Reading: The Total Package

How can I get a better TOEIC score? How should I build my vocabulary? How can I understand the way native speakers really speak?

These are some of the questions that English Instructors are asked almost every day. There are, of course, many different answers, just as there are many different types of student. One of the answers that always surprises students is, “read a book”. I can understand their surprise. E.L.I. is, after all, a conversation school. Our methods in class focus on interaction, creation and two-way communication. Now, considering all of this, why would I recommend something as flat and lifeless as a book? The first reason is that books (good books anyway) are anything but flat and lifeless. Good books challenge us and make us think to fully interpret the meaning behind the text．The narration and dialogue in a good novel is a world away from the wooden sentences found in most textbooks. In many ways a textbook needs an instructor to bring it to life. A good book needs only an active imagination.

There are many other elements of English in both fiction and non-fiction that are rarely present in textbooks. Slang, inference and poetic imagery are some of the most challenging aspects of English for non-native speakers and yet they are usually absent from most academic texts. Reading helps students to build a flexible range of vocabulary to fit a number of different occasions. It’s not just vocabulary. To see English grammar at its best, you really must read the work of the language’s greatest writers. Language isn’t just a list of grammar rules and vocabulary. It’s a living, evolving, cultural phenomenon. Without understanding the culture of a language you can only ever hope to scratch the surface of it. Reading a book fills in these cultural blind spots that can hold you back from using and understanding English in real-life situations.

So, even if you are not a big reader in your native language, try reading something in English. It doesn’t matter if it’s a novel, a newspaper report, a biography or a movie review. The most important thing is that you find it interesting. So go ahead, dive into a book and discover that reading really is The Total Package.