I’ve been learning and teaching English for over a decade. In my experience, many learners want to improve their language skills by watching Hollywood movies, taking language courses, and using language or social media apps. Very few of them read books, and I think this is a missed learning opportunity. Why? Because if you know which ones to read and how to read them, books can be one of the most powerful tools you could ever use to become a better English speaker.
Let me explain.
Why you should read books if you’re learning English
I always say to my students that there are two main reasons for reading books.
Reason #1: Books have a magical power
A book is like a big language container where you’ll find words, expressions, and grammatical structures working together to form a meaningful text. If you want to understand that text, your brain needs to process all the written language that’s coming in through your eyes. What are the benefits of doing this? The language learning research is clear about them:
- You improve your reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills.
- You grow your overall level of grammar and vocabulary, both in quantity and quality.
- You become a more confident user of the language.
All this by simply enjoying a good book.
Reason #2: Reading adds an essential nutrient to your language learning diet
I still remember the first time I finished a book in English. I remember closing it and thinking, Wow! Done! I’ve read it! I felt proud of myself and thought that if I was able to read one book, then I would be able to read another. And that’s exactly what I did: I picked another book and read that, too. Then I read another and many more.
Realising that I was able to read and understand books motivated me.
Motivated is how we usually feel when we achieve a challenging goal, don’t we? That’s also how we feel when we realise we’re making progress, which makes us even more determined to keep improving. Reading a book can provide this experience.
You may even enter an endless positive cycle that looks like this:
- You think reading a book is too hard or boring.
- You then read one and realise that it was actually an exciting challenge.
- You also notice you’ve learned new words and expressions from the book.
- You think, Hmm, I can do this! I enjoyed the book, I learned from it, and now…I want to do it again!
- You pick another book and keep learning.
Motivation is what keeps us going despite the challenges, and it’s an essential element in learning a second language. Finishing a book is one way to add this necessary nutrient to your language learning diet.
Okay, we now know the two main reasons why reading is great. It’s now time to choose the right book for you.
But…how can you do that?
How to choose the right book for you
Whatever book you want to read, always ask yourself two questions before choosing one:
- Is this a book that I would read in my first language?
- Is this book too hard for my current English level?
Here’s why it’s worth asking these questions.
You’ll read (and learn) faster by following your interests
A trillion times I said this to my students: don’t read a book just because it’s written in English. Instead, read books about stories and topics that you are interested in. Read because you want to entertain yourself. Read because you want to learn more about a particular subject. Read because you want to enjoy an inspiring story.
I’ve heard many English language learners say, “I don’t read books because they’re boring.” When I hear that, I always respond by asking them a question: “Is it possible that you haven’t found an interesting book yet?” and their reply is usually “Yeah…probably, yes.”
If you love cooking, read a book about cooking. If you’re a fan of fantasy stories, read those. When I was an intermediate learner of English, I read books about environmental issues because that was what interested me the most. Now I still read books in English (I read about twenty a year), and I choose them based on what I’m curious about.I recommend that you do the same: combine your hobbies, curiosity, and preferences with reading in English. It’s an amazing way to enjoy yourself and learn English at the same time.
There’s little point in choosing a book that you cannot understand
If you’re not going to understand a book because it’s written in a level of English that’s too hard for you, why would you read it? You’ll waste too much time translating and looking up words in a dictionary, and you won’t enjoy the story. In fact, you’re likely to get frustrated and demotivated.
Would you agree that what we want from a book is enjoyment, entertainment, surprise, inspiration, wonder, information, and fun? Ideally, we want to read page after page, lose ourselves in a story, and get to a point where we’ve almost finished reading the book without even realising it. This is why it’s important to select books based on your current language level.
You may say, “But all the books I’ve seen are written in “hard” English. Where can I find books for learners?”
There are “books for learners.” They’re called graded readers. They’re books where the vocabulary and the grammar have been simplified for you, so you can read, understand, y enjoy them. I’m often surprised by how many learners don’t know these books exist!
Good news: Kiwi Cosmico publishes graded readers. You can check out their selection of books here.
Final thoughts on reading: my favorite way (please read)
We have AI chatbots, language apps, social media, streaming platforms, podcasts, and a million other technologies that can help us learn a second language.
To me, nothing still beats a great book. Reading books has taught me so much about English as well as the world. Reading a book helped me learn my second language by showing me how it works in context, its “natural habitat.” Plus, what I love about books is that there are no ads in them and that they’re always a great investment. How much does a book cost? 10 euros? 20 euros? That’s nothing compared to what I get in return.
If you’re a language learner, try this at home, on the train, or at the park: read and enjoy a great book.
Please read!
Fabio Cerpelloni is a learner of English turned English teaching specialist, author, and content writer for education brands. He holds a Master’s in Professional Development for Language Education and has worked with major English language schools, publishers, and high-traffic language-learning blogs. In his free time, he loves reading and writing books. If you send him an email, he’ll reply.
