John Bankier Extensive Reading World Congress September 4, 2011

1. Not all books are created equal: How to set realistic targets and give grades to learners of different reading levels John Bankier Extensive Reading World Congress September 4, 2011

2. Discussion Questions • How many books would you hope students would read in a 14-week semester? • How many books do your students actually read? • How do you set targets for your students? Number of books, words, pages, or something else? • Are you required to give a grade for your students’ ER performance?

3. Teaching Context • ER program across 90 students of mixed abilities • Variation in • abilities in classes • nationalities and reading experience • Necessity to • set targets across classes and the school • give reliable grades to students based on effort

4. Approaches to Setting Targets • Large variety but consistently either in terms of books or pages/words • Both systems have disadvantages when used for mixed ability groups • Key assumption: We need to set a target for all students to meet, which can then be used to determine grading

5. Book-based Targets • 12 books a semester, one or more books a week • Ideal when • targets can be adjusted depending on student level • targets are only targets: not used for grading • Problems • exponential increase in number of pages/words through levels • variations between publishers (headwords are fairly consistent, but actual page/word counts are not)

6. Average number of pages

7. Number of words read Note: Based on a partial sampling of Penguin Readers, Oxford Bookworms Library and Cambridge English Readers. Adapted from http://www.seg.co.jp/sss/shohyou/word-count.html

8. Higher and lower level students will be reading much more or much less • Some students read faster, but not to this extent • One book a week is not sufficient for those reading lower level books • develop reading fluency • less work for the same grade • One level 5 or 6 book a week is not a realistic target • more student time for the same grade • Rewards underachieving • encourages students to read the shortest books • discourages students from reading longer books • Not all publishers are consistent across their own levels: e.g. Ladder Series (ラッダーシーリズ)

9. Page-based Targets • 500-1000 pages a semester • Advantages over book-based targets • fairer for those reading mid- to high-level books • encourages reading of longer books • Potential problems for mixed levels • 1000 pages is not an achievable target for many • a lot more work for low level students • encourages students to read longer, more difficult books

10. A Credit-based System Major assumptions 1. • As it is hard to test for achievement in ER, grades should reflect effort, represented by time spent reading 2. • 12 books at Cambridge or Oxford Level 3 per semester is used as a benchmark: an achievable midpoint 3. • Pages rather than words were used rather than words 4. • Lower level books should be worth more credits because students read more slowly • Higher level books should be worth less credits because students read more quickly • However, the disparity should not be as great as publishers’ levels • No data exists to show how fast students read, hence a “best guess” is necessary

11. 12 level 3 books a semester = average 700 pages • 700 pages is the target • One page = 0.1 credit • One semester = 70 credits, 12.7 books • 70÷700=0.1 • This calculation is used to work out credits for each level

12. * Based on achieving 70 credits

13. Examples (Rounded up or down to the nearest 0.5) • Level 6 book of 95 pages: (70÷1000=0.07)×95=6.65 (6.5 credits) • Level 2 book of 40 pages: (70÷600=0.12)×40=4.6 (4.5 credits) • Level 4 book of 75 pages: (70÷800=0.09)×75=6.5 (6.5 credits)

15. Comparison of Different Systems

16. Grades • Can be set based on credits achieved • Example: 70 credits = A, 60 credits = B, 50 credits = C • Consistent across all classes and levels of students

17. Advantages of Credit-based Targets • Students spend a more equivalent amount of time reading: grades are fairer • Encourages students to move up levels but discourages reading the hardest books right away • Discourages students from reading books that are too easy for them

18. Conclusion • Book-a-week and page-based targets work well with non-mixed groups, or when grades do not need to be set • A credit-based system allows teachers to set targets across a whole institution or mixed-level group • These targets translate into letter grades, representing the amount of time spent reading

19. Please email johnbankier@yahoo.co.uk to receive a copy of the spreadsheet or visit