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Integrating Extensive Reading into Intensive English Programs


Last week at the 2017 INTESOL Conference, I gave a presentation with my colleague, Emi Zlatkovska from the University of Southern Indiana, on extensive reading at our respective IEPs. Below are excerpts from the slides from my half of the presentation.

What is Extensive Reading?

ER is a pedagogical approach in which teachers help and allow learners to choose what they want to read, and they act as a role model of a reader to enable learners to engage in the specific type of reading: ‘fluent, sustained, comprehension of text as meaning-focused input; large volume of material; reading over extended periods of time; and texts are longer, requiring comprehension at the discourse level’ (Waring & McLean, 2015, p 165).

The Effect of ER Programs on Learners

Overall reading proficiency – small to medium effect (Jeon & Day, 2015; Nakanishi 2014)
  • Highest effect with adults
  • One year of ER had a higher effect than one semester of ER 
Easier materials are more beneficial (Yamashita, 2015)
  • Linguistic gains emerge more quickly than gains in motivation 
Reading outside class time increased content-based test scores (Robb & Kano, 2013).
The amount of time spent on reading graded readers directly impacted students’ positive attitudes (Tien, 2015).

With all these benefits, Jeon and Day (2016) caution these results are not immediate and it takes time to see the benefits. In terms of implementation, they suggest it is easier when ER is part of the curriculum, ER needs systematic support from their programs, and programs can alleviate costs by using computer readers and digital texts. 

Abstract 

This case study investigated the curriculum development process of integrating extensive reading (ER) into an intensive English program (IEP). Specifically, it looked at the extent to which instructors support integrating ER into the curriculum and how their insights aid the curriculum development process. With a qualitative approach, data sources included focus group and individual interviews with the IEP instructors as well as the minutes from the IEP’s curriculum committee meetings. Findings showed all instructors agreed upon the importance of ER in the curriculum, however they were concerned about its implementation. The instructors’ collaborative efforts in development showed that the quality of ER materials was most important to them. Input from the teachers helped the committee make decisions regarding how much class time should be spent on ER and how to monitor ER in and outside the classroom.  

Why Teachers’ Perspectives on ER in the Curriculum? 

 “Without convincing them of its advantages over traditional teaching, it could be very difficult to adopt an ER approach in school settings’ (Jeon & Day, 2015).

Teachers’ perspectives or beliefs inform their instructional decisions and departures from lesson plans (Borg, 2006).

One reason teachers may not grasp the theory behind ER is it is not clearly defined (Macalister, 2015) and because of the flexible nature of its approach in various educational settings (Yamashita, 2015).

There is not one single model that can be directly applied to every context, so teachers and administrators need to develop an approach that works best for their program and the needs of their students.

Research Questions

  1. To what extent do instructors support integrating ER into their IEP curriculum? 
  2. How do their insights aid the curriculum development process?   

The Extent of Faculty Support for ER 

All faculty members supported the integration of ER into the curriculum. Disagreement arose on how it should be integrated. Most disagreements took months to settle because of their incomplete understanding of ER. On the positive side, they were in agreement with one of the top ten principles for ER: that the purpose is usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding (Day, 2002; Macalister, 2005).

However, one teacher’s suggestion for using stories that were thematically connected to the required readings in the course books violates a couple of Day’s (2002) principles in ER, specifically that there should be a variety of reading material on a wide range of topics and learners should be able to choose what they want to read, stories or not. This suggestion would lead the curriculum committee away from developing an ER program adherent to the core principles.

Collaborative Efforts to Integrate ER into the Curriculum

Quality reading materials for the students was the most important feature for the teachers, and this took up the majority of curriculum meetings on ER.

Most of the teachers were not certain about ER implementation, supporting claims that approach is not clearly defined (Macalister, 2015) and that ER’s flexible nature makes its principles difficult to grasp (Yamashita, 2015).

The curriculum committee served as a helpful and productive community of practice.

Conclusion 

The teachers valued sharing their practical suggestions with their peers over discussing the theoretical principles of ER.

References

Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London, England: Continuum.
Day, R. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2), 136-141.
Jeon, E.-Y. & Day, R.R. (2015). The effectiveness of core ER principles. Reading in a Foreign Language, 27(2), 302–307.
Jeon, E-Y. & Day, R.R. (2016). The effectiveness of ER on reading proficiency: A meta-analysis. Reading in a Foreign Language, 28(2), 246-265.
Macalister, J. (2015). Guidelines or commandments? Reconsidering core principles in extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 27(1), 122–128.
Nakanishi, T. (2014). A meta-analysis of extensive reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 49(1), 6–37. doi:10.1002/tesq.157
Robb, T. & Kano, M. (2013). Effective extensive reading outside the classroom: A large-scale experiment. Reading in a Foreign Language, 25(2), 234–247.
Tien, C. (2015). A large-scale study on extensive reading program for non-English majors: factors and attitudes. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 4(4), 46-54. doi: 10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.4p.46
Waring, R. & McLean, S. (2015). Exploration of the core and variable dimensions of extensive reading research and pedagogy. Reading in a Foreign Language, 27(1), 160–167.
Yamashita, J. (2015). In search of the nature of extensive reading in L2: Cognitive, affective, and pedagogical perspectives. Reading in a Foreign Language, 27(1), 168–181.
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