In short
- A school reading program has three parts: texts pupils can read, a fixed time to read them, and light follow-up.
- A school can take ready-made material, make its own, or do both, and the choice is about staff time as much as money.
- Programs succeed or fail on rollout: a fixed time in the timetable, one owner and a small start.
- Judge any platform by one test: do pupils end up reading more?
Most English teachers agree that pupils should read more. Far fewer schools have a program that makes it happen. Macalister (2010) interviewed 36 teachers on university preparation courses in New Zealand. They held positive beliefs about extensive reading, yet most did not include it in their classroom program. Belief was not the problem. Macalister suggests that the wider educational context may explain the gap.
This guide is for the person who has to organise the reading. It follows one argument. A reading program is texts, time and follow-up. You can buy the material, make it, or do both. The program will succeed or fail on rollout. And any platform you consider should be judged on whether pupils end up reading more. Each section links to articles that go deeper.
What is a school reading program?
A school reading program is an organised plan for pupils to read a large amount of English at a level they can manage. It has three parts: texts, time and follow-up. The school chooses the texts, fixes the time in the timetable, and checks lightly that the reading happened.
The idea behind it is extensive reading, which means reading a lot of easy text for meaning. The research base is broad. Jeon and Day (2016) combined 49 studies with 5,919 participants and found a small to medium positive effect on reading proficiency. Renandya (2007) reviewed the evidence from many contexts. He argued that the benefits are compelling enough for teachers to make extensive reading an important feature of their teaching.
Two cautions belong here. Jeon and Day (2016) found a higher effect for adults than for children and adolescents. Adults supplied 30 of their samples, against 6 for children and 15 for adolescents. Their analysis covered reading proficiency, not speaking or writing.
Where does a reading program sit in the English course? Nation (2007) divides a well-balanced course into four strands: meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning and fluency development. Each should get roughly equal time. Extensive reading serves two of them. It is input when the text holds a little new language, and fluency practice when it holds none.
Nation (2007) also sets conditions for reading to count as meaning-focused input. Most of the text must be familiar. The learners must want to understand it. There must be large quantities of it. A reading program exists to meet those conditions on purpose.
| Part | What it means in school | What goes wrong without it |
|---|---|---|
| Texts | Stories at each level you teach, enough for a term, that pupils can read without help | Pupils meet an unknown word in every line and give up |
| Time | A fixed slot in the timetable, plus reading at home | Reading happens only when everything else is finished |
| Follow-up | A short check or activity, and a record of who read what | Nobody knows who is reading, so nobody notices who has stopped |
This guide does not repeat the full case for extensive reading. What Is Extensive Reading? A Guide for Schools sets out the method and the evidence. The sections below cover the decisions a school has to make: where the texts come from, how to roll out, and how to choose a platform.
Ready-made packs: texts you can teach from tomorrow
A ready-made pack is a set of texts at one level that arrives with everything needed to teach from it. Someone else has written the stories, set the level and prepared the questions. The school's job is to choose well.
The first thing to check is the level. Hu and Nation (2000) tested 66 adult learners on a fiction text with different shares of unknown words. They concluded that reading without help needs about 98% of the words to be known.
Kremmel, Indrarathne, Kormos and Suzuki (2023) repeated the study with 104 adult learners in Sri Lanka. They could not fully replicate the original results. So the exact figure is open, and neither study involved school pupils. The practical point stands: a text full of unknown words cannot be read in volume.
Day and Bamford (2002) give a test you can run with a pupil and a page. For beginners, more than one or two unknown words on a page may make the text too difficult. For intermediate learners, they allow up to five.
The second thing to check is quantity. Day and Bamford (2002) suggest a book a week as probably the minimum for gaining the benefits of extensive reading and building a habit. Count the texts in a pack against the weeks in your term.
A complete pack holds more than texts. What Should a Reading Pack Contain? lists six parts and the evidence for each, with a checklist you can use on any pack.
Five questions to ask of a ready-made pack:
- Level. Can our pupils read a sample page with no more than one or two unknown words?
- Quantity. Are there enough texts at each level for a whole term?
- Support. Does each text come with a word list, a few questions and audio?
- Record. Can a teacher see who has read what?
- Fit. Are the topics right for the age and culture of our pupils?
The strength of ready-made material is speed. Finding or writing levelled stories is slow work, and with a pack that work is done before you start. How to Launch a School Reading Program in One Day describes a fast start and the decisions that still belong to the school.
The limit is fit. A pack written for every school cannot mention your town, your history syllabus or your school's own values. That is where the school's own material comes in.
Guides on this
Your school's own packs: material that fits
A school's own pack is built from texts the school chooses or writes. It might hold local stories, passages from the coursebook, or texts from science and history rewritten at a level pupils can read.
The case for making your own is relevance. Pupils read about places and topics they know, and the reading supports what other lessons teach. This is an argument from practice. No study cited in this guide compares a school's own texts with bought ones.
The cost is staff time. Each text must be checked against the class, rewritten where needed, and given a word list and questions. How to Turn Your Curriculum Texts Into Reading Units walks through those steps with a worked example.
Making material is course design, and it helps to treat it that way. Macalister and Nation (2020) describe curriculum design as a series of steps. Their handbook has chapters on environment analysis, needs analysis, goals and content, monitoring and evaluation. It also has a chapter on adopting and adapting an existing coursebook. The lesson for a reading program is simple. Decide what the pack is for before anyone writes a word.
| Route | What the school gets | What it costs in staff time | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-made packs | Levelled texts with word lists and questions, ready to use | Time to choose, sample and schedule | A first program, or a department with no time to write |
| The school's own packs | Texts that match the local curriculum and context | Time to check levels, rewrite, and write word lists and questions | A school with a teacher or team who can write and edit |
| Both | Breadth from ready-made texts, local fit from a few texts of your own | Mostly choosing, with writing kept to a few units a term | A school that wants local texts without writing a whole library |
The choice is about staff time as much as money. A pack that costs nothing to buy still costs hours to write. Before choosing, ask who will do the writing, in which hours, and who will check the level.
You do not have to choose once for the whole school. Buy vs. Build: Ready-Made Reading Packs or Your School's Own Stories? weighs the two routes unit by unit.
One warning applies to every school. Only adapt texts the school has the right to change. A coursebook passage belongs to its publisher.
Guides on this
Planning and rollout: where programs succeed or fail
Good texts do not run themselves. A program needs a fixed time, one owner and a small start. Research supports the first of these most directly. The other two rest on practice.
A fixed time
Jeon and Day (2016) compared ways of organising extensive reading. Reading built into the curriculum showed the highest average effect (d = 0.91). Reading run as an independent course showed the lowest (d = 0.24). The authors ask for caution, because they found only one study of an independent reading course.
Robb and Kano (2013) show what a requirement can do at scale. At a university in Japan, more than 2,000 first-year students were required to read graded readers outside class. Short online quizzes checked the reading. The authors compared this cohort with the previous year's, which had followed the same curriculum without extensive reading. Reading scores rose significantly.
The authors add their own cautions. The gain might come from extra hours spent with English, and not from extensive reading as such. Only about 70% of students took a quiz on even one book. And these were university students, not school pupils.
Their reasons for the program's success are worth a school leader's attention. The administration required the reading across the whole curriculum. Teachers did not have to check it by hand. Grades for reading were handled centrally. The library bought the books and labelled them by level.
One owner
Macalister (2010) found that teachers' positive beliefs did not put extensive reading into their classrooms. He concludes that it must be promoted through teacher education, changes in course design, awareness among managers and better resources. In a school, that work needs a name attached. Give one person the program: the texts, the timetable slot and the termly numbers.
No study cited here tests the effect of a single owner. It is advice from practice.
A small start
Start with one grade or a few classes, for one term. Fix what breaks, then widen. This too is practice, not a research finding. How to Run a Whole-School English Reading Program describes how to grow from a pilot class without depending on one keen teacher.
Two planning jobs come before the first lesson. Long stories must be divided into parts that fit a lesson, which How to Split a Story Into Reading Units explains. The year also needs a map of which level reads what, and when. That is the subject of How to Plan a Reading Program Across a School Year.
A rollout in five steps:
- Name the owner and fix the weekly slot before choosing any texts.
- Check the level of two or three classes with a sample page.
- Run one term with one grade.
- Review the numbers: texts finished by each pupil, and who stopped reading.
- Widen to the next grade, keeping the same slot and the same record.
For a full handbook, see Nation and Waring (2020). Their book covers extensive reading in second and foreign language teaching, with chapters on graded readers, setting up a program, vocabulary, reading fluency and motivation.
Guides on this
Choosing a platform: what to look for
A reading platform puts texts, follow-up and records in one place. Platforms differ in what they include, so compare them on what your program needs.
Products sold as reading platforms do different jobs. Some are libraries of levelled books. Some check that pupils have read books the school already owns. Some track how much is read. Some combine these. Best English Reading Platforms for ESL Schools sorts the categories, so that you compare like with like.
One test applies to all of them: do pupils end up reading more? Nation (2007) makes large quantities of input a condition of learning from reading. A platform serves the program when it raises the amount read. It fails when it adds work for teachers or takes reading time away from pupils, however good it looks in a demonstration.
| Area | Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Texts | How many texts are there at each level we teach? | Day and Bamford (2002) suggest a book a week as a minimum, so a term needs many texts |
| Levels | Which level system is used, and how does it relate to the levels in our course? | A level on the platform should mean the same as a level in your classroom |
| Follow-up | What do pupils do after reading, and how long does it take? | Follow-up should take less time than the reading |
| Records | Can a teacher see who read what this week? Can a leader see it by class? | You cannot help a pupil you cannot see |
| Teacher time | What must teachers set up, mark or enter by hand? | Work that lands on teachers is a cost, even when it is not on the invoice |
| Trial | Can we try it with one class before deciding? | A few weeks with real pupils tell you more than a demonstration |
Reading Platform Buyer's Checklist: 12 Checks Before You Buy turns questions like these into a list you can take into a sales call.
Cost is more than the licence. If a platform leaves the school to find texts, write questions or build reports, those hours belong in the budget. What Should a School Reading Program Cost? A Budgeting Guide shows how to count them.
Then someone has to approve the spending. How to Pitch a Reading Platform to Your Principal explains how to present a small pilot in terms a school leader cares about.
Guides on this
Comparisons: weighing one product against another
Sometimes the question is narrower. The school already uses a product, or a colleague has recommended one, and you want to know how it compares. A fair comparison starts from what the product was built to do.
Three kinds of product come up often. Each does its own job well.
- A levelled library with school reporting. It supplies books at set levels and shows teachers who has read them. Compare the number of texts at your levels and what pupils do after reading. Foxton Readers Alternatives for EFL Schools works through that comparison.
- A quiz tool for books the school already owns. It checks that the reading happened and leaves the choice of books to the school. MReader Alternatives With a Full Reading Library explains when a quiz tool is enough and when a school needs more.
- A library built for children who speak English as a first language. Ask how its levels relate to the CEFR levels of your course. Raz-Kids and Epic Alternatives for EFL Learners covers what to check.
A quiz tool can carry a large program. Robb and Kano (2013) used short online quizzes to hold a whole university cohort accountable for its reading. The quizzes relieved teachers of the need to confirm the reading themselves. The books came from the university library.
In every comparison, ask the same three questions:
- What does the product supply, and what must the school supply?
- What do pupils do each week?
- What can teachers and leaders see?
Then try both with a real class if you can. A product that suits one school may not suit another. None of these tools is wrong for the job it was built to do.
Guides on this
Putting it together in a school week
Here is one way a program can look in a week with three English lessons. It is an example, not a prescription.
| Day | In class | At home |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Fifteen minutes of reading at the start of the lesson. Pupils begin this week's text. | Ten minutes of reading, with audio for pupils who need it. |
| Wednesday | Intensive work on a short coursebook passage. No program time. | Fifteen minutes to finish the text. |
| Friday | A five-minute check of understanding, then ten minutes on the words from the text. Pupils choose next week's text. | Optional: start the next text. |
This week gives each pupil about 40 minutes of reading and 15 minutes of follow-up. The reading takes more than twice as long as the follow-up, which is the right way round.
The week holds all three parts of a program: a text at the pupil's level, a fixed time, and a short check with an entry in the record.
Classroom example (invented for illustration)
On Friday afternoon the program owner opens the record for Grade 6.
Twenty-two of 26 pupils finished the week's text. Three did not start it.
One pupil, Lina, has abandoned two texts in a row. Both were at A2.
On Monday her teacher gives her a sample page at A1. She marks one unknown word and keeps the text.
What to review each term
- Texts finished by each pupil. Look at the spread as well as the total. A class average can hide five pupils who read nothing.
- Level changes. Who moved up, and who is still on a level that looks too hard?
- Words kept. Do pupils still know the words from texts they read a month ago?
- Teacher time. How many hours did the program take to run, and where did they go?
For the measures themselves, see KPIs & Metrics for a School Reading Program.
How iRead supports a reading program
In iRead, a pack is a CEFR-levelled set of stories. Global packs come from the iRead library, and school packs are built by the school from its own books. A quiz runs after every session, and attendance is recorded automatically. School leaders see levels reached, words retained and stories completed by class, grade and term. A school can run a free pilot with one class for 4 to 6 weeks before any school-wide decision.
Frequently asked questions
What is a school reading program?
An organised plan for pupils to read a large amount of English at a level they can manage. It has three parts: texts pupils can read without help, a fixed time in the timetable, and light follow-up that shows who has read what.
How much should pupils read each week?
Day and Bamford (2002) suggest a book a week as probably the minimum needed to gain the benefits of extensive reading and build a habit. They call this realistic at all levels, because books written for beginners and low-intermediate learners are very short.
Should a school buy reading material or make its own?
Either, or both. Ready-made packs save writing time and start quickly. A school's own texts fit its curriculum and context but take staff hours to write and level. Decide by asking who would do the writing and when, not only what each route costs to buy.
Does a reading program work for ESL students in school?
The evidence is positive, and thinner for school pupils than for adults. Jeon and Day (2016) combined 49 studies and found a small to medium effect on reading proficiency. The effect was higher for adults than for children and adolescents.
Why do school reading programs stall?
Often for reasons of organisation, not belief. Macalister (2010) found that teachers who thought well of extensive reading still did not include it in their programs. A fixed time in the timetable, one named owner and a small first term are the practical answers.
How do I choose a reading platform?
Start from what your program needs: texts at your levels, short follow-up, and a record teachers can read. Ask what the school must supply or do by hand. Then try it with one class. The test is whether pupils end up reading more.
Sources
- Nation, I. S. P., & Waring, R. (2020). Teaching Extensive Reading in Another Language. Routledge. doi.org/10.4324/9780367809256
- 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
- Nation, P. (2007). The four strands. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 2-13. doi.org/10.2167/illt039.0
- Macalister, J., & Nation, I. S. P. (2020). Language Curriculum Design (2nd ed.). Routledge. doi.org/10.4324/9780429203763
- Hu, M. H.-C., & Nation, P. (2000). Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 13(1), 403-430. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66973
- Kremmel, B., Indrarathne, B., Kormos, J., & Suzuki, S. (2023). Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension: Replicating Hu and Nation (2000). Language Learning, 73(4), 1127-1163. doi.org/10.1111/lang.12622
- Robb, T., & Kano, M. (2013). Effective extensive reading outside the classroom: A large-scale experiment. Reading in a Foreign Language, 25(2), 234-247. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66870
- Macalister, J. (2010). Investigating teacher attitudes to extensive reading practices in higher education: Why isn't everyone doing it?. RELC Journal, 41(1), 59-75. doi.org/10.1177/0033688210362609
- Renandya, W. A. (2007). The power of extensive reading. RELC Journal, 38(2), 133-149. doi.org/10.1177/0033688207079578
- Jeon, E.-Y., & Day, R. R. (2016). The effectiveness of ER on reading proficiency: A meta-analysis. Reading in a Foreign Language, 28(2), 246-265. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66901