When we read we really have no choice. We must develop literacy.
We rarely find well‑read people who have serious problems with
grammar, spelling and so on. They write acceptably well because
they can’t help it. They have subconsciously acquired good writing
style as well as the conventions of writing. Our problem in
language education, as Frank Smith has pointed out, is that we
have confused cause and effect. We have assumed that we first
learn language skills and then apply these skills to reading and
writing. But that is not the way the human brain works. Rather,
reading for meaning, reading about things that matter to us is the
cause of language development.”
So, very interesting, what does that mean? So what it means is that you don’t first learn
skills. You learn writing skills. You learn spelling skills. You learn how to do a sentence.
You learn how to make a paragraph. And then later you can read and write well. That’s
exactly the opposite of what actually happens. What actually happens is you read and
you read and you read. You read sentences. You read paragraphs. You read stories.
You read books. You read novels. And after reading so much you subconsciously, you
intuitively acquire, get, learn great reading skills, great writing skills, great vocabulary,
great grammar. It comes from reading a lot for pleasure. The reading comes first. And,
in fact, I would add listening to that. And Dr. Krashen adds that as well.
This article is about reading but, in fact, listening is the same thing. So when you’re
reading and listening a lot, that’s the first step. And you need to do so much of it.
You’ve got to read and listen for pleasure, for fun, a lot, a lot, a lot. Now the good news
is you have to do it a lot but it’s fun, it’s easy. You’re listening to stuff you like, so it’s
okay. You’re reading stuff you enjoy. You’re not thinking about grammar rules. You’re
not thinking about vocabulary. You’re just reading and listening and enjoying yourself.
You do that first, the grammar skills then come later. They come from the listening and
the reading. The writing skills come from reading a lot. Your vocabulary comes from
reading a lot and listening, too. Your pronunciation comes from listening a lot. It’s the
input that is the most important. And specific kind of input, it’s got to be meaningful,
real, enjoyable, pleasurable. So that’s the power of reading.
Now I’m not going to talk about all the specific research studies in this book, but if you
like get his book. The book is called The Power of Reading, that’s the title, The Power
of Reading. It’s by Dr. Stephen Krashen. Now Stephen is spelled S‑t‑e‑p‑h‑e‑n. And
Krashen is spelled K‑r‑a‑s‑h‑e‑n, so Dr. Stephen Krashen and the book title, The Power
of Reading. You can get it on amazon.com. So if you want to see all the huge number
of research studies at different universities around the world about this topic of reading
and learning better grammar skills, better vocabulary, better speaking, better
pronunciation. If you want to see the proof, the evidence, then get his book.
You can look at all the different studies. There’s so many of them. But, y’know, if you
trust me you can take my word for it. You can trust that I am trying to help you as best I
can, that I really care about you. You can trust that this is in fact how it works. That if
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