Reading English for pleasure is enjoyable, but when you have to read for understanding, it can become quite difficult. One tool which can help EFL students master reading comprehension is a graded reader.
The beauty of graded readers is that they are enjoyable and they develop the student’s reading comprehension skills. There are a lot of publishing houses in the UK that publish graded readers, for example:
As the name suggests, these books are graded in levels.
These stages/levels cater for all the CEFR levels from A1 to C2. Each book has the number of headwords and the CEFR level clearly printed on the cover.
Graded readers are usually simplified abridged publications of literary classics and more modern novels. Students get the opportunity to read some of the best novels written in the English language. The readers are illustrated and a glossary is provided for the more unusual words.
Additionally, readers contain a number of activity pages that may contain any of the following activities:
- reading comprehension questions
- ordering of events activities; true/false activities
- multiple-choice questions
- cloze tests; and matching activities.
Once you, the TEFL teacher, have decided on a particular reader you can start using it as a tool to further the students’ reading comprehension skills.
Top tips for using graded readers:
The book should be used regularly.
On completion of the classroom reading, you should discuss what has been read. The students can explain plots, vocabulary, and figurative language.
The book should be used for homework. Assign a particular chapter to be read as well as the activities that have to be done – then review the activities in class.
The TEFL teacher should supplement the book’s activities by making worksheets designed to test particular aspects of the book, for example, worksheets for discussing the uses of the tenses; figurative language; classify vocabulary.