ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Curtis Kelly

Chuck Sandy

Panelists: Curtis | Peter | Marc | Chuck
Date: May 2005

Topic: "How does one set up a reading class, especially in situations where extensive reading is not an option? "

Chuck Sandy

For those of us who not only make our living with words but also take great pleasure in them, it's hard to imagine non-readers. Before we go too far, though, take a moment and do exactly that. If you are a reader, you are probably imagining someone who does not enjoy reading the same kind of things you do. Now, stop right there, because we're at the very root of the problem. In fact, by using the terms readers and non-readers we're creating a divide and very likely a problem that would not exist if we'd only adjust the frame.

“We're then taught that literature is something so difficult to understand that we need a teacher to guide us through it. Unfortunately, that sort of thinking is as pervasive as it is ludicrous.”

Still, given that schools and scholars have so solidly constructed this frame, it's a difficult one to adjust. We're usually taught in schools that reading means reading literature. We're then taught that literature is something so difficult to understand that we need a teacher to guide us through it. Unfortunately, that sort of thinking is as pervasive as it is ludicrous.

As one 9th grader I know quite well put it, while struggling to diagram the plot structure of a classic novel, "teachers sure know how to take all the fun out of reading, don't they?" This same boy, who regularly devours soccer magazines and manga, is well on his way to becoming a non-reader -- as defined within the traditional frame. So is his elementary school brother, who loves reading information books about animals and planets, rocks and insects, but who hasn't much interest at all in stories. Will they become like my father, a man who reads two newspapers and a handful of financial reports every day, yet still says about himself, "I'm not much of a reader"?

Or will they become like some of my university students who cringe at the word literature and look almost ill at the prospect of having to read even a graded-reader ­ no matter how good a book it might be. These students call themselves non-readers, yet many of them read online and stuff their bags with manga and magazines. They're not non-readers. They're people who either have tired of school reading or who were taught in school that reading is something it isn't: beyond them.

While I share the missionary zeal of Marc and others, I've broadened my focus over the years. I now see that it's my job to get the right reading material into the hands of the right people ­ no matter what that reading material is. If you're a soccer fan, I'll find you soccer magazines. If you're interested in fashion, I'll lead you to some appropriate and accessible websites. If you like shopping, I'll bring you some catalogues. If you like manga, I'll find some in English for you to read. Then, if you're in one of my classes, I'll not only give you some time to do that very real reading in class, but also the chance to tell others about it. In this way, we not only do away with that equally divisive term extensive reading, but also let non-readers know that they are in fact readers and that the sort of reading they enjoy doing most is included and valuable.

Then, there are those few chances I have to help students unlearn everything they learned about literature. In my poetry seminar, I have twelve students who have chosen to be there. Each week, each student chooses a poem in English to share with the others. Their only job is to read the poem and explain why they chose it and what they like about it. Others listen and comment. We don't talk about rhythm or meter. We don't analyze. I don't tell them anything about the poets or the poem ­ unless they specifically ask. We most often end up talking about ideas or feelings in the poem that resonate with them: alienation or frustration, new love, lost love, the various and usual joys and heartbreaks. They'll read a poem and then say something like, "this is how I felt when I broke up with my girlfriend" or "last week I went to five job interviews and failed them all. Then I read this poem, and it made sense to me." Is that enough? Yes, yes, and yes. There could be no better response than the ones they have.

Still, in one of the first sessions this year, one student asked me, "Aren't you going to tell us what the poem means?" I explained that I wasn't going to do that because my reading of a poem is no more valuable than theirs, that they have to learn to trust their own reading and interpretation. It's taken them weeks and weeks to get to the point where they are able to do this, but now that they are, it's a real joy to see the pleasure they get from telling others, who will listen carefully, what something they've chosen to read means to them. As they unlearn what school has taught them about literature, they become more confident about themselves. They begin to see themselves as readers, and so cross the artificial divide their schooling and our usual frame of reference has set up for them.

Panelists: Curtis | Peter | Marc | Chuck

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Chuck Sandy, Chubu University

Co-author of two series from CUP, Passages and Connect

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