Dear English Learner… Reading English? …Please Choose Wisely!
The wrong text can make you doubt your ability!
Dear English Learner…
I’ve already told you, in a previous post, that reading is an excellent way to improve your English, both in terms of increasing your vocabulary and seeing natural sentence construction.
I’m FOR reading in the language you’re trying to learn. That being said, let me tell you about one of my private students (an A2-B1 level, depending on the subject) and his experiences with reading.
Spoiler: It’s an exercise in frustration.
“The Conquest of Happiness”
My student read the title of this book and thought, “Hmm, looks like an interesting read!”
Here’s an excerpt from chapter 1:
Let us suppose that you are in New York, the most typically modern of great cities. Stand in a busy street during working hours, or on a main thoroughfare at a week-end, or at a dance of an evening; empty your mind of your own ego, and let the personalities of the strangers about you take possession of you one after another.
You will find that each of these different crowds has its own trouble. In the work-hour crowd you will see anxiety, excessive concentration, dyspepsia, lack of interest in anything but the struggle, incapacity for play, unconsciousness of their fellow creatures…
Or, again, watch people at a gay evening. All come determined to be happy, with the kind of grim resolve with which one determines not to make a fuss at the dentist’s. It is held that drink and petting are the gateways to joy, so people get drunk quickly, and try not to notice how much their partners disgust them. After a sufficient amount of drink, men begin to weep, and to lament how unworthy they are, morally, of the devotion of their mothers. All that alcohol does for them is to liberate the sense of sin, which reason suppresses in saner moments .
- Bertrand Russel, The Conquest of Happiness, excerpt from chapter 1.
This is a tough text for an English learner.
Problems with this Text Choice
There are a number of reasons why this text is not an ideal choice for my student:
- It was originally written in 1930: Language back then was much more formal and the words didn’t always mean the same thing that they do today (a “gay evening” in 1930 simply meant a pleasant/happy evening).
- It was written by a philosopher: Philosophers are not known for their short, easily understandable sentences. Instead, sentences tend to be much longer, with many nuances and secondary clauses (eg. the second sentence is roughly 4 lines long).
- Much of the vocabulary & the structures used, would be considered formal among first-language English speakers. There is little chance that my student will run into such language in everyday conversation.
- My student is an A2-B1 level learner: This text is simply FAR beyond his level. While he can read the text reasonably well, his understanding is overwhelmed and it can take us 20 minutes to go through a single paragraph, trying to understand vocabulary words, non-standard uses of certain parts of speech, & overall structure.
I know what you’re thinking…
“You’re the tutor, suggest something more adapted to his level.”
The answer: I have made that suggestion.
I suggested that we try to find a version of the book written in slightly more contemporary English:
- an English that would be easier to understand
(remember… if the brain gets stressed by too much work and is rewarded with too little understanding, it begins to create a mental block. Learning slows or stops and there is less and less motivation to pick the book up again another time.) - an English that would be more useful for him to learn.
(a key goal of reading is to learn vocabulary and structures that the learner can then use in daily life. Using those words / structures frequently helps him or her anchor this newly obtained knowledge.)
… but my student expressed a desire to continue with that particular book… as-is.
Since I believe that learners should be partially responsible for their learning experience (ownership is a factor in success), and since I questioned it once, highlighting my concern. I opted to follow the student’s lead and we continued with it.
The Jury’s Still Out
Currently, I have a bit of doubt about how long we’ll continue with the book: It remains to be seen.
In our past two sessions, my student has expressed frustration about the difficulty of the text. Sometimes it’s a ‘hum and a haw’ before we begin, sometimes it’s an outright “This text is very difficult!” when we finish a section.
He is finding that it’s very slow reading, that he has to look up a lot of words (only to find out that some of them are not commonly used in modern English — lots of work with no perceived value = pain), and the sentence structure itself is quite difficult.
For now, I’ll continue to let him lead, and I’ll follow his lead. Perhaps, though, I can leave you with a couple tips about choosing reading material to improve your English…
7 Reading Choice Tips
- Choose something just a beyond your current comfort level.
If it’s too easy, there will be little or nothing new to learn. If it’s too difficult, you may get frustrated and decide that “reading in English isn’t for you.” When that happens, you cut yourself off from a great teacher. - Allow yourself to not understand every word.
If you are able to come away from a text and you understand the overall or general meaning, that’s already a good thing. Celebrate it as a victory. If you feel that you have to look up every. single. word. … it stops being an enjoyable part of learning. - Choose modern texts.
Older texts use more formal language and often, more complicated structures. Something written fairly recently will generally give you terms and phrases that can be heard in conversation. - Short-form writing is your friend! (eg. magazine articles/blog posts)
Until you’re very comfortable with the language… go for texts that are fairly short. They allow you to finish quickly and feel a sense of accomplishment. Lots of short-term wins like that are great for your motivation. - Don’t discount texts written for youth / teens.
If you would like to read more classic literature, but your level is not quite up for the challenge, look for a version of the book written for high-schoolers… something that may be slightly simplified. - eBook or Paper?
While it completely depends on your personal preference, one thing I personally like about paper is the ability to take notes in the margin. - Online vs. Offline reading?
To this I’d say… why limit yourself to one or the other. Both have their value but for sure, the amount of free content available online is unparalleled… I’d just recommend having a notebook where you can write down new vocabulary. - Don’t be afraid to leave a book you’ve started.
If you have started a book that you aren’t enjoying, you can be tempted to tell yourself …“I MUST keep going, otherwise I’m a quitter.” … There’s no reason you can’t come back to it later… but for right now, it risks turning you OFF from reading as opposed to encouraging your English language learning.
Remember…
Your goal is to come away from your reading time with a sense of satisfaction (not frustration). If you do (come away satisfied), you’ll more easily return to reading again and again. By doing this… reading will help you improve your English.
