Barfield, A. (2000). The promise and practice of extensive reading: An interview with George aco!s and "ill# $enand#a.

Literacy Across Cultures, 3(2), 2%&'0. http:((www.aasa.ac.)p(*dcd#c+s(,A-..T/ 20.01.2012

ER Talk: An Interview on Extensive Reading with George Jacobs and Willy Renandya, SEA E! Regional "ang#age $entre %RE"$&, Singa'ore
Andy: Let me begin by thanking you for agreeing to do this interview over email. Can I start by asking you both how you first became interested in extensive reading? rom your own ex!erience in learning a language" from teacher training" your own research" or through other means? #eorge: $% a!!ealed to me for a few reasons. irst" as a child growing u! in the &.'. state of Illinois" I was" for a while" an avid reader. I was reminded of myself back then when about eight years ago" I read about the flashlightunder-the-blanket !henomenon" where children are so keen on reading that they smuggle a flashlight into their bedroom so they can continue reading after their !arents turn off the lights. I remember a series about Cowboy 'am. I(ve never seen it as an adult" but I recall being )uite taken by it as a kid. A second reason that I liked $% was my own ex!erience as a second language learner studying '!anish. I remember in *unior high school reading a sim!lified '!anish version of Don Quixote and then our class going to watch the musical Man of La Mancha. Later" I would read a book in $nglish and then read the '!anish version. I did that with Treasure of the Sierra Madre by +. ,raven. %eading a good story is fun in any language. -illy: Like #eorge" I became interested in extensive reading from my own ex!erience in learning a language. I learned $nglish as a foreign language in Indonesia" where $nglish is not widely used. ,he main source of in!ut was the classroom" i.e." from the teachers . It was when I was at university doing my first degree in ,$ L that I was first introduced to graded readers. +ut I didn(t really en*oy reading these sim!lified stories. -hile the library had a good number of graded materials" most of them were not too a!!ealing for me. /any of the collection were of the literary ty!es 0those by Charles 1ickens" 'hakes!eare" etc.2. I got hooked into reading extensively when I accidentally !icked u! a 3whodunit3 novel in a local bookstore" a 4erry /ason series by #ardner. It was not easy at first to read this unabridged novel. +ut after reading 5 or 6 books by the same author" I found that I could understand the story better" and soon found myself reading the other series. I must have read at least 57 or 67 4erry /ason series by the time I finished my ,$ L degree" in addition to devouring )uite a number of other similar stories by" for exam!le" Agatha Christie. I can see now )uite clearly that the reading that I did contributed most to my language develo!ment.
#eorge: Another factor that led me to $% was the In!ut 8y!othesis. I began language teaching in the 9:;7s when the em!hasis on com!rehensible in!ut was at its height" and I still

believe there(s a lot to it" even if *ust large doses of com!rehensible in!ut may not alone be sufficient for advanced !roficiency in a L<. I read lots of stuff by =rashen" and I still admire his work and that of others such as 1avid $skey" >eff /c?uillan" +eatrice 1u!uy" and Lucy ,se who have worked in that same vein.

-illy: @es .two other im!ortant influences for me have been -arwick $lley 0the book flood !ro*ect in i*i" as well as my own research with #eorgeAthis has further convinced me of the tremendous benefits of extensive reading in secondBforeign language learning. #eorge: Could I add two more !oints? Cne is $%(s link to learner autonomy" and the other the connection with co-o!erative learning. I try to view the goal of language education as not *ust to add another skill to students( re!ertoires. I also consider what effect instruction has on the whole !erson and on the ty!e of citiDen students are or will become of their country and of the world. or this reason" I attem!t to use teaching methods that give !eo!le the skills and confidence they need to stand on their own two feet rather than waiting for big brother to tell them what to do. $% !rovides students with a key route toward understanding the world for themselves. As for co-o!erative learning" it may seem to be a contradiction to talk about learner autonomy in one breath and co-o!erative learning in the next" but actually I think the two come together smoothly in $%. ,he reading that students do in $% gives grou!s something to talk about and work on" while grou!s !rovide a great way for students to share with each other the *oys of reading and" thus encourage each other to do more $%. Last but not least" I saw the en*oyment that my students ex!erienced when they read and told each other and me about their reading. And" I heard similar stories from other teachers. I saw students going back to the library and reading beyond the re)uired amount. Eot sur!risingly" I also saw a minority who *ust went through the motions. ,he worst case I recall was when I was teaching $nglish in a high school in 8awaii. $very morning" the students were to do $% in class. In honor of 8awaii(s famous waves" this !art of $% was called '&% 0'ilent &ninterru!ted %eading for un2. /ost of my class consisted of native $nglish s!eakers" but some were recent immigrants. Cne of these kids" des!ite all the tricks I tried" most often s!ent '&% time with his head in his arms on the desk. Andy: ,he en*oyment is centralAat the same time" the success and the resistance sound familiarF @ou work on in-service develo!ment courses on the teaching of reading and writing" so could I ask you" #eorge" how a teacher might need to change their !ractice to hel! overcome such resistance? #eorge: Cne exam!le of a key moment of change was told to me by a 'inga!orean teacher who was doing $% with a 4rimary G 0about twelve years old2 class. 'he had been attending an in-service course on reading and writing instruction in which I had em!hasised $%. -e had read an article by Hivienne @u" in which Hivienne draws lessons from her ex!erience im!lementing $% in 8ong =ong. Cne of the !oints that Hivienne makes is that teachers need to be motivators and enthusiasts for $%" !art of which entails

that when the students are reading silently" the teacher should be reading silently too. ,his teacher had im!lemented a <7-minute slot for &''% 0&ninterru!ted 'ustained 'ilent %eading2. 8owever" it wasn(t going very well. ,he students were not too keen on reading" and she was s!ending her time not reading but !atrolling the classroom in a vain attem!t to get her students to read. inally" she gave u! and *ust sat at her desk" o!ened a book" and didn(t look u! for the entire <7 minutes. ,he first few times" she heard noise and was very tem!ted to look u! and chastise the wrong doers" but she resisted the tem!tation. As the days went by" she ke!t her nose buried in her book" but her ears were detecting a greater silence. After about two weeks" she looked u!. All the students were reading. I think this is a great exam!le of the !ower of trust. ,he teacher was telling her students that she trusted them. At first" some abused this trust" but eventually this teacher accom!lished her goal of getting everyone to read during &''% not by badgering them into submission but by setting a good exam!le and trusting that students would have the good sense to follow that exam!le. Andy: ,hat(s a great role modelling story of the s!aces that can o!en u! with $%. #oing back" for a moment" to -illy(s mention of the book flood meta!hor and exam!le" getting $% going re)uires a large )uantity of reading materialsAin your ex!erience" is it generally !ossible for teachers to gain access to such materials? #eorge: ,hat(s rightAfor $% to succeed" teachers need a large )uantity of materials" and these need to be at a range of difficulty levels and to suit a range of interests. ,he issue of !rocuring these $% materials when funds are limited or a!!ro!riate materials are not available is a difficult one. -e *ust had a grou! of <7 second-language teachers from Hietnam here at %$LC for a course. I was" as usual" extolling the virtues of $%. -e read the Hivienne @u article mentioned above" and the teachers also did some $% activities to im!rove their own !roficiency in $nglish. ,he main $% activity they did was one that combines $% and co-o!erative learning. It(s called 3+ook -heels3 and can be found in the book on reading in ,$'CL(s Eew -ays seriesA New ways in teaching reading. In 3+ook -heels"3 students work in grou!s to tell each other about a book they(ve read and to ask each other higher-order thinking )uestions about their books. ,he teachers from Hietnam en*oyed 3+ook -heels3 and agreed that $% would be great for their students. 8owever" again and again" they ke!t asking" 3+ut where are we going to get the books?3 Cbviously" the easiest way to get books is for the school or the students to buy them" as is often done in !laces such as 'inga!ore or the &'. Andy: Is that the case" though" in Hietnam? I(d guess funds for any kind of educational materials can be severely limited.

#eorge: ortunately" other means exist even when funds are limited. 'ome of these are described in the works listed in the section on %eading /aterials in the bibliogra!hy of works on $% in second language education that -illy" >ulian +amford" and I have been com!iling. ,his is available on the $% website: htt!:BBwww.kyoto- su.ac.*!BinformationBerB ,here(s also the o!!ortunity for localising content here. ,eachers can create materials for students. #audart 09::62" and ,oh and %a*a 09::I2 describe two different ways this was done in /alaysia. or instance" when /arcus %a*a was a school !rinci!al in the /alaysian state of 'arawak" he wrote stories for his students to use for $%. 'ince he was writing the stories himself" instead of buying them" he was able to situate the stories in the local context" thus" !erha!s increasing students( interest and making the stories more com!rehensible. 'tudents can also be a source of $% materials. ,hree cha!ters in the book on $% that -illy and I edited with Colin 1avis de!ict various ways in which students can write $% materials. or exam!le" in one cha!ter" +eatrice 1u!uy and >eff /c?uillan describe a !rogram in which university students of rench as a second language wrote and illustrated their own $% books with hel! from their teacher. ,his hel!ed to overcome the !roblem of finding materials that would be of interest to university-age students" yet were com!rehensible for students of low !roficiency in the L<. Andy: I(d like to move the discussion to ways of motivating low-level" reluctant readers" as I think for many teachers in >a!an this is a key issue. -illy" let me ask you about !arallel-text bilingual readers 0one language one !age" the other language the other !age2 and how that kind of format may be very close to what beginning readers do in the L<" while" at the same time" !ublished readers almost always follow a monolingual mode. Any comments on bilingual readers as a !ossible a!!ro!riate or ina!!ro!riate starting format? -illy: /otivation is indeed a big issue in foreign language learning and this is !articularly so with low !roficiency !u!ils. /y research 0%enandya et al." 9:::2 in teacherBlearner beliefs confirmed my own sus!icion 0and that of others" e.g." 1ornyei" 9::;2 that motivation is one of the most im!ortant factors in language learning. I have never used bilingual readers with my students" but I can see their !otential in hel!ing those low-level" reluctant readers to !ick u! their first book. +ilingual readers can !otentially break !oor readersJ reluctance to read" as they can always fall back on the native language version on the o!!osite !age when a com!rehension !roblem arises. +ut as soon as they have built u! enough confidence" they should move on to monolingual readers. Care should be taken to ensure that these beginning readers who lack confidence get $% materials that are at the right difficulty level. or these readers" the right level might not be i" or i K9. -hat they need is !robably i L9 or even i L< materials 0see 1ay and +amfordJs extensive reading book" for a similar view2" and !referably ones with lots of visualB!ictorial su!!ort. In my $% class with beginning adult students" I always make it a !oint to tell them to read books

that are both easy and interesting. Cnce they have become comfortable reading easy materials" I encourage them to read more challenging 0but not too challenging2 materials. ortunately" our library has a good collection of readers for learners of varied interests and !roficiency levels. Andy: 4erha!s the bilingual )uestion can also be raised with (out!ut( from $%. I(m wondering if there is also a !ossible gradation from a bilingual to a more monolingual mode in activities around $%? or exam!le" low!roficiency may write in their L9 about what they have read in their L<" and gradually increase the L< ratio as they read more. -illy: or low-!roficiency L< learners" we should be more concerned with the amount of reading 0com!rehensible language in!ut2 that they get" rather than with the ty!es and forms of !ost $% activities 0out!ut2. ,he key !rinci!le in designing !ost $% activities is that they should be easy to do and highly a!!ealing to the learners. -hether or not L9 or L< is used is not a central issue" at least for beginning readers. ,here is one study by /ason and =rashen 09::I2 that attem!ted to address the issue of the role of L9 in !ost $% activities. 'tudents who wrote summaries in L9 and L< !erformed e)ually well on a number of de!endent measures used in the study. In addition" both grou!s of students in general !erformed better than the non-$% grou!. Andy: Hery much to the !ointAthank youF #eorge" would you say a bit more about how you see student-student co-o!eration fitting with $%? #eorge: A cou!le weeks ago" I finished a 9::; book called The Nurture Assumption htt!:BBhome.att.netBMxcharBtnaB that makes the claim that !eers have a more !owerful effect than !arents on the develo!ment of children and adolescents. -hether or not you agree with this view" I think all teachers have seen how studentsJ attitudes" beliefs" and behaviors rub off on their classmates" for better or worse. or instance" a core grou! of avid readers can hel! create a classroom of avid readers. Andy: ,hat reminds very much of ,im /ur!hey(s work at EanDan &niversity" >a!an" with Eear 4eer %ole /odels and his book Language ungry" i.e." using models of excellence for students from other students 0/ur!hey" 9::;2. #eorge: ,hat(s *ust it. Let me share some other ideas IJve read and heard about andBor tried for using !eer !ower to !romote $%. /ost of these techni)ues also have the advantage of !roviding students with o!!ortunities to !roduce language. 'uch language will sometimes include new vocabulary" structures" ideas" and information that students encountered while reading. ,he Internet ,$'L >ournal had an article in 9::; by 8eal Nhtt!:BBlangue.hy!er.chubu.ac.*!B*altB!ubBtltB:;BdecBshOheal.htmlP describing how grou! activities to accom!any a class reader seemed to increase student motivation for $%. In 8ealJs class" the grou!s first answered )uestions written by the teacher. Later" each grou! wrote )uestions for other grou!s.

In a setting in which each student reads a different book" -illy and I have had success with students coming together to tell each other about the books theyJve read. 'tudents briefly describe the story for their grou!mates and then !eers ask )uestions. Another way to encourage students to share with !eers what theyJve read is via Literature Circles" grou!s of students who come together to discuss what theyJve been reading. 1u!uy 09::;2 describes how Literature Circles worked in her intermediate rench classes. Art is another medium via which students can share with each other about what theyJve read. or instance" students might design !osters" murals" board games" collages" book covers" bookmarks" and drawings of key scenes to advertise books they like. A few teachers have told me that their students even made 3dioramas"3 a kind of model" to illustrate scenes from their books. Andy: @es" I(ve really en*oyed comic stri! summaries and inter!retations 0manga2 created by my students hereAwith s!eech bubbles and ca!tions" for exam!le. #eorge: %ightAthe artwork can often be accom!anied by language. or exam!le" a book cover could include a blurb on the back of the ty!e found on commercially !roduced books. 1rama can also be used by students to advertise good books" such as when students do a skit to illustrate a !ortion of the book or do a dramatic reading of lines from something theyJve read. Another means for students to inform their !eers about what to read would be doing mini-reviews or *ust giving a )uick rating" such as one to five stars" to let classmates know which books to select and which to neglect. Cf course" as -illy !oints out" the key in $% is the reading" not the !ost-reading activity. ,hus" students do the !ost-reading to build confidence" to use what they have learned in a !roductive mode" and to infect their !eersAand maybe even their teachersAwith the *oy of reading and s!ecific books with which to ex!erience that *oy. Andy: ,hese connections and !ossibilities are *ust greatAit(s a wonderful enthusiasm for whole-!erson learningF -ell" we(re nearing the end of the discussion" so I guess my last )uestion neatly falls within the medium of the interview" and how $% may develo! through the -eb. ,he !angkok "ost has a great resource !age in its Student #eekly for graded news!a!er reading. I(m wondering if both of you could mention some other web resources for $% for learners" as well as give your forecasts as to how technology may mix and match with book-based $%. #eorge: ,hanks for raising the )uestion about $% and the -eb" Andy. ItJs an im!ortant one. 'ome !eo!le have !redicted that the -eb will go the way of other much-heralded innovations that eventually became at most only a marginal !art of language teaching" like the language lab. 8owever" I think the -eb is destined to !lay more of a role" although IJve got little ex!erience with the -eb and $%.

-hat I use mostly use the -eb for in my work is sending email messages and attached files" belonging to Listserves" getting information from websites" and building websites. IJve done some of this with the classes I teach" both those for language teachers and those for language learners. /y students have never used the -eb to do $%" exce!t as theyJve read things on websites" but one change I am seeing is that earlier !eo!le wouldnJt read things off the com!uter screenQ they always wanted to !rint them out. /any !eo!le are still like this" but more and moreAme includedAare comfortable reading directly from the screen" which saves lots of !a!er. ,his comfort with reading from the screen !aves the way for electronic books whichAfrom what IJve readAlook like books and can be loaded with any book we want. -e can read these electronic books while standing in a bus" sitting at a coffee sho!" or lying in bed. I also read in a &nited Eations !ublication about overcoming the !roblem of lack of books in !oor countries by !utting lots of books of C1-%C/s" but the article didnJt say anything about overcoming the !roblem of lack of com!uters and lack of infrastructure such as electricity. ,his brings u! the issue of whether the use of the -eb for $% will lead to the same discre!ancies between rich and !oor that we see with $% via hard co!ies of books. %ight now" that discre!ancy looks likely to arise. ,hat said" the -eb does offer great !ossibilities for learner autonomy. As long as weJve got the necessary technologyAand every year I can see access ex!anding here in '.$. AsiaAwe can choose from millions of web sites offering a bewildering range of materials from a wide variety of !ers!ectives. or instance" 4ro*ect #utenberg" htt!:BB!romo.netB!gB" offers many booksAfor exam!le" those by 1ickensAfor free" and the $ncyclo!aedia +ritannica website htt!:BBwww.eb.com:9;7B offers not *ust the encyclo!aedia" but also lots of other resources. 1erewianka 09::I2 offers more ideas on this. As to collaboration" some !eo!le worry that the -eb will cause us to live isolated lives" never going out and instead ordering everything we need via com!uter. Cn the other hand" com!uters offer so many new ways for us to connect and collaborate with others. In s!ecific regard to $%" two exam!les of this -eb-based interaction would be emailing a book weJve en*oyed to classmates or sending them the address of a website we think they should check out. IJm not saying that electronic interaction" even if we have sound and video" is the same as old-fashioned face-to-face interaction" but it is a useful !artner to live contact" and who knows what the future will hold for human relations. Andy: -illy" over to you for your closing comments. -illy: ,hanks again for the interview. I think #eorge and I have covered a lot of ground in the interview. I *ust want to end by )uoting Christine Euttal 09:;<" !.9G;2:
R,he best way to im!rove your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its s!eakers. ,he next best way is read extensively in it.S

or obvious reasons" living among native s!eakers for an extended !eriod of time is not !ossible for the ma*ority of L< learners. 'o" that leaves us with the second o!tion. +ut sur!risingly" des!ite com!elling evidence demonstrating the benefits of extensive reading" many of us are still not doing $%. 'o let me encourage you all" if you havenJt already" to begin $% !rogramme in your school now. Cne last comment. $% is good for students. It is also good for teachers" es!ecially $ L teachers. ,he Hietnamese $ L teachers that #eorge mentioned earlier 0whom I also taught2 agreed that the $% they did at %$LC was very useful for them. ,hey ho!ed to continue doing $% when they returned to Hietnam" in addition to launching $% for their students. /any L< teachers in the region I have talked to have indicated that they need to u!grade their L< !roficiency in order to serve their students better. I believe that $% can hel! them further develo! their com!etence in the language.

Andy: #reatF ,hat brings us full circle" and o!ens u! many more interesting )uestions. ,hank you again to both of you for doing this interview and for !roviding so much food for thought.
Biodata

$eorge %acobs has en*oyed working in the field of language education where over the !ast almost <7 years he has had the !leasure of meeting many nice !eo!le and many valuable ideas" as well as many valuable !eo!le and many nice ideas. 8is main academic interests these days are co-o!erative learning and environmental education" because he believes co-o!eration and concern for the environment are keys to a better world. #eorge looks forward to continuing the dialogue with any readers who wish to ex!lore !ro*ects of mutual interest: gm*acobsT!acific.net.sg or htt!:BBwww.geocities.comBAthensB,hebesB9GU7Bindex.htm. inally" -illy" >ulian +amford" and #eorge are looking for nice and valuable !eo!le to *oin them in maintaining the $% in L< bibliogra!hy. #illy &enandya teaches at '$A/$C %egional Language Centre" 'inga!ore. 8is areas of interest include extensive reading" teacherBlearner beliefs" teaching methodology" and language testing. 8e has taught language as well as a!!lied linguistics courses in Indonesia" 'inga!ore and other 'outheast Asian countries. References 1ay" %. %. 0$d.2. 09::52. New ways in teaching reading. Alexandria" HA: ,eachers of $nglish to '!eakers of Cther Languages. 1ay" %. %." V +amford" >. 09::;2. 'xtensi(e reading in the second language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge &niversity 4ress. 1erewianka" +. 09::I2. &sing the internet for extensive reading. In #. /." >acobs" C. 1avis" V -. A. %enandya 0$ds.2. Successful strategies for extensi(e reading 0!!. 9<;-9652. 'inga!ore: '$A/$C %egional Language Centre. 1ornyei" W. 09::;2. /otivation in second and foreign language learning. Language Teaching) *+" 99I-95U. 1u!uy" +. 09::;2. Cercles de lecture: &ne autre a!!roche de la lecture dans la classe intermXdiaire de franYais langue XtrangZre.[Literature Circles: A

different reading a!!roach in the intermediate rench classroom\ The ,anadian Modern Language &e(iew) -." UI:-U;U. #audart" 8. 09::62. 'electing readers: ChildrenJs choice. In /. L. ,ickoo 0$d.2" &esearch in reading and writing/ A Southeast Asian collection 0!!. G5-I;2. 'inga!ore: '$A/$C %egional Language Centre. >acobs" #. /." 1avis" C." V %enandya" -. A. 0$ds.2. 09::I2. Successful strategies for extensi(e reading. 'inga!ore: '$A/$C %egional Language Centre. /ason" +." V =rashen" '. 09::I2. $xtensive reading in $nglish as a foreign language. System) 0-" :9-97<. /ur!hey" ,. 09::;2. Language hungry. ,okyo: /acmillan >a!an. Euttall" C. 09:;<2. Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. London: 8einemann $ducational +ooks. %enandya" -. A." %a*an" +. %. '." V >acobs" #. /. 09:::2. 'xtensi(e reading with adult learners of 'nglish as a second language . &'L, %ournal" *1092" 5:-G9. ,oh" #." V %a*a" /. 09::I2. $L, materials: 'ome !erce!tions on the )uestion of cultural relevance. $uidelines) +20<2" 6U-I<. @u" H. -. '. 09::52. $xtensive reading !rogramsA8ow can they best benefit the teaching and learning of $nglish. T'SL &eporter) 03092" 9-:.