There’s no avoiding the fact that reading is one of the most important skills in English. Browsing the internet, reading menus, receiving emails from colleagues, and following recipes are just some of the ways EFL/ESL learners will use their reading skills.
But how often do your students actually read? Do they regularly get stuck into novels, or get their daily news updates in English? Sure there are some exceptions that do a lot of reading, but most do hardly any.
As a teacher, this is frustrating, because you want to get them practicing skills outside the classroom. Some listen to music, or watch videos online. Many love to chat. Others even enjoy writing long passages and having you mark them. But few practice reading on a regular basis.
Why is this? Well, that’s what I aim to tackle in this article, and at the end, I’ll suggest a few things to help get your students reading in an organic, enjoyable way.
Reading is hard for EFL/ESL students
The biggest roadblock to successful reading a foreign language is the difficulty level. Reading takes effort.
In your native language, reading is mostly a passive affair. You don’t need to look up vocabulary, or parse unfamiliar sentence structures. The words just flow. It’s like cycling downhill, you just have to stay upright and gravity will take you. Nice and easy.
But in a foreign language, there are so many things a student won’t understand, especially if the text is “real”. By that I mean it’s English that natives consume rather than text written specifically for English learners.
Vocabulary is a big issue. Most EFL/ESL students have a decent, functional bank of words, but quality writing, either novels, non-fiction, or online articles use sophisticated vocabulary to describe, suggest, or explain something effectively.
Take this line from Gone Girl, one of the most popular books of this century.
“Danish. I’d come to believe there was no food more depressing than Danish, a pastry that seemed stale upon arrival.”
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, Published April 22nd 2014 by Broadway Books
This sentence doesn’t have overly flowery language, or needlessly complex vocab. But EFL/ESL learners will find it challenging because it contains:
- Two collocations (come to believe, upon arrival)
- Three advanced words (depressing, pastry and stale)
Not to mention the sneaky past perfect in there (I’d come) and the unusual sentence structure.
Even if the student knows the vocab (or looks it up), it would still take quite a while to figure out what this sentence is really saying.
Having to put that much mental energy into the process is draining. Where we were cruising downhill in our own language, for students learning English, reading is like slogging up a steep mountainside.
Reading is a time-consuming process for EFL/ESL students
Sticking with our cycling analogy, consider how long it takes to cycle up a mountain compared to rolling back down.
It’s the same with reading. An average adult reads about 250 words per minute in their native language. The figure for a beginner or lower-intermediate EFL/ESL learner is somewhere between 50 and 100. Even very advanced students will struggle to beat 200.
When I moved to Spain, I began reading the Harry Potter novels in Spanish. It was a great learning exercise, but boy did it take a long time. I packed it in after the fourth book, because it took close to a year to finish, and the experience became a real chore.
All this means motivation plummets. Given a choice between reading something quickly and easily, and spending three times as long struggling through the same thing in another language, it’s little wonder only the most disciplined people maintain a productive reading schedule in the long term.
And that’s if they even care about what they’re reading.
The subject matter isn’t interesting
Imagine your student is a fifteen-year-old book lover who absorbs huge, complex novels in her own language without thinking twice.
Now think about what her reaction would be if you put the same book, but in English, in front of her. Fear. Stress. There’s no way her level of English is high enough to handle it.
So, you give her something that’s suited to her ability level. One of Roald Dahl’s shorter books. Or maybe Charlotte’s Web. These are great books, and have just about enough challenging English, without being too long or overwhelming.
The problem is, they’re not exciting for her. Kids are especially picky when it comes to what they read (if they read at all). Just a couple of years of development and they grow out of “babyish” stories they used to read, and wouldn’t be seen dead with one in their hands now.
And for adults, while there are some enjoyable children’s books, many aren’t engaging enough to keep motivation high through the difficult and long reading process.
If you’re looking for great novels that are approachable for older EFL/ESL learners, check out my list: 9 Superb Novels to Boost Adult EFL/ESL Reading Skills
What about online articles, and texts designed for English learners?
Here, you can have a bit more success. There are a few websites which write plain English news and interest articles. BBC News is a fantastic example. Newsround is great for younger learners.
In the past, I’ve suggested my students make it a daily or weekly habit to read something from these sites, or find blogs about things they’re interested in. But it never seems to stick. Why?
What I think is happening is students don’t want to ruin their interests by making the reading experience a challenge. They want to read about their hobbies and passions in their own language.
So they read less interesting things instead. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that kind of habit won’t last long.
And when it comes to texts specifically written for EFL/ESL learners, I’m yet to find one that’s actually interesting. Especially when they come with comprehension exercises and vocab lists. As concentrated study, they can be helpful, but I can’t imagine any of my students doing that off their own back.
Students don’t learn features of the English language
When English-speaking kids learn to read, there’s a lot that goes into it. Yes, vocabulary and grammar, but there’s also an understanding of the English language itself, including spelling patterns, affixes and synonyms/homonyms.
The English language is rich and messy. That’s why we have so much world-famous literature and, why lyrics in English music have a unique rhythm.
But for EFL/ESL learners, it’s opaque. There’s so much randomness, so many redundant phrases and inconsistencies, that finding patterns is really tricky.
And reading is all about patterns. Words that always go together (collocations), phrasal verbs, and certain prefixes and suffixes that we use inconsistently, are really hard to figure out.
Those things are taught at schools in English-speaking countries. When we (native English speakers) come across a new word, we can often discern its meaning from its shape, structure and the context around it.
Without that kind of exposure to the capriciousness of the language, EFL/ESL students have a hard time finding those key patterns. Sure, you can teach them, but it takes years. And in the meantime, students continue being frustrated when reading.
People don’t read much anymore
The last four points all come down to the same thing. Reading in English is a drag.
But that’s only half the battle. The truth is, people are reading less and less in their own language as technology becomes more interactive and engaging. Audiobooks, podcasts, YouTube videos, and streaming platforms are so easy to access and take with you everywhere you go.
I don’t fully buy the argument that kids these days have short attention spans, like zombie goldfish flicking from one thing to the next. At least not everyone is like that.
The problem is, the format has changed. Reading isn’t as efficient as listening to a podcast, because you can’t do it while driving or out for a run.
Without a regular reading habit in the native language, it’s near impossible to instil one in English.
The fifteen-year-old book lover we mentioned earlier? She’s the minority. And if it’s hard to get her to read in English, imagine what it’s like for that nineteen-year-old university student who spends his free time playing video games, or the businesswoman/mother who has no time in the day to sit and read.
How can we get EFL/ESL students reading more?
We’ve established that for most EFL/ESL students, reading is hard, boring, and time-consuming. It seems impossible to overcome those three hurdles. But we must try.
There are some clear, practical changes to our approach.
1. Change your expectations
Reading a chapter of a novel in English will take a student a long time. As will getting through a full news article. So have them read less, but do it more frequently.
If you teach adults, Morning Brew is a great service which sends daily customised news updates as emails. Most native English speakers spend about 5 minutes maximum reading it, so that’s probably going to be around 10 minutes for intermediates, and 15 minutes for beginners. Not too taxing.
There’s also News In Levels which has daily articles which allow you to choose a difficulty level. This is ideal for beginners, and the articles are very short.
For kids and teenagers, I find comics like Asterix and manga are quite popular, as the pictures provide interest and context, and the amount of English isn’t overwhelming.
Variation is key. Don’t make students always read the same type of article, instead expose them to different sources and styles. It feels like less of a routine and they learn more diverse language.
2. Introduce opportunities for reading in students’ everyday life.
Get students seeing written English more often. The best way to do this is by changing the language on their phone, computer, or games console.
Now, you don’t want to start by forcing them to change everything all at once. But take one thing at a time.
Video games are a great opportunity to do this, because they’re inherently fun, and the overall experience won’t be massively affected by having English present. Instructions, controls, menus and subtitles in English will get students more familiar with the language.
I have one student who is obsessed with Minecraft. He has learned so much English from that game, and has vocabulary coming out of his ears. The next step for him is to introduce English into other parts of his life, maybe the language on his phone or certain programs on his computer.
3. Set engaging homework
If they have puzzles to solve, presentations to prepare, and projects to complete for homework, they’ll naturally read English outside of class.
Anything that engages them and requires a small amount of focused reading is perfect. With a few classes, I play a tabletop role-playing game which has quite a lot of rules and mysteries. Students love reading up and preparing for the next class to make sure their adventure goes to plan.
4. Combine reading with other skills
This method may be the most effective of all. Combining reading with listening, writing and speaking, creates a more dynamic and holistic approach.
The most obvious way of doing this is to have students listen and read at the same time. Listening is a passive skill, just like reading, so the two mix well. Students can use subtitles on a video/audio, or a transcript of a podcast they enjoy.
Writing is a complementary skill, too. It deals with words on paper, and sometimes reading the writing of their peers helps with the whole process.
A fun idea is to set up a pen pal in an English-speaking country. Students will be very motivated to learn about the person they’re connecting with, and will pay a lot of attention to the letters they receive.
If you can’t manage to set it up, why not take the pen pal role yourself? Have a fun exchange of letters every class, or send emails to each other between lessons. You can really tailor what you write to their ability and interest.
For upper intermediate and advanced students, you could play the written Narrative Telephone game. Students have to read a story and try to remember it, then write it down for the next person to read, and the chain goes on, just like in the Telephone game.
To learn the rules of Narrative Telephone, head to this link: 9 Exciting EFL/ESL Activities for Writing & Spelling and while you’re at it, check out the other ideas there.
Speaking might not seem to combine so well with writing. But you can take your lesson to the next level by having students read aloud the text, while adding a dramatic flair.
Get a fun passage of dialogue from a book, and have students read it with all the emotion and silliness they’re comfortable with. If students aren’t that confident, just reading aloud is a good way to cement the relationship between letters and sounds.
Conclusion
There’s no quick fix to reading issues with EFL/ESL students. The trifecta of interest, time and difficulty make it a constant uphill battle. But hopefully the ideas in this article will inspire you to stick with it.
And if you can find your own ways of making reading engaging, swift and appropriately challenging, all the better. After all, you know your students best. One approach may work for some, but another path may suit other better.
Remember that your efforts will bear fruit when your students go on to flourish, with their reading capabilities standing above the rest of those whose teachers didn’t do what you did!
