I recently read an interesting article about "free voluntary reading" written by Krashen. He is a really famous scholar in the field of "TESL" and his article gave me insights into the importance of a "fun reading."
The author suggests “free voluntary reading”, or reading because you want to, which is often called sustained silent reading (or SSR) in schools, as an efficient method for students to have higher levels of literacy. He points out the significance of the pleasure in reading and maintains that SSR helps students develop richer vocabularies, understand complex oral and written language, and become proficient writers and reasonably accurate spellers.
Krashen reviews some negative researches, such as the National Reading Panel (NRP) report, and reputes the results of NRP. He shows the evidences of their flaws, and indicates that NRP overlooked many studies of effective, long-term SSR programs as well as the importance of recreational reading for students in English as a Second Language classes. He also presents some excellent researches, which were conducted by Warwick Elley, or Fay Shin’s 2001 examination, in order to support his claim that free voluntary reading or an SSR program is a much more pleasant approach than regular skill-building instruction, and benefits the students.
To achieve the desired effect from free voluntary reading, Krashen focuses on the importance of easy accessibility of books for children, indicating that many studies, such as a study by Jeff McQuillan, confirms the “more access > more reading > better reading” relationship. Studies show that there is a strong correlation between an individual state’s average NEAP score and its students’ access to books. For children of poverty, libraries are their only chance. We need to make investments and improve libraries for children who need them the most, children of poverty. Krashen concludes that encouraging students to read for pleasure and providing them with interesting reading materials are necessary steps for the students to become highly literate readers.
Yoon,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reading your posts :) Stephen Krashen has been a guest speaker at UCO twice now. His research is invaluable in the areas of ESL and English literacy. In fact, I often quote him: "It doesn't matter what you read, as long as you are reading something," and "Reading is the number one way to increase vocabulary and improve spelling." (I'm not sure if the latter is an exact quote, but it's close.) I know some school systems that employ SSR (though, some of them call it, "stop, sit and read."). I wish more school boards were familiar with his research and truly valued his philosophy on creating life-long readers by letting each reader find his/her own "homerun book." If you ever get a chance to hear one of Krashen's lectures, you should go. Not only is he smart, but he is very funny as well.
What a great post. Thanks for sharing all this information. I did not know anything about Stephen Krashen, but now if he comes back at UCO, I'll definitely go hear what he has to say.
ReplyDeleteWhen i was a kid, I was always with a book. I absolutely loved reading, and I was a great speller. I'm not sure that these two things were necessarily related, but I like to think that my reading helped me a lot in writing better.
I'm not a native speaker of English, and reading English books gave me a tremendous amount of vocabulary. When I came to the States, I started reading the Harry Potter books. It was an easy and pleasant read, and I learned a lot from those stories.
I make sure I read books to my daughter everyday. She's only 2, but I think it's important to cultivate early on a love of reading, no matter what it is that we read.
Ranell> Wow!! Has Stephen Krashen been at UCO twice?? And you had a chance to listen to his speech directly? Wow!! How wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI envy you :) I think he has affected the field of ESL and left behind remarkable achievements. I hope I could have an opportunity of listening to his speech while I am staying here. I like his quotes you mentioned above. Thank you for comment.
sensunique> I agree with you. Reading English books gave me a large amount of vocabulary like you. Definitely, Krashen has a good point about the importance of reading. Thank you for your comment.
I think it is a great idea to start ESL students with easy books, no matter what their age is. I remember in first year Spanish classes in high school, we were made to read Don Quixote, untranslated! Even saying that now makes me think they were crazy! I had barely learned how to order a taco and ask where the bathroom is, and they wanted me to read a novel! Insane!
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