Reading Practice

INTENSIVE READING

To read intensively is to completely deconstruct a text or find specific information whithin a text (reading comprehension), with the goal of absorbing as much meaning from it as possible. This is done by taking a text, and systematically looking up every word, phrase, or collocation that you do not understand.

This is an activity that requires great mental effort and focus. Because of this, the learner who engages in intensive reading must be careful to follow specific guidelines, or else risk boredom and burnout. Specifically, if you wish to read a text intensively, you must take care to read texts that are interesting and short, to read only for brief periods of time, and to do so when you have the most mental energy.

EXTENSIVE READING

To read extensively is to simply read as much as possible, without concerning oneself with the minutia of meaning and the occasional unknown word. This is done by reading for large swaths of time, and looking up words only when you deem it absolutely necessary to your understanding of the text.

If the text you wish to extensively read is at the appropriate level, you'll find that most unknown words can be deciphered by looking at their surrounding context, making overt use of translations or dictionaries unnecessary.

Extensive reading is meant to be a fun and pleasurable experience, requiring a low expenditure of mental effort. The more extensive reading you do, the more language you are exposed to, allowing you to increase your passive knowledge of vocabulary quite quickly.

Specifically, if you wish to read a text extensively, you must read texts that are interesting, level-appropriate, of moderate length, to read when you can dedicate longer blocks of time, and to do so when you are relaxed.