Even then it is not easy. They read in the first semester, as they are excited about the new method and reading is still easy for them. However, when the second semester starts after a long summer vacation, they forget the real reason why they are reading and reading becomes a burden. They have many other concerns besides reading in English. The university festival is in the middle of the semester in November, and they go preschool training for two weeks where some may have some negative experiences. Furthermore, they are now used to their new college life, they have more social activities, and they spend more time working part-time. Finally, some students may have family troubles. So, the amount of reading usually drops in the second semester. Nevertheless, there are some students who truly understand the significance of the approach and are delighted with their progress, so they read during the summer and keep reading in the second semester. Still it is a struggle. It is an on-going effort to encourage them to read and help them understand why.

Fortunately, we don't depend completely on belief in theory. I also tell them that if they do not read, they will do badly on the test. If they are interested in getting a better grade, they had better read as much as they can. I tell them that the Cloze test will be from an unfamiliar text at the 6th grade reading level. In order not to fail this required course, they need to read at least 70 pages per week. In other words, I threaten them.

This may sound quite harsh, but I am really quite gentle (I hope!). I tell the students that they can read at a level they can easily understand, and that they do not need to suffer with heavy, difficult texts, but that they do need to spend time reading everyday (at least 30 minutes a day). They can start at the 200 word level, but they need to move up to 600 word level, 1100 word level and at least 1600 word level (intermediate level) to make any significant change in reading competence and the Cloze test or standardized tests.

Every week I check their work and tell them that they need to read at least 10 books per week (reading 200 word level books) or 5 books (reading 600-word level books). Often they don't. I keep telling them that if they can reach the intermediate level by the end of the second semester, they'll be able to progress to the advanced level the next year. Then they'll be able to read whatever they want -Sydney Sheldon, etc. I tell them if they don't want to take on a challenge and improve their skills, what is the purpose for them to be in school?

In summary these factors all contribute to student success with ER/FVR:

A note on nomenclature-I do not call this ER anymore, as it is confusing and misleading. ER co-exists with IR (Intensive Reading). ER existed in the traditional skill-building approach. ER is only expected to develop fluency, but the FVR proposed in the Comprehension Theory develops both fluency and accuracy. I was doing ER, too, for a long time, but recently I too declared independence from the traditional approach when Steve Krashen presented at JALT 2004 in Nara. FVR develops both fluency and accuracy, but ER cannot.

What do you see as the key differences between ER and FVR?

There are two fundamentally different views of extensive reading. I present here strong versions of each view. One is based on the skill-building hypothesis, the hypothesis that we learn language and develop literacy by first consciously learning rules and vocabulary items, and then practicing them in order to build Automaticity or easy retrieval. There are two forms of practice: output and input. Extensive reading, according to the skill-building hypothesis, is practice using input. The other view is based on the comprehension hypothesis, the hypothesis that we acquire language and develop literacy by understanding messages. According to the comprehension hypothesis, reading is the source of our knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, as well as other aspects of language.

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