Is it better to read a lot 'extensively' - or a little 'intensively'?
The arguments for extensive reading have already been covered:
Jay Doubleyou: extensive reading
Extensive reading: why it is good for our students… and for us. | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC
The proponent of intensive reading - or 'narrow reading' - Stephen Krashen, has also been considered:
Jay Doubleyou: krashen quotes
Jay Doubleyou: second language acquisition
Books and Articles by Stephen D Krashen
Here is a very interesting article on the subject:
The Case for Narrow Reading
Stephen Krashen
Language Magazine 3(5):17-19, (2004)
Most foreign and second language classes provide students with exposure to a
variety of topics. Beginning level texts typically jump from topic to topic (e.g.
"shopping," "ordering food," "families"), "readers" usually include several different
kinds of short articles (e.g. "nonverbal communication," "mind, body and health,")
and short stories, and introductory courses in literature usually give the student only
one short example of each author's work. Only later, in advanced courses, does a
second language student "specialize," e.g. by taking classes in "20th century
fiction," and only the most advanced students focus on the work of a single author.
The assumption behind this is that exposure to different topics, genres, and styles is
beneficial.
This may be all wrong. It may be that narrow input is much more efficient for
second language acquisition. It may be much better if second language acquirers
specialize early rather than late. This means reading several books by one author or
about a single topic of interest...
The case for narrow reading is based on the idea that the acquisition of both
structure and vocabulary comes from many exposures in a comprehensible context,
that is, we acquire new structures and words when we understand messages, many
messages, that they encode. Narrow reading facilitates this process in several ways.
First, since each writer has favorite expressions and a distinctive style, and each
topic has its own vocabulary and discourse, narrow reading provides built- in
review.
Second, background knowledge is a tremendous facilitator of comprehension. An
acquirer of English reading a John Grisham novel who understands the legal system
in the U.S. will understand the book much better than someone unfamiliar with
courts and legal procedures in the U.S. The reader with better background will also
acquire more English from the novel, because it is more comprehensible. Narrow
readers gain more contextual knowledge as they read narrowly: The more one reads
in one area, the more one learns about the area, and the easier one finds subsequent
reading in the area (and the more one acquires of the language). Reading one John
Grisham novel will make subsequent John Grisham novels more comprehensible...
It may be argued that narrow reading produces only the ability to read in one area.
This is not true. Deep reading in any topic will provide exposure to a tremendous
amount of syntax and vocabulary that is used in other topics. Any technical field,
for example, will use "subtechnical" vocabulary, words such as "function,"
"inference," "isolate," "relation," etc...
The clearest advantage of narrow reading, however, is that it is potentially very
motivating. In any anthology, it is certain that most topics are not of great interest to
most readers. The combination of new vocabulary, unfamiliar style, lack of context,
and lack of interest in the subject matter insures that much reading remains an
exercise in deliberate decoding. In contrast, narrow reading on a topic of real
interest has a chance of resulting in the reader really reading for the message, for
meaning, in early stages of language acquisition...
Here are some suggestions for those who want to see for themselves if this works,
who want to try narrow reading in a language they have some competence in, but
want to improve in:
Lower your standards. Read only material in the second language that is
genuinely fun and interesting, material that is so easy that you probably feel guilty
reading it in your primary language. This is your excuse to read comics, magazines,
detective stories, romances, etc. There is no shame in reading translations.
Reading at this stage does not have to make you a better person, does not have to
give you insight into other cultures, and does not have to improve your knowledge
of history or science. But if you do enough narrow reading, you will be much better
prepared to read "demanding" texts.
Don't worry about pushing ahead rapidly to harder and to different material.
This will happen on its own. The best way to expand might be a gradual movement
from one field to a closely related field, taking advantage of the overlap in context
and language.
If the book or magazine is too hard, or not really interesting, stop reading and
find something else. The goal is to find material that is so engaging, and so easy,
that you will forget that it is in another language. You want reading material that
requires no self-discipline to read.
Carry the book or magazine with you everywhere. You may feel that you don't
have time to read, but if you carry your book with you, the world will conspire to
give you time. Take your book out when you are standing in line, waiting for a bus,
and when waiting for service. (It may be my imagination, but I have the feeling that
waiters, hotel clerks, and other service personnel suddenly recognize your existence
and became very eager to help when they see you reading.)
I have been doing this myself. For the last five years, I have been ordering and
reading Star Trek novels in French and German from Amazon, translations from
English. They are inauthentic, have no cultural information, and make little
contribution to my intellectual life. But they are easy to read (I have a great deal of
background knowledge in this area), and very pleasurable. Narrow reading works.
www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/narrow.pdf
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