“I don’t know how one develops imagination without reading fiction.” —Diane Ravitch

If you haven’t encouraged your world language students to read novels, think about it. These novels are not classic literature in the target language. Most of our students are not ready for that. Rather, short novels are a special genre of language learner literature: vocabulary controlled, interesting stories of between 2,000 and 10,000 words. There are more and more of these kinds of materials being produced every day because teachers are discovering that reading novels is one of the best ways, if not the best way for students to grow in the language and as human beings. Reading novels is advantageous to students both as language learners and to developing a well-rounded life. Here are some reasons why:

  1. MORE VOCABULARY and MORE GRAMMAR

Readers acquire more vocabulary and grammar from novels. In a novel the vocabulary tends to repeat itself more than that in non-fiction texts because the setting and the situations are revisited and referred to over and over. This repetition of contextualized vocabulary helps a reader to pick up both high frequency vocabulary as well as the specific words used in the novel. The repeated vocabulary and grammar become automatic. Contextualized, interesting and repeated comprehensible input is what gets students to acquire language. Studying vocabulary lists and practicing grammar with drills is neither as effective nor as enjoyable simply reading.

 

“Less frequent words… may best be learned by reading extensively, because there is just not enough time to learn them all through conscious study.”

―Norbert Schmitt, Vocabulary in Language Teaching

 

“The study of complex grammatical constructions does not help reading (or writing); rather, mastery of complex grammar is a result of reading.”

―Stephen Krashen, The Power of Reading

 

“Picking up word meanings by reading is 10 times faster than intensive vocabulary instruction.”

—Stephen Krashen

 

Creating Lifelong Readers 

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105027/chapters/Creating-Lifelong-Readers.aspx

 

  1. MORE FUN

Reading novels is easier and more fun. For most students reading novels is more enjoyable than reading other kinds of materials. Reading novels can be easier because stories lend themselves to prediction. Once you understand the genre, the setting and the characters, you can often guess where a story is going. This natural interaction with the text makes reading fiction easier and more pleasant than non-fiction, especially for young readers and for language learners. It is this element of pleasure that leads students to develop a life-long pleasure reading habit. This ease of access creates what psychologists refer to as “flow.” Reading is the most popular flow activity in the world.

 

“There is overwhelming research showing that recreational reading in a second language is a powerful means of improving grammar, vocabulary, spelling and writing ability ― and it is far more efficient and far more pleasant than traditional instruction.”

―Stephen Krashen, Taipei Times editorial, Sept. 14, 2004

 

Build Your Vocabulary the Novel Way:

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Verbal-Energy/2013/0703/Build-your-vocabulary-the-novel-way

 

  1. BETTER RELATIONSHIPS

Fiction readers have better relationships. Reading fiction serves as a relationship simulator. It helps readers to develop real-life social skills by giving them low stake rehearsals for the complicated relationships they will encounter in real life. In novels we can preview the social situations that we will encounter to prepare us to meet them better.

 

Your Brain on Fiction  by Annie Murphy Paul

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2

 

  1. BETTER LIFE LESSONS

The life lessons in novels are easier to understand. It is easier to pick up the life lessons in fiction than those in non-fiction texts. The lessons in non-fiction may be more direct, but they are not absorbed as well as those in fiction. Fictional stories can change the reader’s views and reinforce understanding because the lessons are absorbed subconsciously along with the story. Counterintuitively, the focus on the story in a novel helps readers to understand the author’s core message more clearly than straightforward non-fiction.

 

“Reading emails, newspapers, magazines, company reports, and messages on cellphones may extend our knowledge… but they don’t change us. Reading stories can make a difference to our life.”

─Frank Smith, Reading FAQ, p. 30.

 

Why Fiction is Good for You, Jonathan Gottschall

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/04/28/why-fiction-good-for-you-how-fiction-changes-your-world/nubDy1P3viDj2PuwGwb3KO/story.html

 

A Leadership Author on Why You’re Better Off Reading Fiction for Lasting Lessons, by Craig Chappelow  https://www.fastcompany.com/3013003/dialed/a-leadership-book-author-on-why-youre-better-off-reading-fiction-for-lasting-lessons

 

  1. MORE EMPATHY

Novels help readers to develop empathy. In a novel we are allowed to peek inside the heads of others and explore their motivations. Novels help us to develop perspective or Theory of Mind, which is the ability to understand the ways others think and feel rather than just our own selves. In our virtually connected, but emotionally isolated, digital age we all need help with empathy. Reading novels that we enjoy and can understand is a good way to encourage the growth of empathy in us all.

 

How Does Fiction Reading Influence Empathy? An Experimental Investigation on the Role of Emotional Transportation (2013) P. Matthijs Bal , Martijn Veltkamp

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055341

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0055341

 

  1. MORE SMARTS

Reading fiction makes you smarter. All fiction has elements of real life in it. Even though the story is fictional, not everything is completely made up in a novel. The setting is often factually correct and much of the background information is real as well. As students read fiction they pick up tidbits about the real world. Every fiction author infuses the work with morsels of real psychology, sociology, philosophy, economics, history, geography, biology, linguistics and many other subjects. When students read a novel, they learn something about how real life functions along with the story and this gives them greater understanding of the world. As Stephen Krashen puts it, “Those who read more fiction know more about a variety of subjects.”

 

Those Who Read More (Fiction) Know More. (2012) By Stephen Krashen  http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/05/those-who-read-more-fiction-know-more.html

 

  1. MORE ENGAGING AND MORE PERSUASIVE

These all add up to the fiction being more engaging and more persuasive than non-fiction for most readers. Fiction tends to be more emotionally powerful than non-fiction. Empirical facts are probably more important, but fiction does a better job of reaching, teaching and persuading readers. Fiction can change their minds because it touches their hearts. Good stories show us what really matters by engaging our emotions and our subconscious minds.