In short
- Build the plan from five parts: three terms, a level target per class, stories per term, a fixed weekly slot and two checkpoints.
- Work backwards: divide a yearly reading amount by your real reading weeks, then by the class's reading rate, to get minutes per week.
- The studies on reading amount vary widely and most involved adults, so treat every target as an estimate.
- Start with one class and one owner for six weeks, and decide in advance what gives way when the plan slips.
Choosing the stories is the easy part of a reading program. The hard part is keeping the reading time when exam weeks, holidays and cover lessons arrive. A year plan protects that time. This article gives the shape of a plan you can write in an afternoon. It shows the arithmetic from a yearly reading amount down to minutes per week. It also reports what research says about how much reading learners need, and where that research is thin.
What does a year plan for reading look like?
A reading program plan for the school year has five parts. It divides the year into three terms. It sets a level target for each class. It fixes a number of stories per term. It gives reading a fixed weekly slot in the timetable. And it has two checkpoints where you measure progress and adjust the plan.
- Three terms. Give each term one job: build the habit, build the amount, then move up.
- A level target for each class. Write down the CEFR level the class reads at now and the level you want it to reach.
- Stories per term. A written number makes falling behind visible early.
- A fixed weekly slot. The same lessons at the same times every week.
- Two checkpoints. One near the end of the first term and one before the final exams.
Everything else can change during the year: which stories, which activities, which rewards. If you are planning for every grade, read this with the guide to running a whole-school reading program.
How much reading do learners need? What research says
No study gives one required amount. Four sources are worth knowing, and they are very different kinds of evidence.
| Source | Learners | What it reports |
|---|---|---|
| Nation (2014) | None. A count of words in large collections of text | About 200,000 words of reading gives an average of 12 or more meetings with the second 1,000 word families. The third 1,000 needs about 300,000. |
| Beglar, Hunt & Kite (2012) | 97 first-year Japanese university students, over one year | Groups that read for pleasure gained more in reading rate than the intensive reading group. One book every two weeks or more worked best for most learners. |
| Robb & Kano (2013) | More than 2,000 first-year students a year at one Japanese university | The year group required to read five graded readers per course outside class scored significantly higher in reading than the previous year group. |
| Jeon & Day (2016) | Meta-analysis of 49 studies, 5,919 participants | A small to medium effect of extensive reading on reading proficiency. Results varied more than chance would explain. |
Read these with care. Nation's figures come from counting words in texts, not from testing learners, and he describes his own calculations as approximate. Robb and Kano compared two different year groups. They note that extra hours with English of any kind might explain the gain. Only about 70 per cent of their students took a quiz on even one book.
Jeon and Day (2016) show how varied the field is. The effect was largest for adults (d = 0.70) and smallest for adolescents in middle and high school (d = 0.35). Only six samples involved children. Programs of different lengths showed similar effects, but only four samples ran for more than a year. So the evidence for pupils aged 8 to 16 is thinner than the totals suggest. For a fuller review, see the evidence on extensive reading.
Work backwards from the reading amount to the weekly timetable
Start from the amount and end at the timetable. The numbers below are an example. Replace each one with your own.
- Choose a yearly amount. Example: 200,000 words, Nation's (2014) rounded figure for the second 1,000 word families.
- Count the real reading weeks. Example: 36 school weeks minus 6 for exams, holidays and events leaves 30.
- Divide the amount by the weeks. 200,000 ÷ 30 = about 6,700 words a week.
- Divide by the class's reading rate. At 100 words per minute, 6,700 ÷ 100 = 67 minutes a week.
- Split the minutes across the week. Example: two class sessions with 15 minutes of silent reading each, plus four home reads of 10 minutes. Total: 70 minutes.
Nation (2014) did the same sum for faster readers. At 150 words per minute over 40 weeks, he estimated 33 minutes a week for the second 1,000 words and 50 minutes for the third. Your pupils may read more slowly. Beglar and Hunt (2014) noted that most learners in studies of extensive reading began below 100 words per minute.
Now run the sum without home reading. Thirty minutes a week at 100 words per minute for 30 weeks is 90,000 words. That is less than half the target. Class time alone will not reach the amount, so the home reading habit needs as much planning as the lessons.
Treat every figure as an estimate. The reading rate will change during the year, and no study shows that 200,000 words is the right amount for your pupils.
A sample year plan for one class
Here is a sample plan for one class that starts the year reading at A2. It is an example, not a prescription.
| Term | Level | Class stories | Sessions per week | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term 1 (12 weeks, 10 for reading) | A2, starting with the easiest stories | 10 | 2 in class, plus home reading | Baseline in week 1. Checkpoint 1 in week 11. |
| Term 2 (12 weeks, 11 for reading) | A2, then one B1 story as a trial | 11 | 2 in class, plus home reading | None. A monthly look at attendance and quiz scores. |
| Term 3 (12 weeks, 9 for reading) | B1 if the evidence supports it, otherwise A2 | 9 | 2 in class, 1 in exam weeks | Checkpoint 2 in week 8, before the final exams. |
One class story a week is the spine of the plan. Each story is split into units and read across the two sessions. But do the sum. If a story at this level runs to about 1,500 words, thirty stories make 45,000 words. The rest has to come from free reading of easy stories at home, including reading while listening.
Day and Bamford (2002) set out ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Two of them shape this table. The first is that the reading material is easy. The fourth is that learners read as much as possible. So the plan starts with easy stories, and it counts home reading as well as lessons.
The first six weeks: one class, one owner
Do not launch the whole plan at once. Start with one class and one owner. The owner is a named teacher or coordinator who keeps the slot, the records and the week-six review.
- Weeks 1 and 2. Measure each pupil's reading rate and assess the class's reading level. Begin with stories that are clearly easy.
- Weeks 3 and 4. Run the weekly slot without changes. Record attendance and stories finished.
- Weeks 5 and 6. Review the records. Decide whether to add a second class, and what to change first.
Macalister (2010) interviewed 36 teachers on university preparation courses in New Zealand. The teachers believed that extensive reading helped language learning. These beliefs did not generally lead them to include it in the classroom program. Those teachers worked in higher education, not schools. Our reading of the finding is that belief does not create reading time. So the plan gives reading a slot and an owner.
Robb and Kano (2013) listed the conditions a program like theirs needs. The administration requires the reading from all students in a set range of classes. Students are held accountable in a way that does not add to teachers' workloads. Assessment is simple for teachers, and books are managed centrally.
What to measure at each checkpoint
Measure the same few things at the baseline and at both checkpoints, in the same way each time.
- Reading rate. Words per minute on an easy passage at the class's level.
- Comprehension. Quiz scores on the stories read. Beglar, Hunt and Kite (2012) measured comprehension alongside rate, and found that faster reading did not cost understanding.
- Amount. Stories finished and an estimate of words read, for each pupil.
- Words retained. A short check on key words from stories read some weeks earlier.
- Attendance. Sessions attended and home reads completed.
Compare each class with its own baseline, not with other classes. Then decide three things: whether the yearly amount still holds, whether the level is right, and whether the slot is working. The guide to measuring reading progress covers the measures in more detail.
When to move a class up a level
Move a class up when the evidence supports it, not because a term has ended. None of the studies cited here gives a tested rule for the moment to move. What follows is practice. Look for three signs:
- Comprehension on the current stories is steady and high.
- Reading rate has risen since the baseline.
- Most pupils can follow a trial story at the next level without heavy help.
Use the trial story before you commit. If it goes badly, stay at the level and try again after a few weeks. If some pupils are ready and others are not, move the home reading first and keep the class story at the shared level.
Holidays, exam weeks and what to do when the plan slips
Mark holidays, exam weeks and school events on the plan before anything else. They are the reason the example has 30 reading weeks, not 36. In exam weeks, shrink the reading. Do not cancel it. One short, easy story with no quiz keeps the habit going. Over holidays, offer a short list of easy stories and make it optional.
Plans still slip. Decide in advance what gives way, in this order:
- Keep the weekly slot. Cut the number of stories before you cut the slot.
- Choose shorter or easier stories before you skip a week.
- Move unread class stories to the home reading list. Do not double up next term.
- Revise the yearly amount at the next checkpoint and write the new figure down.
Classroom example (invented)
A class loses three weeks of Term 2 to a school event and mock exams. The plan said 11 class stories. The owner cuts the term to 8, keeps both weekly sessions and moves the 3 unread stories to the home reading list. At checkpoint 2 the team revises the yearly amount from 200,000 to 170,000 words and records why.
How iRead handles this
In iRead, a school picks a global pack by level, theme and values, copies it into the school in one click, and schedules sessions. School packs are written by the school's own teachers around the annual or termly curriculum. Attendance at sessions is recorded automatically. School leaders see, by class, grade and term, the levels reached, words retained and stories completed. A school can run a free pilot with one class for 4 to 6 weeks before any school-wide decision.
The core principle: Protect the weekly slot first. Amounts, stories and levels can all be revised at a checkpoint.
See it in iRead: Global packs are ready to teach for A1 to C2: levelled stories, word lists, the four games and quizzes ship together. A school can run a free pilot with one class for 4 to 6 weeks.
See the reading packsKey takeaway
Write the five parts on one page, do the arithmetic with your own numbers, and review at two checkpoints. Start with one class for six weeks before you plan for the whole school.
Frequently asked questions
How do you plan a reading program for the school year?
Divide the year into three terms. Set a level target for each class, a number of stories per term and a fixed weekly slot. Add two checkpoints, one near the end of the first term and one before final exams. Then work out the minutes per week from your yearly reading amount.
How much should students read in a year?
There is no agreed figure. Nation (2014) estimated about 200,000 words to meet the second 1,000 word families often enough, and more at each later level. Beglar and Hunt (2014) suggested 200,000 standard words as a yearly minimum for gains in reading rate. Neither figure was tested on school pupils.
How many minutes a week should a class read?
Divide your yearly amount by your reading weeks, then by the class's reading rate. For 200,000 words, 30 weeks and 100 words per minute, that is about 67 minutes a week. Nation (2014) estimated 33 minutes for readers at 150 words per minute over 40 weeks.
How long must a reading program run before it shows results?
Jeon and Day (2016) found similar effects for programs shorter than five months, programs of up to a year and programs longer than a year. Only four samples lasted more than a year, so the comparison is weak. Plan for a full year and check progress at two fixed points.
Sources
- Nation, I. S. P. (2014). How much input do you need to learn the most frequent 9,000 words?. Reading in a Foreign Language, 26(2), 1-16. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66881
- Beglar, D., Hunt, A., & Kite, Y. (2012). The effect of pleasure reading on Japanese university EFL learners' reading rates. Language Learning, 62(3), 665-703. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00651.x
- Beglar, D., & Hunt, A. (2014). Pleasure reading and reading rate gains. Reading in a Foreign Language, 26(1), 29-48. doi.org/10.64152/10125/66684
- 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
- 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
- Day, 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
- 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