There is just too much we need to talk about with extensive reading, so we will break it up into two sessions: Finding the Right book and Finding the right way. But first, let’s agree that …
…everyone is different
Your brain works different than my brain. We have to get to know ourselves to find out how we best do extensive reading. Do we need to make a schedule? Do we need rewards? Someone else to read with us? Do you need to talk about the reading with a native to fully understand it? Do we need to have coffee or tea while reading?
The advice we are going to talk about here is not going to work perfectly for everyone, but it will help you get a good starting point. After you start building your reading habit, you will need to make personal adjustments so everything works out for you.
If you haven’t already read about why we must be doing extensive reading, or if you don’t know what extensive reading is, you have to read this first!
Finished? Ok! Let’s dive in!
Step 1: Find your level
When’s the last time you saw a kindergarten teacher pull “The Divine Comedy” of the shelf and start her lesson? What? Never?!? Why not? If you said that’s way too hard for little kids, then you are right. How about a professor at university opening up to his favorite Dr. Suess? It’s the same, but the opposite. It’s way too easy, isn’t it? And it’s the same for us as second language learners. If we are reading something too hard or too easy, we aren’t getting the best.
We language learners all come in different levels. Just because it challenges me doesn’t mean it challenges you! On top of that, most books aren’t designed for people like us. Most books are written with native speakers in mind. They are much too hard for you and me.
“Then I’ll pick up a children’s book!” you might be thinking. I’ve made that mistake. Children’s books are also not written with us in mind. They have a lot of strange and uncommon words and ways of saying things in them. (And if it’s a rhyming book, you’re never going to understand it!) On top of that, children don’t read children’s books. Parents read children’s books to their children. Then, whenever a curious child wants to know what’s actually going on, they ask, and their parents use simple everyday language (the language we are dying to grasp!) to explain. It’s that language we are after, not what is written in native children’s books.
“All hope is lost!” you are probably thinking now. Wait! Da-da-da-da (hero enters the scene)! Here comes the graded reader! Good news for you and me, there are books written for us. They are called graded readers.
Graded readers are books that are written on specific levels for language learners. They come in all levels from beginner to advanced. Every publisher has their own way of naming the levels, but they all generally fall into the usual divisions: beginner, pre-intermediate, intermediate, post-intermediate, and advanced. Or something like that.
“What’s my level?” you must be asking. Well, you’ve got friends over at Cambridge, Pearson, Oxford, and EF who are dying to help you find that out. I recommend these to my students whenever they decide to start reading extra books. All you do is take a simple, free quiz that will give you a rough estimate of what your level is. (I like the Cambridge and EF tests because they are auto-graded, but the others are good, too!)
This is your baseline. It’s the starting point for you to find what difficulty is best for you. There is another step.
Now you have to apply the “five-finger rule”. I’ve heard this from a number of places, and it works for me. Again, you might have to adjust things a little bit, but the principle is a good guide.
This is how it works. Pick up a book on your level (according to the test you took), and read a random page from it. Count on one hand the new words you read. The number of words tells you if it’s on the right level. Here are the recommendations:
- 0-1 new word: Too easy
- 2-3 new words: Just right
- 4-5 new words: Too hard
“Five new words isn’t too hard!” is what I can hear you thinking. Remember, this isn’t textbook reading, it’s extended reading. You have to be able to pick up a book, sit down, relax, and enjoy for a long time. You shouldn’t be having a heavy learning session that tires your brain out.
Unless you really, really, really want to. But then you will likely not be able to form the extensive reading habit.
Remember, the primary goal of extensive reading is not to learn new words. That’s a secondary goal. The primary goals are enjoyment, reinforcement, and native input.
You might find that the level the test gave you doesn’t match this rule. That’s normal. Tests aren’t God. They are a manmade tool, so they are guaranteed to make mistakes. It’s ok to drop a level or rise a level. Just use the rule again in the next level you pick, and if it fits: you are good to go!
Step 2: Pick a Book
You’ve found the right level, but the book you have in your hand is about techniques for mixing concrete for modern, skyscraper building. Do you really want to read that? Me neither.
Now you have to find something you will like. There are a lot of sources of graded readers today online. Some you have to pay for. Some you don’t. If you are a cheapskate like me, you’ll probably first go for the free ones. Then after a while you will change your mind and be willing to invest money into your developing language. This depends on you!
Not sure where to find graded readers? There are two ways to go about it. You could look online for “graded e-readers” or “online graded readers” or you could look for them on a local website that can deliver to your door, such as Amazon in the US, Taobao in China, or Coupang in Korea.
Step 3: Read!
What advice do we need when reading? That’s what we’ll talk about next. Complete the learning activities, share your thoughts in the comments, find a book you’d like to read that’s on your level, and then come back later for Part 2 to find out how we should be reading extensively!
Practice the language you’ve just read!