Transcript Student & Teacher Opinions on Graded Readers

Student & Teacher
Opinions on Graded
Readers
IATEFL Conference
April 13, 2005
Liverpool
Reading Research

Krashen (1994) reading may be the most
effective and quickest route to acquisition.
– Massive amounts of input
– Portable activity
– Amount of reading is the “single best predictor” of
writing and standardized test success
– Enhances vocabulary acquisition
• Moderate to low frequency words occur more in written
than in oral
• Will see vocabulary in different contexts (Simensen,
1987)
– Reading helps all skills if done on appropriate
level.
• Grammar and spelling (see also Hafiz and Tudor)
Reading Research cont.

Schmidt (1996) summarizing key reading researchers
states that readers chunk phrases or words together
but learners tend to decode each word which results
in lower comprehension.
 Amer (1997) beginners, especially, break sentences
down word by word and then become meaningless.
 Bell (2001) slow readers can not retain information –
brain is overworked.
 Looking up and rereading leads to belief that reading
in L2 is not fun!
Extensive

Dawson 1992 (cited in Schmidt) learners
read in L2 as they would in their own
language AND little if no translation should
be involved.
Free Reading Pleasure Reading
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In school during designated
time period
Choose own books from
class or school library
Dupuy (1997) states
numerous studies show
students involved in a free
reading program have better
attitudes toward reading.
Leveling always a problem
and free reading can help
Minimal accountability

(Krashen 1994, Constantino
1995) who argue that
pleasure reading involves no
accountability by the
students; accountability
being such exercises as
reports, journals or logs.
So why Graded Readers?

Schmidt (1996) hard for low level learners to
get comprehensible input (cites Krashen &
Richard-Amato)
 Comprehensible v. comprehended input
– Easy to comprehend if interested

Goal is to get students to read unsimplified
material and readers can serve as a bridge
(Schmidt)
 Bhatia (19??) wealth of research suggests
that students should only be exposed to
authentic unsimplified material when they
have been prepared to handle it.
Why Graded Readers cont.
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Can pick books they like so they are motivated to read
To practice “chunking” students need texts easy enough to it
(Bamford, 1993)
Students involved in a reading program with graded readers
were tested and showed gains in reading and writing ability
(fluency)– especially the accuracy of expression BUT had a
preference for simpler syntax
Graded readers improve reading speed (Bell 2001) also better
comprehension
Constantino (1995) claims that many students do not enjoy
reading in their second language because they feel that it is a
"task-laden, rule-oriented skill that requires close attention to
detail and meaning" (p.15).
Simplification Process
Goal is to make it accessible to learners
 Two types of simplification
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– Informational & situational features,
organization of information, explication of
background concepts and suppositions
– Language including vocabulary, structure,
sentence length, complexity and sentence
combination (Simensen, 1987, p. 44)
Simplification Process cont.
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Control of Information
– Reduction of Information
• Cut out unimportant information
• Descriptive passages might be cut (unnecessary)
– Supply of Information
• Adding explanatory notes
• Adding cast of characters
– Avoiding Density of Information
• Warn of making it too compressed or too condensed
– (not given a much detail on this point)
Simplification Process cont.
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Control of Language
– Using lists
• General Service Word List
• Studies on how students learn grammar
– Using intuition
– Verb Forms
• Low level – present simple, present continuous and
future (going to)
• Medium level – past simple, past continuous, future (will
& shall) and present perfect
• Upper level – future continuous, past perfect cont., future
perfect, future perfect cont., conditional and conditional
perfect
Simplification cont.
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Avoid
– Idiomatic phrases, ambiguity, subclauses,
ambiguous pronoun references, inversions,
lengthy noun clauses, figurative language, relative
clauses
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Be careful with
– Contracted forms, colloquialisms, allusions,
unusual expressions, distance between pronouns
and antecedents, indirect speech
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Encourage
– Direct speech, repetition of proper name, relatives
and conjunctions in long sentences, chronological
order
Objections to Simplification
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May be harmful
– Blau 1982 (cited in Tickoo) simplification may
impair comprehension
– Parker and Chaudron 1987 (cited in Tickoo)
vocabulary simplification changes the natural
language redundancies making “unpacking” more
challenging
– See Hafiz and Tudor for more on vocabulary
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Is not authentic
May harm reading strategies of learners
(Bhatia, 19??)
Objections
Honeyfield (1977) claims that it
eliminates all low frequency items
 He also posits that simplifying syntax
my reduce cohesion and readability
because it does not reflect natural
English
 Could also obscure communicative
structure
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Origins of Program
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Goals
– To interest students in L2 reading
– Show them that books exist that are not
childish for them to read
– Improve all language skills
– Basically to go from an intensive program
to an extensive one – i.e. the program
Schmidt created in Japan
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$1200 Grant
Program Cont.
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Class Sets
– Teacher input minimal at best
• Provided lists of books to them
• Provided the ‘free materials and ideas’
– I chose trying to pick a variety and ones
that had a movie.
– Worried students would not be interested
Program Cont.
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Class Library
– One copy of most graded readers
– Two students have checked out but many
want to buy them
– Check out system
• Name/Email
• Can not get transcript until return book
Teachers
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Should still teach context clues
Students
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Majority did not know what graded readers
were (could be a questionnaire problem)
 Three have checked out books!
– See the article from the newsletter
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Many wanted to buy them.
 Majority seem to thoroughly enjoy (see 060
for more proof)
 Three did not like
– Extra work
– Did not like detective stories
– Did not like the book
Suggestions
Be aggressive!
 Have meetings with staff
 Get support from the top
 Have shelf space
 Have a better check-out system
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– Computerized
– Must leave something
– Hold on records