Krashen



Stephen Krashen is a professor of education at the University of Southern California and author of “Condemned Without A Trial: Bogus Arguments Against Bilingual Education.” He speaks and writes about bilingual education and the benefits of reading. Specifically Free Voluntary Reading. Free Voluntary reading is just that, reading because you want to. Most schools show this in SSR, sustained silent reading. Krashen makes the argument (and backs it up with research) that students who read more will read and write better and will TEST better. Students with access to books that interest them and time every day over months, preferably years, will become lifelong readers and will be more successful academically. They will even do better on tests and as Krashen points out it won’t be because they studied for the test but because they picked up the grammar, vocabulary and comprehension skills while reading.

[|Benifits of Free Voluntary Reading (from correlational studies)] 1. More reading > better reading 2. More reading > better writing 3. More reading > more writing (SY Lee) 4. more reading > read faster (Anderson, Fielding) 5. more reading > know more about literature (Stanovich) 6. more reading > know more social science (Stanovich) 7. more reading > more cultural literacy (Stanovich) 8. more reading > have more practical knowledge (Stanovich) 9. more bible reading > more knowledge of bible than "study" (Filback) 10. more reading > better grades in writing class (SY Lee)
 * 11. || more reading > better TOEFL performance (Constantino, SY Lee, KS Cho; Gradman & Hanania) ||
 * 12. || more reading > less writing apprehension (SY Lee) ||
 * 13. || more reading > less writer's block (SY Lee) ||
 * 14. || more reading > less memory loss (Rice) ||
 * 15. || more reading > more hobbies, involvement in the world (NEA) ||
 * 16. || reading helps you sleep (Nell) ||
 * 17. || FVR is pleasant (Csikszentmihalyi, Nell) ||
 * 18. || Eminent people nearly all voracious readers; (Simonton) ||

TJB