Before you can start speaking and writing in English, you have to learn how things are said in English. You do this by reading and listening to correct English sentences of other people (ideally, native speakers).
Reading and listening are good ways to improve your English, but reading is usually much easier than listening for various reasons. With the help of a good dictionary, you can understand English texts much more easily. I will show why reading English texts on your own is the way to go. The arguments will fall into two categories: Intensity and Motivation
- Intensity
If you read a few books in English, you will see that your English has become better. You will start using new vocabulary and grammar in your school. You will be surprised, but English phrases will just come to you when you are writing or speaking! Things like the past simple tense and how to use the word "since" will become part of you. You will use them automatically, without thinking. Correct phrases will just appear in your head.
It will be easy to use English, because your brain will only be repeating the things that it has seen many times. By reading a book in English, you have given your brain thousands of English sentences. They are part of you now. How can you make a mistake and say "I feeled bad", if you have seen the correct phrase ("I felt bad") 250 times in the last book you've read?
You need 1000s of phrases to speak English fluently. To be able to use thousands of phrases, you must read tens of thousands of phrases, because you will forget a lot of what you read.
If you just read when your teacher tells you to (e.g. 2 short articles per week in your English class), you are not going to make any progress. At such a rate, even if you learn something one week, you will forget it next week. You need to read, on average, at least a few pages per day. For this, you need to take charge of your learning — get some books and start reading on your own.
- Motivation
You need to start reading on your own not just because it is effective, but also because it is so damn motivating. When you read on your own, you read something you chose yourself, something you really find interesting, rather than something your teacher told you to read. As a result, you read much more willingly and spend more time on it.
If you choose texts which are interesting and fun (Harry Potter, an article about computers, sports news, movie reviews, e-mail messages from friends, an Internet forum on relationships — whatever fits your bill), reading will not be something you have to do. It will be something you want to do. Once you try it, you will probably be thankful that you can understand English and read such great stuff!
Furthermore, when you read something that matters to you, you can remember much more. For example, if you read an article your teacher gave you, you want to read it quickly and be done with it. But if you read the lyrics of a new song by your favorite band, you're much more likely to repeat them to yourself and keep them in your memory — together with all the grammar and vocabulary.
A lot of people associate English with unpleasant things. For example, they think "I must learn English or else I won't find a job" or "I must learn English or I won't get a passing grade". In their minds, studying English is something they have to do, even though they would rather not do it — just like they would rather not have to go to school or work.
Those who read on their own think differently. For them, English is something which helps them achieve their own goals, such as reading the latest book by Stephen King or talking to people from other countries in an online forum. They are much more willing to spend time on English, even in ways which are not directly related to their interests, e.g. learning with SuperMemo or asking grammar questions on discussion groups. This shows that "free reading" improves your general motivation for English.
by: sayc's
