Focus on

USING GRADED READERS

WITH COURSEBOOKS
1. What are graded readers?
Graded readers are reading books adapted or written for foreign language learners at
different levels. With hundreds of titles to choose from, learners can explore a variety of
genres, including novels, plays, and short stories, as well as fact files, biographies, and
other non-fiction texts. Graded readers give learners the opportunity to read longer
texts and build their reading fluency while consolidating and extending other elements
of a language course, such as grammar and vocabulary, the four skills, and global skills.
They are therefore an ideal companion to any ELT coursebook.
You will find graded readers aimed at different age groups from pre-primary to adult
and mapped to different levels of the CEFR from pre-A1 (Starter) level upwards.
Graded readers often include audio tracks to accompany the written text so they can
be used to develop listening as well as reading skills. In addition, as many titles are
available in digital form, they are suitable for both face-to-face and remote learning.
They can be used during lessons but are also a valuable resource for independent
learning outside the classroom. In this way, graded readers can be used flexibly to
complement any coursebook, no matter the age or level of the students, their learning
needs, or the context in which they are learning.

2. Why use graded readers to complement your coursebook?

Developing and extending language
Graded readers are a motivating way to recycle and consolidate the language
presented in your coursebook. Research suggests that to learn grammar and
vocabulary effectively, learners need to see it used frequently and in different
contexts – especially memorable, emotionally engaging ones. Graded readers can
extend learners’ language knowledge by exposing them to different forms of familiar
words (for example, different verb tenses or parts of speech) and to a range of
collocations. Using the audio version of a graded reader with the written text also helps
students connect the written and spoken forms of the language.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandra Paramour has taught English in Spain and the UK and has worked as an
ELT materials writer and editor. She currently works in higher education, teaching
English for academic purposes and academic skills.

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USING GRADED READERS WITH COURSEBOOKS

Consolidating the four skills
Graded readers enable students to build on the reading,
listening, writing, and speaking skills introduced in a
coursebook. For very young learners, developing reading skills
might mean reinforcing work on sound–spelling relationships or
simply learning how to engage with a book. For older learners,
it might involve applying reading subskills and strategies such
as predicting, reading for gist, or deducing the meaning of
unknown words. Using graded readers with audio can also build
listening comprehension skills and awareness of pronunciation
and intonation. Graded readers contribute to the development
of writing and speaking skills by providing rich contexts for
creative, communicative activities. Exploring a variety of text
types builds students’ awareness of different genres, which they
can apply in their own writing.
Providing variety
However varied the topics and activities in your coursebook, it is
helpful to offer a change of focus and pace from time to time in
order to keep your students engaged, and graded readers are
ideally suited to this purpose. They also provide variety in the
sense that they expose students to diverse text types, topics,
writing styles, and voices. This helps demonstrate to students
how English is used by authors and narrators from different
cultures and social groups, and in different time periods, and
how learning English can enable them to explore and develop
personal areas of interest.
Providing practice in reading longer texts
Coursebooks give language learners substantial practice
in intensive reading – that is, reading short texts with close
attention to language and often to subskills and strategies.
However, students also need practice in extensive reading –
reading longer texts for pleasure and with the focus primarily
on meaning. Extensive reading is important because it builds
fluency, develops awareness of the structure of longer texts, and
encourages the habit of independent reading. Supplementing a
coursebook with graded readers therefore ensures that learners
practise both intensive and extensive reading.
Boosting motivation, wellbeing, and a sense of community
Whatever the age of your learners, reading can boost their
confidence and sense of achievement. It can help them form
an emotional connection with the English language and relate
it to the world outside the classroom. Reading together or
exchanging book recommendations can also encourage groups
of learners to bond by providing a meaningful shared purpose
for communicating in English. This can be especially valuable
in remote learning contexts, where students may feel more
isolated from their peers.
Developing global skills and cross-curricular knowledge
Reading stories can be a powerful way to develop global
skills, such as empathy, intercultural competence, and critical
thinking – skills which now feature prominently in many ELT
coursebooks and are considered crucial for lifelong learning and
success. Graded readers can also tie in with topics learners have
encountered in their coursebooks, helping to build general and
cross-curricular knowledge. For example, fiction and non-fiction
graded readers addressing issues such as poverty, inequality,
or the environment could be a starting point for exploring
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and for
connecting to other curriculum subjects, such as geography,
history, and science.
3. What are the challenges?
Time
You may feel you have insufficient classroom time even to cover
the material in your coursebook, let alone introduce graded
readers. But most extensive reading typically happens outside
class, alongside other homework activities. You may also be
concerned about additional preparation time. However, many
ELT courses include graded reader extracts with accompanying
exercises, and graded readers themselves include activities
that learners can complete in or outside class. When setting
homework, it is best to limit activities in order to keep extensive
reading enjoyable and anxiety-free. One or two personal
response questions is often all you need.
Language difficulty
You may worry that your students, especially beginners or
young children, might struggle with the level of the texts. Since
extensive reading aims to develop fluency, texts should be one
level below that of the learners so that reading feels easy and
enjoyable. So, for example, for B2-level students, a B1 graded
reader would be appropriate. If students are unsure what level
to choose, level tests are available online to help them.
Even when they are reading at an appropriate level, students
may still encounter some language that they have not been
explicitly taught. However, graded readers provide plenty of
language support through pictures and glossaries. Encountering
a limited number of new words can also benefit learners, since
it helps them develop useful comprehension strategies and
expand their language knowledge.

Promoting learner autonomy

Using graded readers can give students control over their
own learning in several ways. Choosing from a selection of
graded readers enables students to focus on the topics that
most interest them, while reading independently allows them
to determine the pace at which they read. Older learners can
also access graded readers as e-books to read on their mobile
devices, whenever and wherever they like.

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USING GRADED READERS WITH COURSEBOOKS
Relevance to learning objectives
Graded readers can serve as the basis for activities which
meet many of the learning objectives in your coursebook
or syllabus, often targeting language, the four skills, and
global skills at once. For instance, writing a review of a
graded reader develops writing and critical thinking skills
and also involves the use of specific verb tenses, adjectives
of evaluation, and functional language for giving opinions. It
is also worth noting that reading as a leisure activity has its
own separate set of CEFR descriptors and is therefore widely
recognized in its own right as a key competence for language
learners to develop.
Building and maintaining interest
Not everyone is an enthusiastic reader, and it may be difficult
to convince some students of the value of reading in English.
With older learners, it can be helpful to explain the benefits
of using graded readers in addition to a coursebook and to
suggest starting small – say, reading for 10 minutes a day –
so that it remains manageable. Learners are often more
motivated to engage with reading material that they have
been involved in choosing, either through selecting their own
graded reader from a library or voting for a class book. When
students are reading different books, they could exchange
recommendations via a class blog. When using a class reader,
you could introduce classroom activities to build interest in
the book – for example, by showing the cover image or a
relevant video clip and eliciting predictions. Finally, sharing
your own enthusiasm for reading can inspire learners and
help create a community of readers in your class.
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4. How can this be implemented?
Adding variety and flexibility to your teaching
Graded readers do not necessarily need to be linked directly to
your coursebook: they can complement it simply by providing
contrast in terms of activity types, pace, and interaction. For
example, you might allocate class time to graded readers to
change the dynamic after a groupwork activity or between
coursebook units. With younger children – or even with older
learners reading the same book – you could spend some time
in class reading aloud to them or playing the audio while they
read along. For older learners reading different books, you
could allocate quiet individual reading time. Graded readers can
also be incorporated flexibly into your teaching when needed –
for instance, to occupy ‘fast finishers’ who have completed
coursebook activities ahead of their classmates.
Consolidating coursebook language
Graded readers can also be used in more targeted ways to
consolidate specific language from the students’ coursebook.
If you are introducing a graded reader in the classroom, asking
questions about the story, pictures, or topic can be an effective
way to elicit specific words or grammar structures, even if this
language does not appear in the text. For example, if you are
reading a story in the classroom with very young learners, you
can focus on the pictures and ask a variety of questions to elicit
vocabulary from different lexical sets, such as colours (What
colour is the car?), numbers (How many apples are there?), toys
(Is the teddy next to the ball?), or verbs of movement (Is the girl
running?). At the same time, students will need to recognize
and/or produce core grammar structures presented in their
coursebook, such as It’s/They’re, There’s/There are, prepositions
of place, or the present continuous.
Similarly, you can give older and higher-level learners simple
classroom or homework tasks aimed at eliciting and recycling
specific vocabulary and grammar from a graded reader in a
meaning-focused way. For example, describing characters will
naturally involve recognition and/or use of adjectives for physical
appearance, personality, and emotions, while contrasting two
characters will involve comparative forms. Outlining a scientific
process will require use of the passive, while summarizing an
historical event or a scene from a play might naturally elicit
narrative tenses and reported speech.
Developing the four skills
Reading
Using graded readers can be an effective way to help learners
develop and apply the reading subskills and strategies
introduced in their coursebook. With older learners, you may
wish to focus on specific subskills or strategies by using a short
extract for intensive reading practice. Meanwhile, extensive
reading of longer texts gives learners the opportunity to apply
these subskills and strategies autonomously, helping them to
become more fluent and confident readers. For very young
learners, graded readers can be used to develop subskills
such as holding a book, reading from left to right, or following
the text while listening. They can also reinforce phonics work
through activities such as listening for words with a particular
sound and matching them to their written forms.
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USING GRADED READERS WITH COURSEBOOKS
Listening and pronunciation
Listening to the audio version of a graded reader can reinforce
work on pronunciation and intonation as well as listening
subskills introduced and practised in the learners’ coursebook.
Using the written and audio versions together can also help
learners link the spoken and written forms of the language,
which can deepen their vocabulary knowledge and develop their
ability to recognize words and structures in connected speech.
Writing and speaking
For learners of all levels, graded readers can provide motivating
contexts for writing activities. If students have read a non-fiction
reader, they can communicate what they have learned about
the topic through a variety of outputs, such as web pages, fact
files, or posters. Fiction readers can also be used to practise
many of the genres introduced in the learners’ coursebook,
from personal correspondence (letters, emails, text message
conversations, blog posts, etc.) to news articles and crime
reports. For instance, students could write a postcard from one
of the characters in a reader to a friend or imagine that they are
a journalist interviewing the character.
Similarly, graded readers can provide a basis for creative and
engaging speaking activities. If learners have read the same
book, they could write and perform a role-play related to
the topic or, for a fiction reader, act out part of the story. If
they have chosen different graded readers, they can produce
vlog-style book reviews or short presentations to express their
opinions about what they have read.
Developing global skills
Graded readers can be an excellent way to consolidate and
extend the global skills of communication and collaboration;
creativity and critical thinking; intercultural competence and
citizenship; and emotional self-regulation and wellbeing.
Activities can often be designed to develop digital literacies
at the same time – for instance, by requiring students to
communicate via online platforms, produce and collaborate on
documents, or find and evaluate information.
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Expressing opinions
For learners of all ages, expressing and justifying their opinions
about what they have read can build critical thinking and
communication skills. For very young learners, this might involve
drawing and then talking about a favourite scene or character.
For older learners, the stimulus could be a controversial
statement about a character or theme, which they can debate in
class or via an online forum.
Viewing events through the eyes of different characters
Graded readers can help develop empathy and intercultural
competence, since they provide access to different cultures,
viewpoints, and ways of life. Students can put themselves in
the shoes of specific characters by writing diary entries or blog
posts from that character’s point of view or reimagining a story
with a different narrator. Such activities may also promote
emotional self-regulation, since by adopting a fictional persona,
learners may feel more comfortable expressing emotions or
discussing sensitive issues.
Researching a topic
Graded readers are often a good starting point for project work
linked to cross-curricular topics from the learners’ coursebooks,
such as aspects of geography, history, or the natural world.
For example, if learners have read a non-fiction graded reader
about the oceans, they could research and present more
information about a sea creature featured in the book. If they
have read a fact file about a city, they could produce a similar
mini fact file about another city of their choice. This can develop
important online research skills, including the ability to evaluate
the reliability of sources. Fiction graded readers can be used in a
similar way. For instance, if students are reading Les Misérables,
they could prepare a presentation, poster, or booklet about
the life of Victor Hugo or about French society in the early 19th
century.
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USING GRADED READERS WITH COURSEBOOKS

5. Over to you 6. Further reading and resources

Graded readers can be a valuable companion to a coursebook
for language learners of all ages and levels and in both face-
to-face and remote learning contexts. As well as providing
important practice in extensive reading, graded readers help
consolidate and extend the different strands of your coursebook
syllabus, from language and the four skills to global skills
Oxford University Press: ELT graded readers
elt.oup.com/teachersclub/subjects/gradedreading/​?cc=gb​
&selLanguage=en
Oxford Bookworms and Dominoes Level Tests
elt.oup.com/student/readersleveltest/​?cc=gb​
https://

and cross-curricular topics. They are also a powerful way to &selLanguage=en

boost the motivation and autonomy of your students and to
incorporate variety into your teaching while creating a sense
of community and encouraging meaningful communication in
English.
Top ten principles for extensive reading
Day, R. (2002). Top ten principles for extensive reading. Reading
in a Foreign Language, 14(2).
www2.hawaii.edu/~readfl/rfl/October2002/day/day.html
https://

Teaching English: Using graded readers (British Council)

www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-graded-readers
Talking points
https://

The Extensive Reading Foundation

What, for you, are the main benefits of using graded
erfoundation.org/wordpress/graded-readers/
readers to complement a coursebook?
https://

Think about a specific coursebook you have used. 5 ways graded readers can motivate your students
How could you use graded readers to consolidate and oupeltglobalblog.com/2016/02/18/5-ways-graded-readers-
https://

extend the learning objectives in this coursebook? Do can-motivate-your-students/

the objectives relate to language, the four skills, global
skills, cross-curricular topics, or a combination of these?
Think about a class that you have taught or might teach
in the future. How could you use graded readers with
these students to complement their coursebook? What
would be the main benefits of doing this and what
challenges might you face?
How might graded readers be useful when you are
teaching mixed-ability classes? Why might some
students find graded readers challenging and what
could you do to support them?

ISBN: 978 0 19 420036 3 ISBN: 978 0 19 400312 4

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To cite this paper:

Paramour, A. (2022). Using Graded Readers with Coursebooks [PDF]. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. www.oup.com/elt/expert

Acknowledgements
The publisher would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce
photographs: Alamy Stock Photo (MBI, Wavebreak Media ltd); OUP (Mark
Bassett); Shutterstock (Tanor).

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