Articles
What comprehensible input is, what reading actually does to a language you are learning, and how to build a habit out of it. The same ideas the books are made of, written out in full.
I Understanding the method
What comprehensible input is, where the idea comes from, and why reading is the most practical way to get it.
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What Comprehensible Input Is, and Why Reading Works
Krashen’s input hypothesis in plain terms, and the reason reading is the most practical way for an adult to get the input it asks for.
II Learning through reading
What actually happens while you read a foreign language, and how to read so that it turns into acquisition.
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How to Read in a Foreign Language Without Knowing Every Word
Tolerating the unknown is a skill, not a character trait. How to read past the words you do not know, and when to stop and look one up.
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Read a Lot or Read Closely? Maximising Acquisition Through Reading
Extensive reading builds fluency, intensive reading builds precision. What each one is good for, and the ratio that works in practice.
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Do I Need to Learn Words? Vocabulary and Incidental Acquisition
How much of a word you acquire per encounter, how many encounters it takes, and the handful of things reading never teaches you.
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How Much Do You Need to Understand? The 50/70/90/98 Question
What actually changes between 90, 95 and 98 per cent coverage, and why “I got the gist” measures your expectations rather than the text.
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Does Rereading the Same Book Actually Help?
Repeated reading buys speed and syntax rather than new words. How many passes are worth it, how far apart, and how much of a week.
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What to Do When a Text Is Too Hard
Triage for a book you already own: seven remedies in order of cost, and the four signals that say it is time to shelve it.
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Can You Learn a Language Without Vocabulary Lists?
Yes — after the beginning. What frequency lists give that reading does not, why the first two thousand words are the exception.
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Anki and Comprehensible Input: Incompatible?
Not incompatible — subordinate. Sentence cards from your own reading, ten new words a day, and review kept smaller than the reading.
III Building your own path
Choosing texts, setting a level, and the questions that come up once you are reading in earnest.
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How to Choose the Right Texts for Comprehensible Input
The ninety-eight per cent rule, the five-finger test, and what to do when the only books at your level are written for children.
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A Complete Reading Method, Step by Step
The whole method in one place — five passes over a story, what to do with the words you keep, and a thirty-day programme to start from.
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Should You Translate While Reading?
Going through your own language is what an unfamiliar word looks like at first. What it costs, when it is useful, and how it fades.