Extensive and intensive reading in an EAP setting

Abstract

This article argues for the need for both intensive and extensive reading in an EAP reading curriculum, and further argues that a principled curricular approach to combining both is through Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). Given the need for academic preparation programs that focus on college and university requirements so that students are taught literacy skills which are transferable to academic contexts, this paper argues that both intensive and extensive reading are necessary to prepare students for the task and texts they encounter in college. Intensive reading with a focus on skills/strategies instruction has been shown to yield positive effects on second language reading. At the same time, students need the practice of extensive reading in order to orchestrate, coordinate and apply intensively acquired skills/strategies over the larger texts and multiple reading sources that are required in all academic course work. TBLT, which focuses on specific tasks, such as evaluated products in academic contexts (e.g. testtaking, report writing), allows students to acquire relevant skills and strategies in the context of tasks they will eventually encounter in academic courses. Furthermore, TBLT provides a principled approach to the determination of relevant content.