Kobe KaiseiCollege
Kobe
Kaisei College

Choosingreading textsforthe languageclassroom:
Issimplification a complication?

Lori Rink
Reading is a vital skill, whether
Through reading, everyday
tasks arein a firstor
undertaken

andsecondlanguage.

completed,

sueh

as

or fo11owing
writtendirections,taking the correct amount ofa prescription, callinga business listedin the phonebook, exploring
theInternet for news or information, or readinga newspaper
headline.
Therefbre,itis imperative to eneourage
language learnersto become comusinga map

in their second language, particularly ifthese students
English in social, educational,
or professional settings.

petent readers
want

to useExtensive Reading

One way

is to use extensive reading in
the Ianguage classroom.
Extensivereading is defined as reading novellength materials
for pleasure while focusingon the meaningof the text
ratherthan on the Iinguisticfeaturesand their roles in the text. In its
a large amountpurist form,itis readingof selfiselectedmaterials
forpleasure at a consistentpace (Day& Bamford, 1998) and is difft}rent
fromintensive
readingin that the purpose of reading is to focus on the text's
messageratherthan on individual
words
and
their linguisticroles within
the passage or text (Bamford& Day, 1997). For this paper, extensive
reading
encompasses
both individualpleasure reading outside of the classand the use of novel-lengt]hliterarytexts in the ESL classroom.
Studentscan evolve from beginning readers to experienced
readers
through extensive
reading.
While beginning readers
mayapproachreading with bottom-upstrategies: reading word for word, using a dictionary
to promote reading

competency

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Kobe KaiseiCollege
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for directtranslation,or focusingon the surface structures
sueh as contextureadersmayalso use top-down approaches,
experienced
al guessing or predicting. It is important to teach both intensive andreadingin the ESL classroom
in order to provide students withextensivea text. Becauseintenstrategies
fbr understanding
any and all necessary
sivefacilitatesa bottom-up approachreadingreadingfacilitatesa top-down approach,supplies

the students

withing texts.
Additionally,extensive

the necessary

to reading

extensive

whileof these methods

a combination

tacties for coping with challeng-helps students to avoid
selection"subjectwitheachreading(Leki,1993, p.14).
up fbr a new
to build up
classroom
time needed
Using one lengthierBovel eliminatesbackgroundknowledge fora subject that may be unfamiliar to students.
Introducingthe topics and main ideasin a novel will only need to be done
for one text,rather than many short separat)e texts. This will be lesscogand will allow
them to focus on the one text
nitively taxing on the student
anditsmeaning.
Literatureandclassroom

for many

conceptualizedandreading"gear[ing]alsohave played a role in the ESIIEFL
years. Michael West, an English teacher in India,
reading

extensiveproduceda version

duringtheof the graded reader

reading"in
1920's,and in 1969, Harold Palmer coined the term
language setting (Day & Bamford, 1998). In the mid l980s
a second
Krashen's Input Hypothesis and the importance itplaceson comprehensiof the targetlanguage
literatureas a richresource
ble input,emphasized"extensive(Larsen-Freeman& Long, 1991). With the premise that the morecompre-to, the more the learner'ssecond
hensibleinput a student is exposed
free reading
guage ability will develop,Krashen began to champion

grams such
In a review

assustainedsilentreadingandselfselected

readinglanpro-(1988).

in nothat studies resulting
Krashen concluded
skillsreading
between extensive
statistic differencesgroups and reading
reading.
This is because
supportthe use of sustainedgroups actually
results

showedthe studentsofresearch,

detrimentaleffbcts forthe extensive reading group andreading task more eajoyable
presumably found the sustained
no

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Collegethan drills.
Krashen (1988)
also
negative

results

forsustained

the few studies

criticized

as being carriedreadingwhich

eut onobtaineda short-termbasis rather than a long-term timeline. This, indeed, is a possiblefiaw
because research
indicates that reading abilities develop gradually1991).
(Grabe,The benefits
ofextensive

reading,

inereasevocabulary,reading

structuralandawareness,

speed,

however,are numerous; it can help
baekgroundknowledge,motivation,(Grabe,1991). The extensive

assuranceread-

ing bootstrap
hypothesisdeseribesthe genesisof a student's love of books.
As students discoverthat they ean read in a second language and that theexperience

is rewarclingvatedenthusiastic

and

and
about

then invest their enthusiasm

well

the effort,

worth

reading

students

will

be moti-(Day & Bamford, 1998). They will

into the next

text where

they will findmore

Thus, a lovefbrreading in the second language develops,and thelearnercontinues to acquire
language skills, motivation,and positiveattitudes toward reading.
AIso,according to Day and Barnford (1998),
extensive reading
can be seen as practical experienceandas having an educationalpurpose forthe students.
success.

Second Language Reading ResearchMultiple factors
have been proven to influencesecond language reading comprehension,such
as amountof vocabulary,text length, clausal
complexity,
ability, topicinterest,reading
prior knowledge, Ll reading
anxiety,and more.
In 1995, Grabe reviewed
the L2 reading research
andidentifiedthe fbllowinginsightsinto ESL reading:1) native Ianguage
influences second languagereading
development, 2) there is a "second
language proficiencythreshold",meaning
the learner's
firstlanguage
readingabilities affect hisor her L2 reading
abilities, 3) students
needtobe aware of language usage and genre forms 4) discoursestructures andare important 5) an extensive
vocabulary
is necgraphic representations
essar sr6) metacognitive
strategies
are important 7) extensive
readingisneededin the ESL classroom8) social contexts influencethe developmentof reading
in a second language 9) it is essential to use content-based
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instruction10) integratingboth readingandwritingin an ESL settingiscritical.

Frommultilevel
the rich, complex,
andprocesses of adults
readingin a foreignlanguage, researchers have developedcognitive models of readingin order to describethe process and learners'strategies
Pharis & Liberto,1989; Fitzgerald,1995; Swafft]r,1985). Yet,
(Carrell,these models
do not fu11yexplain the "whole
picture" of the L2 readingin the conclusionthat furtherresearchis still needed toprocess, resulting
completely
understandall of the variablesin the process and the learner's
needs
in the reading classroom.

exploring

Limitations of Past Solutionsto Locating Texts
that extensive
readingbrings beneAlthoughwe can see from researchfitsand is necessary, choosing literatureforthe adult language learneristhat isbothinteresting
and linguisproblematic because loeatingmaterial
is a challenge.
To remedy
thistically accessible
to the adult student
their own
several tactics 1) creating
predicament, teachershave employedstoriesor othermaterials
2) using adolescenttexts,and 3) using
short
modifiedtexts, such as graded readers.
The followingdiscussionexpliis problematic.
cates whyeach of these solutions
One solution is fbrthe teacher to generate a suitable text.A benefitof
is that it can be specialized for particular classwriting
a story or novel
room
turned author" is not a new concept in
topicsand levels."Teacher
Michael West a teacher in India durthe field.As previouslymentioned,ing the 1920's,createda versionof graded readers(Day & Bamfbrd,1998). However,the need to write materials for extensive reading adds aburden onto teachers who already face time-consuming duties and an
intensiveworkload.
Additionally,a teacher's talentmay not extend intocreative
writing,andto do so may have caused critiprevious attempts
cismagainstthe textsas being
unnatural,
unreal,bland,and apedagogical dead end" (Dayand Bamford, 1998, p. 52). Ultimately,many
teachers do not feelthey have the time or the talent to produee original"stilted,reading

materials

fortheirstudents.
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The second solution, using adolescent
literature,
may also fa11short ofthe learner'sneeds. Many instructors
use adolescent
literature
with adultis intuitedas a linguisticallyappropriate
level
for a text, which is supported by evidence
that itmay provide a more
appropriate
lexiconforthe adult languagelearner. Lexicaldensityisan
important factorto consider because there is a tendency forinstructors
andlinguiststo simplify the lexisof texts (Young,1991) and because
vocabulary
has a significant impact on reading
comprehension(Grabe,1991; Grabe, 1995; Nation & Ming-Tzu, 1999). Unfortunately
fbr beginners and intermediatestudents,
a liMitedvocabulary
places the reader into provide what

students

the beginner's
paradox, a termcoinedby Coady in 1996 to describethethrough extensive
problem of a learneracquiring vocabularywhen
the learner does not know enoughwords
fbr fiuent reading1997). Bamfbrd and Day (1997)
see the situationas a"cannot
dents
understandenoughof the foreign
languageto makereading(Dycus,"Catch-22";

.

most

writtenorder

to develop reading

vocabulary

sense

of

yet they must read the foreignlanguage influency"(p.3). This poses the question ofwhat

andmaterial,

abilitiesstu-

are necessary

forextensive

reading.

Laufer's researchsuggeststhat the second
languagereader should
know 95% of the words in a text forfluentreading and contextual
guessing (Nation& Ming-tzu, 1999; Nation & Waring, 1997). This allows thestudent

to readata morerapid

pace and to allocate

appropriate

cognitive

text aspeets, such as schemabuilding. In
research
conducted
by Hirseh and Nation (1992),
itwas estimatedthat avocabularyof 2,OOO English words
will cover 90% of the textin adolescent
literature,ju$tunder
the suggested
percentage for fluent reading,
Therefbre,unmodified
adolescent
literaturemay
have a mote appropriate
lexiealdensityforthe adult learner.
Yet, the subject matterof adolescent
literature does not always
address
adultinterests. Severalreading
listshave been produced formatureESL readers, and these listsoften recommend
young-adult literature. The University
ofSouthern
California
Language Academy'sreading
list,forexample, contains renowned
such
as Judy
young adult authors,
strategies

toward

other

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Blume, Paul Zindel, S.E. Hinton, and Robert Cormier (O'Connor&
however, their primaryWoolsey,1998). These authors are exemplary;audience
is younger than the adult Ianguage learner. Although adolescent books may
contain simpler language than their adult counterparts,
the subject matter is still designedto attract and keep the interestof anadolescent.

inereases
This diffbrsfrom firstlanguage reading in that the literature
in difficulty
to match the audience's cognitive level.Children begin readup
to picture books withing picture books with fewer words, then movelanguage readers move from children's litmore
text. In manycases, firstor nonto adolescent
literature,and eventuallyon to adult fiction
erature,topics fbr the reader.
fiction.Additionally,books incorporateappropriate
For example, picture books may includeitems that a young child would be
the alphabet,or namesof animals
and shapes.
learning,such as numbers,
Often in adolescent literaturethe protagonistis young and may be facing
such
dilemmas as fightingwith parents, peer pressure problems, highlove. Adult literaturemay focus
a firstschool situations, or experiencing
on family relationships,
historicalevents, or marital issues. Therefbre,
meets
the firstlanguage reader's cognitive and affecwell-chosenmaterial
tiveneeds.
This is not the case for second language adult learners.
An adult ESL
itposloseinterestin an adolescent novel because,althoughstudent may
needs,
itIacksa topic
sibly comescloser to meeting the student's linguistic
to his or her life.In order to teach the whole perof interestor relevanceenthusiasm,
itis necessary
to correctly match
son and to sparka studenVs
the audience.
A student's identification
withliterature
the material'toto read, thereby
desireto continue
may be the impetus for a student's
attainingoneof the goals of extensive
reading (Day & Bamford, 1998).
Iiteraturehas the possibilityof not meetingthe
Unfortunately,adolescentitandthere is still the question of whether
studenVs
affective needs,
meets

the student's

cognitive

needs

with

actuallinguistic
simplicity

beyond the lexicon.
The thirdsolution, the use ofmodified-

texts,suchasgraded readers,

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because,according to research, differing
methods
of modificationhave resulted in aiding reading comprehension
or impeding it.
also problematic

Therefbre,
research
examining
the pedagogical practice of modifying
texts
has contradictory
findings. Modifieationcan be done both linguistieallyandcontextually
linguisticadjustments(Young,1999), For example,
includeshortening
sentences,
omitting
or restating
idiomatieexpressions,avoiding
or replacing
low frequencyvoeabulary
withhigher frequency
vocabulary,shortening

plexityof sentences,maticalstructures,

adapting

an original

rating,and explaining.

the text length, restructuring

the syntactic comenhancing
the text to call attention to certain gramandContextualmodifications
areglossing words.
literaryside plots,clarifying,elabopieceby deleting

Modificationof literature
is done in orderto manipulate

the text toRichards believesthat "the readabilityof a text depends on the ease with which
the reader can identifyand inteshort-term
memory,agrate its underlying
propositions. If the reader'scognitive
variable,
is overloaded with information that can be related totwo or more possibleinterpretations,the reader may have to stop andread again"(p.103). Ifstudents are forcedto read the same material multiple times, this decreasesmotivation
andis disadvantageous forsecond
languagelearningas itmay cause frustrationfrom ambiguousinterpretations ef the text's meaning.
Although modificationof original
material,enhancereadingcomprehension.

linguisticadjustments
provide the necessary
for language learners, it could also limitcomprehensionin other areas,such
as redundancy(Ross,Long & Yano, 1991; Young 1999) and can
obscurecohesivenessand localized
infonmation(McKay, 1982). Therefore,
itisimportant to understandthe limitationsof modified and unmodified
texts in the language classroom.
The use of graded readersin the languageclassroom
isa long-standing
tradition.However, language teachershave appropriately
criticized some
simplified
versions.
In one instance,Moby Dick was abridged into sixty
pages fbrESL students, leavinginstructorsto wonder about what remaining qualitiesthe text had to offer (Valdes,1986). Similarly,Day and
such

as

simplification,

may

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Bamford admit"criticism

isjustified,
for they canandhard to read, and can lack normal
andcohesion"(1998,p.57). Thus,

df simplified

materials

uninteresting,be peorly written,
text featuressuch as redundancy
can help or hinder,itisimportantto understandbecausemodification

strengths

andweaknesses

In 1987, Parker andof graded

readers.

that used simplifielaborations
cationandlor(Larsen-Freeman& Long, 1991). Of the fourin favor of simplificareading studies, three found statistic significancelinguisticfeatures,and elaboration,
tion, changing
the text to simplify
concepts
in the text, to aid in reading comprehenexpanding
on difficult
findingscontrary to the use ofsion. Yet,research has also produced some
texts. Although there is support
forcertain types of modificamodified
tions,there are also instances of no statistical ditTerencesfor modifications, sueh as Blau (1982)
andShook (1977),as cited in Ross, Long andcan be explainedby the role of
Yano (1991).Some of these contradictions
where
one
tasks (recal1,
cloze, multiple
choice, etc.) used in the studies,supportsimplificationwhile
a secondtask'sresults do not.
task'sfindings
does not always lead to
As mentioned
earlier, syntactic simplification
betterreading comprehension(Ross,Long &Yano, 1991; Young, 1999).
that is manipulated
when
Yet, syntactic structure
is a common
element
adapting

Chaudrontheexamined

researchtexts (Lucas,1991). In a study that supports

modifyingsyntac-examining
the effect of prior knowledge,syntacticstructure, researchers
ticcomplexity, and topic on inferencegeneration modified textsto include
multiplelevelsof embedded
clauses(Barry& Lazarte, 1998). The stureadersandlower knowldents,divided into groups of higher-knowledge
for withedge readers,then performed a recall task, which was evaluatedandincoiTectinferenees.The researchers
in text inference, elaborations,text
found that each group ofstudents increasedthe production ofwith-inthe largestgrowthinferenceswith the higher knowledge group showing
rates.
Although a major aim of this study was to help describethe relait does show thattionship of the variables
on second language reading,complexity
forces readers
to infer,and inference sometimes
syntactic
results in miscomprehension.

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In addition, Leow (1997)showedtext Iength to be a significant variable in reading
comprehension
by comparing
unmodified
andenhanced
texts. The enhanced
textswere modified to call attention to grammaticalandstructures

to adjusttures. Leow eoncluded
secondsemester

textlengthon intake of those grammatical struc"textlength plays an importantrole in facilitatingcollege-level

students'

of authentic

comprehension

writ-text"(p.166).
In another study, Young (1999)looked at the intuitive
simplifications
madeby both teachers and linguists.The majorityof the modifications
wereIexi'eal
andthere was no statistical significancebetween the twogroups. The second part of the study was conductedwith
127 second-year
Spanish foreign
languagestudents, who read three texts:one modified by
the instructors,
one modified
by a linguist,and one unmodified
passage.
After reading, the students
test and aparticipatedin a multiple-choice.tentask that was

fbr main idea units. The researcher
concededthat
relationshipbetween the number of modifications and recall scores
is not clearly establishedin this research"(Young,1999, p. 359).
However, the passage with the Ieast amountof manipulations
had thehighest recall scores and the two textswith the highest amountof manipulations
scoredlower that the unmodified
version.
Ultimately,Youngconeludes(1999)
that,as Leow proposed in 1993, simplification's
influencein reading comprehension
is difficult
to determine ifthe modifications
arerecallscored"adone arbitrarily.
To furtherexplore(1991)conducted

the role of text modification,

researchtext tYpes: simplified,comparingRoss,Long, and Yano

the readabilityofthree diffbrent

An elaborated version
expounds
on ideas in the text,whichmay
be difficult
for a language learner to understand,andmayincreasetext length with the added explanations. AIthough the use of elaborated texts increasedthe student's performanceon a reading
comprehension
test of 30 questions,itwas a modest
comparedto the groups with the unmodified
and simplified
texts.
This findingis particularlyrelevant fbr the Englishteacher in that it
it is more eflbctive to spend time on crepresents the question ofwhether
elaborated,

and unmodified.

.mcrease-

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College'minimallyin reading cornprehentext,which may help
sion, or to spend
time on motivating
the students in exploring unmodified
materials.
From thisstudy, itseems the time may be betterspent buildtexts.
forunmodified
ing the students' backgroundknowledgeand schema
The study also demonstratesthe need fortextpublishers to be thoroughly
about
adapting(SIA)researchgrounded in second languageacquisition
ating

a modified

materials.

In conclusion,
readingin a second language is a complex
process,
research.
requiresmore
which
we do not fuIIyunderstand,and which
However, results show that there are a .number of factorsthat influence
language reading ability, priorknowledge ofthe process, includingfirstandsemantics.
Although research has been
the subject matter, lexicon,
it does show that certain
mixed
in regards to using modified
materials,
Therefbre,English
modifications
do not lead to a higher readability.
teachers needto take this information into consideration

as

well

as

an

graded reader, young
fiction,or an unmodified
text. Additionally,teachers need to focus
adult
and
backgroundon instructingthe student,
particularly in vocabularytotext in order for the students
knowledge when using an unmodified
motivation
avoid
the bookstrap hypothesis and for them to maintain
adult'saffective

needs

when

choosing.betweenatowards reading.

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