You only need to read for 30 seconds anywhere on this blog to know that I take comprehensible input (reading and listening) very seriously.
Get enough comprehensible input and your English level can go as high as you want - or so the theory says.
But since progress with this approach is measured in hundreds of hours, choosing the wrong reading and listening materials can cost you a lot of lost time and unnecessary frustration.
So to keep you on the progress express train, today we’re going to talk about OPTIMAL INPUT.
Let’s get into it.
The Four Principles of Optimal Input
According to Steven D. Krashen, optimal input is:
Comprehensible
Extremely interesting
Rich in language
Abundant
Comprehensible
How do we measure comprehensibility?
The simplest way is to calculate the percentage of unknown words in a text.
Fortunately for us, researchers have a good idea of ideal percentages, suggesting a sweet spot around the 98% mark.
98% In Context
Reading | Listening | |
Number of words per page/minute | 300 | 150-250 |
Unknown words at 98% comprehension | 6 | 3-5 |
At 98% comprehension reading or listening should feel quite comfortable. At this level we can often understand new words just from the context, making a dictionary optional.
You can experience this for yourself by reading the following text. It contains two nonsense words: shole and krinned.
John and his drum
John had a drum.
It was a big drum.
It made a big shole when he krinned it.
John liked the drum.
Can you guess what they mean?
Even if you don’t understand words like shole or krinned the first time you encounter them, you still acquire a small part of the meaning when you see them in context.
With enough reading and listening eventually all, or nearly all of the meaning and grammar is acquired.
Ensuring that your input is comprehensible allows you to maintain this level of comfort as your level continues to rise.
The Motivation Seesaw
Too many unknown words leads to quickly evaporating motivation.
The higher they go, the lower the motivation.
Like a seesaw.
My Chinese Seesaw
It’s late 2020 and I’m in a Chinese bookshop in Madrid’s Chinatown. For the last few months I’ve enjoyed some success with Chinese graded readers, going from the 1,000 word level to 3,000. I’m excited to see what I can read next with my newfound reading ability.
I buy a cookery book - easy to read, loved it.
I buy a YA (Young Adult) style novel - read it quickly, loved it.
And finally, I buy an illustrated book for children about Chinese history.
It is now May 2024 as I write this post and I have just finished the damn thing!
This is why I think it took me so long:
Too many obscure words.
Historic customs I didn't understand.
Too many rare Chinese characters in place names and personal names.
Not enough background knowledge on the topic.
Inconsistent reading frequency.
Put simply, it had too many unknown words for my level.
It’s not the first time I’ve chosen poorly (and it probably won’t be the last), but of the four principles of optimal input this is one we as learners get wrong most often.
Extremely Interesting
In her book The Book Whisperer, teacher and writer Donalyn Miller shares her experiences and strategies on motivating reluctant readers.
By giving children:
freedom to choose their own books
plenty of opportunities to read during class time
personalised recommendations based on her intimate knowledge of the books in the class library
Most of the kids easily achieve their goal of reading 40 books in 1 year.
This is especially impressive when you consider that the kids have usually only read 1 or 2 books in the previous year, and only then because they were required by the school.
Flow vs. The Affective Filter
It's likely that Miller's school pupils entered into a state of flow when they read books they were extremely interested in.
Flow for learners of a 2nd language has been described as temporarily forgetting you are reading or listening in a 2nd language.
In flow, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation are processed more deeply at a subconscious level, while limiting the effects of the affective filter.
Rich In Language
Rich language contributes to the flow of the story or text and automatically contains new elements that we are ready for.
Novels are particularly rich in language. They are 'rich' because:
a) the language is extremely diverse.
b) the fictional worlds provide context, imagery, and vocabulary that support our understanding.
In studies, narrow reading, of the type done with novels by the same author, or as part of a series, produced superior results when compared to a more varied approach.
Sounds like a good excuse to read Harry Potter again if you ask me.
Abundant
We require a lot of comprehensible input to make real progress.
How much?
To answer that question let's make some calculations based on Beniko Mason’s student targets and data supplied by The Extensive Reading Foundation:
No. of Headwords (start point-end point) | Total Words to Read (to reach 20 repetitions of new words) | Required Time (60 pages/18,000 words per week) | Required Time (125 pages/37,500 words per week) |
600-1,000 (elementary to low intermediate) | 80,000 | 4.5 weeks | 2 weeks |
1,001-1,600 (low intermediate to mid intermediate) | 130,000 | 7 weeks | 3.5 weeks |
1,601-2,200 (mid intermediate to upper intermediate) | 227,000 | 12.5 weeks | 6 weeks |
2,201-3,000 (upper intermediate to low advanced) | 425,000 | 23.5 weeks | 11 weeks |
3,001-3,800 (low advanced to mid advanced) | 560,000 | 31 weeks | 15 weeks |
TOTAL | 1,522,000 (includes 100,000 words to reach 600 word level) | 78.5 weeks / 18 months | 37.5 weeks / 9 months |
This next chart from The Extensive Reading Foundation shows reading time estimates to grow vocabulary from the 1,000 word level to the 9,000 word level.
Assuming you start at a level of 1,000 words, you have to read 200,000 words of text to reach the 2,000 word level.
This chart bases its calculations on receiving 12 repetitions of new words instead of 20.
The hours needed per level are calculated at a reading speed of 150 words per minute.
At 5,000 words native speech becomes comprehensible.
At 9,000 words you should be able to read almost all native level texts.
So, using the above data and running a couple of calculations...here's what should be achievable:
What could 1 hour of reading a day do for your English?
Now you know the how, why, what, and when of optimal input, it's finally time to learn where to find it. Next post, The Definitve Guide to reading and listening resources.