THE POWER OF EXTENSIVE READING (ER) IN CREATING BETTER WRITERS

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ER IR

Reading large quantities Reading a text in detail

of material or long texts with the intent to
for global or general understand all
understanding with the structures, lexis and text
intention of gaining organization and at the
pleasure from the text. same time developing
reading skills.2
WHAT IS EXTENSIVE READING
 Extensive reading is defined by many
scholars and researchers as reading large
amounts of texts fluently and for
meaning, and students mainly do it
outside of the classroom for their own
pleasure and enjoyment, at their own
pace and level, and, most importantly,
they choose the reading material that
interests them.

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 THE COMMON PROBLEM
Reading with understanding and writing have been
challenging tasks for many EFL students, especially for low
achievers in heterogeneous classrooms.

Limited
reading/ No Major
comprehensio Problems in
Students n writing
rarely read
outside

Problem

Different Frustration
proficiency and low
levels 4
motivation
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WRITING PROBLEMS
Weak grammar usage and structure

Vagueness of content
Poor ideas/ chopped
content

Poor vocabulary knowledge

Spelling Errors & poor
orthographic knowledge(a
method of representing the sounds of
a language by written or printed 6
symbols. 
 Stephen Krashen

g u a g e
i g n l a n e ,
f o r e le a s u r
When r e a d f o r p
p r o v e
a r n e r s e t o i m
Le c o n ti n u g e
c a n an g u a
they s e c o n d l
t
t h e i r w i t ho u
in l a s s e s ,
h o u t c
wit w i t h o u t
c h e r s , t h o u t
te a e n w i
y & ev w i t h .
stud o n v e rse
l e t o c
peop

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THE LANGUAGE SKILLS

Receptive • Listening Skill

Skills: • Reading Skill

Productive • Speaking Skill

Skills: • Writing Skill
 Transfer of language items.
 Frank Smith (1981) :“One learns to write
by reading the writings done by others”. 8
Read them MORE fairy
tales!

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Principles of ER

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 PRINCIPLES OF ER
These ten principles of ER founded by Day and Bamford (2002) are
considered the milestone in any ER program:
1. “The reading material is easy”.

2. “A variety of reading materials on a wide

range of topics must be available”.

3. “Learners select what they want to

read.”

4. “Learners read as much as possible.”

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5. “The purpose of reading is usually related to
pleasure, information and general
PRINCIPLES OF ER CONT’D

6. “Reading is its own reward.”

7. “Reading speed is usually faster

rather than slower.”

8. “Reading is individual and silent.”

9.
9. “Teachers orient and guide their
students.”

10. “The teacher is a role model of a12

reader for the students.”
 IMPACT OF ER ON WRITING QUALITY
1. Increase
in the amount of writing (richer content due to
background knowledge).

2. Improvements in the organizational skills.

3. Progressin the usage of some idiomatic expressions and

collocations.

4. Richer content and ideas,

5. Improvements in spelling,
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6. Lessgrammatical mistakes and variety of sentence
structures.
 MOTIVATION
 High and long-lasting motivation will
impel and thrust students to learn a
foreign language well.

e d th e le a rn e r s’
ER has influenc g th e m th e
h g i v in
perceptions throug p r a c tic e a
f un a n d
chance to have ir o w n p a c e,
a t t h e
pleasurable activity , a n d m o s tly
inte re s t
level, preference, ic e .
thei r o w n c h o
important, at 14
CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE
IS IT EXTENSIVE OR INTENSIVE?

IR 1. Reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks

2. Purpose: a lifelong reading habit, enjoyment and general

ER reading skills.
3. Rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer
ER reading for general understanding.
4. Purpose: detailed meaning, developing reading skills
IR vocabulary and grammar knowledge.

5. With respect to place and time, it’s OUT of the course.

ER
6. With respect to place and time, it’s IN of the course.
IR 15
So, can the POWER of READING create BETTER
WRITERS?
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