What is ER?
Extensive Reading graded reading side reading
What is ER?
reading a lot of easy, enjoyable books
Marc Helgesen
Why?
literacy fluency agency
Fluency
being really really good at a language
= ability to use language in real time = quality of vocab quantity of vocab
Agency
put students in control of their destiny motivation
What to do
read
invest time in books and reading
Pedagogical reasons
range of levels appropriate texts
No assessment
Dilemmas
What do I do?
Give me a credit
Must be easy
No Activities
Theyre only reading books Did they read it?
ER at Shinshu University
2005: Voluntary
2 teachers 7 teachers
2010: Optional
Two problems
finding money for books where to put them
Advantages
give choice to students stakeholders and stockholders
they literally own the library
learner-centred approach
Choosing levels
students told level 1 or 2 later starter level
E.P.E.R. test results advice from Prof. K. Sakai ()
Socializing reading
choosing books from catalogues
TBL
ordering in groups browsing with friends swapping books managing the class libraries
putting the books into genres
New curriculum
new 5-year curriculum cycle in 2005 strong emphasis on learner-centred teaching ER key component
Money
materials development staff development books booktrucks
Problems
teachers like their own systems ERS online system for tracking student reading
virtual solution
The library
the perfect place to keep books!
10
12
837.7:F 38
837.7:Sc 6
2 3
6
John Doe / Antoinette Moses ; [illustrations by Debbie Hinks] Help! / Philip Prowse ; [illustrations by Gary Taylor]
Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's son / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ; retold by Jennifer Bassett ; illustrated by Ron Tiner L.A. raid / Philip Prowse The long tunnel / John Milne ; [illustrated by David Barnett]
837.7:C 14
837.7:C 14
837.7:O 93
8 9
837.7:Ma 22 837.7:Ma 22
1 2 3 4
Help! / Philip Prowse ; [illustrations by Gary Taylor] Dracula / Bram Stoker ; retold by Diane Mowat The phantom of the opera / Jennifer Bassett The wizard of Oz / L. Frank Baum ; retold by Rosemary Border ; illustrated by Gillian McLean A little princess / Frances Hodgson Burnett ; retold by Jennifer Bassett ; illustrated by Gwen Tourret Love or money? / Rowena Akinyemi The wizard of Oz / L. Frank Baum ; retold by Rosemary Border ; illustrated by Gillian McLean Pele / Rod Smith Newspaper boy / John Escott ; [illustrated by Tony Morris]
837.7:O 93
6 7
837.7:O 93 837.7:O 93
8 10
837.7:P 37 837.7:Ma 22
Assessment
at odds with ER our worst enemy our greatest weapon
Assessment
I feel that formally evaluating ER runs the very real risk of De-motivating students. It should NOT be just another scholastic hoop to jump through!
ER teacher, 2009
But
Bonus points seem to motivate my students
2009
Three books.
Semester I
800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
0 5
Spike
Pages Read
10 Books Read
15
20
Semester II Spike
800 700 Pages Read
600 500
400 300 200 100 0
Residual Spike
10
Books Read
15
20
Each person should be encouraged to read a lot, but at their own pace
2009
What percentage?
C B
A S
60% 70%
80% 90%
100,000 200,000
300,000 500,000
Washback
if we want people to read a lot, we must appear to grade how much they read
you dont!
Reponses to books
Last semester I asked them to write a 1page book report on any book theyd care enough to write about. It was counted as 5% of the grade. It did not seem to affect their ER behaviour in any way.
ER teacher, 2009
Theres a GREAT PLENTY of writing to evaluate already. Neither [the students] nor I need more.
2009
I do not assess, but write down some short comment; I found that stimulate[s] them to read more. ER is not to assess, but let them have fun reading English books
2009
Responses to books
too much work for students not enough information for teachers
Text difficulty
. . . low level grades - not intimidating, confidence building - short texts
2006
. . . books easy to read but meaningful so that they can sustain their interests
2006
Too easy
Some books might be too easy because they say it only takes one hour to finish reading without a dictionary
2006
The students who read upper level books will get more points
2006
As far as the students in my class . . . are concerned, they would like to read more academic and scientific articles than books in the library. . . . (of course, well need to make adjustments, so that students can gain more points for difficult academic articles)
2009
Activities I like
measuring reading speed (5 minutes) reading marathon (whole lesson) reading allowed (5 minutes whole lesson) ER activities (whole lesson + homework)
Reading allowed
first time: at end of reading time, all students coninue reading aloud later: students choose a passage from their book to read allowed to partners or groups for exactly one minute
ER activities
picture map self-introduction diary letter news report the prequel students shown five activities and must choose one write in class present to peers upload to a moodle forum for homework
The most practical way [to encourage students to read is] giving some class time to reading
2009
Conclusion
if it's worth doing, it's worth doing in class autonomy
for learners and teachers
mark2@shinshu-u.ac.jp
Some papers
Brierley, M. (2012). Who killed Extensive Reading? Round up the usual suspects. 6Journal of humanities and social sciences, Shinshu University, 6, 37-49 http://hdl.handle.net/10091/15616
Brierley, M., Ruzicka, D., Sato, H., & Wakasugi, T. (2010). The measurement problem in Extensive Reading. JALT2009 Conference Proceedings (pp 641-650). Tokyo: JALT.
Brierley, M. (2010). Assessing extensive reading through written responses and comprehension tests. In Eric Skier & Tim Newfields (Eds.) Infinite Possibilities Expanding Limited Opportunities in Language Education: Proceedings of the 8th Annual JALT Pan-SIG Conference 2009 (pp 45 53). Tokyo: JALT.
Brierley, M. (2010). Implementing a university Extensive Reading programme: The need for teacher autonomy. Creativity and diversity in the implementation of a new English paradigm in the EFL context (pp 179-183). Korea: ETAK.
Brierley, M., & Ruzicka, D. (2012). Developing institutional relationships through ER. In K. Bradford-Watts, R. Chartrand, & E. Skier (Eds.), The 2011 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 220234). Matsumoto: JALT.
Brierley, M., Kubota, Y., & Uchikawa, S. (2011). Using online student data to assess graded readers: Preliminary results. In K. Bradford-Watts, E. M. Skier & M. Walsh (Eds), Pan-SIG 2010 Conference Proceedings (pp 12-30). Kyoto: JALT.