Extensive Reading Summer Seminar

Mark your calendars! On Saturday, August 3, the ER SIG will sponsor a 1-day online event featuring a plenary speaker as well as short presentations by a variety of speakers from around the ER community. We hope you will join us for this special day of ER presentations!

2024年8月3日にオンラインERイベントを行います。基調スピーカーとERコミュニティーの様々なスピーカーによるショートプレゼンテーションを行います。

Link to the pdf flyer pictured above

Zoom link to join the event:
https://zoom.us/j/93103420181?pwd=MVF5aUN0RmljdFdNRkphRjlETXB0dz09

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PLENARY SPEAKER: Mintra Puripunyavanich
"Exploring Extensive Reading in Thailand"
タイにおける多読

Abstract:
Extensive reading (ER) has been implemented usually as part of English courses at primary and secondary schools and universities in Thailand for nearly 30 years (Puripunyavanich, 2022). Despite being around for many years, it seems that ER in Thailand is still in its infancy. A recent study shows that around 25% of the self-proclaimed ER practitioners in Thailand did not understand the core tenets of ER, namely reading a lot of easy materials fluently and with high comprehension (Waring & Puripunyavanich, in press). This plenary session will explore the nature of ER programs at the tertiary education level in Thailand to illustrate how ER is implemented. It will also identify key challenges in implementing ER and highlight the efforts to promote ER in Thailand.

Bio:
Mintra Puripunyavanich, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of English at Chulalongkorn University Language Institute (CULI). She was a co-founder of the Thailand Extensive Reading Association (TERA) and the first Chair of TERA. Her research interests include extensive reading, materials development, and English for Economics and Business. 

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Rebecca Calman
"Readers' Guidance, Support for Learners' Book Choices through Book Lists, Displays, Book Reviews and Book Talks"
選書の支援

This presentation will look at supporting the extensive reading program through providing readers’ guidance in the form of various materials. One important feature of extensive reading is reading for interest or pleasure. Reading lists and bibliographies that focus on a particular topic, author or series and library displays of books highlighting a topical or a seasonal theme can provide students with suggestions about what they might like to read. So do peer-generated book reviews, book talks and presentations. Peer feedback can highlight both positive and negative points of reading materials for students’ future reading choices. Sample materials will be shown. A discussion of generating students recommended books through written and oral feedback will also be presented.

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Lesley Ito
"The Effectiveness of Various Methods for ER Motivation on Children in an Eikaiwa School"
児童への多読指導

As there is little research about children and ER motivation in an EFL context, it can be tempting to look at what works or doesn't work in English-majority countries and assume it also holds true for EFL. After reviewing available research conducted in the USA on book whispering, shared reading, peer-to-peer recommendation, and teacher read alouds (TRA), the presenter embarked on an Action Research project to discover the effectiveness of these methods on students in an Eikaiwa school in Japan. The Action Research project involved ninety-one young learners and used multiple questionnaires, in-class voice recordings, and book borrowing data. The recently published results showed great differences in what methods were positively or negatively rated by students and which actually resulted in students borrowing more books from the school library. 

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FEATURED SPEAKER: Kazuma Fujii
"Comparing Vocabulary Levels in Extensive Reading Materials and English Textbooks for Junior and Senior High School: Promoting Extensive Reading in Formal English Education in Japan"
中学校英語検定教科書と多読用図書の語彙レベルの比較研究

Abstract:
This presentation explores the appropriate levels and types of extensive reading books for effectively integrating extensive reading into formal English education in junior and senior high schools in Japan, from the perspective of vocabulary level. In this study, we created a corpus from four types of junior high school MEXT-approved textbooks across three grades and four types of high school MEXT-approved textbooks across three grades, as well as Graded Reader materials ranging from YL 0.1 to 1.0 (approximately 130,000 words) and Leveled Reader materials ranging from YL 0.1 to 1.0 (approximately 130,000 words). Using the New Word Level Checker, we conducted a comparative analysis of the vocabulary levels required to reach 95% and 98% coverage. The results of this study indicate that Graded Readers at YL 0.5 to 1.0 can be suitable materials for many school students in Japan, as they do not surpass the vocabulary levels of their textbooks.

Bio:
Kazuma Fujii, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Nagaoka University of Technology.

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Paul Goldberg
"7 Tips to identify cheating, 11 tips to reduce cheating"
学生のチートを見抜くコツと減らすコツ

Giving students the freedom to select the books that they read, one of the main principles of extensive reading, is a double-edged sword. The ability to choose empowers each student to find a book that matches their individual interest and reading ability.  However, with greater freedom comes greater responsibility, and invariably, there will be students who take advantage of this freedom by cheating. This is an inherent drawback to extensive reading because teachers have less control and therefore less oversight over their student’s learning.  Fortunately, there are some simple, concrete steps that teachers can take to identify students who have cheated, and steps they can take to reduce the likelihood of students cheating in the first place. In this session, the owner of Xreading will explain a number of these steps that can be used by teachers whether they are using a digital or physical library with their students. 

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Ben Shearon
"Creating a Junior High School Reading Program"
中学校の読書プログラムづくり

Coming soon! 

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Corinna V. Goto & Mark Brierley
"Socio-cultural aids provided in Manga and Children's books for ER in German"
ドイツ語多読における漫画や児童書による背景知識

Extensive reading is well established in English, with a range of graded materials that have been given objective levels, for example on the Kyoto Scale or with Yomiyasusa Levels. In German, there are fewer resources and less research available, and there is no established leveling system beyond publishers’ CEFR recommendations. Two opportunities for extensive reading with few resources are children’s books and manga. While Japan is a large market for English language graded readers, German readers are aimed at the European market, and Japanese readers may face more comprehension difficulties due to unfamiliar settings or illustrations that do not support reading comprehension. The presenters have started a research project on how socio-cultural knowledge on the other hand can aid readers in their understanding. The investigation will create a database for ER in German and focus on manga and children’s books and the perceived difficulties and aids looking at Japanese learners of German.  

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Kurt Ackermann
"Connecting Stories: Enhancing Global Awareness Through Extensive Reading"
多読を通して学ぶグローバル認知

Extensive Reading (ER) programs offer second language learners exposure to social issues and influential figures through graded readers. However, learners rarely choose such books independently. In Hokusei Junior College's ER course, which uses Xreading as the primary source of graded readers, the instructor reads selected short books to students in class. Reading aloud is beneficial and allows the introduction of various topics. Introducing topics spontaneously can seem unnatural, but connecting them to special days provides a natural segue and sparks interest. Special days like Earth Day, World Bee Day, Malala Day, and World Chocolate Day offer opportunities to introduce relevant books. This practice not only engages students but also enriches their understanding of global issues, even if the curriculum is not specifically designed for it. By linking books to these special days, instructors can enhance the educational value of ER programs and broaden students' perspectives on important global topics.  

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