Krashen’s reading hypothesis posits that: free voluntary reading in the L2 when comprehensible leads to a greater internalization of grammar and structure and increases writing performance.
The key? Reading should be non-stressful, not for a grade, and the selection of reading material should be the student’s choice. The ideal would be that the reader would be lost in the story, the message communicated and not in the process of deciphering the text.
Challenges:
It is difficult to find appropriate reading materials for lower levels. Authentic children’s stories often have infrequently used and antiquated expressions. To make any reading understandable at the lower levels the teacher need to either embed the structures/vocabulary before reading or create the readings him/herself based on the vocabulary and structures the student has learned.
For this reason most level 2 students would probably be ready for level 1 materials.
Also: many language teachers have bemoaned the lack of resources for the first levels of language study since students at this level need to understand 90%+ of the words in order to be able to ‘lose themselves’ in a narrative. Teachers have in many cases found their own solution by creating stories for their own students. (link to Great Story Project). Bryce Hedstrom does a kindergarten style read aloud for levels that helps students build vocabulary and prepares them to read on their own.
Some of our school libraries have sections for high interest limited vocabulary books in other languages. At Smith there is a shelf with dozens of titles in Spanish and several in French with high interest but with restricted vocabulary that would be appropriate for some upper level classes or native speakers getting used to reading in Spanish. There are many popular fiction titles as well in Spanish and or French with English and other languages. Some students may find it cool to read a page or chapter in one language then try the other. Please ask your librairian for help finding titles for your students in the language you teach!
Many classroom stories have been turned into little novels that teachers share and sell to other teachers. Though many of the works include interesting cultural information they are not always ‘authentic’ in the sense that they were written for native speakers by native speakers. The purpose is simply to engage the readers with the language. Anything at all that engages students to engage in the L2 is welcome. Dr Krashen did research to show linguistic development when kids chose ‘junk reading’: comic books, magazines and other not very high brow literature. It was called “Junk food is bad for you but not junk reading.”
Native speakers have many more options, and finding appropriate reading material is actually easier: as mentioned earlier school libraries will be able to offer a starter selection (especially for Spanish.)
Since our purpose is to create as many opportunities for our learners to experience comprehensible input as possible giving them the opportunity to read, consider including reading (read aloud/Free voluntary/curriculum) in your lesson plans!
