Free voluntary reading

An eye-opening look at the latest research findings about the success of free voluntary reading in developing high levels of literacy.

Free voluntary reading looks better and more powerful than ever. Stephen D. Krashen, PhD, is an advocate for free voluntary reading in schools and has published many journal articles on the subject. Free Voluntary Reading: Power 2010 collects the last ten years of his extensive work and reconsiders all aspects of this important debate in light of the latest findings.

The book provides an accessible examination of topics, such as free voluntary reading's value in language and literary acquisition domestically and worldwide, recent developments in support of free voluntary reading, whether rewards-based programs benefit the development of lifelong reading, the value of phonics in reading instruction, and trends in literacy in the United States.

• Introduction p. vii
• 1 Eighty-Three Generalizations About Free Voluntary Reading p. 1
• Research on Sustained Silent Reading p. 1
• Guidelines for SSR p. 9
• 2 Does the Power of Reading Apply to All Languages? p. 23
• First Language Development p. 24
• Heritage Language p. 25
• Foreign Language Studies p. 27
• 3 Extensive Reading in English as a Foreign Language by Adolescents and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis p. 33
• Access p. 35
• Duration p. 35
• Results p. 35
• Summary and Discussion p. 39
• Conclusion p. 40
• 4 Should We Reward Recreational Reading? p. 45
• Evaluating Accelerated Reader p. 46
• Is Accelerated Reader Harmful? p. 49
• A Jump-Start? p. 50
• The Cost p. 50
• Alternatives p. 50
• 5 The ôDeclineö in Reading in America: Another Case of the ôShock Doctrineö? p. 53
• Are Americans Reading Less? p. 54
• Are We Reading Worse? p. 56
• ôNo Single Barrierö to Raising Reading Rates? p. 58
• 6 Does Intensive Decoding Instruction Contribute to Reading Comprehension? p. 61
• Evidence from the National Reading Panel p. 62
• Evidence from Direct Instruction p. 62
• The Clackmannanshire Study p. 63
• Is Decoding Proficiency Part of Learning to Read? p. 63
• Heavy Skills Instruction Not Necessary p. 64
• 7 Free Voluntary Web-Surfing p. 67
• The Computer as Skill-Builder p. 68
• The Computer as a Source of Written Comprehensible Input p. 69
• The Computer as a Source of Comprehensible Texts p. 71
• Free Voluntary Surfing p. 72
• Conclusion p. 77
• 8 Hypotheses About Free Voluntary Reading p. 81
• The Forgetting Hypothesis p. 82
• The Effortless Reading Hypothesis p. 82
• The Unawareness of Acquisition Hypothesis p. 83
• The Comprehension Checking Hypothesis p. 83
• Conclusions p. 85
• Index p. 87