Chapter 8 – Reading Skills
How Do We Know? Support for the Principles
Keli Yerian and Bibi Halima
There is plenty of evidence in research to support the reading principles we have introduced so far in this chapter. Let’s focus on the benefits of extensive reading first. Waring (2022) defines extensive reading as “[T]he reading of a large amount of material with high comprehension and minimal interruptions and is the type of reading we do in our daily life in our first language when we read novels, webpages, and emails” (p. 384).
Studies on extensive reading show that reading extensively at an appropriate level is more effective than only intensively reading or studying in a language (Nakanishi, 2015). As just one example, Suk (2017) designed a quasi-experimental study of 171 English learners in Korea who were divided among four classes for a period of 15 weeks. The two control groups did 100 minutes of intensive reading in their classes per week, while the two experimental groups did 70 minutes of intensive reading and 30 minutes of extensive reading. In other words, the experimental groups still engaged in intensive classroom reading instruction, but 30% less time, while the rest of their time was spent just silently reading for pleasure at their levels. The experimental groups strongly outperformed the control groups at the end of the term on comprehension, reading rate, and vocabulary tests. Extensive reading allowed these students to improve their reading and vocabulary skills implicitly (remember Chapter 2), promoting “the incremental growth of habitual associative knowledge, the tacit learning of co-occurrence patterns in the input we receive” (p. 74).
One reason learners are so successful in extensive reading programs is that they are generally able to choose content they are interested in. Considerable research on both L1 and L2 learners has shown that students who have a strong interest in the topics they are reading are more likely to engage and learn more effectively (Asgari et al., 2019). One study of 34 adult learners of English in Iran, for example, showed that the students who were able to read about topics that interested them scored higher on subsequent assessments than those who were reading topics of less interest to them (Ebrahimi & Javanbakht, 2015). These results show that learners will improve when reading topics they enjoy. We can infer from this that even if we can’t control the reading materials in a class or in an app, we can explore topics on our own that interest us. This will keep our motivation strong and will allow us to learn more with less effort.
For adult language learners, graded readers can be perfect for extensive reading on topics that interest us, especially at novice levels, because they are designed to include different levels of the most frequently used words in a language. Novice-level graded readers include only the first 500-1000 most frequent word families and are also controlled for more simple grammar structures, while intermediate-level readers include up to the 3000 most frequent word families. The first 3000 word families are considered the set of “high frequency words” in a language (Masrai, 2019). Roughly 90% of the words in most non-graded texts belong to this set of high-frequency words (Nation, 2006), so focusing on learning these words first will pay off quickly. Reading books that are limited to high frequency words guarantees that the learner will read these words many, many times in context without interrupting their reading to look up less frequent words. It is noteworthy that to learn a new word in your L2 you need to see it 6-10 times, and to retain the word for a long period of time you need to see it around 20 times (Waring & Nation, 2004). Reading without stopping will give you maximum exposure while encountering new words in an enjoyable way.
As we noted in previous sections, you are not limited to graded readings however. Research shows that authentic texts that are inherently more simple, such as popular daily newspapers or social media, or texts that have a straightforward purpose such as road signs or medicine labels, can also be very useful for L2 students to learn to read. Authentic texts, unlike graded readers, are those that have not been designed for language learners. Numerous studies have shown that certain kinds of authentic texts can be accessible to even novice learners, particularly if they are accompanied with reading strategies that fit the genre of the text (Zyzik & Polio, 2017).
Keli’s Spanish Language Reading Path
Let’s take a break here to see an example of these principles in practice. Halima documented the progress of Keli’s extensive reading in Spanish in 2024. Over a period of seven months, Keli (who had the advantage of already speaking French, another Romance Language) was able to progress from a novice-low level in reading to high-intermediate. She read something in Spanish nearly every day during this time, including graded readers, movie subtitles, and online blogs for learners. She also used Babbel, a language learning app, and took live group and individual lessons that focused on listening and speaking.
While extensive reading is excellent for supporting implicit learning, research also points to the effectiveness of combining extensive reading with time spent on intensive, explicit learning while reading (Pressley & Allington, 2014). Recall the example of Suk’s (2017) research above, in which students who combined intensive and extensive reading had the best outcomes. If you are learning a language independently, this can look like setting aside time to reflect on new vocabulary and consciously notice the forms of grammar you are reading. You may choose to re-read certain passages of a reading that you enjoyed and write down the words you are learning in a vocabulary journal, or highlight examples of a certain grammatical form to see how it is functioning in context.
This is what Keli was doing with some of the higher level readings as seen in the slides above. This approach is called a Focus on Form, and “consists of primarily meaning-focused interaction in which there is brief, and sometimes spontaneous, attention to linguistic forms” (Loewen, 2018, p. 1). Focus on Form contrasts with a Focus on Forms (with an ‘s’), which is the more traditional focus on language structures through studying vocabulary lists or memorizing grammar rules. Research shows that intentionally focusing on form, whether it be incidental (brief and unplanned) or structured (such as in a lesson in a class or progress in a language learning app), is beneficial when it is done within an overall meaning-based approach to language learning (see, for example, Shintani, 2016).
Focusing on form implies that you are reflecting consciously on your learning, which is the process of metacognition (Chapter 5). Consciously using various reading strategies (indirect or direct) is also part of metacognition. Here is where you can start using different strategies for different purposes and genres, just like you do in your first language(s).
Research shows that reflecting on your purpose for reading is important for selecting appropriate reading strategies. Unfortunately, language classrooms may only practice a few strategies in the same way and with very limited genres, for example “find the main idea” in short reading passages in a textbook (Ediger, 2006). But real-life reading involves different kinds of genres, such as blog posts, social media, subtitles on videos, graded readers, news stories, or academic papers. As you start building reading proficiency beyond the novice level you can first think, “How can I best read this text”? One qualitative study by Ediger (2006) followed two graduate students who were reading articles in their L2 for the purpose of writing a research paper. They used the strategies of: reading the conclusion first; skimming to compare the level of detail in the paper to the level of detail they needed for their paper; taking notes; checking the meaning of specific terms in other sources; and re-reading an article to find specific passages. The students also found that speaking aloud about which strategies they were using (as they were asked to do as the methodology for this study) was in itself a helpful metacognitive strategy. These strategies are clearly different from how you might read social media (e.g. skimming for interesting topics or opinions) or a graded reader (e.g. not stopping to look up words, using context clues).
Let’s go ahead and jump into some of these reading strategies next!
References
Asgari, M., Ketabi, S., & Amirian, Z. (2019). Interest-based language teaching: Enhancing students’ interest and achievement in L2 Reading. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 7(1), 61-75. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:150231232
Ebrahimi, S., & Javanbakht, Z. O. (2015). The effect of topic interest on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2(6), 80-86. https://www.jallr.com/index.php/JALLR/article/view/128
Ediger, A. (2006). Developing strategic readers… by reading for authentic purposes. In E. Usó-Juan, & A. Martínez-Flor (Eds.). Current trends in the development and teaching of the four language skills (pp. 303-328). De Gruyter, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197778
Grabe, W. (2016). L2 Reading comprehension and development. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook for second language teaching and learning (1st ed., pp. 299-311). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315716893
Hamada, M. (2009). Development of L2 word-meaning inference while reading. System, 37(3), 447-460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2009.03.003
Lima, C. (2012, July 17). Graded readers. The Extensive Reading Foundation. Retrieved May 15, 2024, from https://erfoundation.org/wordpress/graded-readers/
Loewen, S. (2018). Focus on Form versus Focus on Forms. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching (pp. 1-6). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0062
Masrai, A. (2019). Vocabulary and reading comprehension revisited: Evidence for high-, mid-, and low-frequency vocabulary knowledge. Sage Open, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019845182
Nakanishi, T. (2015), A meta-analysis of extensive reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 49, 6-37. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.157
Nation, I. S. P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(1), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.63.1.59
Pressley, M., & Allington, R. (2014). Reading instruction that works (4th ed.). Guilford Press.
Shintani, N. (2016). Input-based tasks in foreign language instruction for young learners. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.9
Waring, R., & Nation, P. (2004). Second language reading and incidental vocabulary learning. In D. Albrechtsen, K. Haastrup, & B. Henriksen (Ed.), Angles on the English speaking world (Vol. 4, pp. 97-110). Museum Tusculanum Press.
Zyzik, E. C., & Polio, C. (2017). Authentic materials myths : Applying second language research to classroom teaching. University of Michigan Press.
Language(s) you are first exposed to and learn. Note that individuals can have multiple L1s if they are raised in a bi- or multilingual community
Any language learned after the first language(s). The term "second language" does not necessarily refer to the 2nd language in time that a person learns. It can be a third, fourth, or other additional language
A text that has been simplified or originally written to contain a limited set of forms (in this context, 'forms' refers to vocabulary and grammar)
The language learning technique of listening or reading extensive amounts of text to improve general comprehension. It is done without stopping to look up words or analyze the text
Words that share a common root word but may be surrounded by different prefixes or suffixes
A specific type of written or spoken text, such as novels, newspapers, blogs, speeches, conversations, etc