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Intensive and Extensive Reading

The document discusses the differences between extensive reading and intensive reading. Extensive reading involves reading large quantities of material for global understanding and pleasure, without close study of every word. It aims to improve fluency, speed and comprehension. Intensive reading involves reading shorter texts in detail with specific learning goals, such as putting events in order or answering true/false questions. It is used to build vocabulary and reading strategies for comprehending difficult texts. The document provides examples of classroom activities for both extensive and intensive reading and compares their key differences.

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792 views

Intensive and Extensive Reading

The document discusses the differences between extensive reading and intensive reading. Extensive reading involves reading large quantities of material for global understanding and pleasure, without close study of every word. It aims to improve fluency, speed and comprehension. Intensive reading involves reading shorter texts in detail with specific learning goals, such as putting events in order or answering true/false questions. It is used to build vocabulary and reading strategies for comprehending difficult texts. The document provides examples of classroom activities for both extensive and intensive reading and compares their key differences.

Uploaded by

Selçuk Aktüre
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Extensive Reading

&
Intensive Reading

A language teaching/learning procedure is that it is reading


(a) of large quantities of material or long texts;
(b) for global or general understanding;
(c) with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text

Further, because
d) reading is individualized, with students choosing the books they
want to read,

(e) the books are not discussed in class.

Quantity of reading is not an absolute number of hours or pages


but depends on teacher and student perceptions of how extensive
reading differs from other reading classes; this will vary according
to type of program, level, and other variables.

By aiming at general comprehension, this procedure reduces both


teacher demands on the student and student demands on the text
to attain the objectives of fluency and speed as well as
comprehension.

Extensive reading must imply a "relatively low degree of


understanding" must be taken in context: we want students to
achieve a degree of understanding sufficient for pleasure
reading.

If the student finds the book too difficult to enjoy, the


extensive reading procedure requires that the book be changed,
and not that the student be made to study it more closely.

Students in extensive reading courses regularly comment on their


joy at having finished whole books in the target language.

The Extensive Reading Procedure in Practice

Although the literature is inconclusive or contradictory


on many points, extensive reading in practice is simple
enough. Here we describe the procedure as implemented
for English majors in a Japanese university.

Richards and Rodgers (1982) define "procedure" as the


"techniques, practices, and activities that operate in teaching and
learning a language according to a particular method" (p. 163).
This is described in terms of
(a) "techniques and tactics used by teachers";
(b) "exercises and practice activities"; and
(c) "resources in terms of time, space, and equipment"

1 .Techniques and Tactics


The teacher's role in the extensive reading procedure
is to encourage and help the students with their
reading, by conferences during or after class time, and
by checking and commenting on written summaries that
students do of their reading.

Oral or written summaries give students an


opportunity to demonstrate that they are, in fact,
doing their reading. They also allow the teacher to
determine if students are understanding their books
at an acceptable level. If not, the teacher's task is to
guide them to more appropriate books.

2. Exercises and Practice Activities


The students' main task is reading, but writing
summaries is valuable not only to provide a means
for teachers to check comprehension, but because
the writing of summaries improves comprehension.

In addition, this practice helps students improve


their writing ability. Another task that can be
adapted for extensive reading is the "standard
exercise," a set of open-ended questions that can
be designed to suit most books available to students
in a course.

Students also have some responsibility for


determining the appropriateness and comprehensibility
of the books they are reading. One means of doing this
is checking dictionary use: too much necessary use
shows that the book is too difficult. Too much
unnecessary use shows that the student's approach is
not appropriate for global reading.

3. Resources
The primary resources required are a collection of
books and magazines, and a place to house them.
Without such resources, students must purchase
their own books or use public libraries, often
difficult in the EFL situation.

Merely providing books is not sufficient. The


emphasis in extensive reading is on quantity, so some
standard unit of amount is useful for students to
measure their own progress, and for teachers to
compare students and to assign grades.

Extensive Reading for Teachers


Reading extensively and associatively is good for teacher,
and for personal development. ER helps teachers to be
better informed, both about their profession and about
the world. This makes them more interesting to be
around and students generally like their teachers to be
interesting people. For our own sanity we need to read
outside the language teaching ghetto. For the sake of our
students too.

It also helps teachers to keep their own use of English


fresh. Teachers who show that they read widely are
models for their students. We often tell students to
read more but why should they read if we do not?
Teachers who are readers are more likely to have
students who read too.

The teacher encourages and assists the students


with their reading, which the students undertake
during and /or after class. teachers can become
involved in is individual counselling - 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 class are silent reading. Above all, however,
extensive reading should be a student-centered
and a student-managed activity.

Intensive Reading
Intensive reading involves learners reading in detail
with specific learning aims and tasks. It can be
compared with extensive reading, which involves
learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop
general reading skills.

Example:
The learners read a short text and put events from
it into chronological order.

In the classroom
Intensive reading activities include skimming a text for
specific information to answer true or false statements
or filling gaps in a summary, scanning a text to match
headings to paragraphs, and scanning jumbled paragraphs
and then reading them carefully to put them into the
correct order.

Advantages
Intensive reading has two key advantages. For low level
readers, intensive reading is possibly the fastest way to
build vocabulary. Some foreign language students are
able to successfully add 10 or more comprehension words
per day. Additionally, reading difficult material forces a
learner to develop strategies for dealing with texts
that are too hard to read comfortably.

When deciphering a difficult text, readers are


forced to use a variety of strategies that they
wouldnt need while engaging in extensive reading.
While these strategies dont build overall language
skills, they are very important for a learners
ability to use what they do know.

Skimming is critically important. Even travelers who


may have only a basic knowledge of a language may
need to read menus, look for an apartment or fill out
forms.

In fact, classroom exercises in doing just these tasks is an


excellent way to build students ability to skim partially
incomprehensible text. For younger learners, TV listings and
search engine results are good tools.

Dictionary use is another skill that can be


developed through intensive reading. Equally
important is guessing. Both children and foreign
language learners often learn what words mean
gradually as they make educated guesses when
seeing it in context.

Let's compare Extensive and


Intensive Reading
:
Extensive

Intensive

Overall understanding

100% understanding

Reading a lot

Limited reading

Easy texts

Difficult texts

Fluent reading

Word for word

Ignore unknown words

Use dictionaries

Reading for pleasure

References
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070902105045AA
yuK6a
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/extensive-reading-wh
y-it-good-our-students%E2%80%A6-us
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/intensive-re
ading
http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/sussrobb.html
http://toshuo.com/2005/what-is-extensive-reading/
http://www.oup-bookworms.com/successful-reading.cfm?qid=1

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