Silent Reading: Dr Jacobs

Silent Reading

By Dr George M. Jacobs 

The focus of this book is on Reading Aloud. So, why do we have a chapter on silent reading? We have included silent reading because a key rationale for reading aloud is to motivate children to read silently on their own.

Also, we want to make it clear that our reading aloud to children should continue after children have learned to read on their own. Our continued reading aloud allows us to introduce them to new types of books by new authors, to maintain the bond that reading aloud has built between us and the children and to give children continual reminders of the wonders that reading offers. Nonetheless, silent reading should eventually become the main type of reading that children do.

In the international comparison of reading levels of children of nine and fourteen-years-old in 32 countries, referred to earlier in this book, two crucial factors associated with reading success were children being read to by adults and reading alone silently. These two forms of reading support one another.

When to begin silent reading

Just because we begin reading aloud to children from a very young age does not mean that children should be pushed to begin reading silently from an early age. In fact, Finland, the country that came out on top in the international comparison of reading levels of children, does not begin teaching children how to read until they are age seven, although they do lots of reading aloud to children before that.

Another Scandinavian country that does well in literacy is Norway. George once met a Norwegian reading expert who told him that when five-year-olds come to her and say that they want to read, she tells them to go out and play!

The point is that if we push children, perhaps they will indeed learn to read sooner, but at what cost? Will they burn out on reading at a young age and do it only as something they do when they have to, not as something they will want to do for the rest of their lives? That would be a terrible price to pay. Further, just because some children start to read at an earlier age than others does not mean that the early readers will do better than the later readers. Children’s attitude towards reading is more important than the age at which they begin to read.

Instead of pushing children to start reading on their own, we should let children learn to read at their own pace. They may start by picking up a book and pretending to read it. They are imitating what they have seen us do. Also, children will often begin to read along with us as we read aloud to them. Sometimes, this demonstrates some ability to read, but in some cases it merely demonstrates that the child has memorized parts of the book.

How to choose books for silent reading

Choosing books for silent reading is much the same as choosing books for reading aloud. Factors to consider are whether children will be able to understand the book and whether the book connects to children’s interests. A big difference with books for silent reading compared to those for reading aloud is that with silent reading, children do not have us there to help them. Of course, we can first read a book to children before they read it on their own.

Another difference in selecting books for silent reading is that normally it is the children who do the choosing. This is where our earlier efforts at familiarising children with libraries and bookshops will bear fruit. Giving children choice is an important factor in the success of silent reading. Children are more likely to read books that they themselves have chosen. Also, by choosing for themselves, children learn the important search skill of finding reading materials that they will find enjoyable and useful.

Children often find a particular author or series that they enjoy and will read many books by that author or in that series. A former colleague of George’s from Indonesia, Dr Willy Renandya, credits the Perry Mason series of books (about a lawyer) with helping his English ability take a major leap. Other children find a particular subject, such as dinosaurs or foreign countries, to be of great interest and will read many books on that subject.

For instance, Wan Inn’s youngest son, Jason, was very keen on books about insects, spiders and other animals because he wanted to learn which were poisonous and how to keep poisonous animals. He would keep poisonous spiders in jars under his bed and read books to find out how to care for the spiders, for example, which live prey to catch to feed his spiders. It is interesting that despite his attention deficit, Jason could concentrate when it came to reading books with information he wanted.

Repeated reading of book in the same series or on the same topic aids comprehension, because children become familiar with the characters and settings of the stories in the series, and they acquire vocabulary related to the topic. Also, particular types of books tend to contain the same range of grammatical structures. Reading of many books of the same type builds familiarity with these structures.

A controversial issue is whether or not reading comic books, a favorite of many children, can help improve reading skills. We should not be too quick to condemn comic books.  First, not all comic books are alike; comics differ greatly from one another in terms of content and language. Second, we should view comics as a beneficial starting point for reading of other types of material.  Wan Inn’s son Julian used comic books as a way to strengthen his command of French and Chinese: Astrix comics for French and martial arts comics for Chinese.

We need to remember to use reading aloud to interest children in new types of reading, whether it is a new book series, a new topic or a better kind of comic book.

One technique that children can use to decide whether a book is too difficult for them is the Five Finger Technique.

a.       Children open a book to any page at random and begin to read.

b.      When they encounter a word they do not know, they put a finger on it.

c.       If they have used up all five fingers before they reach the end of the page, the book may be too difficult.

Silent reading at school

Nowadays, most schools promote silent reading. There are many different names for silent reading programmes. Among the acronyms used for these programmes are:

BEAR (BE A Reader)

DEAR (Drop Everything And Read)

DIRT (Daily Individual Reading Time)

FVR (Free Voluntary Reading)

SURF (Silent Uninterrupted Reading for Fun)

SQUIRT (Sustained Quiet Uninterrupted Reading Time)

USSR (Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading)

Perhaps, DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) needs a bit of explanation. What this means is that at a certain time everyday, everyone in the school drops what they are doing and begins reading. In this way, the adults provide good models for the pupils.

Another term for silent reading programmes in schools is Book Flood. A book flood, as the name implies, involves students being supplied with a large quantity of books at a wide variety of difficulty levels and about a wide range of topics. The approach used in book flood combines reading aloud by teachers with silent reading by students. The purpose of the reading aloud is to excite students about reading, to suggest books for them to read and to build their reading skills. Research on book flood programmes suggests that this combination of reading aloud by adults and silent reading by children can powerfully impact reading levels, vocabulary growth and grammatical knowledge.

Cross-age tutoring is another excellent programme for promoting reading. In Singapore it is called Buddy Reading. Older children, perhaps about age 10 read to children age 6 or 7. Secondary school students are also involved sometimes. These older children serve as role models for reading enjoyment.

Follow-up tasks for after reading

One issue that teachers and other adults face concerning silent reading is whether to ask children to do something when they finish a book so that we can check on whether they have really read and understood the book. Most experts worry that if we ask children to write a book report or do some other big task for every book they read, they may stop reading so that they can stop writing book reports. Even if children do not mind reading book reports, the writing demands time which might better be spent doing more reading.

Instead of book reports and other tasks children may find off-putting and time-consuming, some teachers informally ask pupils about what they are reading and have read, just like we ask children and our friends about other things they are doing. Similarly, some teachers organise pupils to share with one another about what they have been reading. In this way, children receive ideas from their peers about which books to read and which to avoid.

At home, we can participate in encouraging silent reading in school by asking children about what they are reading. If children are reading books in a language we do not speak, it does not matter. They can use a language we both speak to tell us about their books. This book talk should be a natural conversation topic, not an interrogation or a test. In the same spirit, we can chat with children about the books we are reading.

One short, simple idea for keeping track of what children read silently is some kind of record keeping. This can be a list that includes features such as title, author, date completed, rating (how the children liked the book) and who they might want to recommend it to. Maybe the children would like to recommend some of their books to us. We can join in by keeping similar lists. This kind of quick, easy record-keeping task may build children’s feeling of accomplishment when they look at all the books they have read. Also, because the task is brief, little time is taken away from doing more reading.

More colourful record keeping devices can also be used. For instance, children create a Reading Tree by cutting out and drawing a big mango tree to tape to a wall in their bedroom or elsewhere. Each time they finish a book, they cut out a paper mango, write the name and authors of the book on the mango and tape the mango to their tree. Before long, their tree will be filled with wonderful fruit. An alternative to trees can be a dragon or a millipede, with each book making the animal longer.

Views of pleasure reading

Unfortunately, when some teachers and other adults see the term ‘pleasure reading,’ they automatically think that anything pleasurable, anything fun cannot be any good for children. These people believe in the ‘no pain, no gain’ view of learning. As a result, silent reading programmes often are seen as optional extras, which are replaced by more ‘important’ activities, such as exam preparation.

However, large amounts of research dispute this view. Indeed, many scholars believe that we learn language best when using it as a tool to achieve our goals in life – communicating with others, doing everyday tasks and finding enjoyment. Thus, large amounts of pleasure reading may actually be the best way to prepare for exams. Research strongly suggests that a solid link between the volume of reading children do and their level of academic achievement.

While children need to spend a lot of time being read to and reading on their own, explicit instruction on how to read can be a useful supplement. In explicit instruction, the emphasis in on language as an object to be studied rather than as a tool for understanding what we read. We turn to such explicit instruction in the next section.

How silent reading differs from explicit reading instruction

The most common type of reading in most schools is known as intensive reading. In this explicit form of reading instruction, students normally work on short reading passages with close guidance from the teacher. The aim of intensive reading is to help students obtain detailed meaning from the text, to develop reading skills - such as identifying main ideas and recognizing text connectors - and to improve vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Intensive reading often includes comprehension, grammar and vocabulary exercises.

In contrast, silent reading programmes encourage pupils to read on their own. Pupils develop reading skills and language skills as they read. It is important to remember that these two approaches to teaching reading – intensive and silent reading – serve different, but complementary purposes. Similarly, when we read aloud to children, although our main focus is on the meaning of the text, we will sometimes want to draw children’s attention to aspects of the language used in the book.

How to encourage silent reading

Even more than in the past, children are surrounded by distractions that can tempt them away from reading. Fortunately, there is much we can do to encourage children to make reading a regular habit.

One of the best things we can do to encourage children to read on their own is what we have been repeating again and again in this book. We should be reading aloud to children regardless of their age. In this way, we send out advertisements for the pleasure and benefit the reading provides. Just like a company does not put its advertisement in a newspaper or on television only one day and expect that will be enough to attract customers, so too should we provide children with repeated advertisements for reading.

In addition to reading to children, we should also be sure that children see us reading silently, instead of watching television all the time. We do not have to be reading the same books that the children are reading, but sometimes this is not a bad idea. As both George and Wan Inn have discovered in our reading aloud, children’s books can be enjoyable for us adults. For instance, reading all the fairy tales and other favourites to children brings back fond memories of our own childhoods and the pleasure of being read these same stories.

Wan Inn’s children used to ask her whether she had read a particular title in a series they were reading and, if she hadn’t they would then borrow that book from school for mum! George finds that knowing about children’s books is a great way to strike up a conversation with kids. They are impressed to meet an adult who knows about books they enjoy.

Many children think of silent reading as work, something they have to do for a book report or to prepare for an exam. Yes, these are purposes for reading, but we should help children find time to read for their own enjoyment and to satisfy their own interests. In other words, reading should also be seen as a form of recreation. One way to help children find time to read for pleasure is to turn off the television and begin family reading time.

Of course, children have many other demands on their time, not the least of which is their school work. Nevertheless, even if children do pleasure reading only 20 minutes a day or about 2 hours a week, over the course of a year, that will amount to many, many books read. Our motto should be “Every little bit helps.”

School holidays can be times for extended pleasure reading sessions. We need to help children prepare for this with trips to the library or bookstore and lots of reading aloud to whet their appetites.

Readathons and Reading Bees and Readathons are exciting ways to encourage children to read. Joanne and Julian both loved participating in them. In a Readathon, children read as many books as they can over a set time period in order to raise money for a charity such as one that helps sufferers of multiple sclerosis. The money is donated by sponsors who pledge to pay a set amount for each book read by the child they are sponsoring.

Helping children find a good place to read is another way of encouraging silent reading. While some children prefer sitting at a desk or table, others may prefer a comfortable chair or a big pillow. Also, we should check that the lighting is adequate, and we should do what we can to lessen distractions, such as television and noisy siblings.

Many adults worry about the possible damage that too much reading can do to children’s eyes. For instance, avid child readers have been known to resort to smuggling a torchlight into bed with them and reading under the blankets when the bedroom light is out and they are supposed to be sleeping. George used to do this. Research has found no links between eye damage and reading too much or reading lying down, although too much reading with inadequate light can make anyone’s eyes tire more quickly.

If there is any truth in reading damaging eyes, my children and I will be in serious problems, the way we read. No the problem is that when children are avid readers, one has to restrict their reading so that homework gets done and they go outdoors and play. Most parents can’t get their children to read so if your children become avid readers, have a good laugh at all the things children will try and do to read, including complains from teachers that they read and not pay attention to the teachers.