Classroom Activities

Does ER mean that teachers do nothing? Not at all. The teacher has several roles, all aimed at helping students obtain more comprehensible input. One role is to help students find texts that are interesting and comprehensible. This requires knowledge of the student as well as the available literature. Some class time might be devoted to acquainting students with books of interest, and may include read-alouds. Direct instruction in some reading strategies may also be useful, especially when they replace what are clearly inefficient strategies (eg look up every word). The ER teacher is also willing to explain difficult words and complex grammar constructions, but if this happens to often, it means that the text is inappropriate.

In my view, research, theory and my own experience lead to the conclusion that the best way to do ER is the simplest: Students read a great deal of interesting and comprehensible books, eg 100-150 pages per week, that they select themselves from a large collection with plenty of choice, and with the guidance of a teacher who understands language acquisition and literacy development, knows what is available, and is a dedicated reader.

Support of extensive reading, which often includes "light" reading, does not mean a rejection of aural input. It also does not mean a rejection of literature, academic reading, or linguistics. Rather, ER is a bridge, just a stage in language development that makes more advanced stages possible. A student who has done a great deal of easy reading, from graded readers and easier authentic texts, will find academic texts far more comprehensible than one who has not done this reading. Unfortunately, this bridge has been missing in foreign language study until now.

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