Teachers Sourcebook for Extensive Reading

By:
George Jacobs, James Cook University (Singapore)
Thomas S.C. Farrell, Brock University

Published 2012

The best way for students to learn to read and to come to love reading is – surprise, surprise – by reading in quantity. Unfortunately, many of today’s students read far too little. This lack of time spent reading is particularly unfortunate, as reading constitutes a bedrock skill, essential in all subject areas. Thus, we teachers need to devote curriculum time to not only teaching students how to read but also to encouraging them to read extensively. This is what Extensive Reading is all about.

Teachers Sourcebook for Extensive Reading provides hundreds of teacher tested ideas on how to do Extensive Reading. The book begins with an introduction to ‘the what’ and ‘the why’ of Extensive Reading. Thereafter, the book consists of three parts. Part 1 discusses finding materials for Extensive Reading. Part 2 offers ideas for motivating students to read and for activities that students might do after they read or while they are reading, including cooperative learning activities. Part 3 looks at how teachers can serve as advocates for Extensive Reading.

Among the book’s distinctive features are breaks for reflection, first person accounts from teachers, and ideas for doing Action Research and other forms of teacher investigation and research on Extensive Reading. We hope that you will find the Teachers Sourcebook for Extensive Reading to be a practical book, but also informed by theory and researh. We also hope this book will make a difference for your students in their test scores and, even more, in their attitude toward reading, now and in the future.

CONTENTS
Introduction. Chapter 1 - Extensive Reading: What and Why. PART 1 – MATERIALS FOR EXTENSIVE READING. Chapter 2 – Finding Materials for Extensive Reading. Chapter 3 - Students as Writers of Extensive Reading Materials. Chapter 4 – Teachers as Writers of Extensive Reading Materials. PART 2 – IMPLEMENTING EXTENSIVE READING. Chapter 5 – Motivating Students to Read. Chapter 6 – Activities to Accompany Extensive Reading. Chapter 7 – Cooperative Learning and Extensive Reading. PART 3 – TEACHERS AS ADVOCATES FOR EXTENSIVE READING. Chapter 8 – Convincing Colleagues and Ourselves to Use Extensive Reading. Chapter 9 – Doing Our Own Research on Extensive Reading. References.

REVIEWS
"Overall, this book... represents a valuable new resource for teachers seeking useful ER activities that have been used successfully by practicing teachers. Teachers who want to implement ER in ways that are more dynamic by incorporating cooperative learning in their classrooms can also benefit from the various activities introduced in this book." Namhee Suk Northern Arizona University in Reading in a Foreign Language

"Teachers Sourcebook for Extensive Reading (TSER) by Jacobs and Farrell is an easy-to-read tool for introducing beginners to and reminding experts of the theory and practice of extensive reading (ER)." Mike Misner University of Hawai’i at Manoa in Reading in a Foreign Language (Read full review)