Graded Readers: Some surprises and directions Rob Waring Notre Dame Seishin University PANSIG May 20, 2011 Matsumoto Graded readers Non-fiction too Making a GR series Issues: Which genres? Fiction / non-fiction Number of levels / titles per level Book length by level Word lists and grammar syllabus Ensure a good spread of general, technical and academic vocab How do we integrate it with other GR series and core texts? Who writes them? What are the ‘exciter’ features? Foundations Reading Library Page Turners Reading Library Footprint Reading Library Very easy entry, narrow levels, focused only on early reading Core graded readers, ‘real pageturners’, high interest, well-written stories Reader, audio and video, non-fiction National Geographic content 75-350 headwords 200-2600 headwords 800-3000 headwords 7 levels 12 levels 8 levels 42 books - 6 books per level 30 books available (30 coming soon) 100 books - 10 or 15 per level Beginners to elementary Elementary to late intermediate Late Elementary to Advanced Junior and Senior High Senior high to adults School to adults Drama, adventure, mystery, romance, Thrillers, crime, detective, and murder mysteries, romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, drama and humaninterest, adventure historical fiction Free downloadable audio Three editors Incredible Animals, Fascinating Places, Remarkable People, Exciting Activities and Amazing Science Easiest graded readers on the market Video, Non-fiction Covers all of the AWL Course work and graded readers work together Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Be verb Simple present Present continuous can …. Simple adjectives Daily routines Sporting activities Abilities ….. Level 1 books Level 2 books Level 3 books …. How do Intensive and Extensive Reading fit together? Reading Pain (too hard, poor comprehension, high effort, de-motivating) Intensive reading (Instructional level, can learn new words and grammar) 90% Extensive reading (fast, fluent, adequate comprehension, enjoyable) 98% Speed reading practice (very fast, fluent, high comprehension, natural reading, enjoyable) 100% % of known vocabulary Slow Reading speed Low Comprehension High High How do the series fit the scale? Beginner Entry Starter Foundations Elementary Upper Intermediate Advanced Alph Early Mid High Early Mid High Early Mid High Early Mid High Early Mid High 1-50 100 200 300 400 600 800 1000 1250 1500 1800 2100 2400 3000 3600 4500 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 800 1000 1300 1600 1900 2200 2600 3000 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 Footprints Page Turners Intermediate 1 2 3 4 7 The number of words a learner will probably learn from course work plus graded readers Probably known Partially Known Probably unknown 50+ 30-49 20-29 10-19 5-9 1-4 Total Course book only 523 210 229 472 580 1,261 3,275 Add Foundations/ Page Turners 1,023 283 250 539 570 1,325 3,990 Add Footprints 1,372 380 367 694 877 2,882 6,572 Data from Sequences, Foundations, Page Turners and Footprints by Heinle Cengage 225,000 60,800 570,000 174,000 (=1,029,000) Uptake rates When learning only from a course book (over 3 years): 962 words will be learnt well (29.4%) A further 1,052 will be partially known (32.1% ) 1,261 words are likely to be forgotten (38.5%) Adding one graded reader per week: 1,556 words (40.0%) will be learnt well, plus 1,109 words (27.8%) will be partially known and only 33.2% unknown. Adding two graded readers per week: They will know 2,119 words well, plus partially know another 1,571 words Notes: 40 function words (in, of, the, by etc.) accounted for 41.2% of the total words Typically one’s productive vocabulary is 20-25% of the receptive Course book only Add one reader / week Add two readers / week Probably available Partially available 200 250 325 250 580 380 They will also pick up many collocations, colligations, idioms, phrases, multiple meanings, lexical chunks, sentence heads… etc. How many words do Japanese students meet in JH/ SH? Types Tokens Horizon 1, 2, 3 (Junior High) 1,124 9,440 Powwow I, II, Reading (Senior High) 2,857 27,221 Centre tests (680 types / 3000 tokens average per test) x 4 1,000 12,000 College Entrance tests (590 types / 1600 tokens average per test) x4 1,000 6,400 A total of approximately 55,000 running words will be met (not counting juku, self-study and Eiken preparation). A generous estimate is 100,000 words and about 3,500 types over 6 years. Listening input would be approximately 10% of this. Directions More publishers More series More EFL kids series More non-fiction titles Non-fiction elements added to fiction texts Culling of older series / titles Amalgamation of series under one publisher Newer publishers tend to write original fiction not classics Emerging IR/ER blended books – Black cat, CUP Discovery readers Digital readers emerge / multi-media content More online graded reading Predictions for 2021 ER will still be growing in importance / awareness There will be a backlash against ER, but ER will survive it Increase in awareness for the need for EL (but less than ER) Courageous governments will require ER/EL in their curriculums More local publishers / localized series / versions Specialty series will emerge – e.g. business, technical 40% of graded reader sales will be digital Courageous test makers will be using fiction reading materials ‘Proof’ of ER’s effectiveness will still be hard to pin down We will still not have clear data on the effect of ER on the learning of lexical chunks and collocations Some surprises? How many ER organizations can you name? JALT ER Sig The Extensive Reading Foundation The Japan Extensive Reading Association (日本多読学会) Korean English Extensive Reading Association KOTESOL ER Sig Jeju Extensive Reading Association Taiwan Extensive Reading Association How many graded reader publishers are there? a) 20 b) 42 c) 18 d) 32 How many graded reader publishers are there? ABAX Addison Wesley AMES Burlington Cassell Collins Publishers Compass Publishing Cambridge University Press Cideb publishing Dorling Kindersley Edward Arnold Egmont Eichosha ELI Express Publishing MM Publications Faeron/Janus MPI Harper Collins Nelson Heinle Cengage Oxford University Press Helbling Penguin Hodder Random House Houghton Mifflin Regents Huebler Lekturen R.I.C Publications IBC Richmond Readers Iran Institute for Languages Scholastic ELT Kodansha Saddleback Macmillan Publishing Walker Books Marshall Cavendish Witman Readers McGraw Hill World Wide Readers How many graded readers are currently in print (major publishers)? a) b) c) d) 1800 2600 8000 3300 Put these in order in terms of number of titles a) b) c) d) e) f) g) Oxford University Press Penguin Heinle Cengage CambridgeUniversity Press Macmillan Scholastic Compass media Pearson Oxford Heinle Cengage Macmillan Cideb (Black Cat) Burlington IBC Compass Media Egmont Cambridge Scholastic ELT European Language Institute (ELI) Express Publishing MM Publications MPI & SEG Hueber Lektüren Helbling Languages Richmond Publishing McGraw-Hill Abax 628 618 305 289 237 169 145 126 125 108 92 88 68 68 65 56 48 41 31 1 3308 How many different series are used for ER (adults and kids)? a) b) c) d) About 60 About 80 About 100 About 160 Which story has been made in to a graded reader the most times (and is still in print)? Jane Eyre The Little Red Riding Hood Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer Alice in Wonderland Anne of Green Gables Around the world in 80 days The Call of the Wild The Canterville Ghost A Christmas Carol David Copperfield Dracula Frankenstein Great Expectations The Jungle Book Little Women Oliver Twist Pride and Prejudice Robinson Crusoe Romeo and Juliet The Secret garden Treasure Island Which story has been made in to a graded reader the most times? Jane Eyre 11 The Little Red Riding Hood 5 Huckleberry Finn 8 Tom Sawyer 10 Alice in Wonderland 9 Anne of Green Gables 6 Around the world in 80 days 6 The Call of the Wild 9 The Canterville Ghost 10 A Christmas Carol 10 David Copperfield 8 Dracula Frankenstein Great Expectations The Jungle Book Little Women Oliver Twist Pride and Prejudice Robinson Crusoe Romeo and Juliet The Secret garden Treasure Island 11 14 9 8 9 12 10 9 9 10 12 What do these acronyms for ER stand for? DEAR – Drop Everything and Read ZYLAR BEARS USSR OTTER DIRT RABBIT ERIC SURF What do these acronyms for ER stand for? DEAR – Drop Everything and Read ZYLAR- Zip Your Lips and Read BEARS – Be Excited About Reading Stories USSR- Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading OTTER- Our Time To Enjoy Reading DIRT – Daily Independent Reading Time RABBIT – Read a Book Because It’s There! ERIC – Everybody Reads in Class SURF – Silent Uninterrupted Reading for Fun Finally… You can review this presentation by downloading the article from the following website. www.robwaring.org/presentations/ More information about Graded Reading (Extensive Reading) at… www.extensivereading.net The First Extensive Reading World Congress, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto. Sept 3-6, 2011 http://erfoundation.org/erwc1/