Thomas N Robb
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All levels The dangers of the Lexile System to extensive reading more
Thu, Aug 10, 11:15-11:50 Asia/Makassar
The Lexile system by Metametrics is a popular rating system used widely in the United States and elsewhere which purports to rate both the reading level of books and the ability level of students on the same scale. Unfortunately, the reading level algorithm does not take into account the vocabulary or syntactic patterns used in the texts, but only mechanically measurable qualities of the text such as average sentence and word length. Parents, teachers and librarians use the system to classify books and determine which ones might be suitable for students. It simply does not work for L2 students. This paper will attempt to explain why the system does not work and the potential dangers of employing it for students for which it was not designed.
All levels Graded readers for every kind of student and purpose: An introduction more
Mon, Aug 7, 13:00-13:50 Asia/Makassar
This workshop session will introduce the participants to the world of graded readers. We will see and experience graded readers at various levels of difficulty from those which use less to 100 unique words to tell their story to ones with over 3000 unique words ('headwords'). We will discuss both paper-based and digitally-based material. While fictional graded readers are the most common, there is now an abundance of non-fiction readers on topics such as biographies, science and technology, the environment, and geography. Mention will also be made concerning "youth readers" -- books written with native-speaking children as their target audience, but which can be prudently used.
All levels Nation's Four Strands approach to support ER and EL implementation more
Tue, Aug 8, 16:00-16:35 Asia/Makassar
The "Four Strands" approach maintains that we need to provide our students with more time to practice through meaning-focused input (Reading & Listening) and output (Speaking and Writing) as well as "fluency training" by having them read, write, speak and hear material that they already understand. It states that 75% of student learning should be devoted to practice with only 25% of the time spent on frontal teaching or studying grammar or vocabulary. This session will discuss what this means in practical terms bringing recent research to support Nation’s contention.
All levels ERF & Affiliate future events: Planning and discussion more
Thu, Aug 10, 16:15-16:50 Asia/Makassar
This session is your chance to discuss future Extensive Reading Foundation events including ERWC7, other live events, webinars and online courses.
All levels ERF board meeting more
Wed, Aug 9, 17:00-17:35 Asia/Makassar
This session will be the annual ERF Board meeting held to discuss ERF matters. The Chair of the ERF will host this session. An agenda for the meeting will be available to those attending. Anyone interested in the work of the ERF, such as grants, ERF affiliates, Mreader or the LLL award, may wish to attend. If time allows there may be Q&A.