Extensive Reading

In this essay, I will be concerned with a topic that has encouraged much (highly interesting) discussion in the course Principles of ELT Methodology, namely FL/ESL/EFL extensive reading, a teaching/learning procedure which (more or less) corresponds to what has been called 'pleasure readig', 'sustained silent reading' (SSR), or 'uninterrupted sustained silent reading' (USSR) in L1 extensive reading. (Vaughan 1982: 69) I begin here by providing a brief definition of 'extensive reading' (section 2). I will then proceed to discuss the main differences between 'intensive' and 'extensive' reading (section 3). As extensive reading might best be explained as a set of principles, I will also refer to some of the principles offered by Day & Bamford (2004), which provide a theoretical framework for putting extensive reading into action in the language classroom. In sections 4 and 5, I will finally consider two aspects that I regard as the most significant ones for a successful application of an extensive reading programme, namely the question of whether the pupils should do some kind of feedback project on their reading, or just enjoy, and the role of the teacher.