The Power of Libraries and Reading; The Power of Writing
S. Krashen (www.sdkrashen.com)
POWER OF READING. Free Voluntary Reading (FVR): source of reading ability, writing style,
vocabulary size, much of spelling, complex grammar
The overwhelming research case for FVR
Sustained Silent Reading
The Fiji Island study (RRQ, 1983): Elley & Mangubhai: gains in RC
grade
ALM
SSR
Big Books
4
6.5
15
15
5
2.5
9
15
year 2: larger differences, readers better in writing, listening and grammar
Evidence from English as a foreign language (Krashen, 2007, ijflt.com)
Study
n
titles
titles/S
duration
Yuan & Nash, 1992
37
200
5.4
one year
Sims, 1996
30
550
18.3
one year
Sims, 1996
30
550
18.3
one year
Mason retakers
30
100
3.3
one sem
Mason Jr college
31
200
6.4
one year
Mason university
40
200
5
one year
Mason: response L1
40
550
13.75
one year
Mason: response L2
36
550
15.28
one year
Lituanas et al, 2001
Bell, 2001
Sheu, 2003
Sheu, 2003
Lee, 2005a
Hsu & Lee, 2005
K. Smith, 2006
Lee, 2006
30
14
31
34
65
47
51
41
2000
57
55
215
354
500
1200
142.9
1.84
1.62
3.3
7.5
9.8
29.3
Hsu & Lee, 2007
K. Smith, 2007
Liu, 2007
47
41
46
500
500
450
10.6
12.2
9.8
70 (vocabulary)
0.702
1.47
1.11
0.24
0.63
1.31
12 weeks
one year
one year
one year
0.24
0.58
0.47
1.02
3 years
one year
one year
0.56
1.59
"a few" (TOEIC prep)
ES RC
0.81
0.65
6 months
one year
Case Histories
The Beniko Mason series: Gains on TOEIC (trad instruction = .27 pts/hr)
Mr. Tanaka
Mr. Nakano
Age
42
75
Duration
12 months
5 months
Pages read
5456
2624
Gain
475-655 = 180
495-580 = 85
Points/hr
.56
.78
Points/page
0.03
0.03
Hours CI
247
109
Hours study
ES Cloze
0.38
0.61
0.48
1.7
3.14
0.71
1.04
0.39
Mrs. Fujita
66
9 weeks
1739
680-740 = 60
.35
0.03
72.5
94.5 (TOEIC prep)
Mason, B. (2011). Impressive gains on the TOEIC after one year of comprehensible input, with no
output or grammar study. The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 7(1).
http://www.tprstories.com/images/ijflt/IJFLTNovember2011.pdf
Mason, B. (2013). Substantial gains in listening and reading ability in English as a second language
from voluntary listening and reading in a 75 year old student. The International Journal of Foreign
Language Teaching, 8(1), 25-27.
Mason, B. (in press). The case of Mr. Kashihara: Another case of substantial gains in reading and
listening without output or grammar study, Shitennoji University (IBU) Journal.
POWER OF LIBRARIES
THE PIRLS Study: 40th graders in 40 countries, in their own language
Krashen, Lee and McQuillan (2012)
Multiple Regression Analysis: predictors of achievement PIRLS 2006 reading test
Predictor
Beta
P
SES
0.41
0.005
independent reading
0.16
0.143
library: 500 books
0.35
0.005
Instruction
-0.19
0.085
r2 = .61
Replication: PIRLS 2011
Predictor
Beta
P
SES
0.52
0.01
library:
5000 books
0.2
0.08
class libr
0.08
0.28
parent
read
0.065
0.31
early lit
-0.26
0.04
Instruction
-0.016
0.5
r2 = .62
EARLY LIT: Parents' judgment of child's ability to do these tasks:
1. Recognize most of the letters of the alphabet.
2. Read some words.
3. Read sentences.
4. Write letters of the alphabet.
5. Write some words.
Summary: SES and Library the consistent winners.
Instruction: negative or nothing
Parental reading, class library correlated with PIRLS but relationship disappears; a
spurious correlation, the result of SES.
The big surprise: EARLY Lit negatively correlates with reading score five years later!
consistent with intensive systematic approach to phonics: helps only on tests in which
children pronouce words presented to them in a list.
POWER OF WRITING
COMPONENTS OF THE COMPOSING PROCESS
Writing makes you smarter, inspiration the result of writing, not the cause (Boice)
The CP: strategies to use writing to solve problems, keep your place
The classical composing process
I. Revision :
Neil Simon: “In WHO’S WHO, Simon lists his recreational activities as golf and rewriting, and
clearly yet another part of the secret of Simon’s success is his willingness to write the same
scene over and over again until he feels that he has at last got it right. This is the mark of the
professional - mediocre writers write, good writers rewrite.”
Vonnegut: "Novelists have, on the average, about the same IQs as the cosmetic consultants at
Bloomingdale's department store. Our power is patience. We have discovered that writing
allows even a stupid person to seem halfway intelligent, if only that person will write the same
thought over and over again, improving it just a little bit each time. It is a lot like inflating a
blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time"
II. Flexible Planning: “ … experienced writers refuse to leave on a trip with a map. The map
may be in the head or on paper, but the writer needs a sense of direction” (Murray, 1984 p.
223).
Good writers plan, but not always formally, are willing to change their plans
Danger of losing your way – cause of blocking:
No plan: Rose’s subject Liz, a “high blocker,” “did not map out her discourse” (Rose, 1984, p.
48). Liz “made decisions about the direction and shape of her discourse incrementally as she
proceeded. This approach led to discoveries as well as dead ends …” (p. 48).
Overplanning: rigid plan – new ideas are an annoyance
“For all the planning, writers are surprised at what they write” (Murray, 1990, p. 91).
III. Rereading: “I rise at first light and I start by rereading and editing everything I have
written to the point I left off” (Hemingway, in Winokur, 1990, p. 247).
Jonathon Kellerman rereads to “segue into new material” (Perry, 1999, p. 178)
Octavia Butler: rewrites the last page she wrote at her last session, as “lead-in” .
IV. Delay Editing
This draft may not be the final one!
Disturbs the flow, coming up with ideas. “Tony” (Perl, 1979): had a concern with form “that
actually inhibited the development of ideas. In none of his writing sessions did he ever write
more than two sentences before he began to edit” (Perl, 1979, p. 324).
Lose your place.
Blocking and not delaying editing are related: Rose, 1984, Lee and Krashen, 2002.
Peter Elbow: “Treat grammar as a matter of very late editorial correcting: never think about
while you are writing. Pretend you have an editor who will fix everything for you, then don’t
hire yourself for this job until the very end” (Elbow, 1973, p. 137).
Additional elements of the composing process
Incubation: "Composition is not enhanced by grim determination" (Frank Smith, 1994, p.
131).
Problem-solving often requires “an interval free from conscious thought” to allow the free working
of the subconscious mind (Wallas, 1926, p. 95).
Helmholz: After previous investigation, "in all directions," .. " happy ideas come unexpectedly
without effort, like an inspiration ... they have never come to me when my mind was fatigued,
or when I was at my working table ... They came particularly readily during the slow ascent of
wooded hills on a sunny day" (Wallas, p. 91).
Tolle (1999): “All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind,
from inner stillness … Even the great scientists have reported that their creative
breakthroughs came a a time of mental quietude” (p. 20).
Einstein: "'Whenever he felt that he had come to the end of the road or into a difficult situation
in his work … he would take refuge in music, and that would resolve all his difficulties.'"
(Clark, 1971) … "with relaxation, there would often come the solution.”
Moments of insight are preceded by hard work, (preparation)
Poincare (1924) there must be a "preliminary period of conscious work which also precedes
all fruitful unconscious labor.”
Short periods (Piaget); Long periods (Feynman: "You have to do six months of very hard work
first and get all the components bumping around in your head, and then you have to be idle
for a couple of weeks, and then - ping - it suddenly falls into place ..."
Incubation not allowed in school writing.
Daily Regular Writing: Successful authors are in near-universal agreement that writing
requires regularity, and that ideas and inspiration are the result of writing, not the cause.
Rosellen Brown: writing “is a job, not a hobby … you have to sit down and work, to schedule
your time and stick to it …” (Winokur, 1999, p. 188).
Walker Percy “You've got to sit down and follow a schedule. Unless you do that, punch the
time clock - you won't ever do anything” (Murray, 1990, p. 60).
Irving Wallace: the vast majority of published authors have kept, and do keep, some
semblance of regular daily hours..." (Wallace and Pear, 1971, pp. 518-9).
WHEN is variable: Michael Chabon - 10 pm - 4 am, Maya Angelou 6:30 am - 12:30 or 1:30 pm.
Time keepers: Irving Wallace (Wallace and Pear, 1971) some writers made sure they worked
a certain amount of time each day (Balzac, Flaubert, Conrad, Maugham, Huxley, Hemingway).
Page counters: (Updike, West, Bradbury); Word counters: (Haley, Wambaugh) (Murray, 1990,
pp. 48-65). Kate DiCamillo: “When I turned 29, I had an epiphany: I’d never get published if I
didn’t actually write”
Source of inspiration is writing:
Stephen King: don’t “wait for the Muse. Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you
are going to be every day from nine 'till noon or seven 'till three”
Susan Sontag: "Any productive writer learns that you can't wait for inspiration. That's the
recipe for writer's block” (Brodie, 1997, p. 38),
Madeleine L’Engle: "Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it”
Regular writing vs binging:
Woody Allen, "If you work only three to four hours per day, you become quite productive. It's
the steadiness that counts" (Murray, 1990, p. 46).
Boice (1982): junior faculty members who had a “regular, moderate habit of writing,” were
compared to those who were “binge” writers (“… more than ninety minutes of intensive,
uninterrupted work)” over a six year period. The regular produced more than five times as
much, and all got tenure or promotion. Only two binge writers got tenure.
The regular writers more relaxed: The binge writers showed three times as many signs of
"blocking": When binge writers actually wrote, "they more commonly did nothing or very
little (for example, recasting a first sentence or paragraph for an hour; staring at a blank
screen).” Binge writers "were three times more likely to be rushing at their work … three
times more likely to put off scheduled writing in favor of "seemingly urgent, no more
important activities.”
Binge writers still believed in binging: "You can't get enough good writing done in little pieces;
you need big, undisturbed block of time.”
Boice (1983) compared no writing at all, writing whenever the writer felt like it, daily regular
writing, and “forced writing.” Forced – most writing, most ideas, but least efficient (Krashen,
2002). Only enough to avoid punishment.
Why DRW helps: incubation between sessions, warming up
Flaubert: "I have the peculiarity of a camel - I find it difficult to stop once I get started and
hard to start after I've been resting” (Murray, 1990, p. 31).
Gore Vidal: "I'm always reluctant to start work, and reluctant to stop”
If Charles Dickens missed a day of writing, "he needed a week of hard slog to get back into the
flow" (Hughes, in Plimpton, 1999, p. 247).