[etni] New Krashen Article
- From: James Backer <drjamesbacker@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 04:32:41 -0700 (PDT)
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Lev,
Thanks for the Krashen link. It's interesting to see
that he's bringing new research to strengthen his
thesis.
Unfortunately, his caveats are mute points for most of
us here. If I only have two double periods a week with
a class, then I can't give them 5 to 15 minutes a day,
every day. It's either twice a week (which I do), or
not at all.
Another problem is the logistics of getting 30 to 35
kids together with 30 to 35 freely chosen books. The
pandemonium that would exist in choosing books every
session, or distributing pre-chosen books, would
easily eat up the reading time. If Krashen's research
indicates that bringing a reading book to school twice
a week is counter-productive, then I would welcome any
meaningful suggestions about managing the logistics.
When students finish a book, or become bored with a
book, it is their responsibility to exchange books.
Our school maintains a fairly good English library
which is open every day during the "big break" (20
minutes). EFL teachers are the unpaid librarians (as
opposed to "volunteer" librarians) who can help
students choose their books. The quantity and quality
of the books are a result of donations from abroad:
actual books via Books4Israel and financial donations
to buy simplified books.
Some positive points that Krashen didn't mention have
to do with classroom management - of course this was
not Krashen's point. When the kids get used to the
routine of coming into the class after the break and
taking out their reading books, things quiet down and
get focused a lot quicker. Following the observation
of Krashen's research, although some kids pretend to
read, most of them are indeed reading.
In addition, the free reading time allows giving
occasional quizzes and letting students finish at
their own rate. As they finish the quiz, they pick up
their reading books.
Does all this encourage free reading outside the
class, as Krashen suggests? Probably not. Most of my
students say they don't read anything for pleasure -
Hebrew, English, or Russian. So I guess the free
reading time I give them twice a week is a lot better
than nothing - although I don't have hard research to
back me up on that. Nevertheless, given the
heterogeneous nature of the classes, a majority of
kids reading material they chose means more students
dealing with meaningful English (and hopefully getting
some meaningful input) than many other activities in
class.
Jimmy
Subject: [etni] a new article by Krashen - and its
possible
implications
From: Lev Abramov
<lev.abramov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 11:02:00 +0300
Dear all -
I've just come across a new article by Prof. Stephen
Krashen, called
"Free Voluntary reading: New Research, Applications,
and Controversies"
(accessible online
athttp://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/singapore/all.html
) and thought it
to be enlightening enough for the ETNI community, so
decided to share.
While at it, you will certainly measure Krashen's
conclusions against
the currently accepted practice of "forced
recreational reading"
required by the school EFL curriculum.
I do not want to express any opinion before you've
read the article;
however, it would be desirable to discuss the issue
after you've read
it. A lot has already been written on ETNI about it;
the article may
help change the perspective based on some hard
evidence.
Best -
Lev
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