The
first difference is that Extensive Reading covers large area, while
Intensive Reading covers narrower area. According to Graham Stanley,
Extensive Reading involves students reading long texts or large
quantities for general understanding, with the intention of enjoying the
texts. It means that students are given freedom to choose their own
topic which they think are interested to be discussed. In this case, the
students also have to find supported articles related to the topic in
order to give them background knowledge, so that they know more about
the topic they have chosen. It is different from Intensive Reading that
does not allow the students to find a topic they like. The topic is
given by the teacher. The students also do not necessary to look for
supported articles because the topic which is chosen by the teacher is
usually short and easy to understand.
The
second difference is about students’ activity in class. In Extensive
Reading the students’ activity is more complex than in Intensive
Reading. The students, in Extensive Reading class, usually are asked to
write a summary after reading an article/ passage. As we know, writing
summary is not an easy thing to do. It allows learners to assert full
control, both of the main factual or fictional content of an article/
book, and of the grammar and vocabulary used to express it (Bell, 1998).
Besides, the students also will do a short presentation on what they
have read. By doing short presentation, the students will have knowledge
of the right preparation, self- independence and autonomy (Bell, 1998).
While in Intensive Reading, instead of writing summary and having
presentation, the students are asked to answer some questions related to
the topic which is given by the teacher. Usually, all of the answers
are available on the text, so that the students only rewrite it.
The
last, Extensive Reading will discourage the over- use of dictionary
(Bell, 1998); on the contrary dictionary is a must in Intensive Reading.
It is true that dictionary have an important place in reading activity,
but as stated by Bell (1998) that the students will focus only on the
language if they always consult the dictionary every time they find an
unfamiliar word. They will not pay attention to the message conveyed.
Bell also said that this habit will cause inefficient reading and
destroy the pleasure that reading is intended to provide. Graham Stanley
from British Council, Barcelona said that by avoiding dictionary, the
students are expected to be encouraged to jot down the words they come
across in a vocabulary notebook and they can look them up after they
have finished reading. It will make the students guess the meaning based
on the context. By doing this, the students are able to always remember
the meaning of a word because they find it by themselves. Meanwhile in
Intensive Reading, students have to find difficult words while they are
reading. The frequency of using dictionary is often because in Intensive
Reading, a text will be used to answer some questions, so the students
have to know the meaning of all words in the text in order to make them
easy to answer the questions.
In
conclusion, through doing complex activities, Extensive Reading can
broaden students’ knowledge more than Intensive Reading. In Extensive
Reading, students write summary and do presentation which lead them to
minimize the use of dictionary. In opposition, the students’ activities
in Intensive Reading are more limited. The activities depend on the
teacher’s guidance only. This kind of activities will not encourage
students to explore their abilities; they cannot broaden knowledge by
themselves as well as in Extensive Reading.
REFERENCES:
Bell, Timothy. 1998. Extensive Reading: Why? And How?. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IV, No. 12, December 1998. http://iteslj.org/Articles/Bell-Reading.html (Accessed on October 13, 2005)
Stanley, Graham. _____. Extensive Reading. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/read/extensive.shtml (Accessed on October 13, 2005)
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