Language Learning Beyond the Classroom

David Nunan, Jack C. Richards, David Nunan, Jack C. Richards

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781134675739
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

This volume presents case studies of language learning beyond the classroom. The studies draw on a wide range of contexts, from North and South America to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Each provides principled links between theory, research and practice.

While out-of-class learning will not replace the classroom, ultimately all successful learners take control of their own learning. This book shows how teachers can help learners bridge the gap between formal instruction and autonomous language learning. Although English is the primary focus of most chapters, there are studies on a range of other languages including Spanish and Japanese.

PART I

Involving the Learner in Out-of-Class Learning

1
EXTENSIVE READING

Richard Day & Thomas Robb

Introduction and Overview

Extensive reading in the target language is an excellent vehicle for learning that language. Research has clearly demonstrated that learners who read extensively in the target language become fluent readers, improve their reading comprehension, learn new vocabulary, and thus increase their listening, speaking, and writing skills. Research has also shown that learners who read extensively increase their motivation to learn the target language and have positive attitudes toward learning the language (Day & Bamford, 1998). Since reading is an individual act that can be done by learners anywhere, any place, and any time, it is an ideal out-of-class learning opportunity. To engage in extensive reading, the only thing needed is an appropriate book.

We begin with a vignette describing the highlights of one person’s engaging in extensive reading by herself to help her learn Japanese as a foreign language (Leung, 2002). We then look at what extensive reading is and briefly discuss five principles of an extensive reading approach that are relevant to an out-of-class learning opportunity. The Applications section outlines a case study illustrating how extensive reading can be done out-of-class individually. We then describe some potential problems to individual extensive reading and offer some solutions. This section includes a case study describing the MoodleReader program. The chapter concludes with a list of resources and discussion questions.

Vignette

The story of how Wendy learned Japanese as a foreign language by reading extensively in Japanese takes place in two stages and in two different parts of the world. She first started to read extensively while she was a graduate student in Hawaii. She took a course on second language reading and became very interested in extensive reading. Wendy wanted to take a beginning Japanese course that offered extensive reading but could not find one. So she decided to do it on her own.

For nine weeks, Wendy borrowed books from her friends and the local library to learn to read and write Japanese hiragana. She read books that contained mostly vocabulary that she already knew when she had studied Japanese previously. At the end of the first stage, Wendy had read 32 books, about 1,260 pages of simple Japanese text, of which 483 pages came from comic books (manga) and 170 pages from children’s textbooks. The rest of the pages were from simple children’s storybooks with an average of about 10 sentences per page.

During the first stage, Wendy read Japanese for about an hour each day. She reflected on what she learned and kept a daily journal about her experiences reading Japanese extensively.

After an interlude of about two and a half months, Wendy resumed reading extensively in Japanese. During the second stage, which lasted 11 weeks, Wendy followed the same study pattern and journal-recording procedure that she did in the first stage. In the second stage, Wendy found a Japanese friend who was willing to help her with her study for about half an hour to 1 hour each week.

In order to discover if extensive reading helped her learn vocabulary, Wendy took a vocabulary test twice during the second stage, at week 16 and week 20. The results showed that her vocabulary knowledge increased by 23.5% during this four-week period. The gain in vocabulary knowledge as assessed by Wendy’s ability to use words in sentences resulted from the large linguistic input she received through extensive reading and her increased knowledge in Japanese grammar and sentence structure through self-study.

Here are some entries Wendy made in her journal about her learning vocabulary while reading:

Journal entry, Week 10
The cool thing about reading so far or perhaps I should say the rewarding part is when I am able to recognize words that I have read from other books before. Last night I took a Japanese children’s book from the bookshelf and was going to show the pictures to my baby. As I scanned through the book, I realized that I could read some of the words.

Journal entry, Week 14
I used to think that kirei only mean “pretty” or “beautiful,” but today I read something from a children’s story book which used kirei to describe drinking water. I then realized that kirei could also mean “clean” or “pure.”

Wendy’s journal entries also demonstrate that her reading comprehension gradually improved from having a hard time decoding the hiragana orthography to understanding some simple children’s stories.

In addition, Wendy’s diary entries show how her attitude toward reading Japanese generally became more positive throughout the two stages.

Journal entry, Week 4
Yes, I think I am slowly progressing. I feel very proud of myself as I discovered that I could recognize some vocabulary I learned while reading different materials.

As Wendy’s confidence in reading grew, she found herself having more tolerance of the different features and complexity of Japanese. When things got complicated, instead of thinking that Japanese was too difficult to learn, she tried to acknowledge the complexity and patiently learned to resolve one thing at a time. When she came across books that she really wanted to read, it motivated her to improve her reading proficiency so that she could truly comprehend the essence of the story.

Extensive reading promoted a positive attitude toward reading when appropriate reading materials were accessible to Wendy. Also, reading extensively helped her develop a habit of reading Japanese. From her journal entries, she wrote that she tried to read Japanese advertisements, directions on the package of children’s toys, Japanese instructions on a phone card, Japanese signs everywhere, and items on the menus of a Japanese curry house near a bus stop.

Principles

Day & Bamford (2002) laid out ten principles of extensive reading for instructional purposes. Not all of these principles are relevant for an out-of-class learning opportunity. However, we believe that their first five principles should be followed when engaging in extensive reading in an out-of-class environment. Following these should help the learner in learning the target language. Let’s look at these five:

Principle 1. The reading material is easy. For extensive reading to be possible and for it to have the desired results, texts must be well within a learner’s reading competence in the foreign language. In helping beginning readers select texts that are well within their reading comfort zone, more than one or two unknown words per page might make the text too difficult for overall understanding. Intermediate learners might use the rule of hand—no more than five difficult words per page.

Wendy clearly followed this very important principle. She read material that had vocabulary she knew and that used a writing system, hiragana, that she found easy. She avoided selecting hard, difficult books, and reading material that did not have a lot of hiragana.

Principle 2. A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available. The success of extensive reading depends largely on getting students to read. Research clearly demonstrates that we learn to read by reading. And the more we read, the better readers we become.

Without easy and interesting materials, it is impossible for a beginning reader to learn to read. Wendy understood this, and borrowed books from her friends and from the local public library.

Principle 3. Learners choose what they want to read. The principle of freedom of choice means that learners can select texts as they do when they read in their first language. That is, they can choose books they know that they can understand and enjoy or learn from. And, just as in first-language reading, learners are free to stop reading anything they find too difficult, or that is not interesting.

For out-of-class learners, this principle of extensive reading is obviously appropriate. Wendy’s case is a perfect example. She sought out books that she found easy and interesting.

Principle 4. Learners read as much as possible. We know that the most important element in learning to read is the amount of time spent actually reading. There is no maximum amount of reading that can be done; the more the learner reads, the better. Wendy followed this principle. Recall her journal entry from week 4: “I spent a long time reading today. I feel a lot more comfortable to read Japanese than ever before.” During the first stage, Wendy reported that she read about one hour a day and read a total of 32 books. This amounts to about three and one-half books per week.

We would like to discuss one more principle of extensive reading next. The fifth principle is different from the first four because it actually describes what happens when learners read easy and interesting books for pleasure that they select themselves:

Principle 5. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower. This is very important. When we read slowly, one word at a time, comprehension is poor. When we read word-for-word, by the time we reach the end of the sentence, we have forgotten the first part of the sentence. Comprehension is poor. We have to go back to the beginning, and read again. So learners who read a lot of easy and interesting books actually understand what they read.

Applications

An extensive reading approach is the ideal out-of-class learning experience for learners who can read in their first language.

A requirement of the out-of-class learner is that she has a minimal vocabulary of at least 100 words. This requirement allows the learner to begin reading at the most basic level. Hitosugi & Day (2004) describe university students in a second-semester Japanese course reading picture story books for children. Wendy also read children’s books and was able to figure out the meaning of the words from the pictures.

Next, we offer ten suggestions from Ono, Day & Harsch (2004) for learners who engage in extensive reading in out-of-class situations. If the learner can integrate them as she reads extensively, we are confident that she will learn to read fluently, read with greater comprehension, increase her vocabulary knowledge, and enjoy reading in the new language.

1. Read, read, and read.

2. Read easy books.

3. Read interesting books. Read interesting booksRead interesting booksRead interesting booksRead interesting booksRead interesting booksRead interesting booksRead interesting booksRead interesting booksRead interesting books

4. Reread books that that you really like.

5. Read for overall understanding.

6. Ignore difficult words or words you don’t know. Skip them and keep reading.

7. Avoid using dictionaries.

8. Expand your reading comfort zone—challenge yourself to read books that earlier you found hard to read.

9. Set reading goals and keep a reading log.

10. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Payoffs and Pitfalls

Good things happen when learners read extensively in the new language. Studies show that they not only become effective, skilled readers: they learn a lot of new words and expand their understanding of words they knew before. In addition, they write better, and their listening and speaking abilities improve. Also, perhaps the best result from numerous studies is that students develop positive attitudes toward reading and increased motivation to study the target language.

However, these benefits cannot happen without the right books for out-of-class learners to read. The biggest challenge to engaging in an extensive reading approach in out-of-class situations is finding the appropriate reading material. As we describe above, learners need to read books that are easy and interesting, and it is not always easy to find a lot of books that are both easy and interesting.

The best material is graded readers (GRs). Graded readers are highly recommended for extensive reading because the vocabulary and syntax of the texts are controlled in order to make them accessible to learners at specific ability levels. The vocabulary used in graded readers is determined primarily by frequency of occurrence (e.g., the most frequent 200 words in English).

Also, GRs have appropriate syntax, which means beginning levels have easy syntax while higher levels use more complex structures. In addition to appropriate vocabulary and syntax, the length of GRs is controlled. The lower the grade, the shorter the GR. GRs written for beginners may be 10 to 15 pages with many illustrations to help convey meaning. GRs written for advanced learners may be 80 to 100 pages with few, if any, illustrations.

Graded readers are also controlled for their degree of complexity. For example, the plot of a graded reader written for beginners would not be as complicated as a plot of a GR novel written for advanced learners (a level 6). In addition, in the starter graded reader, there would not be as many characters as the level 6 book.

Thanks to technology, it is now possible to access virtually any text on the Internet with some form of glossing or translation provided as an aid to comprehension.

One of the drawbacks to graded readers is that they are not widely available in languages other than English. There are some in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

If graded reading material is not available in the target language, we suggest that out-of-class learners consider reading books written for children. For beginners, picture story books are excellent sources of material to consolidate knowledge of the writing system and high frequency vocabulary. The pictures help the beginner to understand the story. For high beginners, books written for older children could be appropriate. And for intermediate learners, books written for adolescents would do very nicely.

The challenge for adults reading such literature is that the content is immature, and the learner might feel it is too childish. But books written for children and ad...