Graded Readers: Some surprises
and directions
Rob Waring
Notre Dame Seishin University
PANSIG May 20, 2011 Matsumoto
Graded readers
Non-fiction too
Making a GR series
Issues:
Which genres?
Fiction / non-fiction
Number of levels / titles per level
Book length by level
Word lists and grammar syllabus
Ensure a good spread of general, technical and academic
vocab
How do we integrate it with other GR series and core texts?
Who writes them?
What are the ‘exciter’ features?
Foundations Reading
Library
Page Turners Reading
Library
Footprint Reading
Library
Very easy entry, narrow levels, focused
only on early reading
Core graded readers, ‘real pageturners’,
high interest, well-written stories
Reader, audio and video, non-fiction
National Geographic content
75-350 headwords
200-2600 headwords
800-3000 headwords
7 levels
12 levels
8 levels
42 books - 6 books per level
30 books available (30 coming soon)
100 books - 10 or 15 per level
Beginners to elementary
Elementary to late intermediate
Late Elementary to Advanced
Junior and Senior High
Senior high to adults
School to adults
Drama, adventure, mystery, romance,
Thrillers, crime, detective, and murder
mysteries, romance, fantasy, science
fiction, horror, drama and humaninterest, adventure historical fiction
Free downloadable audio
Three editors
Incredible Animals, Fascinating Places,
Remarkable People, Exciting Activities
and Amazing Science
Easiest graded readers on the
market
Video, Non-fiction
Covers all of the AWL
Course work and graded readers work together
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Be verb
Simple
present
Present
continuous
can
….
Simple
adjectives
Daily
routines
Sporting
activities
Abilities
…..
Level 1 books
Level 2 books
Level 3 books ….
How do Intensive and Extensive Reading fit
together?
Reading
Pain
(too hard, poor
comprehension,
high effort,
de-motivating)
Intensive
reading
(Instructional
level, can
learn new
words and
grammar)
90%
Extensive
reading
(fast, fluent,
adequate
comprehension,
enjoyable)
98%
Speed reading
practice
(very fast,
fluent, high
comprehension,
natural reading,
enjoyable)
100%
% of known vocabulary
Slow
Reading speed
Low
Comprehension
High
High
How do the series fit the scale?
Beginner Entry Starter
Foundations
Elementary
Upper Intermediate
Advanced
Alph Early
Mid
High
Early
Mid
High
Early
Mid
High
Early
Mid
High
Early
Mid
High
1-50
100
200
300
400
600
800
1000
1250
1500
1800
2100
2400
3000
3600
4500
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
800
1000
1300
1600
1900
2200
2600
3000
5
6
8
9
10
11
12
Footprints
Page
Turners
Intermediate
1
2
3
4
7
The number of words a learner will probably learn from
course work plus graded readers
Probably known
Partially Known
Probably
unknown
50+
30-49
20-29
10-19
5-9
1-4
Total
Course book
only
523
210
229
472
580
1,261
3,275
Add
Foundations/
Page Turners
1,023
283
250
539
570
1,325
3,990
Add
Footprints
1,372
380
367
694
877
2,882
6,572
Data from Sequences, Foundations, Page Turners and Footprints by Heinle Cengage
225,000
60,800
570,000
174,000
(=1,029,000)
Uptake rates
When learning only from a course book (over 3 years):
962 words will be learnt well (29.4%)
A further 1,052 will be partially known (32.1% )
1,261 words are likely to be forgotten (38.5%)
Adding one graded reader per week:
1,556 words (40.0%) will be learnt well, plus 1,109 words
(27.8%) will be partially known and only 33.2% unknown.
Adding two graded readers per week:
They will know 2,119 words well, plus partially know another
1,571 words
Notes:
40 function words (in, of, the, by etc.) accounted for 41.2% of the
total words
Typically one’s productive vocabulary is 20-25% of the receptive
Course book only
Add one reader / week
Add two readers / week
Probably
available
Partially
available
200
250
325
250
580
380
They will also pick up many collocations, colligations, idioms,
phrases, multiple meanings, lexical chunks, sentence heads…
etc.
How many words do Japanese students
meet in JH/ SH?
Types
Tokens
Horizon 1, 2, 3 (Junior High)
1,124
9,440
Powwow I, II, Reading (Senior High)
2,857
27,221
Centre tests (680 types / 3000 tokens average
per test) x 4
1,000
12,000
College Entrance tests (590 types / 1600 tokens
average per test) x4
1,000
6,400
A total of approximately 55,000 running words will be met (not counting
juku, self-study and Eiken preparation).
A generous estimate is 100,000 words and about 3,500 types over 6
years.
Listening input would be approximately 10% of this.
Directions
More publishers
More series
More EFL kids series
More non-fiction titles
Non-fiction elements added to fiction texts
Culling of older series / titles
Amalgamation of series under one publisher
Newer publishers tend to write original fiction not classics
Emerging IR/ER blended books – Black cat, CUP Discovery readers
Digital readers emerge / multi-media content
More online graded reading
Predictions for 2021
ER will still be growing in importance / awareness
There will be a backlash against ER, but ER will survive it
Increase in awareness for the need for EL (but less than ER)
Courageous governments will require ER/EL in their curriculums
More local publishers / localized series / versions
Specialty series will emerge – e.g. business, technical
40% of graded reader sales will be digital
Courageous test makers will be using fiction reading materials
‘Proof’ of ER’s effectiveness will still be hard to pin down
We will still not have clear data on the effect of ER on the
learning of lexical chunks and collocations
Some surprises?
How many ER organizations can you name?
JALT ER Sig
The Extensive Reading Foundation
The Japan Extensive Reading Association (日本多読学会)
Korean English Extensive Reading Association
KOTESOL ER Sig
Jeju Extensive Reading Association
Taiwan Extensive Reading Association
How many graded reader publishers are there?
a) 20
b) 42
c) 18
d) 32
How many graded reader publishers are there?
ABAX
Addison Wesley
AMES
Burlington
Cassell
Collins Publishers
Compass Publishing
Cambridge University
Press
Cideb publishing
Dorling Kindersley
Edward Arnold
Egmont
Eichosha
ELI
Express Publishing
MM Publications
Faeron/Janus
MPI
Harper Collins
Nelson
Heinle Cengage
Oxford University Press
Helbling
Penguin
Hodder
Random House
Houghton Mifflin
Regents
Huebler Lekturen
R.I.C Publications
IBC
Richmond Readers
Iran Institute for Languages
Scholastic ELT
Kodansha
Saddleback
Macmillan Publishing
Walker Books
Marshall Cavendish
Witman Readers
McGraw Hill
World Wide Readers
How many graded readers are currently in print
(major publishers)?
a)
b)
c)
d)
1800
2600
8000
3300
Put these in order in terms of number of titles
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
Oxford University Press
Penguin
Heinle Cengage
CambridgeUniversity Press
Macmillan
Scholastic
Compass media
Pearson
Oxford
Heinle Cengage
Macmillan
Cideb (Black Cat)
Burlington
IBC
Compass Media
Egmont
Cambridge
Scholastic ELT
European Language Institute (ELI)
Express Publishing
MM Publications
MPI & SEG
Hueber Lektüren
Helbling Languages
Richmond Publishing
McGraw-Hill
Abax
628
618
305
289
237
169
145
126
125
108
92
88
68
68
65
56
48
41
31
1
3308
How many different series are used for ER
(adults and kids)?
a)
b)
c)
d)
About 60
About 80
About 100
About 160
Which story has been made in to a graded
reader the most times (and is still in print)?
Jane Eyre
The Little Red Riding Hood
Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer
Alice in Wonderland
Anne of Green Gables
Around the world in 80 days
The Call of the Wild
The Canterville Ghost
A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield
Dracula
Frankenstein
Great Expectations
The Jungle Book
Little Women
Oliver Twist
Pride and Prejudice
Robinson Crusoe
Romeo and Juliet
The Secret garden
Treasure Island
Which story has been made in to a graded
reader the most times?
Jane Eyre
11
The Little Red Riding Hood
5
Huckleberry Finn
8
Tom Sawyer
10
Alice in Wonderland
9
Anne of Green Gables
6
Around the world in 80 days 6
The Call of the Wild
9
The Canterville Ghost
10
A Christmas Carol
10
David Copperfield
8
Dracula
Frankenstein
Great Expectations
The Jungle Book
Little Women
Oliver Twist
Pride and Prejudice
Robinson Crusoe
Romeo and Juliet
The Secret garden
Treasure Island
11
14
9
8
9
12
10
9
9
10
12
What do these acronyms for ER stand for?
DEAR – Drop Everything and Read
ZYLAR
BEARS
USSR
OTTER
DIRT
RABBIT
ERIC
SURF
What do these acronyms for ER stand for?
DEAR – Drop Everything and Read
ZYLAR- Zip Your Lips and Read
BEARS – Be Excited About Reading Stories
USSR- Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading
OTTER- Our Time To Enjoy Reading
DIRT – Daily Independent Reading Time
RABBIT – Read a Book Because It’s There!
ERIC – Everybody Reads in Class
SURF – Silent Uninterrupted Reading for Fun
Finally…
You can review this presentation by downloading the article from
the following website.
www.robwaring.org/presentations/
More information about Graded Reading (Extensive Reading) at…
www.extensivereading.net
The First Extensive Reading World Congress, Kyoto Sangyo
University, Kyoto. Sept 3-6, 2011
http://erfoundation.org/erwc1/