Day and Bamford (2002) offered the following ten top principles of ER to help clarify the
common characteristics of successful ER programs:
1) Students read as much as possible.
2) A variety of materials on a wide range of topics are available.
3) Students select what they want to read.
4) The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding.
5) Reading is its own reward.
6) Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students.
7) Reading is individual and silent.
8) Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower.
9) Teachers orient students to the goals of the program.
10) The teacher is a role model of a reader for students., at a difficulty level at which you can read smoothly and quickly without looking up words or translating to English as you go. In other words, instead of spending a half hour decoding a tiny part of one book (also known as intensive reading), you read many simpler books that are at or slightly below the level at which you read fluently. This lets you get used to reading more complex sentences with ease, reinforces the words you already know and helps you learn new words from context.