Introduction

Extensive reading is an approach to language

learning, including foreign language learning, by the

means of a large amount of reading. The learners

view and review of unknow words in specific

context will allow the learner to infer the word's

meaning, and thus to learn unkown words. While

the mecanism is commonly accepted as true, it's

importance in language learning is disputed.

Intensive & Extensive Reading

Intensive reading

It is related to

further progress

in language

learning under

the teacher's

guidance. It

provides a basis

for explaining

difficulties of

structure and for

extending knowledge of vocabulary and idioms. It will

provide material for developing greater control of the

language and speech and writing. Students will study

short stories and extracts from novels, chosen for the

standard of difficultly of the language and for the

interest they hold for this particular group of students.

Intensive reading is generally at a slower speed and

requires a higher degree of understanding to develop

and refine word study skills, enlarge passive

vocabulary, reinforce skills related to sentence

structure, increase active vocabulary, distinguish

among thesis, fact, supportive and non-supportive

details, provide sociocultural insights.

Extensive reading

It develops at the

student's own

pace according to

individual ability.

It will be selected

at a lower level of

difficulty than that

for intensive

reading. Where

frequency word

counts are available for the language being learned,

extensive reading will conform to a lower frequency

word count than intensive reading. Material will be

selected whose choice of structure is habitually less

complex and whose vocabulary range is less extensive.

The purpose of extensive reading is to train the

students to read directly and fluently in the target

language for enjoyment without the aid of the teacher.

Where graded texts are available, structures in texts

for extensive reading will be already familiar, and new

items of vocabulary will be introduced slowly in such a

way that their meaning can be deduced from context

or quickly ascertained. The student will be encouraged

to make intelligent guesses at the meaning of

unfamiliar items. Material consists of authentic short

stories and plays, or informative or controversial

articles from newspapers and magazines. A few

adaptations of vocabulary and structure will be made.

The style of writing should entail a certain amount of

repetition without monotony. Novelties of vocabulary

should not coincide with difficulties of structure. It

means reading in quantity and in order to gain a

general understanding of what is read. It is intended to

develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of

vocabulary and structure and to encourage a liking for

reading, Increase total comprehension, enable students

to achieve independence in basic skill development,

acquaint the student with relevant socio-cultural

material, and encourage recreational reading.

The Characteristics of an Extensive Reading Approach

1. Students read as much as possible, perhaps in and definitely

out of the classroom.

2. A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available

so as to encourage reading for different reasons and in

different ways.

3. Students select what they want to read and have the freedom

to stop reading material that fails to interest them.

4. The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure,

information and general understanding. The purposes are

determined by the nature of the material and the interests of

the student.

5. Reading is its own reward. There are few or no follow-up

exercises after reading.

6. Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence

of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar.

Dictionaries are rarely used while reading because the

constant stopping to look up words makes fluent reading

difficult.

7. Reading is individual and silent, at the student's own pace,

and, outside class, done when and where the student chooses.

8. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower as

students read books and other material they find easily

understandable.

9. Teachers orient students to the goals of the program, explain

the methodology, keep track of what each student reads, and

guide students in getting the most out of the program.

10. The teacher is a role model of a reader for the students -- an

active member of the classroom reading community,

demonstrating what it means to be a reader and the rewards of

being a reader

In the real world, reading is a means to an end and not

an end in itself. It is always a purposeful activity, and our job as teachers is to help students, identify these

different purposes and to master the strategies best suited to achieving them.

Teaching Extensive Reading skills :

Teachers are often discouraged by the inefficient

reading methods of otherwise fluent students. Many foreign- language students in secondary and tertiary

institutions can't keep up with their assignments and

blame their slow reading speed. Despite our best efforts , we find students struggling word -for-word

through a text, plowing on from beginning to end and stumbling at every unfamiliar item. Unfortunately, such

slow and wasteful procedures are commonly due to a lack of reading confidence created by the very manner

of their learning in EFL classes.

Identifying Purposes :

Students have to be disabused of the notion that reading in English is somehow a linguistic exercise

quite different form reading in their own language. Outside the classroom the motivation to read is always

supplied by a specific purpose the reader has in extracting the information that a text contains. We

must simply seek to provide the materials and exercises that reflect the authentic purposes of this

reading. The increase in a student's linguistic understanding is thus gained only as a by- product.

The purpose of reading a particular text is the most

important determinant of reading strategy. We do not always require the same level of comprehension,

detail our students that it is efficient and profitable to vary their technique and speed according to their

purpose in reading. Attention. Table 1 shows the relationship between these factors in

some sample reading situation. Table 2 is more specific. It gives an outline of how particular purposes

can be designated to various reading assignments for

tiary institutions. It connects immediate goals to more general purposes and suggests the most appropriate

strategies.

Awareness of reading flexibility :

The next step is to show

student that different

tasks require different

degree of understanding

and attention. While

extremely useful in many

study situation, the skills

developed through

intensive analysis of short

texts are not always

appropriate, and students

may be surprised to learn

that they don't have to read everything or give equal

weight to each word.

This can be demonstrated by getting student to

reconstruct closed texts or read passages with all

"grammar" words removed. It is rate that a text will

contain less than 20% of articles, connectives,

prepositions, modals, and so on, which are usually

automatically skimmed in the L1, and by efficient

native English speakers.

More importantly however, student need to realize

that texts contain information of varying importance

to the purpose in reading. To make students aware of

the relationship between purpose and strategy, give

them a series of different reading tasks bases on some

of the main purposes derived from the sample situation

in tables 1 and 2. for example, the following kinds of

exercises might be used.

1. Read a technical /scholarly text carefully to prepare

for detailed exam questions in its content.

2. Read a similar text to find the answer to a particular

question without looking back in the text.

3. Find one book containing the relevant material for a

particular topic area from a 10-item reading list.

4. Read several movie reviews to decide which one to

see this weekend. Students should notice the actors names, general plot information, and the reviewer's

overall opinion. These exercise can be timed and assessed for

accuracy. If student's scores for speed and

comprehension in them are similar, then they are approaching all these tasks in the same way. They

have developed the habit of reading every text from beginning to end and need to be taught the

advantages of explicitly identifying their purpose before starting to read.

Developing reading efficiency :

Reading efficiently means approaching every reading

task with a clear purpose and with the flexibility to

adjust reading strategy to the purpose at hand. The

burden is therefore on the teacher to provide reading

tasks that exploit different techniques. Table 3 summarizes the relationship

between high- level purposes and reading strategies. Because there seems to be some confusion about the

main extensive reading skills-often because they are

merged together and their features obscured-I will briefly review them below and suggest some classroom

approaches.

Surveying :

Surveying is a strategy for quickly and efficiently

previewing text content and organization using referencing and non- text material. Although specific

strategies depend on the type of text, surveying

basically involves making a quick check of the

relevant extra- text categories. 1. Reference Data - e.g., title, author, copyright

date, blurb, table of contents, chapter or article summaries, subheading etc.

2. Graphical Data – diagrams, illustrations, tables,

maps. 3. Typographical data all features that help information

stand out, including typefaces, spacing, enumeration, underlining, indentation, etc.

Skimming :

Efficient readers unreflectively skim

most of what they read to some extent. Skimming is a more text

oriented form of surveying and refers to the method of glancing

through a text to extract the gist or main points. Generally speaking,

about 75% of the text is disregarded. This is a valuable technique for

reviewing material or determining whether it is relevant for more detailed investigation.

Scanning :

Scanning is a rapid search for specific information rather than general impression. Scanning demands

that the reader ignore all but the key item being searched for. It is a useful skill for data gathering,

review, using reference books, or judging whether a text contains material deserving further study.

Phrase reading :

While not strictly an extensive- reading strategy, phrase reading utilizes what are essentially advanced

scanning skills and is a valuable reading strategy. The two keys to proficient scanning and phrase

reading are concentration and eye- span ability.

Text – organization awareness :

In addition, recent interest in describing the rhetorical

structure of different text types or genres is directly relevant to improving extensive reading strategies

finding in cognitive psychology have established that effective comprehension depends on the reader's

ability to relate what is being read to a familiar pattern or scheme (Widows on 1983). By enabling the reader

to correctly identify and organize information into a conventional frame, knowledge of genres provides a

king of structural map that assists the rapid appraisal

of a text and thereby increase skimming, scanning, and phrase- reading ability.

Conclusions :

Efficiently reading is an

essential prerequisite for

success in today's world, where there is never the

time to read everything leisurely and thoroughly.

Creating an awareness of reading flexibility and

developing the strategies for this are therefore

among the most useful contribution we can make to our students futures.

This is not suggest that we neglect intensive reading skills. There are obviously many occasions when a

close and accurate interpretation of a text is essential. But we cannot leave learners with the idea that

reading a text always means understanding every

word.