Tips For Reading Extensively

     EXTENSIVE READING HAS THE POTENTIAL TO HELP ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER        

become better readers and make improvements in other aspects of their English skills. In addition , they may be used to struggling through short , boring , and extremely difficult texts, which, for many learners, entails painfully careful reading and constant use of a dictionary ..

In extensive reading , they read for information and enjoyment, with the primary goal of achieving a general, overall understanding of the reading material . students select their own reading material and are encouraged to stop reading if the material is not interesting or is too hard ;over time ,students are also encouraged to expand their reading comfort zone – the range of materials they can read easily and with confidence.

                  
There are several reasons why it is beneficial to encourage language learners to read extensively .  Studies show that when students read extensively , they not only  improve their reading fluency , but they also build new vocabulary knowledge and expand their understanding of words they knew before .

Additionally , extensive reading can help students write better , as well as improve their listening and speaking abilities . And perhaps the best result is that students develop positive attitudes toward reading in English and increased motivation to study it .

The Role of the Teachers

  Teachers have an important role to play in helping their students get the most out of extensive reading .

                    In this article , we offer ten tips that teachers can give to students when they engage in extensive reading .

 

Tip 1  : Read , read , and read some more:

When you encourage your students to read , read , and read , you might want to point out that reading extensively can :

    Help them to read faster and understand more .-

Help them to read in meaningful phrases , rather than word – by – word .-

Increase their confidence in their reading .-

-Increase vocabulary knowledge

Consolidate grammatical knowledge.-

Help improve writing proficiency and oral fluency .-

Tip 2 : Read easy books:

When learners read a lot of easy books, it allows them to become more fluent , effective readers . In addition , they are able to learn new words and phrases, over time , while enjoying what they are reading .

                      You can help your students select material at the appropriate level – books well within their reading comfort zone. Ask them to scan two or three pages of a book, , looking for words they do not recognize. If there are more than four or five difficult or unknown words on a page , the book is probably too difficult for extensive reading .

So, they should find another one to read .

Tip3 : Read interesting books:

Because students need to read many books, it is important that they are interested in and enjoy what they are reading .Additionally ,they will be  more likely to attend to the content ( meaning)of the text , rather than merely focusing on grammatical aspects . If your students do not find their books interesting or exciting , advise them to stop and find other books they may enjoy more .

Tip 4 :Reread books you found particularly interesting :

Reading books a second or third time is useful for several reasons. This helps build vocabulary knowledge as well as confidence, and this , in turn , leads to increases in reading rate .

Tip 5 : Read for general understanding :

When students read extensively , it is not necessary to read for 100 percent comprehension . This means that they should be able to follow the general storyline and grasp the main ideas of the text .

In extensive reading , the aim is to read a great many books , so it is in the learners best interest not to struggle over every detail and worry about the exact meaning of every word or phrase.

Tip 6 : Ignore unknown or difficult words skip them and continue reading:

    Students do not need to understand every word . Often , they can ignore words they do not know . Sometimes they can guess the meaning of words from the context .

Tip 7 : Avoid using dictionaries:

Although students often resort to using their dictionaries whenever they encounter new words, convince them to break the dictionary habit . stopping two or three times per page to look up words in the dictionary is laborious and time-consuming , and it can distract students from reading for general understanding.

But sometimes it is not possible , or advisable, to avoid the use  of dictionaries . There are times when not knowing the meaning of a word  prevents overall understanding , or the unknown word reoccurs frequently in the text.

In such situations , tell your students to use a dictionary .

Tip 8 :Expand your reading comfort zone :

As your students read more and more , their reading fluency will increase and their reading comfort zones will expand.

As learners increase the size of their reading comfort zones , they will be able to read books that were initially too difficult .

You can monitor your students overall comprehension of their reading by incorporating extensive reading activities in the classroom .    

 Tip 9    : Set reading goals and keep a reading log:

Advise your students to consider their schedules and to set aside time to read ( at lunch , before going to bed , etc ). You might want to help your students set a reasonable target number of books per week or month ,as their schedules allow; encourage them to meet those goals .

An extensive reading target can be expressed in pages , chapters , or even time two hours a week .

So , one way to set and monitor reading goals is to encourage , or require , your students to keep a log of their extensive reading . This will allow them ( and you ) to see their progress .

Concrete , visible evidence can be very motivating . Two samples of simples extensive reading logs are provided in the Appendix . these can be modified according to the needs of your students and the extent to which you integrate extensive reading activities into your curriculum . some teachers have found it useful to monitor extensive reading according to the weeks of a school semester

 ( see appendix , form 1 );

Others; require students to provide a very brief summary of each book entered into the log in order to monitor general comprehension ( see appendix , form 2 ) .

Tip 10 :Enjoy! Enjoy ! Enjoy !

The more your students enjoy what they are reading , the more they will read .

If they do not enjoy reading , their desire to stick with it will probably dwindle , and they may give up on reading . And they need to keep reading in order to improve their reading fluency and increase their vocabulary knowledge . Recall the motto of extensive reading : reading gain without reading pain .

As teachers , our goal is to spark our students  interest in reading and find encouraging ways to make sure they keep on reading . If you find that some of your students are starting to lose their enthusiasm, it might help to read  aloud to them from a book that is easy , but captivating . your enthusiasm when you read aloud can help them to get back into the frame of mind where they want to pick up a book at every opportunity .

       

Conclusion

Most teachers, can increase their students competency in English and help them become fluent readers in English by engaging them in extensive reading . It is important to realize that the increased fluency , confidence , and motivation that so often result from reading extensively will help students in their academic endeavors, such as improving exam performances .

         We hope that these ten tips will help your students get the most out of reading extensively . When you provide insightful and careful orientation and guidance to extensive reading , you are not only helping your students improve many aspects of their overall reading and language ability  you also might be opening a door to the variety of worlds that reading can present .

References

- English Teaching Forum

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Prepared by :

Supervisor of English

Mrs.  Halimah  Ali  Al-omari Alzahrani