What is Quality Input? How to choose the best material!

The key to successful language learning is quality input!

In the previous article, I talked about the best ratio between input (reading & listening) and output (writing & speaking) to grow your English quickly.

Now let’s see the best way to choose suitable materials for exam preparation and other general reading training for your level.

The key to the faster growth in reading and listening is having a sufficient amount of quality input. Then what is quality input?

i+1

“i+1” is the golden formula for the most efficient language learning. “i” is your current level, so “i+1” means the level that is slightly higher than your current level. In many cases, a lot of learners try materials that are at “i+5” or even higher thinking they are “studying hard” by trying very difficult materials.

However, the researchers in SLA (Second language acquisition) found that the successful and natural language acquisition requires having repeated “understandable input”.

If the material is too difficult, you will need to look up too many words, and your brain will go to memorisation mode, which is hardly a natural or ideal way to learn the language. On the other hand, if the material is too easy, you are learning very little even if you spent a lot of hours with the material.

So what is the ideal material for me!?

For reading, it is said that you need to understand 90% of words to understand the text. My recommendation for reading is to use texts that you know 95 - 98% of the words. When you hear “95%”, it’s hard to imagine what it feels like. I prepare the text below from beginner’s material to show you what it feels like to have 90%, 95%, 98% comprehension.

The following passage is 105 words, and I remove 10 words out of the passage to show what it feels like to read a passage that you understand 90% of vocabulary.

“It had been three days since Mike last talked to Maria at the coffee shop. He had finally up the to talk to her. Mike had in not just talking to her, but he had to get her phone number as well. Mike felt like the guy in the world. He knew there was something about Maria. She was not like any girls he had met before.Mike knew he had to play his right if he wished to Maria enough for her to want to stay with him. He had to be the perfect .”

You can probably put together the general storyline, but it is not at all enjoyable to read. I generally do not recommend students to practice on materials like this since you are “analyzing” the text rather than “reading” at this point, and the words you learned through analyzing hardly stick in your brain.

Below is the same story with 95% vocabulary comprehension.

“It had been three days since Mike last talked to Maria at the coffee shop. He had finally up the courage to talk to her. Mike had succeeded in not just talking to her, but he had managed to get her phone number as well. Mike felt like the happiest guy in the world. He knew there was something special about Maria. She was not like any girls he had met before.Mike knew he had to play his right if he wished to Maria enough for her to want to stay with him. He had to be the perfect .”

The story is much clearer. You can clearly understand Mike's excitement and what he is about to do. This is a rather ideal level for your intensive reading exercises. When you do any exam preparation, your prep material should be at this level so you can get the best out of the textbooks you study.

Below is 98% vocabulary comprehension.

“It had been three days since Mike last talked to Maria at the coffee shop. He had finally up the courage to talk to her. Mike had succeeded in not just talking to her, but he had managed to get her phone number as well. Mike felt like the happiest guy in the world. He knew there was something special about Maria. She was not like any other girls he had met before.Mike knew he had to play his cards right if he wished to impress Maria enough for her to want to stay with him. He had to be the perfect .”

At this point, even if the words in the blank are written in latin, you can guess the meaning of these words in black, and naturally “acquire” these new vocabulary without having to use a dictionary. This is the ideal level for your extensive reading (reading for fun). In order to gain fluency, you will need to read a significant amount, and when you choose some books for enjoyment, you should pick books at this level so you don’t need to stop your flow in reading.

Here are the main takeaway from this article:

• Don’t try materials that are too difficult for you (Don’t go below 90% of your current vocabulary level)

• You should know 95% of words in your exam prep material

• For reading for fun, aim to read books with 98% of known vocabulary

You might also be interested in “How to expand the depth of your vocabulary: the benefit of extensive reading”.