To re-read or not to reread

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sfuqua
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To re-read or not to reread

Postby sfuqua » Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:14 pm

Reedit:I guess I'm repeating something I/we have brought up before.
Sorry to have wasted time.
I'll be quiet now.
Rereading is used in reading instruction for struggling L1 readers. It also definitely increases comprehension in L2 contexts.
What do people think? To increase comprehension on the next book, which would be better, reading one book three times or reading three books?
Last edited by sfuqua on Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby Iversen » Tue Mar 20, 2018 6:29 pm

When I took up Latin after many years of neglect (which resulted in a situation where I barely could read a simple inscription like those in our churches) the first thing I did was to find the first Latin textbook I used some 40 years before (written by Mikkelsen and used by generations of Danish learners), and this made it much easier to relearn the language. As far as I remember it only took a week or two to get through the whole book because I already knew it, albeit my memories had been collected many years ago.

I often use the same tactics in a smaller format when I have taken a pause with a language: in other words, I take a text which I already have worked with and run it through. This brings back the things I thought about while I first looked at the text, and in that way it can function as a quick fix to the problem of temporary oblivion. But in most cases I don't need it since I normally try not to loose the connection to my target languages.
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby reineke » Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:08 pm

To repost or not to repost:

What you need to know to learn a foreign language (free book).

¿Qué necesitas saber para aprender un idioma extranjero?

https://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/about/staff/paul-nation

Is there a place for repeated reading?
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2224

Rereading texts in language learning:

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... ead#p53146
Last edited by reineke on Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby sfuqua » Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:52 pm

Sigh. I guess I was looking for a different answer.
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby Iversen » Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:56 pm

sfuqua wrote:Sigh. I guess I was looking for a different answer.


Which one?
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby sfuqua » Tue Mar 20, 2018 8:16 pm

@Iversen, I understood that you tend to go back to old materials much later sometimes, when you feel your skills in a certain language have slipped.
This makes perfect sense.

I've always thought that there should be a pretty simple algorithm to determine whether it is worthwhile to move forward or to repeat something.
There is almost always something more that could be learned from a particular piece of L2 text.
But would you learn more from moving ahead to less familiar text?
I'm always trying to look for some sort of rule of thumb or something which would answer the question. I have a tendency to hold onto things too long. I spent a year on the forum intensively reading a single book and repeating Assimil Spanish, while many people were suggesting that I just needed to start "Just reading".
When I finally was on a trip, with no learning materials with me, I bought a book in Spanish, started just reading and made rapid, dramatic progress.

In my current approach to French, I am finding myself making plans how I can improve my reading by rereading the same book multiple times. I'm suspicious of my own planning.
I'm probably asking for something that doesn't exist. Rereading a book until you reach perfection is a formula for reading the book forever and never learning the language to a high level.

When do you know if you are ready to take off?

I know of at least a few people on the forum who will answer, "As soon as you ask the question, you are ready."
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荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby Xenops » Tue Mar 20, 2018 8:33 pm

I guess it really depends on your level and the material you're tackling?

I started R-L with a Louis Segond Bible, and because I'm an A-2 at best with French reading, I find it beneficial to reread the French text. I'm trying to resist the urge to look up every single word, but rather have an idea of what translates into what, and then moving on. I'll probably move on to a chapter, revisit a previous chapter, try a new chapter, revisit an old, rinse and repeat.
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:22 pm

sfuqua wrote:What do people think? To increase comprehension on the next book, which would be better, reading one book three times or reading three books?


A mix of both. It depends on what I'm reading. If I'm still on "sentence level", it's about repetition - think muscle memory. If I'm on book level, I can read intensively or extensively. My brain wants things to be familiar, and it also wants challenge. You can challenge yourself by progressing to other books by the same author, or in the same genre. Certain things will reoccur. Those who are mad about Harry Potter will have most of the author (and genre) specific vocabulary after the first book. No need to re-read it (at this point).
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby reineke » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:20 am

Black Cat audio book Graded Readers (Easy Readers) for learners of French, German, Italian, Spanish and English as a Second Language.
($)



http://www.blackcat-cideb.com/en/
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Re: To re-read or not to reread

Postby NoManches » Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:15 am

I'm currently reading a book in Spanish that I read over a year ago. Although I vaguely remember what happens at the end, I am definitely picking up on more detail the second time around. Also, I find the book to be just as challenging as the first time I read it since I haven't used Spanish a lot in the year since I first picked the book up.

I don't think I would read all of my books a second time but it seems like doing it once in a while could be a good thing....perhaps use it as a way of measuring your progress?

I have a ton of books, shows, and movies that I want to visit a second time because the first time around my skills weren't that good and I probably missed out on a lot of important details.
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