Pat Conaway
About
I teach at a small private university in north eastern Japan. I’ve been interested in extensive reading for several years now. I’m especially interested in transfer of skills from reading to writing and speaking. Also, Recently I have been experimenting with using cooperative board games to help develop my students interactive speaking skills.Sessions
School Graded Readers' Coverage of Kyotsu Test Entrance Exam more
Despite evidence supporting its effectiveness, Extensive Reading (ER) is still not widely adopted, particularly in Japanese high schools, where teachers unfamiliar with ER have expressed concerns about cost, limited class time, and its effectiveness. One possible reason for this hesitation is the perceived lack of transfer to performance on university entrance exams. However, the English section of the Japanese Common Test for University Admissions (Kyotsu Test) is designed to assess reading and listening skills as they apply to real-world communication. Fluent comprehension of relatively simple texts is now an integral part of the exam, suggesting that ER could be an effective preparation method. This poster presentation examines the test’s question formats and reading passage characteristics. Additionally, it explores how the vocabulary and syntax profiles of several popular ER book series align with the Kyotsu Test reading passages by compiling and analyzing a corpus of test passages and graded readers.
All Levels Four Practical Tools to Add to the ER Teacher`s Toolkit: A Workshop more
While appropriate difficulty and compelling content are essential for extensive reading, “linked skills activities” (Nation, 2024) that incorporate students` reading can further enhance learner engagement in coursework. This workshop aims to introduce four tools to use with ER and provide teachers with actual practice and takeaway materials. Reading Circles (Furr, 2009) include unique roles for students to address in discussions on common reading texts. Six Hats Thinking is a structured discussion format where participants first adopt a shared perspective before exploring others and can be used for selecting books. Mini-Bibliobattle is a 3-minute oral book report competition where attendees share their different favorite books and Q&A sessions decide a champion title. ER with Audio Support explains how reading-while-listening is key for development in young learners where novice readers decode words with phonics using audio/visual cues to aid comprehension. The sessions will share guidelines for instruction and feedback, and student reactions.
