Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Sept 7, 2015 14:31:59 GMT 5.5
What is free voluntary reading?
Free voluntary reading involves language learners reading interesting, comprehensible books of their choice (they may be the teacher’s recommendations as well) in the target language with very little accountability, if any. Free reading is pleasant, and more than that it is enjoyable. Whether it is a first or second or third language, whether it happens in a native or created target language environment, voluntary reading is too essential to do without in language learning/teaching.
Why free voluntary reading?
Free reading is an effective way of increasing literacy and language development, with a strong impact on reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing (ibid). The traditional method of teaching explicit grammar rules cannot near this method in effectiveness. The more you read the more you know. With the increase in a learner’s language ability, their overall performance improves phenomenally—the quality of their opinion and their ability to express themselves, their interaction with others, understanding of others, and their ability to learn further. This improvement is visible in all four language skills—speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Krashen (2003: 15) emphasizes that free reading may also be an important part of the solution to two related problems—making the transition
What the program involves?
In-school free reading programs prove successful in all schools that have introduced them. The three effective programs include:
A great deal of free reading would be light reading. Light reading (comics, easy novels, etc., other than adult books and magazines) prepares learners for heavier reading. It is most unlikely that much educated vocabulary (and educated information) comes from day-to-day conversations (be it our ordinary interactions with others, or TV or radio talks). The frequency of less-common words in ordinary conversation, whether adult-to-child or adult-to-adult, is much lower than in even the lightest reading.
Free voluntary reading is enjoyable once the reader reaches the “flow” state. Flow, a concept introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (1991), is the state people reach when they are deeply but effortlessly involved in an activity. In flow, Krashen (2003) points out, “the concerns of everyday life and even the sense of self disappear—our sense of time is altered and nothing but the activity itself seems to matter.”
It is easy to incorporate reading programs in schools. What it takes are:
In fact, rewards and incentives play no role in increasing the amount of reading done nor does it impact gains in reading comprehension (Krashen, 2003). The simpler solution is to providing students with access to plenty of interesting and comprehensible reading material and also enough time for them to read.
The whole program summarily includes:
It is usually the problem that appropriate free reading material is usually not readily available for the second- and foreign language situation—texts both interesting and comprehensible are hard to find. Moreover, authentic texts are often too difficult for beginners.
Krashen (2003) provides two solutions for this. The first is simply to find the best pedagogic readers and make them available for free voluntary reading. The other is to handcraft books for the purpose.
Handcrafted books are written by intermediate students and corrected by the teacher. When writing the material, the writer is instructed not to look up words. If they don’t know a word, it is very unlikely that beginners for whom they are developing the material will know that. Handcrafted books, thus, have the good chance of being interesting and comprehensible because they are written by peers who are slightly more advanced than the readers.
Works Cited
Krashen, Stephen D. Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2003.
Free voluntary reading involves language learners reading interesting, comprehensible books of their choice (they may be the teacher’s recommendations as well) in the target language with very little accountability, if any. Free reading is pleasant, and more than that it is enjoyable. Whether it is a first or second or third language, whether it happens in a native or created target language environment, voluntary reading is too essential to do without in language learning/teaching.
Why free voluntary reading?
Free reading is an effective way of increasing literacy and language development, with a strong impact on reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing (ibid). The traditional method of teaching explicit grammar rules cannot near this method in effectiveness. The more you read the more you know. With the increase in a learner’s language ability, their overall performance improves phenomenally—the quality of their opinion and their ability to express themselves, their interaction with others, understanding of others, and their ability to learn further. This improvement is visible in all four language skills—speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Krashen (2003: 15) emphasizes that free reading may also be an important part of the solution to two related problems—making the transition
(i) from the elementary level to authentic language useResearch findings prove that students who have gone through a free voluntary reading program from the start of the year to the end exhibit far better all-round performance than students who learn a second or foreign language in the traditional method of language teacher which employs explicit grammar rules teaching. The students who have been in free reading programs for consecutive six years are seen to have developed a reading habit which in normal circumstances lasts a lifetime.
(ii) from conversational language ability to academic language ability.
What the program involves?
In-school free reading programs prove successful in all schools that have introduced them. The three effective programs include:
(i) sustained silent reading (SSR),In SSR, students read whatever they please (within reason) for a short time each day, and there is no accountability required. A small amount of accountability is included in ER programs; for example, they students may be required to give a short description of what they have read. In S-SR programs, the entire class period is devoted to reading, and occasional teacher-student conferences are scheduled.
(ii) extensive reading (ER), and
(iii) self-selected reading (S-SR).
A great deal of free reading would be light reading. Light reading (comics, easy novels, etc., other than adult books and magazines) prepares learners for heavier reading. It is most unlikely that much educated vocabulary (and educated information) comes from day-to-day conversations (be it our ordinary interactions with others, or TV or radio talks). The frequency of less-common words in ordinary conversation, whether adult-to-child or adult-to-adult, is much lower than in even the lightest reading.
Free voluntary reading is enjoyable once the reader reaches the “flow” state. Flow, a concept introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (1991), is the state people reach when they are deeply but effortlessly involved in an activity. In flow, Krashen (2003) points out, “the concerns of everyday life and even the sense of self disappear—our sense of time is altered and nothing but the activity itself seems to matter.”
It is easy to incorporate reading programs in schools. What it takes are:
(i) teachers to remain motivatedThere is enough evidence that children want to read and enjoy what reading can give them. The children who don’t read have reasons for not reading other than not wanting to read. Such children did not have exposure to the right environment at an earlier stage.
(ii) students to be motivated
(iii) reading material made available.
In fact, rewards and incentives play no role in increasing the amount of reading done nor does it impact gains in reading comprehension (Krashen, 2003). The simpler solution is to providing students with access to plenty of interesting and comprehensible reading material and also enough time for them to read.
The whole program summarily includes:
(i) books being recommendedReading material
(ii) read-alouds
(iii) sustained silent reading
(iv) model reading (i.e., the teacher reading while children are reading during sustained silent reading time)
(v) book discussions
(vi) giving students enough time.
It is usually the problem that appropriate free reading material is usually not readily available for the second- and foreign language situation—texts both interesting and comprehensible are hard to find. Moreover, authentic texts are often too difficult for beginners.
Krashen (2003) provides two solutions for this. The first is simply to find the best pedagogic readers and make them available for free voluntary reading. The other is to handcraft books for the purpose.
Handcrafted books are written by intermediate students and corrected by the teacher. When writing the material, the writer is instructed not to look up words. If they don’t know a word, it is very unlikely that beginners for whom they are developing the material will know that. Handcrafted books, thus, have the good chance of being interesting and comprehensible because they are written by peers who are slightly more advanced than the readers.
Works Cited
Krashen, Stephen D. Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2003.