Can Learners Make the Jump from the Highest Graded Readers to

Ungraded Novels?:

Four Case Studies

Diane Schmitt Jez Uden

Nottingham Trent University

Norbert SchmittUniversity of Nottingham

Lexical Coverage and Reading Comprehension

For most learners to gain adequate comprehension when reading fiction for pleasure 98% coverage is generally agreed to be the coverage required (Nation, 2009, Laufer & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010, Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011).

Lexical Coverage and Reading Comprehension For extensive reading to be effective, it

must be comprehensible and meaningful.

Unless learners are at an advanced stage of their language development, the vocabulary load of unsimplified reading material (e.g. newspapers, novels) will probably be too high for the input to be comprehensible (Schmitt, 2008).

Lexical Coverage and Reading Comprehension

‘In order to meet the conditions needed for learning from extensive reading at a variety of levels of proficiency, it is essential to make use of simplified texts’ (Nation, 2009:49).

Graded Readers

http://www.xreading.com/extensive/levels

A Bridge to Ungraded Reading? Philip Prowse, Series Editor of the

Cambridge Readers (CER), states that the CER series was intended as a bridge to ungraded reading (personal communication).

Key Question

Does the use of graded readers ‘really promote learning by providing for a smooth and orderly progression to ‘full’ English, as it is supposed to?’ (Honeyfield, 1977:431)

Differing Views Nation has repeatedly claimed that graded

reader schemes need to go much higher (Hirsh & Nation, 1992, Nation & Wang, 1999, Hu & Nation, 2000, Iatefl, 2011).

8,000 – 9,000 words are needed to obtain 98% coverage of the running words in an unsimplified text (Nation, 2009:99-10).

Differing Views

From my experience learners at this [highest graded reader] level usually want to wean themselves off [graded readers] and try native texts even if they are actually hard and even if the coverage rate isn't perfect for fluent reading. (Waring, 2008)

The Study1. What is the gap between the highest level of graded readers

and ungraded fiction in terms of vocabulary load?

2. Do learners have the requisite vocabulary knowledge to meet this gap?

3. What happens to learners’ comprehension as they make the jump from the highest level of graded reader to ungraded fiction?

4. What happens to learners’ reading speed as they make the jump from the highest level of graded reader to ungraded fiction?

5. What happens to learners’ perceptions of reading pleasure and ease as they make the jump from the highest level of graded reader to ungraded fiction?

Participants

a. Measured before starting Level 6 readersb. Measured after reading Level 6 readers and before ungraded novels

Research Design 10 weeks - Preliminary Reading

participants read: 10 Level 5 Cambridge Readers

18 weeks - Main Study participants read:

10 Level 6 Cambridge Readers (last 2 focus of study) 2 ungraded novels

participants were tested on: Known words in each of the 4 books Reading Comprehension Reading Speed Perception of Reading Ease/Pleasure

Research Design

Data Collection Instruments

Yes/No Vocabulary TestsBook Title Size of Test (No of Words)Murder Maker 134This Time it’s Personal 138Way of the Peaceful Warrior 573The Innocent 633 1 in 4 sampling rate

Data Collection Instruments Multiple choice reading comprehension

One test for each book 15 M/C items per test

Data Collection Instruments

Data Collection Instruments

Data Collection Instruments Reading Speed Measurements

Assessed on reading speed for all four books

Read at a comfortable pace and timed for fifteen minutes (3 x 5 minutes) at the beginning of each book. At the end of each five minute set the participants were asked to underline the last word they reached. The reading speed for each set was measured, recorded in words per minute and combined to produce an overall average.

Data Collection Instruments Perception of Reading Ease/Pleasure Questionnaire

Data Collection Timeline

Results

What is the gap between the highest level of graded readers and ungraded fiction in terms

of vocabulary load?

Graded Reader Jumps

What is the gap between the highest level of graded readers and ungraded fiction in terms

of vocabulary load?

Do learners have the requisite knowledge to meet this gap?

What happens to learners’ comprehension as they make the jump from the high level of graded reader to ungraded fiction?

What happens to learners’ reading speed as they make the jump?

What happens to learners’ perceptions of reading pleasure and ease as they make the jump?

Further Points Overall, 3 learners were able to make the

jump to unsimplified novels successfully

The jump was not much different than a progression between Graded Reader levels

Marta quit Peaceful Warrior because of the content, not linguistic difficulty

Further Points One learner (Deimante) found the jump

difficult, and preferred to stay with the graded readers

The learners’ reading pleasure seemed to have more to do with the books themselves than whether graded/unsimplfied

Further Points In real terms, the small decrease in

reading speed may not make a much of a difference

Rose reading The Innocent 204 WPM = 7 hours (graded reader speed) 163 WPM = 8 hours 48 minutes (actual speed)

Any real difference for pleasure reading?

Further Points

These results are for highly motivated learners

Would the results be the same for learners with less motivation?

Q & A

Slides and handout available at:

www.norbertschmitt.co.uk

What is the gap between the highest level of graded readers and ungraded fiction in terms

of vocabulary load?

What happens to learners’ comprehension as they make the jump from the high level of graded reader to ungraded fiction?

What happens to learners’ reading speed as they make the jump?