READING ACTIVITY

Extensive reading: An alternative approach
Another model for teaching reading exists. This is an 'extensive reading approach' and involves students reading long texts or large quantities for general understanding, with the intention of enjoying the texts.

Students are allowed to choose the books they read depending on their interests, and there is not always a follow-up discussion or work in class. In this way students are encouraged to read for pleasure and should become better readers.

Aims of extensive reading 
The principal objective of undertaking an extensive reading approach is to get students reading in English and liking it. An increase in reading fluency should be another objective. Because of this, reading should be a pleasurable activity for the student, promoted as much as possible by the teacher.

The characteristics of an extensive reading approach

·         Reading material
Reading for pleasure requires a large selection of books be available for students to choose from at their level. Here, teachers can make good use of graded readers (books which have been written specifically for EFL/ESL students or which have been adapted from authentic texts).

Setting up a class library is a good way to provide material for students, and because the books are kept in the actual classroom, there is a greater chance that they will be borrowed, and teachers also have more opportunities to refer to them during class.

·         Student choice
Students choose what they want to read based on their interests. If a student finds a book is too difficult or they don't enjoy it, they can change it for another one.

·         Reading for pleasure and information
Often students are put off reading when it is tied to class assignments. In an extensive reading program, the students are reading principally for the content of the texts. Teachers can ask students about the books they are reading informally, and encourage occasional mini-presentations of the books or book reviews, but these should not seem like obligations to the students.

·         Extensive reading out of class
Teachers can do a lot to help students pursue extensive reading outside of the classroom. Having a classroom library and regularly encouraging students to borrow books to take home are some things which can help. If books are shelved in the classroom, students can also be given class time to browse and select books.

·         Silent reading in class
Extensive reading should not be incompatible with classroom practice and methodology. There are teachers who set aside a regular fifteen-minute period of silent reading in class. This silent reading has been said to help structural awareness develop, build vocabulary, and to promote confidence in the language.

·         Language level
The vocabulary and grammar of the books that students read should not pose a difficulty. The objective of an extensive reading program is to encourage reading fluency, so students should not be stopping frequently because they do not understand a passage. However, the books should not be too easy as this may well demotivate students, who feel they are getting nothing out of the books.

·         Use of dictionaries
Reading becomes a chore if students think they have to stop and look up every word they do not understand in a dictionary. For this reason, dictionaries should be avoided. Instead of interrupting their flow, students should be encouraged to jot down the words they come across in a vocabulary notebook, and they can look them up after they have finished reading.

·         Record keeping
If the teacher takes an interest in and keeps record of what students are reading, then this can in itself encourage students. If a note is also made of which books the students like, then the teacher can also recommend other books to the students. The teacher should also be careful to explain the reasons behind the program, and to highlight the benefits of extensive reading to them so that they know why they are doing it.

·         The teacher as role model
If the teacher is also seen to be a reader by the students, then they will be encouraged to read. The teacher can talk in class about books that she or he has been reading, and if they are knowledgeable about the books in the class library, having read them, then they can make genuine recommendations to students about what to read. The teacher can also read aloud to students, as a way of introducing students to different genres or individual books.

Motivation
One of the key factors to the success (or not) of an extensive reading program is motivation. Capturing student interest is the key. If the materials available are interesting to the students, then they will be far more likely to want to read them. These books should also be at a level appropriate to their reading ability. As mentioned earlier, the texts should not be too difficult so students experience the frustration of not being able to understand the books.

Getting the extensive reading program off to a good start is also vital. The aim is for an initial successful experience so that students discover they can read in English and that they enjoy it. This positive experience should stimulate them to read more, increasing motivation, enjoyment and a desire to read.

The teacher's role
The teacher encourages and assists the students with their reading, which the students undertake during and /or after class. Occasional summaries (oral or written) can help with this as they show both that the students are reading and also that they understand what their books are about. The activities can also help students improve their writing or speaking ability. Another activity teachers can become involved in is individual counseling - this gives the teacher an opportunity to ask students about their reading experiences and can be done by the teacher while the rest of the classes are silent reading. Above all, however, extensive reading should be a student-center and a student-managed activity.

Intensive Reading

What it is

• Brown (1989) explains that intensive reading "calls attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like." He draws an analogy to intensive reading as a "zoom lens" strategy . 
• Long and Richards (1987) say it is a "detailed in-class" analysis, led by the teacher, of vocabulary and grammar points, in a short passage."
• Intensive Reading, sometimes called "Narrow Reading",  may  involve students reading selections by the same author or several texts about the same topic. When this occurs, content and grammatical structures repeat themselves and students get  many opportunities to understand the meanings of the text. The success of  "Narrow Reading" on improving reading comprehension is based on the premise that the more familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or having read other works by the same author, the more comprehension is promoted. 

• How it looks

Characteristics:

• usually classroom based 
• reader is intensely involved in looking  inside the text 
• students focus on linguistic or semantic details of a reading 
• students focus on surface structure details such as grammar and discourse markers
• students identify key vocabulary
• students may draw pictures to aid them (such as in problem solving)
• texts are read carefully and thoroughly, again and again 
• aim is to build more language knowledge rather than simply practice the skill of reading 
• seen more commonly than extensive reading in classrooms

Materials:

• usually very short texts - not more than 500 words in length 
• chosen for level of difficulty and usually, by the teacher
• chosen to provide the types of reading and skills that the teacher wants to cover in the course

Skills developed:

• rapid reading practice 
• interpreting text by using:

           -word attack skills

           -text attack skills 
           -non-text information

Activities:

Intensive reading exercises may include:

• looking at  main ideas versus details
• understanding what is implied versus stated
• making inferences
• looking at the order of information and how it effects the message
• identifying words that  connect one idea to another
• identifying words that indicate change from one section to another

Munby (1979) suggests four categories of questions that may be used in intensive reading. These include:

1.    Plain Sense -  to understand the factual, exact surface meanings in the text

2.    Implications - to make inferences and become sensitive to emotional tone and figurative language

3.    Relationships of thought - between sentences  or paragraphs

4.    Projective - requiring the integration of information from the text to one's own background information

Note that  questions may fall into more than one category. 

When it is used

• when the objective of reading is to achieve full understanding of: 

           - logical argument 
           - rhetorical pattern of text 
           - emotional, symbolic or social attitudes and purposes of the author 
           - linguistic means to an end

•  for study of content material that are difficult .

 Role of the teacher

• The teacher chooses suitable text.
• The teacher chooses tasks and activities to develop skills.
• The teacher gives direction before, during and after reading.
• The teacher prepares students to work on their own. Often the most difficult part is for the teacher to "get out of the way" .
• The teacher encourages students through prompts, without giving answers.

Advantages

• It provides a base to study structure, vocabulary and idioms.
• It provides a base for students to develop a greater control of language
• It provides for a check on the degree of comprehension for individual students

Disadvantages

• There is little actual practice of reading because of the small amount of text.
• In a class  with multi-reading abilities, students may not be able to read at their own level because everyone in the class is reading the same material.
• The text may or may not interest the reader because it was chosen by the teacher.
• There is little chance to learn language patterns due to the small amount of text.
• Because exercises and assessment usually follow intensive reading, students may come to associate reading with testing and not pleasure.

REFLECTION:

Extensive reading activities are not common, because the majority of the English students read only for getting a grade in their class, what we have to do as a teacher is trying to turn intensive reading into a extensive reading. It's neccesary that our students read for enjoy it, in this way they can learn more, since they learn new espressions and new vocabulary, we can focus in the skills that we want to evaluate. On the other hand, intensive reading is what we do in all of our reading class, it is only when students read to get some information.