SKrashen:
Lively discussion (debate) in the Japan Times over libraries/recreational reading
Is increasing reading instruction a good idea?
Lively discussion (debate) in the Japan Times over libraries/recreational reading
Lively discussion in the Japan Times (Krashen vs. Chris Clancy)My original letter:Recreational reading will scorePublished in the Japan Times, January 19, 2014Regarding the Dec. 31/Jan. 1 article “English to get 2020 push but teachers not on the same page“: Experts have criticized Japan’s reform plan for English for not including enough hours of English instruction to accomplish its goals. They
Is increasing reading instruction a good idea?
Sent to Education Week, January 25, 2014We need to take a much closer look at claims that increased time spent in reading instruction results in improvement in reading achievement ("Fla. Pushes Longer School Day, More Reading in Some Schools," Jan. 22). According the Ed Week article, scores were higher than comparison schools in only 20 of the 100 schools observed. In other words, in 80
The Common Core: A Disaster for Libraries, A Disaster for Language Arts, a Disaster for American Education
Stephen KrashenKnowledge Quest 42(3): 37-45 (2014). There never has been a need for the common core and there is no evidence that it will do students any good. The common core ignores the real problem in American education: Poverty. The common core will continue the process of turning schools into test-prep centers, and bleed billions from places the money is badly needed, where it can help
JAN 23
The Common Core and Voluntary Reading
Sent to the New York Times, January 23, 2014Charles Blow's inspirational testimonial ("Reading is fundamental," January 22) in support of reading is supported by mountains of research showing that voluntary reading results in tremendous growth in all areas of literacy. Is this the same Charles Blow who enthusiastically endorsed the Common Core Standards in the Times a few months ago (&qu
JAN 19
Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common core
Excerpts from, and a few friendly comments on, Diane Ravitch's essay, Everything you need to know about the common core. (Comments marked with "SK"). My hope is that this very strong essay will turn the tide.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-common-core-ravitch/1. "These two federal programs (NCLB and Race to the Top
JAN 16
untitled
Krashen presentation, January 17, 2014-01-14The ever-increasing power of reading and librariesThe world-wide threat of the common core state standards (CC$$)The ever-increasing power of reading and librariesThe latest in library studies: Predictors of NAEP grade 4, 1992, 42 states beta t P Poverty -0.45 -5.07 0 Print Access 1.12 4.3 0 r2 = .72 From: McQuillan, 1998Replicatio
JAN 15
Comments on "Arne Duncan: School Expectations Are Too Low in the United States"
From US NEWS and WORLD REPORT, Jan 14, 2014 My comments posted on: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/14/arne-duncan-school-expectations-are-too-low-in-the-united-statesPUT AWAY THAT CLOWN SUIT. "Part of the reason students in other countries outpace American students on these exams, Duncan said, is simply because they are more serious about education, not just in their cultures, b
JAN 14
Extensive Reading
in English as Foreign Language
by Adolescents
and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis
Stephen Krashen International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 3(2): 23–29. Also in Free Voluntary Reading, S. Krashen, 2011. Libraries UnlimitedA review of studies of extensive reading adolescents and young adults studying English as a foreign language revealed a strong and consistent positive effect for both tests of reading comprehension and cloze tests. Students provided with more access
JAN 12
Incubation: A Neglected Aspect of the Composing Process?
S. Krashen ESL Journal 4(2): 10-11. 2001 Remember when you were staring at the ceiling in elementary school, and the teacher asked you whether the answer was on the ceiling? Maybe it was.In a discussion of possible therapies to remediate writing apprehension, Daly (1985) includes these suggestions:"One potentially appropriate therapy for procrastination lies in teaching something akin to ti
JAN 07
Heritage Language Development: Exhortation or Good Stories?
Lao, C. and Krashen, S. 2008. Heritage language development: Exhortation or good stories? International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 4 (2): 17-18. Despite the well-researched advantages, not all young people are interested in continuing to develop their heritage language. Their apathy may be due to "ethnic avoidence," a preference for the new culture over the old (Tse, 1988), a
A longer (21-hour) school day!
Sent to the Telegraph (UK), Jan. 7It is inspiring to read about Education Minister Truss' desire to lengthen the school day ("Schools should adopt Chinese-style lessons, says minister," Jan. 3). Her proposal to add an extra 30 minutes for "enrichment" and an extra hour for homework, however, fall far short of what is needed.Let's push ahead and consider an even longer day.A st
JAN 04
The Spectacular Role of Libraries in Protecting Students from the Effects of Poverty
Stephen KrashenPublished in: iLeader: Journal of School Library Association of New South Wales 1(4): 3-6 (2012) Poverty is by far the most powerful predictor we have of school performance. This has been established in study after study over several decades. One of the best studies showing the impact of poverty comes from Australia: Perry and McConnery (2010) reported that both individual levels
Academic Jibberish
Stephen Krashen, RELC Journal. 43 (2): 283-285, 2012. “Some scholars have slipped so far into the stylized talk – excuse me, discourse – of academia that important ideas are rendered virtually incomprehensible to most people. Because it sometimes seems that scholarship is valued by other academics in direct proportion to its inaccessibility, some individuals may have an instinctive aversion to
A Short Paper Proposing That We Need to Write Shorter Papers
Stephen Krashen, Language and Language Teaching 1,2: 38-39. 2012 When we ask the time, we don't want to know how watches are constructed. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)Our current journals in language education are full of long papers. A typical journal might have, at most, five major papers. Sometimes we have to write long papers, but much of the time, it's unnecessary: the papers
JAN 03
STEM Fever
Sent to the Wall Street Journal, Jan. 3Sandra Stotsky thinks that the "Common Core Doesn't Add UP to STEM Success" (Jan 3) and that all high school students should be required to take trigonometry and precalculus to be ready for the brave new world of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Even if the STEM crisis were real, this is not a good idea. Of course, advanced math classes
JAN 02
The common core ignores the evidence
Sent to the Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2013Al Austin, in his letter to the Times (Jan 2) notes that the common core calls for "a sharp reduction" in literature in schools in favor of increased exposure to informational text. This policy was created without any empirical evidence. The common core designers ignored (or were not aware of) not only studies showing that reading literature
JAN 01
Japan's 2020 push to English: A suggestion to the "panel of experts"
Sent to the Japan Times, May 31, 2013.Experts have criticized Japan's reform plan for English for not including enough hours of English instruction to accomplish its goals and have also noted the lack of resources and staffing ("English to get 2020 push but teachers not on the same page," Dec. 31, 2013).There is an easy way to help solve both of these problems and ensure that growth in E
