How to get good quality input – Extensive reading

In the last blog post, I wrote about the importance of getting lots of input in order to develop your implicit language knowledge. There is also another blog post that shows how a high level of implicit language knowledge is essential for effective communication in English.

However, getting the right quality of input is also very important. Probably the most important aspect is making sure the input (through reading and listening) that we receive is at the right level. If we cannot understand the input that we receive, then we will not correctly process the information. Here, processing means being able to understand the meaning of the message in the input and matching it in our brains (mostly unconsciously) to the language used to create the message. However, if we cannot process the information, our implicit language knowledge will not develop. Therefore, it is very important that the language we receive in the input is at the right level.

I find that this is one of the most common problems that many learners have when trying to learn English independently. They try to watch TV shows, films, YouTube videos or read magazines, websites, newspapers, etc. in English but quickly realise that this is often too difficult and so they don’t understand enough to find it enjoyable. The problem is that most of what these learners are trying to watch, listen to or read in English is not aimed at language learners – it is mostly aimed at people who speak English as a first language. There is rarely any attempt to make it easier for language learners to understand the texts and so it is obviously often very difficult to understand. Therefore, for most English learners, it is better to use input that is specifically aimed at language learners.

One of the best ways to do this is through extensive reading and listening. Extensive reading is defined as “an approach to language learning that encourages students to read a large amount of books, or other reading material, that is relatively easy for them to understand. Ideally, the books should be easier than their current reading level so that they can read quickly, without having to look up words in a dictionary”. One of the best ways of doing extensive reading is by using graded readers. These are books that have been especially written or adapted for leaners of English at different levels. This means that learners can choose from books that are at a suitable level for them.

A quick way to find out your extensive reading (or listening) level by going to the ‘Check my Level’ section of the student registration page on the ER Central website:

When you click on ‘Check My Level’, you will see the following image:

You should place your mouse arrows over one of the numbers and start reading. If you think you know all the words in the text, you can try a higher level. If there are three or more words that you don’t know, then you should try a lower level. The right level for you should have one or two words that you don’t know. If your level is higher than 13, then click the arrow on the right to reveal more levels (there are 20 in total). You can try reading at different levels and see which one you find you are comfortable with. If you are not sure, it’s probably better to go down a level.

Once you know your extensive reading level, you can now look for reading material that is at the right level for you. On the same website as the level test, you can find lots of reading and listening texts that are organised by level and category (e.g. crime, romance, true story, etc.). However, most of these texts are quite short and you probably want to read something longer. Another website that you can use, which has longer texts, is the following: https://english-e-reader.net.

Again, you can search by level to help you find a book that is at a suitable level for you.

If you study at Intake, you can also find some books in the book case in the corner next to reception. The orange books and other books on the same shelf are fiction books and come in a range of levels. There are some non-fiction books in the coloured folders, but are probably too easy for higher level learners. If you study at university, your library might also have some graded readers that you can borrow. Alternatively, you might be able to find some in Taipei public libraries.

If you are a higher level student and want something a bit more challenging but still simplified for language learners, you can try some of the mid-frequency graded readers available from Victoria University.

If you are preparing for the IELTS exam, then you might also want to focus on texts that are more ‘academic’ than reading a novel. In this case, you might want to try reading some non-fiction books instead of novels as the topic and style of the writing in non-fiction will be closer to the IELTS exam compared to when reading a novel. In this blog post, I have given some suggestions for the kinds of non-fiction texts that advanced learners could read and listen to in order to help them prepare for the IELTS exam.