CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Paper

Extensive reading is the use of interesting texts for general language
development and comprehension. It differs from intensive reading in that
students do not get tested on all the details of the plot and do not stop on every
new word. The aim of having your students do extensive reading is mainly for
them to practice the language, develop their overall comprehension and be
exposed as much as possible to the language they are learning.
In the Dictionary of Reading (1983: 112) mentioned extensive reading is
a widely read reading program. Students are given freedom and freedom in terms
of having both the type and scope of reading material they read. This extensive
reading program is very large in providing a wide range of experiences to the
students who follow.
Since extensive reading is a widely read program, the implications are,
firstly, reading materials, both the text type and the variety must be broad and
diverse. Thus, students will have much power in making choices about the
reading material. However, what teachers should pay attention to is the difficulty
factor of reading material. Do not let reading material too difficult to digest.
Second, the time spent on reading should be as short as possible. An extensive
reading of understanding or understanding of relatively low standards is
adequate. Why is that? Because in an extensive reading program the demands
and objectives are indeed just to understand the important content of the reading
material is read by using the time as quickly as possible. (Kholid Abdullah
Harras, 2012)
Extensive reading in general usage can be called quick reading. Fast
reading is the ability to read with attention and the purpose of reading. Reading

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 speed must be flexible, meaning that speed should not always be the same,
sometimes it is slowed down because of the materials and purpose we read
(Soedarso 2004: 18).

B. Formulation of the Problem

1. How is the role of teacher in ER programme?
2. How to introduce the ER programme to students?
3. How to help students to choose books in ER programme?

C. Purpose of the Paper

1. To show the role of teacher in the ER programme
2. To show the steps to introduce the ER programme to students
3. To show the way how to help students to choose books in ER programme

CHAPTER II
FRAME OF THEORIES

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 There are many reasons why Extensive Reading is good for language
development. Extensive Reading:
1. Allows students to meet the language in its natural context and see how it
works in extended discourse beyond the language met in textbooks
2. Builds vocabulary. When students read a lot, they meet thousands of words
and lexical (word) patterns time and time again which helps them master them
and predict what vocabulary and grammar may come next.
3. Helps students to build reading speed and reading fluency which allows them
to process the language more automatically leaving space in memory for other
things
4. Builds confidence, motivation, enjoyment and a love of reading which makes
students more effective language users. It also helps lower any anxieties about
language learning the students may have.
5. Allows students to read or listen to a lot of English at or about their own
ability level so they can develop good reading and listening habits
6. Helps students get a sense of how grammatical patterns work in context.
Textbooks and other study materials introduce language patterns but typically
they don’t appear often enough in a variety of contexts to facilitate a deep
understanding of how the patterns work.

A. Teacher’s role
The teacher encourages and assists the students with their reading,
which the students undertake during and /or after class. Occasional summaries
(oral or written) can help with this as they show both that the students are
reading and also that they understand what their books are about. The
activities can also help students improve their writing or speaking ability.
Another activity teachers can become involved in is individual counselling -
this gives the teacher an opportunity to ask students about their reading
experiences and can be done by the teacher while the rest of the class are
silent reading. Above all, however, extensive reading should be a student-
centred and a student-managed activity.

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B. Introducing the ER to Students
After having prepared themselves for teaching Extensive reading,
teachers’ task is to introduce ER programme to their students and to
familiarize them with its aims and benefits. It is challenging to introduce the
programme by asking students about their attitudes and past experiences of
reading. It may be also useful to contact institutions that did these programs
and ask them for handouts or posters with comments from students who
absolved this programme. Videotapes of interviews with students talking
about the program can be especially powerful source of motivation for your
students.
Students should also know how to read extensively – teacher has to
note that dictionaries should be avoided as reading fluency and a general, less
than 100 percent understanding of what is read is appropriate for most reading
purposes. Teacher should also emphasise to his/her students that there will be
no test after reading. He/she will be only interested in student’s personal
experiences of what they read e.g. whether they found the material enjoyable
or interesting and why.
After the explanation of the organization of the library and the check –
out system students should find books that are of a suitable reading level for
them. Teacher may assist in selecting appropriate reading material that will be
interesting as well as easy.
Before the introducing and after you've already planned the ER
programme, you will need to decide how to introduce the reading to the
students. A major reason ER programme fail is that they introduce the reading
too fast and too suddenly. Despite the teacher's good intentions, the students
resist and fight back when they are suddenly asked to do too much too soon.
Therefore teachers should ensure the students know:
a. why they are reading
b. what levels they should be reading at

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c. what books are available
d. how to borrow and return books
e. the goals you set (how much to read etc) and how they will be evaluated

Teachers should introduce the ER programme well so that it starts

well. Students are usually busy people who may have other classes, a full-time
job, or family (or all of these!) and may not have much time for this reading.
Also many students have never read a whole book in English or don’t like
reading at all and so may be reluctant to read even if they know it is good for
them. Below is a suggested scheme for introducing ER smoothly to students
new to ER.
There are two main steps - Introducing Extensive Reading with whole
class readers, and Individualized reading. These steps are designed to not
overwhelm the students initially and gradually build to self-selected reading.
1. The first step – Whole Class Reading
It is important that the teacher chooses a book the lowest ability
learner in the class can understand, to increase confidence. Start with all
learners reading the same very easy book – a Class reader. The aim is to
make the reading easy and focus on enjoyment and quick reading so you
can later contrast it with the more difficult reading they are probably doing
in their textbook.

Day 1.
1. Show the book to the students and hand out the class set – either one
copy for each student or one between two. Ask them to look at the
book. You may want to point out any important features of the book
and ask them to predict what the book may be about.
What kind of book is this?
What are these things on the cover?

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 What do you think is going to happen in the story?
Etc.
2. They read a few pages silently to a pre-set point e.g. the end of the first
chapter. They close their books and give them to you. (Alternatively,
they could listen to the story being read aloud from the audio
recording).
3. Write some simple questions on the board (even in the students’ first
language) such as ‘Who are the characters?’ ‘Where does the story
take place?’ ‘What is happening?’ ‘What will happen next?’ and so on.
4. Ask them to answer the questions with their partner, and then answer
them as a class.
5. Tell them they will find out in another class. Take back the books.

Day 2.
6. Remind students of the story from the previous class. They predict
what will happen next.
7. Read a few more pages with them, and follow up with a few simple
questions.

Day 3.
8. Continue this for a few classes until the book is finished.
9. Ask what they thought of the story and how this reading is different
from the reading passages in their textbook.
10. Explain to them the aim of this type of reading is not to study language
but for them to practice reading and build reading speed and the reason
they can do this is that it’s easy. You may need to tell them that even
though they know most of the language in the book, they are still
learning because they are practicing their reading and picking up their
reading speed.
Repeat these steps with other books until the students get the
idea of easy reading.

2. The second step - Individualized reading

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 When you feel learners are getting used to the reading it’s time to
introduce them to individualized reading. This may take one whole class
(40 minutes), or parts of two classes, as there are several steps.
Stage 1 – Learner orientation
This stage allows the teachers to explain to learners why this type
of reading is important. This is a good time to emphasize that the textbook
and the Extensive Reading should work together, and to explain that they
need to read for fun so they can put the language they learn in their
English classes into practice.
In the first class, you will then need to explain to the learners why
extensive reading is important (see Paul Nation’s article, this issue) and
convey this to learners as often they cannot see the need and just see it as
more homework. Not doing this well is the leading cause of failure of ER
programs. They need to see that their course book provides them with the
new language but their conversation and writing classes assist them in
building their fluency with already known language as output. Extensive
reading helps learners to build their reading speed and automaticity in
reading of already known language in a pleasurable way. If they do not
read or listen extensively then they cannot build reading speed and gain all
the benefits that come from it.
Stage 2 – Student’s first book
Put a selection of the easier books on a table for learners to look at,
and let them look through them. Explain to the learners that they can
choose any book they want to read but it should be at their ability level.
At this early stage, point out the features of your cataloging system:
a. How the books are leveled (for example, using a color coding system,
or numbers).
b. The numbering system used to catalogue individual books.
c. How students borrow and return their books.
d. How students decide what level they should read.

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 Once students have decided their reading level and chosen a book,
they read silently in a silent reading time for about 10-15 minutes while
the teacher goes around the class quietly asking questions. ‘How is the
book?’ ‘Is the level OK?’ ‘Is it easy for you?’ ‘Is it enjoyable?’ ‘Do you
understand it?’ and so on. If it’s not suitable, allow them to change their
book. Then ask students to check out the book. They can bring it to every
class (you may find a few minutes at the end or beginning of a class
which you can use as a silent reading time).
Key points for Introducing Extensive Reading :
a. Start with easier readers to build confidence.
b. Learners choose a reader according to their level and interest.
c. Slowly increase the amount of reading each week, until learners read
one book a week.
d. Do not test learners as this is not the objective of this kind of reading.

Stage 3 – Out of class reading

After learners have read a few books in class explain that they
need to read out of class too. Initially this can be for a very short period,
for example 20 minutes a week. Slowly increase the amount of reading
each week until they are reading one book a week. This could take a year
to build up to. But in the following school year they know they need to
read as it's required and they will just accept it.
When students finish their book the students should:
a. Discuss it with other students or do other follow-up activities
b. Return it to the ‘book drop box’ and choose another one
c. Help the teacher to check in books and return them to where they are
stored

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C. Helping students to choose books
Students should find the first books they read really easy and finish
them quickly. They should move quickly (after reading a minimum of ten and
maximum of fifteen books) to the level that is comfortable for them and
continue reading at this level. The starting level can be found by using a
placement test developed be EPER (The Endinburgh Project on Extensive
Reading) or by the use of a cloze test. Teachers can also copy pages from
different readers and have students simply read them. The activity ‘Find Your
Level’ is useful in helping students to find the reading level at which they can
read comfortably and fluently and it is described in the practical part.
Make sure your students choose a book that they want to read. If they
are interested in the book, they will feel more compelled to finish it.
Depending on your teaching situation, you can offer students a small selection
of books for them to choose or you can even take them to the library. Ask
students to select anywhere between 4 and 10 books just according to their
title and book cover. Then, ask students to check them one more time to see if
they are appropriate for them. If they understand the title, the blurb in the back
cover and most of what they read on any page they check randomly in the
book, the level of the book is good for them. The book should be easy or
slightly challenging, but not hard for them. Remind your students that
understanding a book does not mean understanding every single word used in
it. If necessary, remind them of reading in their own language and how
sometimes they also encounter words they have not heard or read before.
Once they have narrowed their selection, ask them to pick the book they are
most interested in.
The following questions and suggestions guide students to choose
well:
1. What types of books do you enjoy – fiction, non-fiction, comic books,
encyclopedias, joke books? Look for that type of book.

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2. What topics do you enjoy? Look for more books on those topics.
3. Who are your favourite authors? Can you find more books by them?
4. What is a tv show, video game, or movie that you enjoy? Can you find
books that are connected to them?
5. Does the book have pictures, drawings, and other visuals? Do they help
you understand and enjoy the book? Are you comfortable reading a book
that does not have many visuals?
6. What length of book do you like to read?
7. What about the size of the print? Is it too big, too small, or just nice?
8. What books do your friends and other classmates enjoy?
9. What books do older students and adults say that they enjoyed when they
were your age?
10. If you have already read a book, would you enjoy reading it again?
Sometimes, you can enjoy a book just as much or even more the second
or third time you read it
11. Spend about five minutes reading a book before you decide to choose it. Is
the book interesting? Is it understandable?
12. Try the “Five Finger Test.” Open the book to any page and start reading.
Every time you meet a word or term that you do not know, put a finger on
that word. If you run out of fingers on one hand before you finish the
page, the book may be too difficult for you to enjoy. To say the same thing
another way, if there are five or more unknown words on a page, you may
want to wait a few months before you read that book.
13. It is okay to change your mind. Maybe after you have read a book for a
while, you will change your mind about it. Maybe when you are choosing
books, you think you like a particular book, but after reading it some
more, you change your mind. That is okay. Stop reading that book and
start reading another.Therefore, choose more than one book. Then, if you
decide that you do not like a book you choose, you have other books to
read.

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 CHAPTER III
CLOSING

A. Conclusion
This paper has explained about establishing an extensive reading
programme in the second language classroom. We can conclude that to
preparing an extensive reading programs, we have to think well how the role
of teacher in classroom. Teacher can become involved in is individual
counseling. She/he encourages, assist, which the students undertake during
and /or after class. Then, for introducing ER to students, teacher should do it
well so that it starts well. It’s should be done by steps are start with easier
readers to build confidence, learners choose a reader according to their level
and interest, slowly increase the amount of reading each week until learners
read one book a week. The last, about helping students to choose books. First
thing that a teacher can do is the activity ‘Find Your Level’ is useful in helping
students to find the reading level at which they can read comfortably and
fluently and it is described in the practical part. Make sure students choose a
book that they want to read.

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 B. Suggestion
Hopefully this paper can add our insight or knowledge about extensive
reading and hopefully this paper can be useful for us, especially for the writer.
We are as the writer want to apology for the shortage of this paper. We
know that this paper is still far from perfect. So that we need the suggest from
the reader for the perfection of this paper.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hill, D. 1997. Setting Up An Extensive Reading Program: Practical Tips. The

Language Teacher, (Accessed on April 12th2018, 02:40 p.m)

Welch, R. 1997. Introducing extensive reading. The Language Teacher, 21 (5), 51-53.
(Accessed on April 12th2018, 03:31 p.m)

Kredatusova, Maria. The Benefits of Extensive Reading in EFL. English Language

and Literature Department, Pedagogical Faculty, Masaryk University

Day, R. and J. Bamford, 1998, Extensive Reading in the Second Language

Classroom, Cambridge University Press. (Accessed on April 26th2018, 12:05 p.m)

The Extensive Reading Foundation’s. 2011. Guide to Extensive Reading. Retrieved

from (<http://erfoundation.org/ERF_Guide.pdf >) (Accessed on April 26 th 2018,
01:26 p.m)

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