New curriculum English Reading

Reading is one of the four skills required by the new curriculum English form (1-4) syllabus code 4005. Teachers and learners both have an important role to play in order to achieve reading objectives. Reading can be oral or silent, as suggested by Brown (1989). Today we will focus on extensive reading, which is part of silent reading.

Extensive reading involves reading of large quantities of material, directly and fluently. It may include reading simply for pleasure or reading technical, scientific or professional material. It may involve two specific types of reading, scanning for key details or skimming for the essential meaning. Extensive reading is always done for the comprehension of main ideas, not for specific details.

The characteristics of extensive reading are as follows:
1.Students read as much as possible.
2.A variety of materials on a range of topics is available.
3.Learners select what they want to read.
4.The purpose of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding.
5.Reading is its own reward.
6.Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of students in terms of vocabulary and grammar.
7.Reading is silent and individual.
8.Reading speed is usually faster than slower.
9.Teachers orient learners to the goals of the reading program.
10.The teacher is a role model of a reader for the learners.

With demand for simplicity and authenticity, the teacher must choose materials from newspapers, magazines, web resources, stories and articles and many other applicable materials. It may be important to consider socio-cultural issues when availing materials to the learners. Materials chosen should be at or below the reading ability of the learners. The reason being that of building automatic recognition of words and that it allows the reader to see words in "chunks" of language, allowing for faster reading.

The activities that may occur include the following: Reading may be combined with a speaking component. For example, they may interview each other about their reading. Also, reading may be combined with a writing component. For example, after reading the newspaper, learners may be asked to write a newspaper report. Class time may be included for book exchange, if there is an in-class library. The learners may set their own goals for their next session. Learners may complete a reading log, a reading journal or a book report or summary.

The teacher guides learners in setting specific goals for amounts read. He/she provides modelling, that is, during reading time the teacher also reads. The teacher overlooks if learners are not aware of the exact meaning of each word. The teacher should not jump in and explain. He/she should lead pre-reading activities to build interest in the text. The teacher must be careful to provide just enough to stimulate curiosity but not so much that the need to read is removed.

The learners assume total responsibility for developing reading ability. They read without the use of a dictionary. They usually choose their own material and move along at their own pace but must push themselves in order to show greater progress.

Extensive reading has advantages as shown below:

The learners may:
-Develop a "reading habit".
-Gain more confidence in reading.
-Improve their attitude towards reading and become more motivated to read.
-Feel more autonomous over their own learning and more likely to take to take more initiative.
-become more "independent readers", being able to read for different purposes  and being able to change reading strategies for different kinds of texts.
-expand sight vocabulary.
-acquire "incidental" grammatical competence, that is ,it may be acquired even though it was not directly taught.
-Build background knowledge.
-Increase reading comprehension.
-Improve overall language competency.
-Be more prepared for further academic courses because they have read large quantities.
-An extensive reading programme may be combined with writing or speaking practice in a meaningful way.
-Krashen (1993) suggested that the benefits of free voluntary reading included "enhanced language acquisition and literacy development, more ideas and information, greater success in life, loss of verbal memory, and more fun".

The extensive reading programme has its own challenges as shown below:
An extensive reading programme may be costly and time-consuming  to set up if materials  are not readily available. It may be difficult to get support from Administration. Learners need to have access to texts within their language proficiency level. They need texts they can they can read without great use of a dictionary. Reading each learner's journal s and reports can be very time consuming for teachers. Some teachers are unaware of how to use graded readers and so, provide a limited range of activities for students, limiting their responses. Some also feel that time spent on expensive reading will take away  from time that that could be spent on learning other language skills while others will argue that extensive reading provides a "richer context"  for practice. Some people feel that learners may place too much emphasis on the number of pages read instead of on the understanding achieved. Aeberscold(1997) reported that feedback from learners in an extensive reading programme indicated that they like the "choice"  but not the "load".

In conclusion, extensive reading has shown that it is a more beneficial programme than the effects of  its disadvantages. It results in great language proficiency in the learners. The skill of reading greatly improves, resulting in improvement in other language skills like speaking and writing, though the issue of attitude and availing of resources in schools are a cause for concern.

Farirai Nyamana writes in his own capacity and can be contacted on 0773 152143, Email: fnyamana@gmail.com.  He currently serves under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.