In short
- Struggling readers are often caught in a slow, joyless cycle; easier books and a quick early success are the way out.
- Start below the pupil's tested level, with short texts and audio support, and let pupils choose and abandon books.
- In a year-long high school study, students who did not read for pleasure in their first language felt joy and accomplishment after finishing a whole English book.
- Much of the evidence comes from small studies, older learners or single schools, so treat each adaptation as a reasoned starting point.
Some pupils cannot yet read English easily. Others can, but will not. Extensive reading can work for both, but not in its default form. A pupil who struggles needs books far easier than the rest of the class, and support to keep going. A pupil who resists needs a reason to start and a quick success. This article explains how to adapt extensive reading for both groups, and where the evidence behind each step is thin.
How do you adapt extensive reading for struggling readers?
Keep the method and change the start. Give struggling and reluctant pupils books well below their tested level, short enough to finish in one or two sittings, with audio where it helps. Let them choose and stop books freely, and make sure each one finishes a book in the first week. The aim is a run of easy successes before any challenge returns.
- An easier start. Books one or two levels below the pupil's tested level.
- Audio support. Read-along audio that carries the pupil through the story at a steady pace.
- Choice. The pupil picks the book, and may drop it.
- Short texts. Stories that can be finished in a session or two.
- Success early. A finished book, recorded and noticed, in the first week.
This article is about adapting extensive reading. For ways to motivate reluctant readers more broadly, see Strategies for Reluctant Readers in English.
Why struggling readers stop reading
Day and Bamford (2002) quote Nuttall's 'vicious circle of the weak reader'. The pupil reads slowly, so does not enjoy reading, so reads little, so does not understand, so reads slowly. Its opposite is the 'virtuous circle of the good reader': reads faster, reads more, understands better, enjoys reading.
The Extensive Reading Foundation (2011) uses the same picture to show that the choice of book decides which circle a pupil enters. Books at the right level build confidence. Books that are too hard lead into the vicious circle of poor reading.
Takase (2007) found a second cause in older pupils. She studied 219 girls at a private Japanese high school through a year of extensive reading. Some keen readers of Japanese read little English. In interviews, they said they could not give up the pleasure of reading Japanese for the effort of reading English. The gap between their two reading abilities made English reading feel like work.
Both causes point the same way. The English book has to be easy enough to feel like reading, not like decoding.
Start lower than feels right
Day and Bamford (2002) suggest that for beginners, more than one or two unknown words on a page may make a text too difficult. For a struggling reader, our advice is to aim lower still: a page the pupil can read without stopping. The Extensive Reading Foundation (2011) opens its launch plan with a class book 'that even the weakest student can read'. Apply the same rule to a struggling pupil's first books.
Ro (2013) followed one unmotivated adult reader, a 28-year-old Korean woman, through 24 reading sessions over eight weeks. She began with short children's books, one of them only 174 words long. Her reading anxiety fell and her motivation rose. The study linked the fall in anxiety to confidence, comfort and enjoyment. This is one adult with a tutor beside her, a setting Ro calls atypical, so it shows what can happen, not what usually happens.
| Sign | What it suggests | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| On the same page for two sessions | Decoding, not reading | Move down a level the same day |
| Frequent dictionary use | Too many unknown words | Swap for an easier book |
| Cannot say what happened | Understanding has broken down | Add the audio, or choose an easier book |
| Picks the thickest or thinnest book every time | Choosing to impress, or to escape | Offer three books at the right level to choose from |
The Extensive Reading Foundation (2011) is the source for the dictionary sign: a pupil looking up words often probably has a book that is too hard. The other signs are classroom practice. How to Match Students to the Right Graded Readers covers placement for the whole class.
Add audio support
Audio can carry a slow reader through a story at a steady pace. Chang and Millett (2015) studied 64 Taiwanese secondary pupils at beginner level who read about 20 graded readers, either silently or while listening to the audio. Both groups improved in reading rate and comprehension. The audio group improved significantly more, and the difference held at a delayed test.
The Extensive Reading Foundation (2011) adds a caution. Most learners' listening lags behind their reading, so pupils may need audio books one or two levels below their reading level. It suggests offering each book with its recording, so a pupil can just read, just listen, or listen while reading.
Plan to remove the audio once the pupil can keep pace silently. Reading While Listening: What It Does for English Learners covers the research and how to fade the audio.
Give real choice
Choice matters most for a pupil who has learned to dislike reading. Day and Bamford (2002) make it a core principle: learners choose what they read, and are free to stop anything too difficult or dull. For students used to set texts, they write, this freedom may be a crucial step towards reading as something personal.
Takase (2007) reports that some of the most enthusiastic readers of English were first drawn in by novelty: interesting materials, freedom to choose books, and working on their own. A sense of joy, accomplishment and confidence then kept them reading through the year.
Choice still needs a fence. In our experience, a struggling reader faced with a whole library picks badly or not at all. Offer three or four books at the right level, and let the pupil choose among them.
Short texts and an early success
A struggling reader needs evidence, soon, that reading can go well. Takase (2007) reports that students who had not built a reading habit in Japanese felt 'a great sense of joy and accomplishment' after finishing an entire English book. That feeling sustained their English reading through the year.
Short books make that success possible in the first week. Day and Bamford (2002) note that books for beginners are very short, which is why a book a week is realistic at every level.
Keep everything around the book light. Ro (2013) concludes that unmotivated readers should feel no pressure, and that extra activities should be judged by whether they raise motivation. In Takase's program, students wrote their book summaries in Japanese for the first term before moving to English. The Extensive Reading Foundation (2011) likewise lets lower-level pupils react in their first language.
Classroom example (invented for illustration)
Karim, 12, tests at A2 but has not finished an English book all year.
Monday: his teacher offers three short A1 stories with audio. He picks a football story of about 800 words and reads along with the narration.
Wednesday: he finishes it and writes one line in his reading log, in Arabic.
Friday: he chooses a second A1 book and reads it without the audio. His teacher notes two books finished. Nothing is said in front of the class.
When the pupil can read but won't
Some reluctant pupils read well enough. They simply see no reason to. Robb and Ewert (2024) reviewed recent classroom research. Without considerable teacher guidance and supportive transitional activities, they conclude, students are unlikely to become self-motivated independent readers. Their review gathers ways to support reluctant and grade-focused students.
The Extensive Reading Foundation (2011) lists common reasons pupils do not read:
- the books are too difficult, or not interesting to them;
- they have too much homework from other classes;
- they do not like reading, and some would rather listen to the recording;
- the reading is optional, and they have opted out;
- nobody checks that the reading is done.
Each reason has its own answer: easier or different books, a reading slot in class, audio, required reading, and a light check. To find books a resistant pupil might want, Day and Bamford (2002) pass on Williams' advice: ask pupils what they like reading in their own language. For light checks that do not turn reading into a test, see 15 Extensive Reading Activities for the EFL Classroom.
How iRead handles this
In iRead, every story is levelled to the CEFR, starting at A1 with first words and picture-supported stories. Many stories have narrated audio synced to the text, and the audio is optional per story. A unit is a reading milestone inside a story, so a longer story can be read in steps. Public leaderboards show school-level results only, and a student sees their own standing privately inside the app.
The core principle: For a pupil who struggles or resists, the first goal is a finished book, not a harder one. Challenge comes back after confidence does.
See it in iRead: Many iRead stories have narrated audio synced to the text, so a student can follow the words while listening. Every story is levelled to the CEFR, from A1 to C2.
See the iRead programKey takeaway
Drop the level, add audio, offer real choice and keep texts short. Get a finished book in the first week, then let confidence pull the level back up.
Frequently asked questions
Does extensive reading work for struggling readers?
It can, if the books are easy enough. Little research targets struggling readers directly. Chang and Millett (2015) found that beginner secondary pupils improved their reading rate and comprehension through graded readers, and improved more when they read along with audio.
What level should a struggling reader start at?
Lower than their tested level. Day and Bamford (2002) suggest that for beginners, more than one or two unknown words on a page may make a book too hard. For a struggling reader, start where a page reads without stopping, and move up after several finished books.
Should reluctant readers be allowed to listen instead of read?
As a bridge, yes. The Extensive Reading Foundation (2011) notes that some students prefer to listen, and suggests offering books with their recordings. Reading while listening keeps eyes on the text. Aim to move from listening, to reading while listening, to silent reading.
How quickly should a reluctant reader see success?
In the first week if possible. Takase (2007) found that students without a reading habit felt joy and accomplishment after finishing a whole English book, and that this sustained their reading. Short, easy books make an early finish possible.
Should struggling readers be graded on extensive reading?
Grade the reading they do, not their understanding of each book. Ro (2013) concludes that unmotivated readers do best without pressure. Record books finished and levels climbed, and keep any check private, so that a wrong answer is never public.
Sources
- Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2), 136-141. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66761
- Extensive Reading Foundation (2011). The Extensive Reading Foundation's Guide to Extensive Reading. Extensive Reading Foundation. erfoundation.org/guide/ERF_Guide.pdf
- Takase, A. (2007). Japanese high school students' motivation for extensive L2 reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 19(1), 1-18. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66622
- Ro, E. (2013). A case study of extensive reading with an unmotivated L2 reader. Reading in a Foreign Language, 25(2), 213-233. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66869
- Chang, A. C.-S., & Millett, S. (2015). Improving reading rates and comprehension through audio-assisted extensive reading for beginner learners. System, 52, 91-102. doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.05.003
- Robb, T. N., & Ewert, D. (2024). Classroom-based extensive reading: A review of recent research. Language Teaching, 57(3), 295-324. doi.org/10.1017/S0261444823000319