survey

Graded readers
David R. Hill

Outline
1 The scope of this review
2 Assessment of the corpus overall
3 Assessment of series targeted at a worldwide market
4 Assessment of series targeted at Africa and Spain
5 Conclusion
6 Tables of series, giving number of stages and titles and range of levels
7 References

1 Scope of this review The four years since the last Survey Review of graded readers in English
(ELT Journal 51/1, January 1997) have been a period largely of
consolidation and rationalization, but also of innovation. The result has
been greatly to strengthen the impact of graded readers, and to raise the
profile of a superb resource for learning and teaching English.
This review is limited to freestanding series of graded readers published
for supplementary reading, and thus excludes readers that accompany
coursebooks, and reading schemes that teach how to read. Further, it is
confined to series published in the UK , of which most are aimed at a
worldwide market, although a significant number are published for
Africa, and one predominantly for Spain. There are many series
produced in other countries, but normally these are only marketed in the
country of origin, and information about them is best obtained there.
Two of the major series reviewed in 1997 continue in much the same
form. Heinemann Guided Readers and Oxford Bookworms continue to be
the main series published by Macmillan-Heinemann ELT and Oxford
University Press respectively. Macmillan-Heinemann also continue to
publish Children’s Readers and New Wave Readers, while Oxford also
publish Storylines and Classic Tales.
By buying Nelson and Phoenix, who had already bought Macmillan ELT ,
Longman consolidated their position as publisher of the largest number
of series and titles. When they were in turn bought by Pearson, the
owners of Penguin, there began the long process of bringing all titles
into the one series, Penguin Readers. This process will be completed in
2001, and the 220 titles already published, together with the 100 in the
pipeline, will make the series much the largest ever. Another perhaps
more significant development is the pioneering approach of Penguin
Young Readers, new since 1997.
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 Cambridge University Press is a welcome newcomer with their long-
awaited Cambridge English Readers. They have found a new formula that
makes their series distinctive and appealing. So far they have published
28 titles, but plan steadily to expand the series.
All the above publishers have committed considerable resources to
teacher’s materials in the form of guides or activity sheets, or both, most
of them provided free of charge. The review assesses their quality and
usefulness, as well as that of the audiocassettes that have been created for
many titles.
Heinemann International, Macmillan Education, and Longman
International all publish series for Africa. Many of these were reviewed
in 1997, but some new series have appeared.
Richmond Publishing publish two series which they market chiefly in
Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.
This review refers only to the teaching and learning of English. However,
graded readers would bring the same benefits to learners of any
language, and Part 2 has as much application to modern language
teaching as to ELT . It is regrettable that there are so few published in
other languages that are widely taught at school, and to adults. Learners
of English have a huge advantage over learners of other languages
because there is such a wealth of graded readers in English. It is a waste
that teachers and learners of English do not make more use of them, and
that they are rarely encouraged to do so by teacher training institutions.
Not surprisingly, the review reflects very closely the ideas of EPER
(Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading) and mentions some of the
materials EPER publishes to support extensive reading programmes.
This and previous reviews have only been made possible through the
goodwill of the publishers in sending EPER copies of all their graded
readers and supporting materials for inclusion in the EPER library and
database.

2 Assessment of 2.1 Criteria

corpus overall How should graded readers be judged? Previous reviews have focused
on their appeal to the learner. They assessed the quality of the story,
artwork, and page layout, the variety of genres, settings, and protagonists,
and the aids o¤ered to support learners in reading the book. This
approach reflected the normal use of graded readers, namely as a
resource that could be made available to learners to read for pleasure on a
voluntary basis.
This review is based on the premise that graded readers are not simply a
source of pleasure but resources for language learning. It defines them
as stories written in language that learners can understand. Whether
written specially for a series (simple originals) or as simplifications of
modern and classic novels, they help learners in four ways:
1 They motivate.
2 They help develop the skill of reading fluently, e.g. at 200 words or
more per minute.

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 3 They help language learning by providing a context for language that
enhances and extends the learner’s grasp of the lexis and syntax.
4 They o¤er a most accessible source of exposure to the target language.
Sections 2.2–2.5 examine how far the current corpus of graded readers
helps learners to realize each of these potential benefits.
This review also considers how graded readers should be used, and how
far they, and the materials that accompany them, fit the roles required of
them. It assumes that graded readers should resource an Extensive
Reading Programme. This should involve much more than the voluntary
and occasional reading of graded readers chosen at random from a
library. There is, of course, a place in a school library for a large collection
of graded readers, but an Extensive Reading Programme should be a
major part of the compulsory language learning syllabus, fully integrated
into the assessment schedule.
It is often objected that extensive reading programmes do not produce
the anticipated results, and certainly there is much more anecdotal than
research evidence to justify the claims made for them. However, if
graded readers did nothing for learners, they would have disappeared
long ago. Far from fading from the scene, they are produced and bought
in great numbers, and publishers make a huge investment in their
development and production.
Most extensive reading programmes, however, have not gone further
than supplementary reading. Few have been allowed into the classroom,
and even they have not been reinforced by integration into the
assessment schedule. They have been pale shadows of the programme
designed by J. A. Bright and G. P. McGregor in the 1960s in East Africa.
During their direction of the English Department in the Institute of
Education at Makerere University in Uganda, they advocated tha
reading should occupy 50% of the curriculum, and influenced the
syllabus, examination system, and teacher training accordingly. The
programme that came closest to replicating the East African model was
the one devised for Malaysian residential schools in the 1970s. Those
implemented in Malaysian day schools, Tanzania and Hong Kong
adopted only half of Bright’s programme. Elsewhere, extensive
reading was gradually excluded from the syllabus, the first squeeze
coming when English literature was dropped from the curriculum, the
second when increased emphasis was placed on the spoken word, and
the third when short cuts were sought to competence in narrow
specialist fields. When communicative syllabi ignored stories, and
purists spurned graded readers—either because simple texts were not
authentic or because simplifications did not do justice to the originals—,
extensive reading was reduced to a voluntary pastime that was only
encouraged by enthusiasts. Now, at last, there are signs that extensive
reading may be regaining academic respectability, notable advocates
being Christine Nuttall, Richard Day, and Julian Bamford. Even they,
however, do not go very far beyond urging the benefits of reading for
pleasure.

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This review, therefore, assumes that graded readers should be used not
only in the library but also in every classroom. They can and should be
used in three complementary ways:
5 As supplementary readers read by individuals who choose them from an
extensive stock housed in the main library. This provides the
opportunity for further reading for pleasure, and for consolidation of
language learned in class.
6 As a reading course undertaken by individuals who choose books from
a limited range made available within a class library. This focuses on
the learner’s need to progress to more diªcult texts.
7 As class texts read by a class who are guided through the book by the
teacher. This enables the teacher to influence the quality of reading,
and exploit the content for discussion and composition.
Points 5–7 are expanded in sections 2.6–2.8.
2.2 Motivation
English is not popular as a school subject because the subject matter is
boring, and progress slow. Learning a foreign language is becoming
increasingly unpopular for speakers of English in the UK for the same
reason. It is astonishing that modern language syllabi that focus on
communication do not give time to reading and telling stories, which are
such a basic and enjoyable use of language. The opportunity to use
graded readers can radically improve learners’ attitudes because they find
they have an immediate and enjoyable use for the language they are
learning.
The questions to ask of graded readers in this context are:
2.2.1 Does the reader tell a good story well?
57% of graded readers score 4 or 5 out of 5 on the EPER assessment
rating, and 30% score 3, leaving 13% that are poor, and best avoided. This
is a good average for such a large number of titles, but suggests a need
for caution in selection, and a readiness to pay attention to learner
feedback.
Creative writing courses lay stress on two principles: there must be a
problem to be sorted out—a crime to be solved, a treasure to be found, a
lover to win, or a ghost to face down—and the protagonists must win the
learner’s concern.
By and large, famous authors have become famous because they have
invented problems that compel our attention, and created characters that
win our sympathy. Simplifications of famous works thus start with a
built-in advantage, although this can all too easily be thrown away by
incompetent simplification. There is no excuse for this after 60 years of
development, but some simplifications continue to appear. The recent
rationalisation has weeded out many of them, but some still remain,
disguised by a glossy cover, or an association with a popular film.
The authors of simple originals are, for the most part, amateurs. Advised
by strong editors, they usually prove gifted enough to write a successful
short story at the lower levels, but rarely manage to create convincing

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 characters, or sustain a plot over the greater length required at upper
levels. More usually the stories start with a good idea but fade away.
Both types of graded reader have been criticized for not being authentic,
but originally most criticism was levelled at titles that failed to do their
job. Those that are successful deserve to be assessed for what they to do,
and not in comparison with other types of artform.
2.2.2 Are there a suªcient variety of titles to satisfy the learners’ di¤erent
interests and ages?
There is a huge variety of genres, and within them a similar range of
titles. Adults are now almost as well catered for as secondary school
students. Primary school children are not so well o¤, however. There are
a number of rather old and dull series that cater for this growing
clientele. The new Penguin Young Readers are seeking to identify and
provide di¤erent language levels, types of stories, and activities to match
the di¤erent age groups within a primary school.
2.2.3 Are the books attractive and well laid out?
The covers are universally colourful, with the stage colour-coded, and
details of the grading scheme and the blurb confined to the back cover.
The artwork, which is generally of a very high standard, plays a dual role.
The more obvious is to make the book attractive, and here colour is
obviously more helpful than black and white. The second role is to
support the text, which drawings do more e¤ectively than photographs.
Comic strips that use photographs of real people are particularly
disappointing. They may be currently fashionable, but the expressions
and postures of the characters are very wooden.
The quality of the printed page varies from clear, large, black type on
shiny white pages to small, grey, type on rough grey-white paper. The
latter presentation may appeal to sophisticated tastes, but they do not
match the impact of the cover, and neither attract nor help learners.
2.2.4 What additional material would enhance the learner’s enjoyment and
appreciation of the story?
This question focuses on the learner rather than the teacher, whose
interests are considered in sections 2.7 and 2.8. There are three types of
support that help the learner:
1 Notes on the author and the background to the story.
Series that cater for a world-wide audience cannot assume that all
learners are equipped with the cultural, literary, historical, and
geographical information that would enable them to appreciate books
written in the UK , or for a particular audience, or even in a particular
genre. Series written for a particular country or region would invite
inclusion in libraries outside the target market if they contained a
short introduction that explained the background for foreign learners.
2 Summaries of the plot for each chapter or section of the story.
These would reassure the learner that he had understood the story so
far, and help him get back into the story after laying it aside for some
time. An alternative device would be to provide a chapter outline as
used by nineteenth century authors (‘in which X meets Y and Z

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 happens’). This would accord with the provision of abstracts and
summaries in academic papers.
3 Reflections on the story.
Most learners read uncritically, and are quite unable to express any
opinion as to what they liked or did not like about a story. This is true
even of learners whose culture it is to have opinions. As learners read
more titles, they are able to compare stories and see why they liked one
story better than another. This process would be speeded up, and
personal responses made more interesting to write and read, if
contrasting reactions were o¤ered at the end to the theme of the story,
or the actions of the characters.
What the main worldwide series tend to o¤er are introductory notes,
varying from the full to the cursory, in some cases printed at the end
of the book, often in small print and written in diªcult language.
There is an air of apology about them, as though the editors would
prefer them not to be there. This attitude apparently stems from a
wish to make the readers as much like normal fiction as possible, but
it does not address the need of the learner to read independently with
understanding, while at the same time feeling supported in the task.
Most worldwide series also o¤er a raft of comprehension questions,
produced to meet the demands of teachers who apply to graded
readers the same methodology that they apply to intensive reading
passages. This approach kills the best reader stone dead, and it is a
tribute to the quality of graded readers that even used in this way they
prove enjoyable enough to encourage the reading and even purchase
of other titles. Comprehension questions can be helpful in pointing
up important features of a story, but they can very quickly accumulate
into a burden rather than a support, and descend into detail instead of
focusing on the main issues. It is noteworthy that two series come
without such exercises.

2.3 Fluency
Those who use English for academic study or in their job have to read
great quantities of English text in books, journals, and memoranda. More
and more people of all ages are reading English text on the internet.
Success is dependent on reading fluently, at least a page (around or 200
words) a minute. It is again astonishing that so little attention is paid to
this skill. It is a recipe for embarrassment and disappointment to allow
students to embark on studies in the medium of English, when they take
5 hours to read a 100-page reader at the 2,000-word level. Yet their
capacity to read fluently is hardly addressed, let alone tested.
Fluent reading is a skill that can be developed by practice with graded
texts that permit 95% comprehension. (Too many unknown words or too
complicated syntax force the learner to read intensively, i.e. slowly.)
Study skills courses promote the skills of skimming and scanning, but in
practise these really only help when based on fluent reading, and on
familiarity with English discourse.

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 Audio-cassettes can also be very helpful in weaning learners away from a
word-by-word style of reading. When listening and following the text at
the same time, the learners are pulled through the text faster than before,
as well as benefiting from being able to match the spoken and written
forms of a word.
The questions to ask are:
2.3.1 Is the story line strong, clear, and unambiguous?
The story should draw the learner through the text with increasing
intensity, incidents should be developed so that the learner can dwell in
them, and narrative and dialogue should be the main types of text. Texts
that are congested with incidents and characters bemuse and befog the
learner, and account for most of the 15% of poor titles.
2.3.2 Is the grading even and consistent with standard courses?
The language controls of each series are similar enough to allow the
creation of a common scale of diªculty upon which all series can be
placed. (See the Tables in Section 8.) The resulting stages are close
enough to allow learners to pass from one to the next without too much
trouble, and so quickly regain the speed they achieved at the previous
one. Indeed, it is the strength of these series that they adhere so carefully
to language controls, grammatical and lexical, yet are flexible enough to
introduce words outside the permitted list when the sense requires them.
The gap between the top levels of graded reader and unsimplified texts
remains too wide. It is a sad reflection on the poor outcome of language
programmes that there is apparently so little demand for books that
bridge the gap. Learners in Africa are well served in this respect by the
200 or so titles in Macmillan’s Trendsetters and Pacesetters, which are all
about 150 pages long and written in an easy style. There is no equivalent
of these in UK ELT publishing. Children’s fiction written for ages 10–12
can meet demand among learners aged up to 15, if carefully selected, but
su¤ers from such a speedy turnover of titles that it is diªcult to maintain
numbers of copies, and not worth investing time into developing
resources to support their use. Teenage fiction has many fewer titles, and
seems to concentrate on gratuitous horror and vacuous romance.
Standard adult fiction tends to be very long, and paperbacks employ too
small a font size. There is, in any case, no support in the form of
introduction or glossary. Large print books can reduce the physical e¤ort
of reading, but are expensive.
Extensive reading programmes desperately lack a series that matches
Steinbeck’s The Pearl in length, language level, and ideally in quality of
story and writing. Perhaps such a brief would attract professional writers,
who apparently disdain to write graded readers.
2.3.3 Is the style itself fluent?
Graded readers have often been criticized for their style, and some are
still defective, but even at the earliest stages, where it is most diªcult to
write simple text that reads well, most are perfectly acceptable, and some
outstanding in their felicity.

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2.3.4 Can the additional material enhance the learner’s fluency?
The chapter-outlines mentioned above would help to keep the learners
on task. They would be even more useful if they told the learner what
question he should be seeking to answer as he reads on. So would
glossaries and notes at the foot of the page, allowing instant access to
helpful information. That sort of apparatus is frowned upon as
inappropriate for reading for pleasure, but much more is at stake than
simple pleasure, and in any case, success contributes hugely to
enjoyment of reading. Any means of increasing the likelihood of success
should be considered.
The word fluency is hardly mentioned in the teacher’s materials and
there are no aids specifically aimed at increasing fluency or discussion of
how to improve the fluency of individual learners. There are no chapter
summaries or footnotes, either and only one series marks glossed words
in the text. It is taken for granted that nothing must interfere with the
printed page except illustrations, but why only these aids to
understanding should be permitted is not clear.
It would be helpful if publishers provided 10-minute fluency/
comprehension tests, by the simple expedient of delineating a section of
text by page and line, noting the number of words (about 1,000 at
intermediate level) and setting a few questions that tested the learner’s
comprehension of the main points. Teachers can easily create these for
themselves, but they lack models, and are more used to writing questions
that test comprehension of detail.
Is the text easy to read?
One further factor is the printed page itself: font size, line length, leading
and margins and width of font. Again, a worldwide target audience
embraces many who are not used to roman letters. The editors must
keep the accountants at bay by arguing that greater reader-satisfaction
creates greater sales, and therefore a financial return for extra investment
in paper and ink.
Are the cassettes good to listen to?
In general, the quality is very high. The samples listened to for this
review contain some that are a pleasure to listen to on their own—very
clear, using varied voice types, spoken at a good pace, and some with
sound e¤ects. This applies especially to the cassettes at the lower
intermediate levels and above. Tapes that accompany the lower stages
tend to irritate by being especially slow and careful, and may not actually
be as helpful to the learner as intended. Those that accompany very short
stories or strip cartoons are least successful. In spite of these
shortcomings, all the cassettes are a valuable support.

2.4 Direct language learning

Fluent reading of graded reader texts increases exposure to English, and
reinforces a grasp of language taught in class. It a¤ords the opportunity
to practise and consolidate, as essential in learning a language as in
learning a musical instrument.

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 2.4.1 What opportunity is given to reflect upon features of the text?
There are almost no studies of language per se, nor of lexis, syntax, nor of
supra-sentential text. This policy reflects the (correctly) paramount
interest in reading, but does not answer a question frequently asked by
the learner who is reluctant to invest time in reading, namely ‘What will I
learn?’ Heinemann come near to o¤ering a study of vocabulary when a
title includes a glossary of terms associated with a particular topic.
Oxford sometimes ask questions that require an answers using the same
construction. Longman o¤er a photocopiable vocabulary sheet that the
learner completes alone. Otherwise, there is no reflection on language,
only comprehension questions and activities eliciting speech or writing.
If a teacher answers a reluctant reader’s question ‘Why should I spend
time on reading books’ by saying, ‘It’s enjoyable,’ he invites the
immediate rejoinder, ‘Not for me.’ If he says, ‘Your proficiency increases
with practice without your realizing,’ he invites the equally deflating
response, ‘How?’
The lack of attention given by academic institutions to the use of graded
readers and the methodology of extensive reading over the last 30 years
has meant that the development of ideas and resources has very largely
been left to the publishers. They respond chiefly to teachers, who are
currently—in the UK at least—obsessed with assessment, which is
traditionally done though tests of comprehension. Thus there are no
models for reflections on language, but it must be possible to present the
key vocabulary and new patterns of text development in ways that would
help learning.

2.5 Source of exposure

The fourth benefit that learners derive from graded readers is increased
exposure to language that is within their competence. They must,
therefore, be easy to acquire. The questions to ask are:
2.5.1 Are they cheap?
At an average price of £2.50 the books themselves are not expensive. If
bought as part of a school’s collection to be read by 50–100 learners, they
can provide one-to-one tuition at a rate of less than 5p per hour. They are
also reasonably durable, with sti¤ enough covers that stay on the pages.
Durability is increased by the normal library practice of fitting plastic
jackets, or even applying tape to the spine.
2.5.2 Are they widely available?
All the publishers have a long list of oªces and local representatives. If
books are not easily available local bookshops, there are at least three
large-scale mail order distributors in the UK.
2.5.3 Are they easy to handle?
They can be carried in a pocket, and read on a bus or in bed.
2.5.4 Are cassettes cheap?
At an average of £6 each they are awkwardly expensive in comparison
with the books they accompany. The benefits of listening, however, are
such that schools would do well to buy them to accompany selected

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popular titles. It would be especially beneficial if the cassettes could carry
a licence to copy within the purchasing institution.

2.6 Use as supplementary readers

Most graded readers find their way into libraries or self-access-centres,
where they languish in a heap, untouched by learners whose teachers
only provide extensive reading in response to the occasional appeal to go
to the library and borrow a reader. If graded readers are to stand any
chance of being used e¤ectively they must be classified, labelled, and
shelved by level. Old copies and unpopular titles need to be weeded out.
The collection needs to be advertised, and perhaps a club formed to
manage them and meet for mutual encouragement. Some teachers do
not let the dead hand of library administration fall on the collection, but
keep it separate under their own tutelage, and derive much personal
satisfaction from obtaining and giving personal feedback on the titles.
The questions to ask are:
2.6.1 How easy is it to select graded readers for a library to match the ages
and interests of the learners?
All series o¤er a variety of genres and settings, and these are set out
clearly in the catalogues. There is also a balance of gender among
protagonists, though not so clearly marked. It would be possible, though
unlucky, to find that a selection had inadvertently resulted in a
predominance of female or male characters. The target age is much more
diªcult to define, given the precocious sophistication of the European
market on the one hand, and the ‘cute factor’ in the Far Eastern market.
That said, one great advance over the last 20 years has been the
breakaway from the old habit of supposing that beginners were children
and advanced learners were adults. The largest market is for 12–15 year
olds, and so most series cater for junior secondary. However, some series
specifically cater for primary school learners, while others aim at an adult
audience. This bias in content, reinforced by the format and artwork, is
made clear in the catalogues.
Publishers provide information about their titles either in their main
catalogue or, more usually, in a separate readers catalogue. These give
the editors space to explain the rationale of their series, list the main
features of the grading scheme, and display the front cover of each title.
In addition there is a blurb, and details of the target age, genre, and,
increasingly, the issue discussed, which helps teachers to choose titles
relevant to a project. Some warn of the presence of material more suited
for adult reading. Nothing, of course, suggests which titles are better
than others but the catalogues give all the teachers the information they
need to build up a varied collection that meets all interests.
2.6.2 How easy is it to use titles from di¤erent series from di¤erent
publishers?
Colour-coded covers or bands easily identify the stages within each
series. These can be readily placed on a common scale provided account
is taken of the whole reading task, allowing the teacher to set up a library
of books at di¤erent levels. The tables in section 7 make use of the EPER
scale.

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 One problem arises if the teacher requires a written response to the book.
Most series now carry comprehension and discussion questions. More
and more publishers are o¤ering separate worksheets with separate
answer keys. All series di¤er in the number and type of questions they
ask, which makes it more attractive to use readers only from one series.
The alternative is to require a book report in a standard format, and in
some cases publishers may o¤er samples. Another option is to develop a
workcard that varies the format within a common structure and takes
account of the di¤erent levels, as EPER has done.
2.6.3 What aids are provided to help the learner read and understand on
his own?
See the previous sections (2.2.4, 2.3.4).

2.7 Use as a reading course

The drawback to using readers for a supplementary programme is that
physically and pedagogically it is separate from the core teaching
programme. Readers that are brought into the classroom and used as a
permanent resource are much more heavily used. The main diªculty
with a class library scheme is logistical. Various ingenious ways have
been developed of boxing books into collections at a number of di¤erent
levels and taking them to class from a central store, but in most cases the
sheer number of titles makes for complexity and confusion, and can
justify learners in staying at one level because they have not read all of its
50–100 titles. Another diªculty is that students tend to read di¤erent
books, so it is a long time before there is any sharing of feedback.
One way of streamlining the administration, and creating reading
communities, is to choose from the main library the 20 titles from each
level that have proved most popular in the supplementary libraries, and
with them form an extensive reading course. This creates an extension of
the reading scheme that teaches children how to read. The required
number of books is achieved by buying multiple copies of each title. The
objective is to climb up the levels as quickly as possible. Learners are
usually able to move up a level if they have read about 12 titles. If not,
there are 8 more available in the reading course, and more in the main
library. A written response is mandatory, and feedback from the teacher
more likely to be forthcoming, since the number of titles is much
reduced.
The questions are:
What support is o¤ered to the learner in carrying out the reading task?
See sections 2.2.4 and 2.3.4.
What aids are available to encourage reading and elicit feedback?
See section 2.6.2.

2.8 Use as a class text

Programmes that use class libraries seem to lose impetus as the readers
get longer and more diªcult. This is especially true of the transition
from picture-based text. The establishment of a reading course with clear
and limited goals will encourage learners to make the e¤ort, but the
surest, though not (alas!) infallible, way is to add a syllabus of class
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readers. Well taught, the class readers can become a very popular
component of the syllabus, and bring a number of advantages:
a With all learners reading the same title, a reading community is
formed.
b The teacher can check all learners’ comprehension and provide input
that enhances their appreciation of the current reader and similar
library readers.
c The teacher can exploit the content of the book for written and oral
communicative activities.
d The teacher can monitor speed of reading and promote a minimum.
The questions is:
2.8.1 What support is available to help the teacher use the book e¤ectively as a
class reader?
Most of the exercises provided at the back of the books and through
worksheets assume that the teachers are using graded readers for class
reading, and that the methodology they employ is little more than ‘Read
the next two chapters and answer the questions at the back of the book.’
For such teachers the now normal provision of answer keys is a
godsend.
Publishers now o¤er summaries of the story, presumably so that
teachers can check their understanding of the story, rather than save
them from the chore of reading it. Some also o¤er biographies of the
author and background notes. These aids will help the teacher to talk
about the book and initiate discussion.
No materials tackle the issue of fluency of reading. Neither do any
coursebooks systematically build in references to extensive reading, as
Bright did in his Patterns and Skills in English, written for East African
schools in the 1960s.
Some of the guides make optimistic reference to a range of activities that
teachers could invent if they had time and energy, and Greenwood’s
‘Class Readers’ remains an important source of ideas. Heinemann and
now Oxford have gone further, and o¤er a comprehensive set of activities
that systematically and intelligently elicit a variety of written and oral
responses. Oxford also provide sample answers that indicate the nature
of an appropriate response, as well as saving teachers much time and
e¤ort. Only EPER o¤er, and then only for about 20 titles, a complete set
of lesson plans that chart in detail how a teacher can exploit a class
reader, from the initial handing out to the last activity. If the Oxford
activities attract support, and more teachers come in contact with the
EPER model of teaching guide, then there may be a wider acceptance of
the value of giving time to an extensive reading programme.

2.9 The place of non-fiction

There is a strong and continual demand for non-fiction. Learners say
they do not want to read fiction, and teachers say they want to expose
their students to non-fiction texts.

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 In fact, most learners who say they do not like fiction will admit to
enjoying films and soaps on TV . What they need is access to attractive
fiction at a level at which they can read easily, help with techniques of
reading stories, and persuasion that time spent reading stories is time
well spent in learning English.
Wrong-footed by the learners’ apparent reluctance to read fiction, some
teachers attempt to introduce non-fiction too early in a language course.
Texts graded to beginner and elementary levels cannot express ideas and
concepts in any but the most general terms, and these are very dull, and
generally already known to the learners. If the texts present new facts, the
learners’ language level is too low to access them and guess meanings.
Further, expository texts are denser and harder to read than narrative
interlaced with dialogue. If the above is true, it follows that non-fiction
graded readers cannot interest learners, or help them read fluently.
Oxford gallantly try to meet the misguided demand with their Bookworm
Factfiles, but see 3.3 for the suggestion that even they may be moving
towards the richer vein of true stories.
Reading for information is a di¤erent type of reading, much closer to
intensive reading, and undertaken with notebook and pencil to hand.
The best source of non-fiction text for intermediate level students are the
excellent illustrated encyclopaedias published by Oxford University
Press, Dorling Kindersley, Kingfisher, and Usborne for children, but
better designated ‘Junior’. The text and artwork are far beyond the
resources of a graded readers series. Used as research tools, and
exploited with carefully prepared worksheets, they can provide secondary
school students and adults with a valuable supplement to their syllabus.
The best source of general non-fiction material for advanced students is
the journals for general readership such as New Internationalist, Scientific
American, the Economist, and Time Magazine. Ideally there would be a
flow of simplified versions of collections of articles. These might well
adopt the format adopted by Oxford University in its ab initio Latin
course. Their texts simplify the early sections of a classical text, but
gradually remove the constraints until the last part is unsimplified. At the
moment learners are expected to leap from short passage to complete
article taken from a specialist academic magazine, and they find it very
diªcult to make the jump. The learner who can read fluently at 3,000
words is in a much better position to make the transition, but still finds
the gap diªcult to cross and takes time to build up speed.

2.10 Teacher training

There is virtually no training of teachers in the rationale and
implementation of extensive reading programmes. All that exists to fill
the gap are the Guides produced by the publishers, and EPER . These
tend to depress rather than encourage teachers because of the detail they
go into. The rationale for extensive reading is simple (reading helps
learning), and the execution simple (give books to learners), but
describing the di¤erent systems involves going into so much elaborate
detail that it may put teachers o¤. A training course that takes the form of
a mini reading programme enables teachers to experience the benefits

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 and logistical complexities of extensive reading for themselves, and is in
itself enjoyable.
A 5-day course allows the trainer to explain the rationale and give
teachers hands-on experience of using readers. They will follow a reading
course of one or two books per level, completing a worksheet for each
title. They will borrow extra books from a supplementary library. They
will complete a class reader at an intermediate level, completing the
assignments for themselves and correcting each other’s work. Spare time
and extra days can be spent planning an extensive reading programme
for their own school, and preparing teaching materials that exploit
readers for oral and written work. Suitable assignments are the
preparation of a ‘business plan’ for implementing an extensive reading
programme, and worksheets for a number of titles and teaching guides
at di¤erent levels, the number depending on the time available.
All training courses are most e¤ective when held in-school for all
members of a department. This ensures that everyone can contribute to
the development of a programme, and avoids the usual scenario whereby
teachers return from a course only to encounter resentment and
opposition from those who did not go.
Such courses are not expensive to run, except in terms of teachers’ time.
They require resources that can be used again and again, and may be
donated by the publishers in the first place. They can be led by any
enthusiast with experience of running an extensive reading programme
in their own school. The publishers’ guides can then be used as textbooks
for reference.
Two commitments by the authorities are, however, absolutely
indispensable prerequisites for their success. One is to fund an extensive
reading programme. The other is to include extensive reading in the
syllabus and the assessment schedule. Without these commitments the
experience can, at worst, increase teachers’ cynicism, and, at best, lead, in
the short term a reading club run for volunteers by an enthusiast.

3 Assessment of These are listed in alphabetical order first of publisher, then of series,
series aimed at the corresponding to the table in section 7. The figures for stages refer to the
worldwide market number of levels or grades into which a series is divided. Those for the
number of titles show the number reviewed first, and the number
advertised in the 2001 catalogue second.

3.1 Cambridge University Press

Cambridge English Readers (CER : 6 stages, 28/40 titles) are new since
1997. Perhaps the long period of gestation reflects the diªculty
Cambridge faced in developing a new series that was not ‘more of the
same’ i.e. including yet another version of famous classics. (The EPER
database holds records of no less than 22 versions of Jane Eyre, 9 of them
currently in print.) Their solution has been to eschew simplifications
altogether and commission new stories (simple originals) at all levels,
even the most advanced, and to make sure that settings and language are
100% up to date.

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 Philip Prowse, the editor, learned his craft at the hands of John Milne, for
whose Heinemann Guided Readers he wrote his first of 6 stories about
Lenny Samuel in 1973. As one would expect, the story lines are strong
and clear and the range of issues and contexts already very wide. Titles at
the upper level struggle to compete with the best simplifications of best-
selling classics and modern stories, but have the appeal of novelty, and
settings that are likely to be familiar to most of the learners.
What distinguishes the series from all the others is the zest and
freshness of the text. Where the emphasis in other series is on plain and
straightforward language, CER texts typically use very modern
expressions, and the dialogue is faster moving. This has an impact on the
quality of audiocassettes, which make for very enjoyable listening.
The CER philosophy on the use of graded readers is most clearly shown
by the total omission of exercises from the books themselves. They are to
be read; nothing less, nothing more. To meet the demands of teachers
who want their students to do more with a book than just read it, and
provide evidence that they are reading and understanding it, CER provide
free worksheets for each title, and an answer key that contains a
summary of the story.
The worksheets have three sections: Before Reading, Check Your
Reading, and After Reading. All the questions are focussed on the story,
and intended to help with comprehension and appreciation. Questions
in the first two sections are varied and quick to answer. The activities
suggested for After Reading exploit the story for discussion, writing, and
puzzles. This minimalist approach should not overburden the teacher or
the learner, but rather enhance the enjoyment of the books. It certainly
meets the requirements of support for independent reading more closely
than that of other series.

3.2 Macmillan Heinemann ELT

Children’s Readers (HCR : 5 stages, 20 titles) are unchanged since the
1997 review. Half the titles are recorded on cassette, and each book
contains simple comprehension exercises.
Guided Readers (HGR : 5 stages, 159/171 titles) are unchanged in style and
format since the last review. A few new titles have come out at each level,
and these are consistent in quality with their predecessors. There is,
however, one innovation: extended reads at the beginner level.
The gap between the standard beginner level and the elementary level
proved generally too wide to jump, and in a reading programme required
a bridging level using books from other series. This has now been
provided by the simple expedient of extending the latest beginner level
books to 48 pages, and reducing the number of illustrations per page of
text. Language constraints remain the same as for the beginner level,
except that subordinate clauses of time and reason are allowed, allowing
a more fluent style. The result is a harder reading task overall, but within
familiar language. All the texts so far are simplified classics, but include
several good titles new to the corpus.

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Lately there have been some welcome additions at the upper level.
HGR titles provide extended background notes when the setting requires
it. This often takes the form of an extended glossary grouping words
relating to a single theme. The main glossaries explain words, which are
marked in the text, rather than simply give a dictionary definition. This
style of support reflects the philosophy of the first editor, John Milne,
who followed Bright in the Sudan, and saw the potential of graded
readers as tools for language learning, as well as resources for pleasure-
reading.
New Wave Readers (HNW : 5 stages, 30/30) are unchanged in format and
number since the last survey review in 1997. Aimed at teenage learners,
they continue to bring variety with their larger format and mix of
artwork.
Teacher’s Materials Heinemann were the first to provide free
photocopiable worksheets for all titles in both series. These take the
convenient form of a single two-sided sheet of A4, and propose in a
concise and attractive form a varied set of activities, di¤erent for each
stage and title, under the three headings of Before, While, and After
Reading. The teacher thus has at his or her disposal a set of excellent
suggestions, often with examples and illustrations or diagrams, for
exploiting a class reader. He or she is also left with the task of working
through them, and translating them into lesson plans. This is perhaps
not a very realistic expectation without worked samples and training.

3.3 Oxford University Press

The Oxford Bookworms Library (OBL : 3 stages, 131/131) brings together
the former black and green series of Bookworms into one series. The
distinction between adult and juvenile titles was found untenable, and
led to anomalies, since books written about children may well appeal to
adults, or even be written for adults. All titles have been reissued under
new ISBN s, with very handsome covers, new exercises, and in some cases
new artwork. The introductions on the front page have been extended.
More information is given about the authors, but must often escape
notice now that it is sandwiched between the end of the story and the
beginning of the exercises.
A steady trickle of new titles have increased the total to 131, comprising
both simplifications and simple originals of a high standard with plenty
of variety. There are now three additional sub-series:
Factfiles (OBF : 4 stages, 27 titles) continue to expand, presumably
meeting a demand, even if the demand is—in the eyes of this reviewer—
mistaken! The content continues to strike as pedestrian, and the layout
fails to meet the standard of the Junior Encyclopaedias, or even the
factpages of Macmillan’s Living Earth and Living Health series (see
below). It is noteworthy that the latest titles suggest a move towards true
stories, which employ a narrative style and can use dialogue.
Playscripts (OBP : 2 stages, 4/6 titles) are a very interesting experiment
embracing both simple originals and simplifications of plays. We have

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 had Shakespeare before, most familiarly in the totally unreadable
simplifications of Lamb’s unreadable tales from Shakespeare, and most
notably in the Penguin Simply Shakespeare rewrites in modern dress,
some of which were written by the Bookworms editor, Jennifer Bassett.
This is Shakespeare and other playwrights reduced, but in play form,
allowing spoken and stage productions. They have been very well done,
and deserve attention, especially from drama enthusiasts eager for an
English club to stage a production. Cassette recordings will enable the
actors to adopt suitable inflections and speech rhythms.
Bookworms Activities represent a major contribution to the e¤ective use
of Bookworms titles. As stated above, the new edition includes revised
activities, and is accompanied by free materials comprising, for each
level, an A4 size teacher’s handbook, and a book of photocopiable
worksheets, also A4 size.
The handbook contains full answers to the activities printed at the back
of each book, with comments and suggestions where responses are
subjective. The activities fall into the standard three sections, Before,
While, and After Reading. For each title the After Reading activities o¤er a
di¤erent selection of the following wide range of exercises: character-
mapping, illustration activities, characters’ thoughts, new story titles,
word puzzles and crosswords, dialogues, letters, diaries, speeches, news
reports, di¤erent story endings, and discussion activities.
The one-page tests meet the demand of some school systems for marks
as evidence that students have read a book. They are quite short, and test
a whole book, but require a more thorough knowledge of the text than a
single rapid reading would provide, and so are more suitable for class
reader use. The handbook also provides an answer key.
The activity worksheets provide the teacher with an introduction to each
title, containing a summary of the story, notes on the background, and
discussion points, and up to three worksheets for each of Before, While,
and After Reading. The material is di¤erent from that at the back of the
book, and the use of illustrations, maps, and diagrams make them very
attractive. The material is carefully graded to match the language level of
each stage.
All this material, which has been very carefully thought out, is of a
consistently high standard, and represents a huge amount of work, goes
furthest of all the publishers’ materials on o¤er to meet the requirements
set out in section 2.8.
Starters (OBS : 1 stage, 9/12 titles) cater for the near or recent beginner.
Although marketed as one stage, in fact there are two, each making
di¤erent demands on the learner. The first stage uses the comic strip
format. The speech bubbles and captions are contextualized within each
frame, and are rarely more than 30 words long. At the second stage a
single illustration gives the general context for a short passage of text,
usually about 100 words long. Both are genuinely for near- or post-
beginners, but the first type is easier.

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It is extremely diªcult to write good stories in an acceptable style within
such narrow constraints, and purists will no doubt find fault. Adult
learners will, however, rejoice to have more books that they can read so
early in their learning career, and stories that do not patronise them.
Storylines (OSL : 4 stages, 24 titles) is the collection of stories originally
written to accompany the Streamline course, which was aimed at the
teenage market, but given independent status, a new name, and a glossy
full colour format in 1996–7. The neat and e¤ective stories are quite
short, even at the higher levels, so they bring variation to a collection.
Other series fill two pages of the current catalogue, and give the
impression of bits and pieces. The most recent are the Classic Tales that
come in large format, nicely illustrated and with two titles at each of 5
levels. The oldest are the Oxford Graded Readers that have stood the test of
40 years remarkably well and still o¤er one of the few models for
presenting new vocabulary. Most of the 17 titles are fairy tales. Stepping
into English o¤er 9 fables with energetic texts and illustrations. The 12
levels and 48 titles of Oxford Storyland Readers take the young learner
from words in context to extended stories and facts but lack the humour
and development o¤ered by such native-speaker reading schemes as the
Oxford Reading Tree, which can be used successfully with early primary
children.

3.4 Penguin Longman Publishing

Penguin Readers (PR : 6 stages, 220/340 titles) issued under the
Longman ISBN (582) include all Penguin Readers first issued under the
Penguin ISBN (14) and the following Longman series: Longman Fiction
(drawing on the older series of Longman Structural Readers, Longman
Bridge Series, and Longman Simplified English Series) and Longman
Originals. The other Longman series have been dropped: Picture Classics,
Longman Classics, and the small series such as Galaxies, Movieworld, and
Famous Lives. Over 100 new titles are featured in the 2001 Penguin
Longman catalogue, bringing the total up to about 340.
Not surprisingly, the result is an uneven, inconsistent, and unwieldy
series, which badly needs pruning by about one third. Many, though not
all of the Penguin simplifications were done poorly and would be better
termed ‘compressions’. Many of the Penguin film tie-ins will be
incomprehensible to anyone who has not seen the film. Since the book
lasts many years longer than the film, there are going to be many
bewildered learners who may be deterred from reading by their inability to
understand what looks like a good book. The Penguin simple originals, on
the other hand, tended to be much better, and some are very good and
worthy companions of old Longman titles, which are generally much
stronger, too, as well as longer. The influence of the editors, Joc Potter and
Andy Hopkins, is beginning to become apparent with the publication of
some excellent new simplifications at the upper level.
Within PR , there are three developments, all with the potential of adding
variety to a supplementary collection. One is Teen Stories. These will
clearly attract casual sales, but may well disappoint. Characterization is

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 thin, and the story line feeble. Artwork for comic strips often takes the
form of photos, which look more faked than realistic, especially as the
characters lack expression. With two or three stories to one 32-page book,
they provide less reading matter than the Easystarts.
The second is magazine type books with a collection of short stories, and
pages of facts and puzzles. The stories are weak, while the facts rarely
o¤er more than general knowledge.
The third is Business World. These readers recount the lives of successful
entrepreneurs and the history of famous companies, telling their story
energetically but arousing little enthusiasm for their heroes. Each title
has a useful glossary of business terms.
Penguin Readers Easystarts (PRE : 1 stage, 20 titles) are simply the former
Longman Easystarts, reproduced under the Penguin Reader cover. They
provide a good range of reading material at a post-beginner level, but it is
a pity that the editors did not take the chance o¤ered by the re-issue to
give more space to the text, so that dialogue followed the convention of
giving each new speech a new line.
Free teacher’s materials supporting PR consist of a series of 6 Teacher’s
Guides (3 more due in 2001) and Factsheets and an Answer Key for each
title. The Guides cover di¤erent aspects of exploiting the readers. The
Guide to Using Graded Readers makes an eloquent case for extensive
reading, and discusses the use of graded readers as class readers, in a
class library, as a basis for communicative activities, and for holiday
reading. It o¤ers photocopiable forms to ease administration and the
collection of feedback, and a fully-worked sample lesson plan. There is
also a section on using audiocassettes. The Factsheets, issued in six-
monthly batches to accompany new titles, provide the teacher with a
summary of the story, background notes on the author, and the issues
raised by the story, communicative activities, and a glossary of useful
words. They provide the student with a photocopiable page of extra
activities that supplement those at the back of the book.
The Activities are at odds with the tenor of the Guide. All three sets of
activities follow the same pattern of Before, While, and After Reading, with
the While Reading section o¤ering several comprehension questions to
be answered after every one or two chapters. The Answer Keys reveal how
serious is the overkill. A Level 3 key, for example, fills an A4 sheet with 4
columns of very small print. Admittedly such drudgery is recommended
only for class readers, which may occupy one term, but it can leave little
time for the more profitable and enjoyable communicative activities
outlined in the Guide, and will certainly blunt the learner’s enthusiasm
for reading.
Penguin Young Readers (PYR : 4 stages, 28/59 titles) are aimed at the
growing primary school market. In contrast to Oxford, Penguin
Longman have jettisoned all their old primary series, and started from
scratch. The series is divided into three age categories distinguished by
size of format: large for 5–7s, medium for 7–9s, and small (i.e. standard)
for 9–11s.

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 The series is being developed by the editors, Annie Hughes and Melanie
Williams, and is growing fast, building on a foundation of fairy tales.
Other types have appeared, such as original stories and Story Shops, the
PYR equivalent of the PR magazine-style books. The series is set to
double in size in 2001, and could well double again in the following
years.
Free teacher’s materials supporting PYR consist of a series of 3 Teacher’s
Guides (2 due in 2001) and for each title Factsheets that contain an
Answer Key. The Guide to Using Stories in Class also makes an eloquent
case for using graded readers, and discusses how the di¤erent formats,
types of story, and activities suit the di¤erent age groups of primary
school learners. The emphasis is on using the readers as a class activity.
As with the PR factsheets, the pupils’ activities supplement those at the
back of the book. In contrast to PR , not only are the tasks fewer and less
daunting, but they look more fun, as many questions take the form of
puzzles or use drawings.
The first On-line Graded Reader is due to appear in early 2001. Its impact
will be studied with interest.

4 Assessment of These are listed in alphabetical order first of publisher, then of series,
series marketed in corresponding to the table in Section 8. The figures for stages refer to the
Africa and Spain number of levels or grades into which a series is divided. The first figure
for the titles gives the number reviewed, and the second the number
advertised in the 2001 catalogue.
Many of these books have a vitality and freshness that could inspire
learners worldwide to take a new interest in reading. Without hiding the
horror and misery, they portray the resilience and exuberance of Africa
that rarely feature in the worldwide media. They should at least be
considered for use in alternative libraries such as those run by After
School Clubs.

4.1 Heinemann International

Junior African Writers Series 3 sub-series JAWS Discovery (HJAWSD : 1
stage, 0/12 titles) are a non-fiction series that started in 1997. Sample
pages shown in the catalogue suggest a series of double page spreads
combining text and artwork to present single topics.
JAWS Readers (HJAWSR : 5 stages: 70/80 titles) are an admirable
collection of original stories written for African secondary schools either
by Africans or by expatriates very well acquainted with life in Africa. The
settings cover many di¤erent countries (though this is not usually made
explicit) and cover rural and city life, traditional customs and modern
stresses. Almost without exception the stories are gripping and the
characters appealing.
JAWS Starters (HJAWSS : 3 stages: 34/36 titles) cater for African primary
schools, though again their very attractive full colour illustrations and
gently amusing texts make them very suitable for supplementary reading
elsewhere.

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 4.2 Longman International
Action Books (LAB : 3 stages, 6/6 titles) The first five titles were published
in the 1980s. In full colour, and using strip cartoon form for some titles,
they looked set to make a strong appeal, but in the event were only joined
by one more title, in 1995.
Child to Child Readers (LCCR : 3 stages, 15/16 titles) give about equal
weighting to a didactic story and facts relating to health and domestic life.
The large page and absence of colour give this series something of a
‘utility’ feel, compared to the more attractive (and more expensive) rivals,
but it does contain a number of very pleasing tales.
Girl Child Readers (LGCR : 3 levels, 1/4 titles) use the same format as
LCCR but tackle head-on the stereotyping of women’s role in society and
the workplace. The only title seen so far is wisely tactful in showing how
boys as well as girls can enjoy new roles.
Reading for the Environment (LRE : 3 stages, 9/9 titles) combine stories of
varying quality with a few ‘factpages’, but have the advantage over LCCR
and LGCR of colour.

4.3 Macmillan Education

Bible Stories (MBIB : 2 stages: 12/12 titles) Stage 1 presents the stories of
figures from the Old Testament, and Stage 2 retells incidents from the
life of Jesus and his parables. They are well written and generously
illustrated.
Hop Step and Jump (MHSJ : 3 stages, 44/44 titles) are aimed at ages 6–12.
Their large format, colourful illustrations, and generous font-size make
them a welcome resource for a primary school library. Present covers are
somewhat flimsy and would benefit from sti¤er card. Inevitably there are
one or two weaker titles, but the whole series presents a pleasing and
optimistic blend of modern and traditional culture. Most stories have a
country-specific setting, with local names, greetings, and dress. It would
make the series more accessible and interesting to outsiders, and even to
African readers, if the inside cover showed a map of Africa with the
country marked on it, and a brief description of the local geography and
culture.
Living Earth (MLE : 4 stages, 15/16 titles) are aimed at ages 8–14. These
attractive books present environmental issues though the double
medium of stories and factpages in the proportion of 3:1. The stories vary
in quality from the very amusing to the rather wordy, but all encourage
the learner to identify with the problems presented, while the pages of
facts are beautifully laid out, and teach a well-judged amount of useful
information.
Living Health (MLH : 4 stages, 7/9 titles) are new since 1997 but follow
the same format as Living Earth. Aimed at ages 8–14, they explore disease
prevention and good health and hygiene rules. As with MLE , both stories
and factpages combine to give information and maximum impact to life-
enhancing lessons.

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Mactraks (MMT : 4 stages, 47/48 titles) are a strong and consistent series
aimed at lower secondary school. The chief characters are nearly all
children, aged 10–12 in Stage 1 and 14–16 in Stage 4. Many genres are
represented, and a few non-fiction titles. Settings are all African, and the
stories many written by experienced authors, are full of local colour.
Ready . . . Go (MRG : 2 stages, 21/30 titles) are new since 1997, and aimed
at ages 6–10. They are a sister series to the Hop Step and Jump Series (see
below) and come in the same format, and with the same high quality of
artwork and font-size. The sti¤er covers should increase their durability.
The Ready level presents vocabulary in amusing contexts, while the Go
level comprises chiefly simple stories, many using the conventions of
folk tales, such as the repetition of key phrases.
Stories to Remember (MSR : 2 stages, 61/61 titles) Macmillan retained
this long-standing series when they sold their ELT division to Phoenix.
Devoted entirely to classics of English literature, it contains titles not
found elsewhere, and provides a reduced rather than rewritten text with
extensive glossaries and standard comprehension questions. The series
now appears only in the Macmillan African Readers catalogue.
Today’s Children (MTC : 3 stages, 7/13 titles) are new since 1997, and
explore themes such as integration, reconciliation, and other social
issues. Published under the auspices of UNHCR in English and French,
the first batch of titles present the aftermath of war and natural disaster
and portray the attempts of children to make a new life for themselves
and their community.

4.4 Richmond Publishing

Planet Readers (RPR : 4 stages, 5/5 titles) are new since 1997, and though
attractive in large page format, the 5 titles available so far are too varied in
style to be easily assessed. They are aimed at early primary school.
Richmond Readers (RR : 5 stages, 25/26 titles) contain simplifications of
well-known classics. modern stories, and maze-type stories. The quality
is high, both of the stories, especially of the simplifications, and of the
format, with clean white covers and pages. Aimed at speakers of Spanish
and Portuguese, the grading scheme allows Latin cognates and so
includes ‘more advanced’ words at the lower levels. Though marketed in
Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, they are also available from UK
distributors.
Each book has a glossary and three pages of exercises: comprehension
questions, language exercises (one devoted to vocabulary and the other to
practising a structure, and activities). 16-pages of Teacher’s Notes
accompany each reader, and provide a summary of the story, with
background notes, an answer key, and further extension activities.
Conclusion
By ignoring the power of stories to motivate the language learner and
help them to develop fluency in reading, accepted practice in language
teaching is selling learners short. By ignoring the capacity of graded
readers to provide interesting contexts for composition and discussion,

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 accepted practice is denying itself the use of a rich seam of teaching
material. By not insisting that learners practise their English outside the
classroom, and by not giving them the means to do so, accepted practice
is giving learners the false impression that a language can be learned
from only a coursebook.
Accepted practice is not raising the proficiency of learners of English to
expected levels, and is also turning native speakers of English away from
learning foreign languages. Accepted practice is not wrong, but it is
deficient, and the re-establishment of extensive reading as a major
element of a language teaching syllabus would go far to improve
standards.
Extensive reading needs the support of the profession in developing
support and extension materials and tests of comprehension-with-
fluency, by revising syllabi to include extensive reading, and by including
extensive reading in teacher training programmes. In-service and pre-
service training needs to devote time to the rationale and practice of
extensive reading. Teachers need to be able to go out to schools and
colleges, as they went out from Makerere in the 1960s, fully able to
implement an extensive reading programme, and through a well-
rounded language programme raise their learners to spectacularly high
levels of proficiency. This implies giving graded readers a significant
place in the ELT syllabus and classroom. Their quality, variety, and
number fully justify such a higher profile.

6 Tables of series Series: Please refer to sections 3 and 4 for key to acronyms.
Age: This is the (EPER ) recommended age of the learner.
P=Primary
S=Secondary
A=Adult
Titles: This is the figure advertised in the 2001 catalogue (where
available).
Stages: This is the number of levels or graded into which a series is
divided.
H–X : These are the levels established by EPER (Edinburgh Project on
Extensive Reading), and can be used as a rough guide for placing
readers from all series on a common scale. Where titles prove
too diªcult or too easy for a suggested level, they should be
reclassified.

322 David R. Hill

reviews welcome
Table of series for distribution worldwide
Series Age Titles Stages H G F E D C B A X
CER SA 40 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
HCR P 20 5 1,2 3,4 5
HGR SA 171 5 1 2 2L 3 4 5
HNW S 30 5 1 2,3 4 5
OBF PS 27 3 1 2 3
OBL SA 131 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
OBP SA 6 2 1 2
OBS SA 12 1 1a 1b
OSL S 24 4 1 2 3,4
PR SA 340 6 1 1 2 3 4 5 6
PRE PSA 20 1 1
PYR P 59 4 1 1,2 3,4 4
Total 875

Table of series for distribution in Africa and Spain

Series Age Titles Stages H G F E D C B A X
HJAWSD PS 12 1 1
HJAWSR PS 80 5 1 2 3 4 5
HJAWSS P 36 3 1 2,3
LAB PS 3 6 1 2 3
LCCR PS 3 16 1 2 3
LGCR PS 3 4 1 2 3
LRE PS 3 9 1 2 3
MBIB PS 12 2 1 2
MHSJ PS 44 3 1 2 3
MLE PS 16 4 1,2 3,4
MLH PS 9 4 1,2 3,4
MMT PS 48 4 1 2 3 4
MRG P 30 2 1 2
MSR SA 61 2 1 2
MTC PS 13 3 1,2 3
MYL SA 10 1
RPR P 4 5 1 2 3
RR S 26 5 S 1 2 3 4
Total 413

Graded readers 323

reviews welcome
References
Bright, J. A. 1965–7. Patterns in Skills in English
Books 1–4. Nairobi, Arusha, Kampala: Longman.
Bright, J. A. and G. P. Mcgregor. 1970. Teaching
English as a Second Language. London: Longman.
Day, R. and J. Bamford. 1998. Extensive Reading in
the Second Language Classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
EPER (Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading)
1986–2000. Various supporting materials.
Edinburgh: Institute for Applied Language
Studies.
Greenwood, J. 1988. Class Readers. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Hill, D. R. 1993. EPER Guide to Organising
Programmes of Extensive Reading. Edinburgh:
Institute for Applied Language Studies.
Hill, D. R. 1997. ‘Survey Review: Graded Readers’.
ELT Journal 51/1: 57–79.
Nuttall, C. E. 1996. Teaching Reading Skills in a
Foreign Language (2nd edn). Oxford: Heinemann.
324 ELT Journal Volume 55/3 July 2001 © Oxford University Press
The author
David R. Hill is Director of EPER (Edinburgh
Project on Extensive Reading). After 15 years
teaching in secondary schools in Uganda, the UK ,
and Malaysia, he joined the Institute for Applied
Language Studies, University of Edinburgh in
1981. Since 1987 he has worked solely on EPER -
related activities, maintaining a library and
database of graded readers, advising institutions
and ministries on reading programmes, and
publishing a wide range of support materials. For
further information about EPER , write to EPER
(IALS , University of Edinburgh) 21 Hill Place,
Edinburgh EH8 9DP, or email Eper.
E-mail: david.r.hill@ed.ac.uk
reviews welcome