel! overcome such resistance?

#eorge: ne exam!le of a key moment of change was told to me by a'inga!orean teacher who was doing $% with a 4rimary G 0about twelve yearsold2 class. 'he had been attending an in-service course on reading andwriting instruction in which I had em!hasised $%. e had read an article byHivienne @u" in which Hivienne draws lessons from her ex!erience

im!lementing $% in 8ong =ong. ne of the !oints that Hivienne makes is thatteachers need to be motivators and enthusiasts for $%" !art of which entails



that when the students are reading silently" the teacher should be readingsilently too.

,his teacher had im!lemented a <7-minute slot for &''% 0&ninterru!ted'ustained 'ilent %eading2. 8owever" it wasn(t going very well. ,he students

were not too keen on reading" and she was s!ending her time not reading but!atrolling the classroom in a vain attem!t to get her students to read. inally"she gave u! and *ust sat at her desk" o!ened a book" and didn(t look u! forthe entire <7 minutes. ,he first few times" she heard noise and was verytem!ted to look u! and chastise the wrong doers" but she resisted thetem!tation. As the days went by" she ke!t her nose buried in her book" buther ears were detecting a greater silence. After about two weeks" she lookedu!. All the students were reading.

I think this is a great exam!le of the !ower of trust. ,he teacher was tellingher students that she trusted them. At first" some abused this trust" but

eventually this teacher accom!lished her goal of getting everyone to readduring &''% not by badgering them into submission but by setting a goodexam!le and trusting that students would have the good sense to follow thatexam!le.

Andy: ,hat(s a great role modelling story of the s!aces that can o!en u! with$%. #oing back" for a moment" to illy(s mention of the book flood meta!horand exam!le" getting $% going re)uires a large )uantity of readingmaterialsin your ex!erience" is it generally !ossible for teachers to gainaccess to such materials?

#eorge: ,hat(s rightfor $% to succeed" teachers need a large )uantity ofmaterials" and these need to be at a range of difficulty levels and to suit arange of interests. ,he issue of !rocuring these $% materials when funds arelimited or a!!ro!riate materials are not available is a difficult one. e *usthad a grou! of <7 second-language teachers from Hietnam here at %$LC fora course. I was" as usual" extolling the virtues of $%. e read the Hivienne @uarticle mentioned above" and the teachers also did some $% activities toim!rove their own !roficiency in $nglish. ,he main $% activity they did wasone that combines $% and co-o!erative learning. It(s called 3+ook heels3and can be found in the book on reading in ,$'L(s Eew ays seriesNew

ways in teaching reading . In 3+ook heels"3 students work in grou!s to telleach other about a book they(ve read and to ask each other higher-orderthinking )uestions about their books.

,he teachers from Hietnam en*oyed 3+ook heels3 and agreed that $% wouldbe great for their students. 8owever" again and again" they ke!t asking" 3+utwhere are we going to get the books?3 bviously" the easiest way to getbooks is for the school or the students to buy them" as is often done in !lacessuch as 'inga!ore or the &'.

Andy: Is that the case" though" in Hietnam? I(d guess funds for any kind of

educational materials can be severely limited.



#eorge: ortunately" other means exist even when funds are limited. 'ome ofthese are described in the works listed in the section on %eading /aterials inthe bibliogra!hy of works on $% in second language education that illy">ulian +amford" and I have been com!iling. ,his is available on the $%website: htt!:BBwww.kyoto- su.ac.*!BinformationBerB

,here(s also the o!!ortunity for localising content here. ,eachers can creatematerials for students. #audart 0962" and ,oh and %a*a 092 describe twodifferent ways this was done in /alaysia. or instance" when /arcus %a*awas a school !rinci!al in the /alaysian state of 'arawak" he wrote stories forhis students to use for $%. 'ince he was writing the stories himself" insteadof buying them" he was able to situate the stories in the local context" thus"!erha!s increasing students( interest and making the stories morecom!rehensible.

'tudents can also be a source of $% materials. ,hree cha!ters in the book on

$% that illy and I edited with Colin 1avis de!ict various ways in whichstudents can write $% materials. or exam!le" in one cha!ter" +eatrice 1u!uyand >eff /cuillan describe a !rogram in which university students of renchas a second language wrote and illustrated their own $% books with hel! fromtheir teacher. ,his hel!ed to overcome the !roblem of finding materials thatwould be of interest to university-age students" yet were com!rehensible forstudents of low !roficiency in the L<.

Andy: I(d like to move the discussion to ways of motivating low-level" reluctantreaders" as I think for many teachers in >a!an this is a key issue. illy" letme ask you about !arallel-text bilingual readers 0one language one !age" theother language the other !age2 and how that kind of format may be very closeto what beginning readers do in the L<" while" at the same time" !ublishedreaders almost always follow a monolingual mode. Any comments on bilingualreaders as a !ossible a!!ro!riate or ina!!ro!riate starting format?

illy: /otivation is indeed a big issue in foreign language learning and this is!articularly so with low !roficiency !u!ils. /y research 0%enandya et al."92 in teacherBlearner beliefs confirmed my own sus!icion 0and that ofothers" e.g." 1ornyei" 9;2 that motivation is one of the most im!ortantfactors in language learning.

I have never used bilingual readers with my students" but I can see their!otential in hel!ing those low-level" reluctant readers to !ick u! their firstbook. +ilingual readers can !otentially break !oor readersJ reluctance to read"as they can always fall back on the native language version on the o!!osite!age when a com!rehension !roblem arises. +ut as soon as they have builtu! enough confidence" they should move on to monolingual readers. Careshould be taken to ensure that these beginning readers who lack confidenceget $% materials that are at the right difficulty level. or these readers" theright level might not be i" or i K9. hat they need is !robably i 9 or even i <materials 0see 1ay and +amfordJs extensive reading book" for a similar view2"

and !referably ones with lots of visualB!ictorial su!!ort. In my $% class withbeginning adult students" I always make it a !oint to tell them to read books



that are both easy and interesting. nce they have become comfortablereading easy materials" I encourage them to read more challenging 0but nottoo challenging2 materials. ortunately" our library has a good collection ofreaders for learners of varied interests and !roficiency levels.

Andy: 4erha!s the bilingual )uestion can also be raised with (out!ut( from$%. I(m wondering if there is also a !ossible gradation from a bilingual to amore monolingual mode in activities around $%? or exam!le" low-!roficiency may write in their L9 about what they have read in their L<" andgradually increase the L< ratio as they read more.

illy: or low-!roficiency L< learners" we should be more concerned with theamount of reading 0com!rehensible language in!ut2 that they get" rather thanwith the ty!es and forms of !ost $% activities 0out!ut2. ,he key !rinci!le indesigning !ost $% activities is that they should be easy to do and highlya!!ealing to the learners. hether or not L9 or L< is used is not a central

issue" at least for beginning readers. ,here is one study by /ason and=rashen 092 that attem!ted to address the issue of the role of L9 in !ost$% activities. 'tudents who wrote summaries in L9 and L< !erformed e)uallywell on a number of de!endent measures used in the study. In addition" bothgrou!s of students in general !erformed better than the non-$% grou!.

Andy: Hery much to the !ointthank youF #eorge" would you say a bit moreabout how you see student-student co-o!eration fitting with $%?

#eorge: A cou!le weeks ago" I finished a 9; book called The Nurture Assumption htt!:BBhome.att.netBMxcharBtnaB that makes the claim that !eershave a more !owerful effect than !arents on the develo!ment of children andadolescents. hether or not you agree with this view" I think all teachers haveseen how studentsJ attitudes" beliefs" and behaviors rub off on theirclassmates" for better or worse. or instance" a core grou! of avid readerscan hel! create a classroom of avid readers.

Andy: ,hat reminds very much of ,im /ur!hey(s work at EanDan &niversity">a!an" with Eear 4eer %ole /odels and his book Language ungry " i.e."using models of excellence for students from other students 0/ur!hey" 9;2.

#eorge: ,hat(s *ust it. Let me share some other ideas IJve read and heardabout andBor tried for using !eer !ower to !romote $%. /ost of thesetechni)ues also have the advantage of !roviding students with o!!ortunitiesto !roduce language. 'uch language will sometimes include new vocabulary"structures" ideas" and information that students encountered while reading.

,he Internet ,$'L >ournal had an article in 9; by 8ealNhtt!:BBlangue.hy!er.chubu.ac.*!B*altB!ubBtltB;BdecBshOheal.htmlP describinghow grou! activities to accom!any a class reader seemed to increase studentmotivation for $%. In 8ealJs class" the grou!s first answered )uestions writtenby the teacher. Later" each grou! wrote )uestions for other grou!s.

http://home.att.net/~xchar/tna/

http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/98/dec/sh_heal.html

http://home.att.net/~xchar/tna/

http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/98/dec/sh_heal.html



In a setting in which each student reads a different book" illy and I have hadsuccess with students coming together to tell each other about the bookstheyJve read. 'tudents briefly describe the story for their grou!mates and then!eers ask )uestions. Another way to encourage students to share with !eerswhat theyJve read is via Literature Circles" grou!s of students who come

together to discuss what theyJve been reading. 1u!uy 09;2 describes howLiterature Circles worked in her intermediate rench classes.

Art is another medium via which students can share with each other aboutwhat theyJve read. or instance" students might design !osters" murals" boardgames" collages" book covers" bookmarks" and drawings of key scenes toadvertise books they like. A few teachers have told me that their studentseven made 3dioramas"3 a kind of model" to illustrate scenes from their books.

Andy: @es" I(ve really en*oyed comic stri! summaries and inter!retations0manga2 created by my students herewith s!eech bubbles and ca!tions" for

exam!le

#eorge: %ightthe artwork can often be accom!anied by language. orexam!le" a book cover could include a blurb on the back of the ty!e found oncommercially !roduced books. 1rama can also be used by students toadvertise good books" such as when students do a skit to illustrate a !ortionof the book or do a dramatic reading of lines from something theyJve read.

Another means for students to inform their !eers about what to read would bedoing mini-reviews or *ust giving a )uick rating" such as one to five stars" to letclassmates know which books to select and which to neglect. f course" asilly !oints out" the key in $% is the reading" not the !ost-reading activity.,hus" students do the !ost-reading to build confidence" to use what they havelearned in a !roductive mode" and to infect their !eersand maybe even theirteacherswith the *oy of reading and s!ecific books with which to ex!eriencethat *oy.

Andy: ,hese connections and !ossibilities are *ust greatit(s a wonderfulenthusiasm for whole-!erson learningF ell" we(re nearing the end of thediscussion" so I guess my last )uestion neatly falls within the medium of theinterview" and how $% may develo! through the eb. ,he !angkok "ost has

a great resource !age in its Student #eekly for graded news!a!er reading.I(m wondering if both of you could mention some other web resources for $%for learners" as well as give your forecasts as to how technology may mix andmatch with book-based $%.

#eorge: ,hanks for raising the )uestion about $% and the eb" Andy. ItJs anim!ortant one. 'ome !eo!le have !redicted that the eb will go the way ofother much-heralded innovations that eventually became at most only amarginal !art of language teaching" like the language lab. 8owever" I think theeb is destined to !lay more of a role" although IJve got little ex!erience withthe eb and $%.



hat I use mostly use the eb for in my work is sending email messages andattached files" belonging to Listserves" getting information from websites" andbuilding websites. IJve done some of this with the classes I teach" both thosefor language teachers and those for language learners. /y students havenever used the eb to do $%" exce!t as theyJve read things on websites" but

one change I am seeing is that earlier !eo!le wouldnJt read things off thecom!uter screenQ they always wanted to !rint them out. /any !eo!le are stilllike this" but more and moreme includedare comfortable reading directlyfrom the screen" which saves lots of !a!er. ,his comfort with reading from thescreen !aves the way for electronic books whichfrom what IJve readlooklike books and can be loaded with any book we want. e can read theseelectronic books while standing in a bus" sitting at a coffee sho!" or lying inbed.

I also read in a &nited Eations !ublication about overcoming the !roblem oflack of books in !oor countries by !utting lots of books of C1-%/s" but the

article didnJt say anything about overcoming the !roblem of lack of com!utersand lack of infrastructure such as electricity. ,his brings u! the issue ofwhether the use of the eb for $% will lead to the same discre!anciesbetween rich and !oor that we see with $% via hard co!ies of books. %ightnow" that discre!ancy looks likely to arise. ,hat said" the eb does offer great!ossibilities for learner autonomy. As long as weJve got the necessarytechnologyand every year I can see access ex!anding here in '.$. Asiawe can choose from millions of web sites offering a bewildering rangeof materials from a wide variety of !ers!ectives. or instance" 4ro*ect#utenberg" htt!:BB!romo.netB!gB" offers many booksfor exam!le" those by1ickensfor free" and the $ncyclo!aedia +ritannica websitehtt!:BBwww.eb.com:9;7B offers not *ust the encyclo!aedia" but also lots ofother resources. 1erewianka 092 offers more ideas on this.

As to collaboration" some !eo!le worry that the eb will cause us to liveisolated lives" never going out and instead ordering everything we need viacom!uter. n the other hand" com!uters offer so many new ways for us toconnect and collaborate with others. In s!ecific regard to $%" two exam!les ofthis eb-based interaction would be emailing a book weJve en*oyed toclassmates or sending them the address of a website we think they shouldcheck out. IJm not saying that electronic interaction" even if we have sound

and video" is the same as old-fashioned face-to-face interaction" but it is auseful !artner to live contact" and who knows what the future will hold forhuman relations.

Andy: illy" over to you for your closing comments

illy: ,hanks again for the interview. I think #eorge and I have covered a lotof ground in the interview. I *ust want to end by )uoting Christine Euttal 09;<"!.9G;2:

R,he best way to im!rove your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and

live among its s!eakers. ,he next best way is read extensively in it.S

http://promo.net/pg/

http://promo.net/pg/



or obvious reasons" living among native s!eakers for an extended !eriod of time is not!ossible for the ma*ority of L< learners. 'o" that leaves us with the second o!tion. +utsur!risingly" des!ite com!elling evidence demonstrating the benefits of extensive reading"many of us are still not doing $%. 'o let me encourage you all" if you havenJt already" to begin$% !rogramme in your school now.

ne last comment. $% is good for students. It is also good for teachers" es!ecially $Lteachers. ,he Hietnamese $L teachers that #eorge mentioned earlier 0whom I also taught2agreed that the $% they did at %$LC was very useful for them. ,hey ho!ed to continue doing$% when they returned to Hietnam" in addition to launching $% for their students. /any L<teachers in the region I have talked to have indicated that they need to u!grade their L<!roficiency in order to serve their students better. I believe that $% can hel! them furtherdevelo! their com!etence in the language.

Andy: #reatF ,hat brings us full circle" and o!ens u! many more interesting)uestions. ,hank you again to both of you for doing this interview and for!roviding so much food for thought.

Biodata$eorge %acobs has en*oyed working in the field of language education whereover the !ast almost <7 years he has had the !leasure of meeting many nice!eo!le and many valuable ideas" as well as many valuable !eo!le and manynice ideas. 8is main academic interests these days are co-o!erative learningand environmental education" because he believes co-o!eration and concernfor the environment are keys to a better world. #eorge looks forward tocontinuing the dialogue with any readers who wish to ex!lore !ro*ects ofmutual interest: gm*acobsT!acific.net.sg orhtt!:BBwww.geocities.comBAthensB,hebesB9GU7Bindex.htm. inally" illy">ulian +amford" and #eorge are looking for nice and valuable !eo!le to *oin

them in maintaining the $% in L< bibliogra!hy.

#illy &enandya teaches at '$A/$ %egional Language Centre" 'inga!ore.8is areas of interest include extensive reading" teacherBlearner beliefs"teaching methodology" and language testing. 8e has taught language as wellas a!!lied linguistics courses in Indonesia" 'inga!ore and other 'outheast Asian countries.

References

1ay" %. %. 0$d.2. 0952. New ways in teaching reading . Alexandria" HA:,eachers of $nglish to '!eakers of ther Languages.

1ay" %. %." V +amford" >. 09;2. 'xtensi(e reading in the second languageclassroom. Cambridge: Cambridge &niversity 4ress.

1erewianka" +. 092. &sing the internet for extensive reading. In #. /.">acobs" C. 1avis" V . A. %enandya 0$ds.2. Successful strategies forextensi(e reading 0!!. 9<;-9652. 'inga!ore: '$A/$ %egional LanguageCentre.

1ornyei" W. 09;2. /otivation in second and foreign language learning.Language Teaching) *+" 99-95U.

1u!uy" +. 09;2. Cercles de lecture: &ne autre a!!roche de la lecture dans

la classe intermXdiaire de franYais langue XtrangZre.[Literature Circles: A



different reading a!!roach in the intermediate rench classroom\ The,anadian Modern Language &e(iew) -." U-U;U.

#audart" 8. 0962. 'electing readers: ChildrenJs choice. In /. L. ,ickoo0$d.2" &esearch in reading and writing/ A Southeast Asian collection 0!!.G5-;2. 'inga!ore: '$A/$ %egional Language Centre.

>acobs" #. /." 1avis" C." V %enandya" . A. 0$ds.2. 092. Successfulstrategies for extensi(e reading . 'inga!ore: '$A/$ %egional LanguageCentre.

/ason" +." V =rashen" '. 092. $xtensive reading in $nglish as a foreignlanguage. System) 0- " 9-97<.

/ur!hey" ,. 09;2. Language hungry . ,okyo: /acmillan >a!an.Euttall" C. 09;<2. Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. London:

8einemann $ducational +ooks.%enandya" . A." %a*an" +. %. '." V >acobs" #. /. 092. 'xtensi(e reading

with adult learners of 'nglish as a second language. &'L, %ournal " *1 092"5-G9.

,oh" #." V %a*a" /. 092. $L, materials: 'ome !erce!tions on the )uestionof cultural relevance. $uidelines) +20<2" 6U-<.

@u" H. . '. 0952. $xtensive reading !rograms8ow can they best benefitthe teaching and learning of $nglish. T'SL &eporter) 03 092" 9-.

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Interview on Extensive Reading