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There really is nothing better for beginning readers (besides their textbook) than graded readers. Graded readers are designed to be read at a 98% comprehension level, using limited vocabulary and grammar. There should be absolutely no reading pain when you are reading a graded reader as long as you choose the right level for your current skill set.
Graded readers for English language learners have been around for a very long time and are now very sophisticated. Graded readers in other languages, especially Asian languages, have been much much slower to arrive. While I am not exactly sure why, I think one reason is that many of us learned our language at university and wanted to read the literature. So instead of reading simple stories, we read difficult texts looking up word after word (and before that character after character so we could use dictionaries). In Japanese, for example, it has taken us quite a while to bridge the gap between textbooks (taught by language instructors) and selections of literature (taught by lit faculty).
Bridging the gap can be done by encouraging students to begin adding graded readers to their language learning practice. Books where there aren’t vocabulary lists or grammatical explanations needed because they know almost every single word already and can guess the few they don’t by context. This way, they gradually build up speed, endurance, and confidence to the point where they can tackle regular publications in a field of interest. The challenge though, has been getting enough graded readers at the very beginning levels to satisfy the needs and interests of students who want to read.
The NPO Tadoku graded readers belong in every library collection or reading room/classroom. These are available in print or as e-books. The print editions were originally issued with audio CDs, but the organization has now made the sound files available through their website because so few people have CD players anymore. The books in this series are popular with my students, and they often comment on the humor in the stories.
One of the benefits of more instructors offering tadoku courses is that they have begun writing their own tadoku books and sharing the books written by their students. Many of these have been gathered together at the NPO Tadoku website, and provide even more resources for L2 Japanese readers. I highly recommend them. So much good stuff out there, and I expect to see more and more of it shared freely.
I am also interested in the Oxford Brookes University Let’s Read Japanese series. This is more like what I would expect to see at a university level, and some of my students who shied away from the simplicity of the NPO Tadoku books were much happier with this series. Especially the upper level students. Unfortunately, there just aren’t enough of them.
My suggestion to students who are at the beginning levels is that they concentrate on graded readers until they are at level 3, then start reading a range of graded readers, manga, picture books, and anthologies. I have added picture books to my tadoku collection but they can be hard for students because of the use of hiragana only, slang and unstated cultural concepts. My suggestion would be to read those with a senpai or instructor. Well, read with me. I would love it.
At level 4 they have enough vocabulary and fluency to read all kinds of things, and by level 5 they are pretty much out of graded readers and should be reading regular materials.
The NPO Tadoku has created a leveled search engine for their graded readers and regular materials that they have set levels for. Many of us have tweaked those levels for our own students, but it is a great search engine and it will help us to narrow down choices for reading.