IN general, students learning to read in English don't like reading and they rarely read. This is partly due to the way reading is approached in the class. The reading skill is most often taught by close study of short passages followed by analysis of language.
Graham Stanley who works at The British Council in Barcelona, Spain, offers another model for teaching reading. 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.
The principal objective of undertaking an extensive reading approach is to get students reading in English and liking it. An increase in reading fluency is another objective.
Reading for pleasure requires a large selection of books to choose from different student levels. Teachers can make good use of graded readers (books which have been written specifically for EFL/ESL students or adapted from authentic texts).
Often students are put off reading when it is tied to class assignments. In an extensive reading programme, 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.
The vocabulary and grammar of the books that students read should not pose a difficulty. The objective of an extensive reading programme is to encourage reading fluency, so students should not be stopping frequently because they don't understand a passage. However, the books should not be too easy as this may demotivate students, who believe they are getting nothing out of the books.
If the teacher is 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 make recommendations to students about what to read.
In conclusion, the benefits that have been gained by the undertaking of extensive reading programmes include gains in reading and writing proficiency, oral skills and vocabulary, an increase in motivation and positive affect. Setting up an extensive reading programme should not only lead students to improve their reading proficiency and other language skills, but will hopefully enable them to take pleasure in reading for its own sake.
