1. introduction

This course paper is devoted to the description of extensive reading.
The aim of the work is to show the importance of extensive reading in teaching english as a foreign language.
The tasks of the investigation include:
– makes teaching process more perfect;
– increases student’s motivation to the investigation of foreign languages; – enlarges and varies the program of teaching foreign languages;
– forms and ways of extensive reading in teaching english.
– clarify the types of extensive reading.
The main language material of the work has been gathered from the Internet sources, literary works and the textbooks in English methodology of various authors.
The theoretical and practical value of the paper lies in its applicability to the English methodology and practical English classes.
The structure of the work consists of the Introduction, three plans, conclusion and the bibliography.


2. MAIN BODY
2.1. THE ROLE OF EXTENSIVE READING IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.
There was a time, not long ago, when most EFL practitioners had not heard of Extensive Reading (ER) nor its sister Extensive Listening (EL). Now this is not the case. In the past two decades, hundreds of research papers and books have been published. Thousands of graded reading materials are now available, and there are numerous websites, courses, symposia and discussions all promoting Extensive Reading. So, what happened? Historically in EFL, language teachers were seen as product providers – their job was to teach – and by doing so give information about the vocabulary, the grammar and other systems that make up a language. However, this atomistic approach to EFL did not allow learners to build up their own sense of how the language works as a whole because each element was taught and learned in discrete and mostly abstract ways. In other words, the learners of the ―EFL-as-product era knew a lot about English (its vocabulary and grammar for example), but could hardly communicate using it. ²
In the 1980’s and 1990’s there came the realization that language study should include fluency and be based on communication on top of the ―break-the-language-into-pieces-and-teach-the-bits‖ approach that had been so common until then. This was an improvement, but it meant learners were still largely not expressing themselves, nor necessarily working in their own way. It was still to some extent a dictatorial system directed by the teacher. In the past decade, our field has discovered that rather than see a class as a group. It is beneficial to allow learners to explore their own language development and work towards Rob their own goals through discovery, transformation and creative manipulation of their second language at their own pace. The current boom in Extensive Reading is a by-product and a natural outcome of this vision.
When learners are reading extensively, they are primarily focused on the message of the text and what it is saying. By contrast, intensive reading focuses on developing language knowledge and discrete reading skills presented as "language work" in a reading text. Typical intensive reading passages can be found in course books and "reading skills" texts. The texts are short-less than one page of text - and function not only to introduce the unit's theme, but also to present and teach its vocabulary and a language point. The result of this is that the texts are often difficult, and the reading is typically slow and often requires dictionary use.
The main aims of extensive reading, by contrast, are to build the learners' fluency, reading speed and general comprehension of reading texts as well as practicing the skill of reading itself. Typically, learners will be reading a text with a very high percentage of the words already known, so they can read fluently and smoothly with high levels of comprehension. In other words, for this to happen, the learners should READ:
•Read quickly and...
• Enjoyably with....
•Adequate comprehension so they....
• Don't need a dictionary.³
If the learners are reading slowly because unknown language slows them down, it means they have stopped reading for communication (ie., understanding the content), but instead have to focus on the language items (words and grammar, for example). In other words, they are "study reading" - not READing. Just as one cannot drive quickly over speed bumps in the road, learners cannot build reading speed or fluency if the text is too difficult. Reading to study language items when learners read intensively is a useful activity. However, there is a time for study, and time for practice just like there is time for driving school and a time for enjoying a drive along the coast on a sunny day. Extensive Reading is the practice time where learners read a lot of easy-to-read texts.
One of the well-known benefits of reading a lot is the effect it has on vocabulary development. The more words a learner meets and the more frequently they are met, the greater the likelihood long-term acquisition will take place. The question is though, how well can learners learn from reading extensively? Estimates of the uptake (learning rate) of vocabulary from reading extensively vary considerably. For example, Dupuy and Krashen (1993) state that 25% of their target words were learned, and in other studies the figures range from 20% (Horst, Cobb & Meara, 1998), to 6.1% (Pitts, White & Krashen, 1989), and to 5.8% (Day, Omura & Hiramatsu, 1991). More recent estimates put the uptake rate and 25% and 4% (Waring & Takaki, 2003) depending on the type of test used to measure gains. However, it is clear that learners need to meet words numerous times for them to be retained for the long term. Waring and Takaki (2003), for example, suggest that an average word be met more than 25 times for it to be known well enough to understand it and not slow down comprehension when reading. Other research also showed that some words met over a hundred times are still not known. An important point here is that most of the above uptake rates are based on measurements taken immediately after reading or learning. However, when the subjects are given delay tests some weeks or months later, their retention drops precipitously, suggesting the vocabulary knowledge learned while reading was fragile. These data together suggest that learners must read (and listen to) massive amounts of text to not only retain what they know, but to develop it too. This would apply to grammar, phrases, and collocations as much as it does to individual words (Waring, 2009).⁴
What is extensive reading? Reading has a wide range of benefits for us. It can improve our stress levels, cardiovascular health, boost our mood, increase our memory, and even give us longer life! It’s no wonder that reading in excessive quantities can significantly kickstart language learning. Reading a lot might sound tiring, pouring over countless textbooks day in day out. But you’ll be pleased to know that we found a method that is textbook-free! Because of the easy-read aspects, many students find this technique to be less educational and more recreational. In fact, this method relies solely on the enjoyment of the student.
For years, language teachers have been using a technique called “extensive reading”. This method is the direct opposite of intensive reading. Intensive reading requires the student to spend a short portion of their reading time understanding small, complex reading passages. Extensive reading requires a long process full of topics the student wants to read. This is important, as it appeals to the curiosity of students. In the simplest form, extensive reading is:
Easy reading material
Something you can read quickly over a long period of time
Something you find extremely interesting
How does this benefit the student? Extensive reading is a method of immersion without loading on the pressure. When students are relaxed and enjoy learning, they find themselves wanting to read more. In this blog, we will explore the best methods to gain a language from extensive reading. We will also include the benefits you can gain from each task. Keep reading to harness this engaging method.
The author of the categories of reading in ELT, Brown (1989), states that extensive reading is done “to achieve a general understanding of a text”. Extensive reading can be referred to as “reading for fun”. To read extensively means to read simple, enjoyable books to boost reading speed and fluency. A learner can do it at his/her own ability level, with a comfortable speed, choosing longer texts to the taste. The main aim of extensive reading is to build one’s confidence and pleasure.
Extensive reading, in contrast, is generally associated with reading large amounts with the aim of getting an overall understanding of the material. Readers are more concerned with the meaning of the text than the meaning of individual words or sentences. Palmer, incidentally, saw the pedagogic value of both types of reading. For a graphic depiction of the differences between intensive and extensive reading, see the chart in "Introducing Extensive Reading" by Roberta Welch (My Share this issue).
Extensive reading as an approach to teaching reading may be thought of in terms of purpose or outcome: Beatrice Mikulecky, for example, calls it pleasure reading (1990). It can also be viewed as a teaching procedure, as when Stephen Krashen (1993) terms it free voluntary reading, or when teachers give students time for in-class Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) -- a period of 20 minutes, for example, when students and teacher quietly and independently read self-selected material.⁵
From West in 1926 (2nd edition, 1955, p. 14) to Beatrice Dupuy, Lucy Tse and Tom Cook in 1996 (p. 10), it has been widely observed that a consequence of traditional, intensive approaches to foreign language reading instruction is that students do not actually read very much. This is a problem. In general terms, reading is no different from other learned human abilities such as driving, cooking, playing golf, or riding a bicycle: the more you do it, the more fluent and skillful you become. Automaticity of "bottom-up" (word recognition) processes upon which comprehension depends is a consequence of practice. (For more on this, see Why do graded reading? in Rob Waring's "Graded and Extensive Reading -- Questions and Answers" in this issue.) No matter how sophisticated the teaching profession's understanding of and ability to teach the reading process, until students read in quantity, they will not become fluent readers.
There is a further problem stemming from lack of reading that has attracted less direct comment to date, but it is perhaps a more fundamental flaw in traditional reading instruction. Teachers are (rightly) concerned with developing in their students the ability to read, but how much attention do teachers pay to developing a habit -- indeed, love -- of reading in their students? And yet not to do so risks reducing reading lessons to an empty ritual, akin to, as David Eskey once memorably put it (1995), the teaching of swimming strokes to people who hate the water. Only by discovering the rewards of reading through actually engaging in it will students become people who both can and do read.
As Eskey's metaphor implies, skills-based and other traditional foreign language reading instructional approaches appear to have their priorities the wrong way round. The primary consideration in all reading instruction should be for students to experience reading as pleasurable and useful. Only then will they be drawn to do the reading they must do to become fluent readers. And only then will they develop an eagerness to learn new skills to help them become better readers.
Extensive reading is a prime means of developing a taste for foreign language reading. All it requires is a library of suitable reading material. For specifics of how to create such a library, see David Hill's "Setting up an Extensive Reading Programme," and "Graded Readers: Choosing the Best" in this issue.⁶ As to the form that extensive reading takes, this will vary according to student needs and institutional constraints. Extensive reading could be:
- The main focus of a reading course with a combination of, for example, work with a class reader (i.e., students reading a class set of books), SSR, follow-up activities such as students' oral book reports, and homework reading;
- an add-on to an ongoing reading course with, for example, the first half-hour of class devoted to SSR, and students reading self-selected books for homework;
- an extra-curricular activity with a teacher guiding and encouraging interested students who read books in their spare time and meet regularly to discuss them.⁷