TEXT:
How students can make rapid progress by reading
independently
By Stephanie Hirshman
January 2, 2024
Let me start with a true story. When I was seven years old, my family
spent a year in France, and I had to go to school there. The only
thing was, I didn’t speak French. Luckily my mother was fluent in
that language, and she set out to prepare me a few months before
we left. Armed only with a second-hand copy of a little picture book
called Totor et Tristan, she sat me down on the sofa with her a
few times a week for around 10 minutes. Sometimes she read the
book to me while I followed the text silently and sometimes I had
to read a page myself. She asked me questions in French and I
answered in French, or she corrected my pronunciation. That was
it.
My first day at school in France was memorable for many reasons,
but one of these was that I was the only child in a class of native
French speakers to score 100% on our first spelling test! Everyone
was amazed, me most of all because I didn’t even know what most
of the words meant.
So, what made this possible? I think it was reading with my mother
– I guess had read more in French than my classmates and thus
was able to recognize the tricky relationship between sound and
spelling. My confidence was sky high and I was fluent within four
months.
Exploring a written text for fun, on your own terms, is called
extensive reading, and teachers can support their students to
realize its many benefits.
Graded readers
Graded readers are books which have been adapted to be suitable
for specific levels of language learners to enjoy. They can be
classics (The Phantom of the Opera), film adaptations (Rain Man)
or original works of fiction or non-fiction. They can be purchased
online or at bookshops, or you can obtain them from libraries or
even find some on websites.
There are many reasons for making them available to students.
First, reading is fun. It’s also magic learning. Students who have a
sustained habit of extensive reading see improvements in a range
of areas: lexical, grammatical and spelling as well as reading
speed, which is vital for success in academic and work contexts.
Being able to select their own reading material gives students a
sense of ownership.
Choosing a book
It’s helpful if a teacher initially introduces students to graded
readers and explains how to choose and use them. Students
should examine both covers carefully, using the picture and the
blurb to determine the genre and read a basic description of the
story. Additional information can be found inside the book, in the
Introduction.
While it’s not necessary to have 100% comprehension of the text,
choosing a book which is too difficult or too easy will not lead to
an enjoyable experience. Most books are labelled with a level, but
no two intermediate readers will have the same needs. Therefore,
a simple test can be performed: the student should choose one
page at random and read it to see how many unknown words
they encounter. If the answer is seven or fewer, this book will be
suitable. More than seven, and it’ll be too hard to get a good flow
going when reading.
Activities
While students are reading, they should try to work out the meaning
of unfamiliar items from context. They should also be made aware
of the Glossary at the back of some books and, of course, they can
use a dictionary if they really need to.
However, some items do notreally need further exploration - making
decisions about what’s important and what’s not is an important
skill for language learners. Some books also have comprehension
questions at the back.
However, the main aim is to get into and
enjoy the story without lots of interruptions and checks. Encourage
students to read ten minutes a day on a regular basis (perhaps in
bed or while commuting). Results will not be immediate, but within
a few weeks, students should recognize the improvements.
Conclusion
A collection of readers is well worth investing in. Be creative when
looking for material – why not try a graphic novel? Even authentic
texts not intended for language learners can be worthwhile for
advanced students or those with a special interest in or knowledge
of a topic.
Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/blog/post/how-students-can-make-rapid-progress-by-reading-independently
Acesso em 04/11/2024