The
reading hypothesis – reading: source of our reading ability, writing ability
(writing style), vocabulary, spelling, grammar competence. Most powerful form = free voluntary reading
(FVR)
FVR
as a bridge; makes demanding reading more comprehensible
WHAT
THE RESEARCH SAYS
CORRELATIONAL/MULTIVARIATE
STUDIES
Spanish
as a foreign language - test of subjunctive was “monitor-free”; Stokes et al.
One
hour of reading = .6 points on TOEIC. Mason and Krashen, 2015.
Amount
of reading & vocabulary size (English speakers, age 42):
(1)
Reading at age 42 counts, independent of reading at 16 or younger &
previous vocabulary. (2) Fiction
counts (3) Reading counts even if
control for parent occupation and parent education. (4) reading counts more than your education.
Sullivan,
A. and Brown, M. 2014.
SSR:
SUSTAINED SILENT READING: Better than Traditional Instruction: 1st and 2nd languages,
given a long enough program, access to good reading material
CASE HISTORIES: IMPACT OF FREE READING ON SCHOOL
PERFORMANCE Geoffrey Canada, Elizabeth Murray
Goeffrey Canada: "I loved
reading, and my mother, who read voraciously too, allowed me to have her novels
after she finished them. My strong reading background allowed me to have an
easier time of it in most of my classes."
Liz Murray (Breaking Night):
"Any formal education I received came from the few days I spent in
attendance, mixed with knowledge I absorbed from random readings of my or
Daddy's ever-growing supply of unreturned library books. And as long as I still
showed up steadily the last few weeks of classes to take the standardized
tests, I kept squeaking by from grade to grade."
Develops
Knowledge: Stanovich & colleagues: readers know more about
literature, history, science,
"cultural literacy," "practical knowledge."
Career success: “omnivorous reading in childhood and
adolescence correlates positively with ultimate adult success" (Simonton,
1988)
Michael Faraday (1791-1867): influence of working for
a bookbinder for 7 years.
The
Case for Fiction
1.
Much of voluntary reading is fiction; Thus fiction responsible for literacy
devevelpment, knowledge
2.
Fiction > literacy development The UK
study: Sullivan and Brown
Mar
& Rain, 2015: more fiction > better on vocabulary, tests of reading (modest correlations) more non-fiction >
no effect, even sometimes negative.
Habits
of thought: understand others' points of view
More tolerance for vagueness, better able to deal with
uncertainty
President Obama gives fiction the credit for his
understanding that "the world is complicated and full of grays ... it's
possible to connect with someone else even though they're very different from
you."
Long-term effects of light/easy
reading
1. readers
eventually choose "good books" (Schoovover, 1938)
2. as students
mature, select more complex books and from
a wider vareity of genres (LaBrant, 1958)
3. Select at or
above their reading level
Pleasure of reading - Nell (1988) citing
Somerset Maugham – reading addiction
Nell:
reading before you go to sleep
Develops
Knowledge (Stanovich): career success (Simonton)
The
problem: Access to books. The solution: Libraries. poverty – little access to
books at home, school, in their
neighborhoods
The
Philadephia study: Neuman and Celano
The
International PIRLS study (Krashen, Lee and McQuillan, 2012)
Combining
self-selected reading with subject matter: The Book Whisperer (Donalyn Miller)
